Starts of the Week + TRADE BETRAYAL, Week 11 Breakdown - Fantasy Football Podcast for 11/16

Oh, the drama is high around footballers HQ today. This guy, this guy's not happy. This guy's very happy. Make sure you subscribe and enjoy the ride. To the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. It's football time. Oh, yeah. Oh, it's more than that. Oh, it is more than football time. Welcome into a show. Maybe the best show we will ever have. Alternatively, the potential to be the worst and final show we ever have. So this is going to be a wild ride, Foot Clan. I apologize for the welcome in. It was said through gridded teeth. I appreciated your, it's football time.

I'm loving life over here, guys. There's some crap that happened. Jason teased the drama on, look, there was a point yesterday, Jason, I told you this right when it came in. And let me say this at the top. This is going to be a jam-pack show. We have a ton of matchups we're going to break down. Yep. We have our starts of the week. We've got the boom-boom kicker. We've got a lot going on. But yesterday we spent some time talking about. what was transpiring in the league. I mean, I put you on the spot on the show in our league of record to offer you, Sequin Barclay and a couple of second round draft picks. That is the highest capital pick we can offer in our league. And I put you on the spot to trade me, Austin Echler. A lot of people wanted to know what happened. I got a lot of tags. I talked to my co-manager for a long time. Yeah, you were in a room for a while. We looked at everything, every matchup of every opponent in the league.

as far as we could go, and we believe we can win the championship. So we did not wave the white flag. I did not accept the deal. So unfortunately, you tried very hard to get a good deal for you, and it was turned down. But you didn't rest on your laurels. I never do. You never do. I never do. And so you declined that trade. And what I was getting at was that there was something that transpired yesterday that you teased quickly. for the benefit of the show on Twitter, and you said there's some drama. And I almost messaged you last night and said, you can't talk about it. Yeah, I know. Like there's a point in which you can talk about something that has impacted you. And then there's a point where you are still dealing with it on a deep level. And what happened yesterday in our league was on the Mount Rushmore of the worst things that I have ever experienced as a manager.

from an ethics, whatever you want, integrity. Yeah. I mean, throughout all the important words that people want to have as a human being. So let me set the table here for the listener so they can understand because this is legit. Like I don't remember ever seeing you as mad as you were yesterday. This isn't like fake forced drama. This was ready to denounce a family member. Yeah, unfortunately it involved. Papa Josh, who is my brother-in-law. Yeah. So here's what happened. Andy never rests on his laurels, does not get my trade. And I knew when I denied that trade that you would just turn around and try to go make an even better trade for you. It's what you do. So you go and you try to get Jamar Chase for your team. You use those two second round draft picks. See, I want to say more. I know you do. I want a table set better. I know, but I want it to be clear. And you're very emotional right now.

You are trying to make a deal primarily for Jamar Chase. And in so doing, working with Papa Josh, you can't get a deal to go down because he wants a certain thing that you don't have. He doesn't want to break up a stack, yada, yada, yada. He wants a stack. And so you, you and you alone, coordinate a three-team trade between you and Papa Josh. and Al Borland that heals everybody's desires. Never had a three-team trade go through in our league. Took a considerable amount of thought and time. But the little extra context I want to add is that at the lunch table, the whole conversation began because Papa Josh said, hey, Andy, would you consider Jonathan Taylor for Sequin and a couple twos? Because it was the same offer you would deny.

I said, nah, he's on a buy. Otherwise, I would probably consider that. I said, what about Jamar Chase? Josh goes to his desk, you know, I could probably survive that. Let me go talk to my co-manager. So that was the beginning of it. Okay. And he came back to me, said, you know what, I just can't do it because I don't want to lose my stack. I have the Borough Chase stack. If I didn't have that stack, I would probably do it. Okay. Sorry. I know that's probably not as necessary, but that it was in my heart. You go and you find a way to get Josh a new stack. Yes. With Justin Fields and DJ Moore. Yep. Multiple second round picks being involved. Amari Cooper. Al Borland is a third party to do it. He's providing the stack. He gets more. I knew I knew Al's been trying to trade DJ more for a long time. I said,

Look, I can get you more than DJ more. I can get you Joe Burrow and DJ more. I'm going to solve a problem for you. There's a great deal for Jeremy. In fact, both Jeremy and Josh thought you came up with a brilliant plan because they weren't looking at this. They had no plans of making this trade, but they found a way, well, you found a way for their teams to be better. Yes, and we talked about it for an hour. We're keeping it very secret. In fact, I want to add this nuance in there. Al offered the deal, and I clicked accept. So we had two thirds of a party. Two thirds were done. And we just had Papa Josh, my brother, former. Former brother-in-law. My brother who's just said, I just need to wait for my co-manager. And then we might be there. And then the trade went through.

The trade goes through the platform, sleeper alert, trade has been accepted. I'm sure you were excited. Drilled. And then you saw the trade, and it was the same trade you came up with without you. You're cut out of it. You don't get Jamar Chase. You don't send the two-toos to Papa Josh, but Papa Josh and Jeremy, they liked what you came up with in the other players in the deal. And so they took your deal. without you carving you out, and you were not happy. You are not happy. It was so uncomfortable and entertaining at the same time. And now these two gentlemen over here in Deucer's Alley, let's show these two shameful gentlemen in Deucer's Alley. Josh hasn't looked at me. He can't look up at all. When I got home last night, my wife had a text from him saying,

like give him a hug because something like I did a bad thing oh so so here's the truth and you're not going to like no no no no no no no bull crap I didn't even get to say anything else after you concluded that I have been very vocal from the moment it happened it is fine to decline my trade what happened was neither person And I hold Al very responsible because Al could have accomplished a deal later in the day with integrity, but he chose to put the blame on Papa Josh and just accept the deal. No one told me. Nobody rejected the offer. Everybody said, we're about to do it. And then they secretly backchanneled this trade that I built with no disclosure of saying, hey, I don't want to do it. So I was incensed. There's only one thing that's happened to me in this league that was worse. It was by Mike a long time ago.

But this was true bad form, in my opinion. Yeah, Bush League bad form. And the way that I see it is the process is certainly wrong. But also... I understand the outcome. The outcome makes sense. It was a trade that made sense for both of them. And Josh didn't want to give up Jamar Chase. No, he didn't want to give them up to me. Sure, he didn't want to trade you Jamar Chase. Yeah, exactly. And in the end, I'm like, okay, that's fair game. Totally. The only thing that was really upsetting about it is that they didn't come to you and say, hey,

We're not in on this. We're not in on this. But we're going to take, they should have just been men of honor and say, hey, we're going to do this deal without you. I am sorry. I don't want to give you Jamar Chase. Instead, they pushed it through, carved you out. What is the opposite of a man of honor? That would be a man of dishonor. That would be a Papa Josh. That would be a man of dishonor. So I have put the blame 8020 on Papa Josh. It is, it is 8020 on Papa Josh because I, you know. Jeremy was the third party here just accepting whatever trade came his way. He wasn't the negotiator. He did send it. He sent the new one through, so he was. I didn't send it. No, no, no. Yes, you did. You sent it back through. Don't you lie. You're talking about the deal that Josh and I did? Oh, no, not that. No, he sent your trade through. Yeah, because I had countered. They decided that the count. Can you cut his mic? I control the mics.

They decided that the counter was no good, so I sent it back through with the original trade that I was willing to do. I clicked except on both trades. He thinks that absolves him. You're saying that I should have said I don't want to do the deal. I did want to do the deal. I wanted the deal. Josh didn't want the deal. If you're part of the deal, you'd be a man of honor. And so Foote Klan, I remind everybody what I said yesterday. All the ups, all the downs, all the crazy, all the good and the bad. It's what makes fantasy football.

So doggone fun. The fact that we have, yes, the fact that we have these emotions, that we have these frustrations, these, because you're not going to rest on your laurels now. You're probably going to go make an even better trade for you. I'm not worried about you. I mean, I'm worried about you as like a competitor and his mental health. And maybe your mental health, yeah, for sure. But this is fun. And we are all having so much fun. Be honorable, Foot Clan. Be honorable. That's all I'm going to ask. And now football. And you know what's funny is you don't know this. I had three other managers from other teams in the league that found out what happened. And they all messaged me separately. And they said they were so sorry for what happened and that this league shouldn't be like that. That's so sweet. And I was like, that made me feel good because everybody knows that Josh sucks. All right. Moving on. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance.

Practice updates that matter. Damian Pierce didn't practice again on Wednesday. So we are full steam ahead with Evan Singletary. The matchup is great. He was awesome last week. You know he's going to have, you know, 90% of the workload. Looks pretty, pretty nice so far. The roulette situation in Houston with their whiteouts and a good matchup against Arizona continues. Robert Woods, Noah Brown didn't practice. Okay. Nico's back. Nico Collins back at practice. Robert Woods, I'm not worried about it all. This is a veteran day of rest. He's been dealing with his injury. He came back, played a little more than half the snaps, and this is expected day of rest. Noah Brown, I don't think, has been getting Wednesdays off, so it is a little bit interesting. This, to me, when I see Nico Collins, Robert Woods, Noah Brown, all three of these guys kind of on and off the roulette wheel of injuries, that says Tank Dell.

That says Tank Dell is the healthy one in the same great matchup that I really want in my lineups. Justin Fields will start on Sunday. The injury was a thumb. He's been working on grip strength getting back out there. It means a bump up for DJ more. If Justin Fields is healthy. I will say. It is the Lions. That is a potentially a challenging matchup. Justin Fields under pressure has not been exceptional. Yeah, they're not. They're great run defense. an average secondary. The timeline that they took with Justin Fields does give me confidence. They said from the moment it happened, they are not going to put him back out on the field until he is ready and he is accurate and he's playing the same as he did before. And the fact that they took an entire month off without putting him on IR says to me, I believe he is ready. So it is a little dicey to say week one back.

with Justin Fields, who was, you know, both hot and cold before the injury. Hard to be very confident in him, but I do think you can play him this week. Okay. Well, I mean, the quarterback options right now in fantasy. We spent too much time on, you know, we're talking about Joshua Dobbs. We're talking about Sam Howe. We're talking about, you know, some of those kind of options you didn't think were locked in. Fields was very good for a handful of games. Vikings updates. Justin Jefferson still limited hamstring gut thoughts right now? I think he plays this week. My gut is that he doesn't. Well, one of our guts will be wrong. Yes, yes. K.J. Osborne returned to practice. Alexander Madison, concussion did not practice. Unlikely that Madison will be available. And Jason, our Arizona Cardinals have signed Michael Carter. Which is great news because it just means he went claimed and he cannot be signed onto the practice squad of the Jets.

Brees Hall, please involve yourself in the passing game. I don't think a lot of practice squad players play on Sunday. No, but they can be called back up really easily. That was today's news and notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. Let's get into the forecast. Fantasy forecast. I forecast a job opening. That's what I forecast. Just one? Just one. Well, we. Yeah, just one. Oh, that's nice. Hey, Al, you get to keep your job. Fantastic. That's good news. Papa Josh. See yourself out. Yeah. All right. Colts, Falcons, Patriot Saints. Yeah, we are going to get some messages about that job opening, so we may have to really consider it. Colts, Falcons, Patriot Saints on by. I'm really sad about the Falcons being on by. Bejan Robinson. I don't think we talked about it enough on Monday's episode, but it really seemed like Arthur.

Minus the mustache. I mean, Bejohn Robinson played 75% of the snaps, had 22 carries, had inside the five opportunities where he scored a touchdown, ran a ton of routes. He had full utilization in this game in a way that he really hasn't had this season. And so I was excited to play him again this week, and he's unfortunately on by. Yeah, I'm mostly optimistic there. However, they did lose with that plan. They lost with it, and they played Arizona. And Arizona is a bit of a friendly to the efficiency of the running back, but it was a good sign. Yeah, nine carries versus 22 carries Algier to Bijon. That's just so important. That's what it needs to be. The Pittsburgh Steelers at 6 and 3 take on the 6 and 3 Cleveland Browns, the Draft King Sportsbook Line Cleveland minus 1. The over under is. Oh, hold your breath, foot clap. 33. 33. I believe I heard.

somewhere that this is the second lowest line in a decade. Yep. It opened at 38 and a half. We got the news about Deshaun Watson that dumped the line down to 33 points. That makes it a 1716 game by the books. And that's not a lot of points. There's not a lot of like they lowered the ceiling at this stadium, in my opinion. Very low. Yeah, there are no more nosebleed sections because those are now. outside of the roof. Yeah, I mean, this is like the players involved, there's a lot of names. Najee, Jalen Warren, Deante Johnson, Jerome Ford, Kareem Hunt, Amari Cooper. You got George Pickens in the mix. You got David Nogu. That's a lot of names, players that have been started frequently. Mm-hmm. You also have a Brown's defense that is the best in football. You've got them at home.

where their defense is going to be very effective, I think, against Kenny Pickett and Company. Like, this is not a good matchup for the Pittsburgh Steelers. No, we, and I will say, though. And the Browns are still favored. The last time that we saw Dorian Thompson Robinson play, the Cleveland Brown's great defense was very bad. And the reason they were bad is because they kept finding themselves in short field positions due to turnovers from DTR. I mean, it doesn't make a huge difference here. I think you're still going to be weary of most players in this game. On the Cleveland Brown's side, led by DTR, you know, David Najoku's been in a lot of lineups, I'm not playing him. The only player in the passing game that I will consider as Amari Cooper, and I'm not excited to play Amari Cooper. Are you actively just trying to find anybody else to play? Like, would you play?

DeAndre Hopkins? I would play DeAndre Hopkins. Would you play George Pickens against Cleveland? No, I would play Deontay Johnson against Cleveland, though. Even though the Browns are very good against all positions, the way that they play defense is kind of how Deontay Johnson exploits matchups. So I'm still Deontay Johnson over George Pickens. But over Cooper, I'm saying. Yeah, I would go Deontay Johnson, Amari Cooper, then George Pickett. Deontay did not practice. He has a thumb injury. Oh, come on. That is something to pay attention to. It was a Wednesday. Yeah. I don't want to play Deontay. I'd be on the other side of that coin there. I don't, this Cleveland defense has been very formidable. That game you talked about, it was 28 to 3, Baltimore beat Cleveland. DTR had three interceptions, and I think you had a fumble.

some defensive scores. I am nervous. And Jalen Warren last week, Jason, we talked about this yesterday in the studio after the show. Jalen Warren got the, he got the introduction for the team. As the starter. And I've heard some people talk about how Mike Tomlin has now named Jalen Warren the starter. That's not true. That is not the truth. If you look at what Mike Tomlin said, this was just an honor before the game so that in the introductions at home, They could, he said he wanted to reward Jalen Warren's play with that honor of being introduced as the starter for the game. Like he gets to run out as the, you know, as the starter be announced. And that's a really cool honor. He says he does this all the time for different players, sub package defensive guys. He'll name as a starter for a home game. You know, Jalen Warren's involved, but he is not, he is not the starter of this. That got overblown from a headline.

not listening to what Mike Tomlin was actually saying. Yeah, and last week they split snaps exactly. Naji Harris, I think, had the first five carries. It's a pure 50-50 split against the number four ranked defense. The Browns give up 14 points on the ground. Oh, so split it in half. Seven points. No, thank you. I bench both. Jerome Ford is in play to me because I think they're going to be very run-centric. And if they do what you just said, if they flip the field on Kenny Pickett, Jerome Ford is going to get it. the majority of the work and the Steelers are only middle of the pack against that. Again, when I said lower the ceiling, I meant every player in this game is not going to give you a weak winning performance. Correct. The next game is the Bears and the Lions. Oh, by the way, are you interested in Fryer Mutes on return or are you just watching? Like as in starting him? Correct. No, I'm not going to start him against the Browns. The Browns are.

number one on the season against tight ends. So no thank you. I only bring it up because a lot of fab has been spent on him recently. The Bears, three and seven. The Lions are seven and two. The Draft King Sportsbook line Detroit, minus seven and a half. The overrunners 48. And they were even more favored before the Fields' expectation for him to start. Yeah, started as a double digit favorite for the Lions with Fields announces the starter. Now it's at seven and a half. And I think this is really good. Fields being active in this game is just good for all parties, kind of the opposite of what happened with Sean Watson in the previous matchup. And we get revenge game narrative. David Montgomery. Yeah, there could be some more opportunity given there. The Bears defense, we need to remember it's been much better against the run in recent history. You can't look at the whole year where they're terrible.

But over the last, like literally on the year, schedule adjusted, they're 26th. Yeah, they're terrible. They're one of the worst. Over the last six weeks, they're fourth. They've been giving up 13.6 fantasy points per game. It's something to keep in mind, it's not going to impact what your decision is this week, though. And it has been against quality running backs. It hasn't just been a schedule of scrubs. They've really limited people on the ground. They do give it up a little bit more through the air. So in this matchup, even though there is the revenge narrative of David Montgomery, I am Jemir Gibbs over David Montgomery in this match. Interesting. I think his utilization, the fact that he had multiple goal line opportunities last week, and he catches the ball. He's more and more involved. I love both players. I'm starting both guys, but if I had to pick one, I'm going to Javier Gibbs.

I haven't validated it, but I had seen it sourced a couple of times or mentioned a couple of times that they actually called Montgomery in for that goal line. And that Montgomery waved it off to give it to Gibbs. Oh, really? Because Gibbs had the big run to get down there. No, that is, that is, that is, that is. So I think that that is a very real possibility that that's what transpired. Wow. And obviously Gibbs succeeding for three consecutive weeks. You're going to expect the team to give him more opportunity. This is the lines at home. Golf is a must play. Gibbs and Montgomery aren't leaving your lineup. Almanra St. Brown is a top five receiver in my opinion right now. For sure. And then Sam Leporta is, of course, going to be started in this game. Jason threw out the interesting thought process that Jameson Williams.

may have more opportunity in this offense. And you set it on the basis of the fact that he laid a big block. He was participating in more and more. And then we got a quote after the game. Yeah. So Dan Campbell on Jameson Williams, he said, quote, he feels like he's one of the guys now. The more that he earns his stripes here, the more opportunities he gets. He's in a good place right now. He's improving. These quotes matter because these are not the quotes that have been coming out on Jameson Williams. Yeah, I think it was before we were recording yesterday.

I said, like, I think James and William's going to break out soon. I'm in on him now because what he did when he ran down the field and opened up that opportunity for David Montgomery to score the 75-yard rushing yard, that was Lions football. That is not what he's been doing. And they literally said, you don't block, you don't get the rock. That's what they have told James and Williams. So he goes downfield and he blocks. They're going to try to get him the ball. On the other side, the matchup. Justin Fields, you said you'd play him. Here's where the running back stand in Chicago right now. Khalil Herbert, still on IR technically, was limited in Wednesday's practice. We thought we'd get him back last week. We didn't. So I don't know if that means things just didn't feel right. But so far, we don't know if he's going to be out there. Now, Deont de Foreman is also limited.

with an ankle injury. Rochon is just a complimentary back. His role's not changing? None of this matters. None of this matters. Just don't play him. If Khalil Herbert and Rochon Johnson are both gone, I'm not playing Deont de Forman. This is a game that doesn't project well. The Lions have a great ground defense against the run. And this will be a timeshare, so I'm not interested in these players. Give me your season finishing. viewpoint on DJ Moore. DJ Moore had a 45 point explosion against Washington in week five and a big week the week before. Those are two Justin Fields games. Now he had a Justin Fields game in week six. That was seven point six fantasy points. And then the last four weeks he's been held in check because Tyler or Tyson Baygent has been the quarterback. So do you view DJ Moore as a what rest of season? I view him as a top 15 wide receiver rest of season.

That week six where he only put up seven and a half fantasy points, he, Justin Fields only played 53% of the snaps. He wasn't, he didn't, he played half a game. So I'm not worried about that for DJ Moore. They were on a heater together. DJ Moore is a solid, solid option this week. All right. Any other players from this matchup you want to throw out there? Cole Commet has been on a tear. Obviously, it's been with Tason. I can't remember his first name because he's Bilbo. We have called him Bilbo for quite a while, or Secret Bejant Man. Yeah, so Bilbo Bejant has loved himself some Cole Commet. But, you know, what Cole has done is he's shown that he's a dude out there.