Week 15 Waivers & League Winners, Playoff Prep - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/13

Well, it's go time for your fantasy playoffs. And today's show, it's going to mean a lot to you because we've got waiver pickups. Last year at this time, there were at least three league winners still sitting on your waiver wire. Today we reveal some of this year's potential league winners. We talk through the news and a whole lot more. Make sure you like this video. Subscribe. Enjoy the show. The Fantasy Footballer Studio is brought to you by Samsung Galaxy. Visit Samsung.com to learn more. To the fantasy footballers podcast. With your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. Tuesday, December 13th. The Fantasy Footballers podcast, Andy Mike and Jason, back with you, Al Borland. Somewhere in outer space, Judge Diomati is here, the Borgogh as well. We're through it. You're either happy or sad right now.

There are two states of mind, states of being. You are happy. You are sad. You are casting blame upon whatever. Or you are rejoicing in your absolute perfect skill. And I feel like last night was about the equivalent of we were all running the marathon race. The ribbon is there. And that game, we just, we ran and it was act. The ribbon didn't break. We all bounced off of it and crumpled down into a heap of injured bodies. Yes, some of us ran through the ribbon that sliced us in half. Yes. That was a brutal game, both in many ways, injury wise, football wise, cardinal wise. So that was not very fun. But remember, but remember, if you're in any of your league still, that is your most important league.

Yes, yes, it is. Be happy because you're in the playoffs, baby. Yeah, last night was a mess. Kyla Murray almost certainly tore his ACL and will miss a long period of time. I mean, you're going to go into 2023 without him. When you get him back, will he run the football? I mean, the question marks are robust now in Arizona. You also have, I mean, you. I don't know. Does it make them less attractive for a Sean Peyton at this point? Does it change the narrative for the end of the season, right? Like if you take Kyler Murray and you still go, you know, the Cardinals had, they have a pretty easy schedule over the back four games. And so there was a world where they could run off five straight and Cliff Kingsbury would stay the coach. There was a world where you could blow games against bad teams and then maybe they make a change. It all goes to the pot now. I mean, it's just.

A mess, Cardinals get whipped up on by the Patriots, 27 to 13. Remandre Stevenson left with an ankle injury. You're going to be monitoring his injury heading into the playoffs. Twice. Yeah, he did that. I got hurt. I taped it up. I couldn't run on it. And then DeVonte Parker was out with a concussion. James Connor left the game a couple of times, but he was fine. He was great. I mean, James Connor has run. In the last handful of games, better than I've seen him in an Arizona uniform. The touchdown run was not very long, maybe a 10-yard or so, but it was an incredible run of he looked like just absolutely trapped in the line.

kept churning those legs and going and ends up with the touchdown. He's going to be great for the playoffs. Sorry. I just, I just think that like one carry for somebody other than James Connor in the offense. He gets every single snap. He catches five to six passes a week now. Yeah, especially with Colt McCoy there. I'll bet he catches even more passes going forward. And the nice thing was he did this against a really tough defense. It wasn't, you know, the Patriots run defense is fantastic. So to actually, you look at the playoff strength of schedule, and it doesn't appear very great for James Connor. But this one wasn't great. And he ran through guys and looked really good. And we saw, Fookland, the, the Kyler injury.

We know the implications because our Dynasty League, a team needed what, I think, 0.7. That's what he came up short with. He needed 0.7 more points from Kyler, which, I mean, like coming into the game, whatever, I know it's. That's a guarantee. Yes. And didn't get it. Misses the playoffs because of it. Saw several teams with like. Kyler and Ramondri Stevenson. Going into Monday night, I needed six points. And so, I mean, just an absolute brutal, brutal finish. I saw one of those where a guy needed a, he only needed a couple of points from them. And he ended up having faced Jerich McKinnon, Chuba Hubbard, and Evan Ingram. So the other team had no other team didn't even feel much of a roster, but felt, you know, used those three players.

I mean, this is, this is, you know, it's part of the game. Part of the game. We were joking around in the studio yesterday. It's like, you know, one of our developers had a win and in situation. Face Evan Ingram is out. And it was like, this is, this is fantasy. This isn't changing. You're never going to get to the point where, um, what, what you put on paper happens every single week. You know this because you see the betting lines. You see the, uh, the way Vegas. Maths these games out and then things turn on their head and the Rams went on a Thursday night and Denver keeps it close against Kansas City. Houston is winning deep into the fourth quarter against the Dallas Cowboys. It's just what it is. Implications of the injury for Ramandre. You know, you saw Pierre Strong Jr. come in with a big game, 70 yards on the ground, a touchdown, caught two passes. We'll be watching really closely as to whether you have Ramondre.

And no Harris, Ramandre and Harris, neither. And then it's Pierce Strong. Harris, that being Damien Harris. Yes. Because also Kevin Harris, their other rookie is someone that. Fair enough. Might be worth picking up. So it'll be very interesting this week. Obviously, as we get into the running back waivers today, we'll just have to make our decisions right now as to which New England Patriot we're going for. All right. Let's jump into some news before we hit the waiver wire. News and notes from Around the League. Presented by USAA Insurance. Well, the Cowboys. They're signing a wide receiver. Oh, no. This is a man who really likes it in Texas. Yeah. Historically. A week too late. T.Y Houston himself, see if he can be as effective in Dallas. But T.Y. Hilton.

I also, so T.Y. Hilton signs with the Cowboys. You would expect that they are not going to sign O'Dell Beckham. It doesn't completely rule it out, but you wouldn't think they're going to bring in two guys. So maybe O'Dell Beckham looks towards the Buffalo Bills, who he visited, who seemed like they need a wide receiver. Oh, wait a minute. They just signed Cole Beasley. Yeah, to the practice squad, Cole Beasley is unretired again. So we're doing that. Is that the pre-retirement where you come back just for the playoffs? Yes. Is that the game? I mean... You saw Beckham, right? His interview? No. Well, not interview, but he was on the LeBron show. I did not see this. Yeah, and he just said there's no point in coming back for the regular season. He's like, I don't. He's like, I could do it probably, but I'm not going to because why? Wow. Why? I could name a reason or two. He said, I'm here for the big stage. I...

Yeah, like if I'm running the team and I hear that, I don't know, that's not my favorite comments in the world. If I'm coaching the team, I'd be like, yeah, I'd like to make sure you're ready for the playoffs. Maybe know the system. I did mention on Sunday that the Beasles looked like he was missing from this offense. Yes, you did. And his people got a hold of him. He said, sure, I'll play football for money. And then he's back and. Did you guys talk about the Josh Allen press conference bit that's going around yesterday? Yes, we mentioned it. Because that was that was something else. And the idea of a press conference where it's just the player is sitting there and it's just the reporters are just saying saying things. Yeah, that was not a question. Hey, Josh. Love your car. I mean, just okay. Okay.

That was ridiculous. I couldn't believe it. T. Higgins. Do you have a question? No. But I'm not a big fan of that Razor commercial you've been doing. Okay. Yeah, I mean, it doesn't look like a team that can win a Super Bowl. All right. Yeah. You be you. So T.Y. Helton, not a fantasy signing there in Dallas just helps, you know, potentially helps Dak. Yeah. T. Higgins, hamstring day to day. That's going to be real fun for you, Mike, making that decision for this upcoming weekend. Because we know the possibility is he plays and he's fine. He plays and he's not fine. He says he's going to play and he doesn't play or he doesn't play. I think with this hamstring injury, you have to have, I feel like two full practices. If he's not practicing in full on Thursday, I will have a really hard time putting him in my lineup. And I was.

Excuse me. Reminded this was the second time that T. Higgins has done this. Yeah. He did it back in like week five or something. Now wasn't Zach Taylor the one who said he held him out? It was his decision? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So thanks for that, Zach. Uh, Mike White, day to day with a rib injury planning for him to be out there for the Jets, DJ Moore, knee sprain. Sianora. I mean, we're going to talk waivers today. Send DJ Moore packing. He's not going to help your fancy playoffs. Yeah. Andy Dalton is going to stay the starter. for the saints because it's working you know why why change it if it ain't broke i mean if it's super broke don't fix it i think it's more one of those like if it's broke it'll still be broken regardless of what we do so broke is how we operate they're still in the race right because tampa bay lost just barely no they're everybody's pretty close like within one five and eight right but i guess tampa bay six and seven everybody's bad yeah that's one back i guess that's fair

I believe the Panthers control their own destiny right now. They can win out. Yes. That's why they're in the playoffs. Oh, baby. That's unbelievable. I know. It's just the grossest. Look, if anything happens for the Panthers, as long as it is two more victories, then no Baker. People might be happy. No CMC. Getting it done. No problem. Yeah. Steve Wilkes, what's up? Got Deontza and Chuba. Damien Pierce, he's going to miss one to two weeks. Team waved Eno Benjamin as a result. That's how unlikable Eno is. I kept picturing the idea of like an empty backfield being somehow better than Eno in it for these teams. And they literally are still handing the ball off. They're just dropping it on the ground. Yeah. No, yeah. You turn around. You do hand it. But no, Eno was let go. So they signed Jared Dokes. And.

We're not going to have Damien Pierce for your fancy playoffs, most likely. And I doubt you're going to want to play him coming back from an ankle sprain in three weeks. Doesn't look good for Mike Boone to return this season for the Broncos, Marlon Mack, the last Mac standing. Yeah, he is. The Seahawks, Kenneth Walker, Limited. Estimated injury report. Oh, because of course, they're the Thursday game. Come on. Yeah, the night, that's what I was going to bring up. I really doubt that Kenneth Walker plays this week. He was a full D&P all last week. So he hasn't practiced yet, and they play on Thursday. So I would, I'd be surprised, but I mean, it's not. I have a feeling he might play. Yeah? Yeah. It's deep down. I mean, not, not in the witchcraft area, but just the way the team's talking, I have a.

I have a hunchy. I put him 50-50 myself. And I would say that that is... You ever jammed your ankle, Mike? You don't know what that's all about. That's new. You've been jammed. I'm saying that could be terrible for people. It could. Like, I think... It's San Francisco. I think Ken Walker missing this week may be the biggest blessing you could get for fantasy purposes. Do we want to just say bench him? Yes. Just take a formal policy here on Tuesday? Taking... All of the injury risk into that game against San Francisco. Who lets no one run. Is you better hope that if you played him and you get the line of 15 for 40 and a touchdown, you'd be root and tune cowboys for that line. It's just, it's going to be a really big problem. This is, this is not a great game for Seattle fantasy options. I agree. I know that they're at home, right?

Correct. That's helpful. That's definitely helpful for kind of defensive momentum against the team that has no running backs. But I'd be nervous if I had Seattle options heading into week one of the playoffs. Brock Purdy got an MRI on Monday. Josh Johnson would have to start for Brock Purdy if Purdy couldn't go. Josh Johnson, he is infinite. He just keeps popping up. Yeah, there's got to be like a little, like a text chain for everybody's favorite backups that the coaches go to because Josh Johnson's on that list. Yes. And then Debo, sprained MCL, ankle sprain, expected to return at some point. Not for your fantasy team. During the regular season, what is that? That is this very strange timeline. Yeah, the actual timeline would, it should put him back for the playoffs, but the team put out a presser saying that they.

hope and expect to have him back in the regular season. For fantasy purposes, you're not going to have him back. Like, I would cut Debo and move on. But it's great news that he didn't, you know, break his ankle. Yeah. There will be Christian McCaffrey bearing as much of the load as humanly possible. Yes. That was today's news and notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. Welcome to the fold. Presented by Samsung Galaxy. Very important show. Assuming you're still around in your fantasy leagues. We looked back at week 15 waivers last year. Wow. And there were league winners sitting on the waiver wire that people didn't know we're going to be league winners. Amon Ra was 32% rostered, became the playoff king last year. Alan Lazard was 11% rostered, ended up.

Wide receiver 21, 13, and 11 the last three weeks. How about Rashad Penny? Oh, yeah. Won a title with Rashad Penny last year. 24% rostered at this point last year was the running back one. So just think about that for a second. On the waiver wire was the number one playoff running back at this point last year. And this happens. And we came on and said we guarantee he's going to be the number one running back for the playoffs. Remember that? Oh, I remember. Kyle, you remember that? Great call guys. Thank you. Call it all. We checked the tape. Don't worry about it. Yeah, don't. We scrub that. Cut that, cut that, cut that. Every single year, this happens. There are waiver wire guys that win your championship. So if you're thinking like, oh, I've lost so-and-so to injury and I'm in the playoffs, but now my run is over. No, it's not. Make your moves. Well, and an example of that might be, and this is not me making the Rashad Penny call, but.

Players like Pierce Strong Jr. is they're an example of the type of opportunities that can, you know, manifest down the stretch where a team like the Patriots are fighting for their playoff lives. They need to run the football. They have provided fantasy value with the running backs throughout the year. And then suddenly an opportunity is there. And the guy is not rostered anywhere. I mean, in redrafts, he's not going to be on any roster. So don't forget to pay close attention this week. Take some shots, even if they don't pan out in week one, take some shots. And we will welcome a number of new players into the fold and see if they can help your fancy roster. And tis the time of the season where you are not just looking at your roster. Look at who you're playing. If you have a bye week, you might want to be looking like, just some projecting, who may I be playing next week? Do they need a position? Can I block that team by...

picking up who I believe is the best shot. Now, clearly you can't pick up every single player on the waivers, but you need to be active. Don't just look at your bench and go, I'm cool. Look at someone else's bench. If they are not cool, keep them iced. You've already prepared and you've picked up your defense for week 16. Great. But does your opponent have no good defense to play? And there's another good one out there. Just pick them up. Yep. Yeah, I have a dynasty team that has lost all its backup quarterbacks. And I've just been grabbing. other backups around the NFL. You saw last night, Kyle Murray goes down and Cole McCoy is suddenly a quarterback in play. So lots can happen. And I would also say just, you know, if you're in it, like you don't have a buy week. Like your championship week is this week. Mm-hmm. It's not, it's not two weeks from now. I know that you'd love to project the matchup for week 17, but this is your championship. You lose this week. You're gone.

So treat it as such. Spend whatever you need to on Fab to secure a win this week and figure it out for next week because a lot can happen. The juggernauts that you think are juggernauts could lose a player or two. All right, let's welcome some wide receivers into the fold. It looks like at the tippy top of our list right now, DJ Chark, 55% rostered, however, but plays the Jets, Carolina, Chicago. He's not number one on my wide receiver list. He's not number one on my list either. I think he is on mics, though. He is difficult because the matchup this week is not great against the New York Jets on the road. But he has been spectacular in the last couple of weeks since returning from injury. He does have, you know, the Jamison Williams issue of what is James and Williams?

snaps look like next week because he went from, you know, I think it was 10 and to about 20%. But the last two weeks against Jacksonville, 5 for 98, 6 for 94 with a touchdown against Minnesota. He is, I would say he's, we're saying if you're playing for this week, probably not my number one. If you have a bye week, though, I think that DJ Tark is someone who should be picked up because you get Carolina. in two weeks. Truth is, Donovan Peoples Jones, Zay Jones, and DJ Chark are not available in a lot of leagues. Sure. I would put them personally, I'd be Zay, People's Jones, and then Chark. Jason, I don't know what. Yeah, I have, I have Zay above DJ Chark, but my number one pickup. Yeah, I think you're going to go where. My number one pick up this week is Elijah Moore. Yeah.

In this matchup, you have one of the worst defenses against wide receivers in Detroit and the best defense against wide receivers in the New York Jets. And I realize that Elijah Moore has let people down for a while. But if you look at a lot of stuff that's going on, I think you could trust him. I think you can pick him up and play him in the playoffs. Elijah Moore has had 16 targets the last two weeks. Cordy Davis is probably going to miss this game. The matchup is perfect, and you have Mike White there. He ran 84% of the routes. So, I mean, this is now a full-time wide receiver with talent. He's playing out of the slot, which kills the Detroit Lions. I think Elijah Moore is my, like, he is my number one pickup. Yeah, I'm going to move him up for teams that need a play this week.

I'm slightly more concerned about the downside. I see the upside. But if Corey Davis is back, like, you know, the targets and the routes run last week are a partial reflection of the injury to Corey Davis. Denzel Mims still playing 70% of snaps. So if Corey Davis came back, I would be a little concerned. You know, the Minnesota match. It's fair. The Minnesota matchup was good for Elijah Moore the week before, where he only had two catches. But I do see the path to upside. And if Corey Davis misses a game due to his concussion, like, what more would you want than Mike White against Detroit and Jared Gough in that matchup? I would agree with you. This is projecting Corey Davis out. I would be much less confident.

If not that Elijah Moore couldn't get it done, but like I want him to have the 10 targets against Detroit because I think if he does, he'll have a great game. And if Cory Davis is there, it could go elsewhere. Now, Chris Moore is 5% rostered. And Kyle, what did I tell you I wasn't supposed to do on Friday? Yeah, you shouldn't have pivoted at all. So I did pivot. I did pivot mid show. Yeah. And I took Chris Moore out of my flex. Chris Moore went 10 for 1, 24. I did mention it at the end of the show. So if somebody took that, I mean, you wouldn't have for me. But Chris Moore had a monster game. I have a big question for you, though. Had you have not pivoted away from Chris Moore, would he have had a big game? No, you're right. I provided the big game. Thank you. I didn't think about that. Do me a favor. I would have also definitely won by a lot in our little shame town, or Andy's Shameathon.

Whatever we want to call. Don't pick him up. Yeah, my three wide receiver pickups. My rankings are Elijah Moore, Chris Moore, and then Jason Moore, and then Zay Jones. Interesting. I think, so you have the, like, do we have any more information on Nico or, or Brandon Cooks? Brandon Cooks, I would not see coming back. Nico is more possible. He's probably paddleboarding somewhere right now. Like, I don't think. Super hurt guys. I don't think Brandon Cooks. Splash, splash, splash. I don't think Brandon Cooks is. Checking the box score even. No, 100%. So, I mean, Nico could come back. But even without Nico, you've lost Damien Pierce. You're playing against the Kansas City Chiefs. You're going to be throwing the entire game. And it's one of those things where it's like, I don't know how Chris Moore doesn't have a PPR decent game. If you're trying to pick someone up where you're like, I've got an eight point baseline, maybe I can get 14 points out of this. And I mean, that's.

That's your dude. He just, he freaks me out a little bit with all the other variables. Because like the two weeks before, three targets, three targets. If the other guys are on the field, then Chris Moore has a lot of risk. Yeah, that's fair. Other other lower tier options to pay attention to is the wide receiver room in New England, depending on what happens with Devante Parker's concussion and the return of Jacoby Myers. You can take some dart throws at the Aguilar, Thornton, Kendrick-Borne trifecta as they take on the Raiders, a vulnerable defense. Yeah, it's a good matchup. That would be the order I would put them in, Agalore, Thornton, and Kendrick-Born. But I would need both of those other wide receivers to be out to be confident enough to play them. I don't know that we'll have- Yeah, Jacoby could be back. Yeah, I would expect Myers to be back, Parker, to be out.

Is there a world where this is more of an elevation of the tight-in confidence than it is the wide receiver room? Possibly. I mean, we saw Hunter Henry have a good game. Their two biggest plays of yesterday were two Hunter Henry on two different seam plays. That being said, it was the Arizona Cardinals who contractually are not allowed to guard tight-ins. So maybe. Maybe you could pick up Hunter Henry if you're missing other wide receiver options. And obviously... You're missing a wide receiver option in Ramandre Stevenson, who's been catching so many passes out of the backfield. Yeah, it's crazy because I feel like I can make a storyline for why each of those three wide receivers would be the best one for the week, which is what concerns me as well, like Al Gore, Thornton, and Bourne. Like, I feel like it could be any of them. And that would be a little bit of a gamble for your fantasy roster in the playoffs. But you can drop DJ more and take your shot if you want to.

Other players of potential interest. Robert Woods does take on the Chargers defense, and if they don't have the return of Traillenbergs, you could take a shot there. And Richie James had nine targets, PPR targeting Richie James, 19% rostered, 7 for 61 in a touchdown. He finds his way into the end zone. Like if you looked at him as a potential DFS play last week, He had had a couple of games where he got in there, and last week was one of them as well. And he's rostered in half of the leagues, but we talked about DJ Chark, who's been very relevant, not a great matchup this week, but maybe the next two weeks could be, you know, league winner. I almost lean the Jameson Williams side over DJ. I know he has not been as involved, but the talent is...

outstanding. And you look at the situations where you could have a player go from absolutely nothing to league winner. There's a lot of, you know, cards in the deck for that to happen with Jameson Williams. I'm definitely on the Chark side of that one. Yeah. Yeah, I see what you're... S safer for sure. Charc is much safer. I don't know if the transition can happen fast enough for me to be happy with it in fantasy. I mean, I feel like that could be two weeks from now as Detroit makes the playoffs, but... If I was starting one this week, Mike, would you start Chark or would you start Williams? If it's this week, it's definitely Chark. Again, the matchup is not something like DJ Chark is more of a next week type of a thing. But I guess the nice part is if you're not playing them this week, you can sit back and see if Jameson Williams snaps get up. Because 19% of snaps, it's not going to get it done. I know he had the 40-yard touchdown, but it was a, yeah, I got,