Starts of the Week + Week 12 Breakdown, It’s Football Time! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 11/21

I'd play Jaden Reed. I'd play Marvin Harrison. I'd play Jameson Williams. Okay. I'd play Jackson Smith and Jigbub. Playing James and Williams, I think that's the, if you'd play Jameson Williams in this same game over Josh Downs, that says Josh Downs is not an auto start. Jonathan Taylor is an auto start. I play Jerry Rice over him, Randy Moss. So really here, and I guess the question comes down, so you would not play Anthony Richardson? I'd try not to, yeah. Okay. Yeah, because Richardson has shown us that even when, you know, the run that he had, he looked good last week. It was against the Jets. The Jets are circling the drain. I think your risk is very high. I think you could still get an okay game, but we haven't actually seen that. All we've actually seen from Richard. We've not seen the middle game from Richardson. Right. We've actually only seen. Like for 11 career games, it's either he's.

Awesome for fantasy or he sucks. Yeah, I mean, his bad games, his five-game stretch was 20 or lower in the finish. So if you are not a crazy underdog, I just don't understand you taking the risk of single-digit points there. So Baker, you know, Knicks, obviously, Stroud, I would go all those guys. It gets pretty easy on the lion side in terms of Gibbs, Monty. Alman Ra, Jameson Williams, and then... Even Leporta, the matchup is great if he's active. And it looks like the reports that were coming out, he was at practice. And Dan Campbell said that it's still iffy, but he's leaning in the right direction. So I believe Leporta will play. And I'm going to start everyone. The question is just golf. Yeah, and you don't really play him. You might miss a great game, but I mean, to me, that's...

He hasn't had many great games. No, no, he's been on waiver wires. It's tough when he's coming off of like a 40 point fantasy walloping to bench him. You know, you want to keep the hot street going with him? The real question, would you play him or Richardson in this game? And I'd probably play golf. I would play golf over Richardson. Jonathan Taylor, it's going to be a tough one. Detroit's defense, Stonewall is the running back position. They have not led a running back. hit 100 yards and then now we know like last week when they're on the goal line Richardson ran two in so if you don't hit 100 yards and you don't catch passes and you don't get a touchdown that could be it could be it could be rough you're you're hoping that he gets 10 points yeah exactly now I believe it was Kenneth Walker earlier this year who had like let me have a three touchdown game against Detroit so crazy things can happen and obviously you're going to bet on talent uh Jonathan Taylor one of the most talented running backs out there so you got you got to start him

I don't remember. No Michael Pittman. No, pity city is the pits. I thought of a different phrase. New England, three and eight, Miami, four and six, drafting sportsbook line, Miami minus seven and a half. Heavy favorites at home. Over under is 46 points. Miami beat the Patriots 15 to 10 with Tyler Huntley back in week five. They have been scoring points. They scored 27, 27, 2334 with Tua. Do you feel really, do you feel like there's anything that's going to change the way it looks like this game is going to go? Yeah, I mean, it can always change when you have a rookie quarterback that is, that has shown enough to say, to say, oh, he could, he could take, you know, he could elevate this team.

When I look at Drake May play, certainly it doesn't always go well. You know, 19 points against Chicago two weeks ago, 17 points against Tennessee, three weeks ago. Wasn't, you know, outrageously great. But he's a rookie, and I do think that he could surprise here and keep them in this game. That's my hope. My hope is that they can keep. the pace with the dolphins so that the dolphins have to keep scoring. You look at the dolphins at how much they've given up to the tight-in position, and you've got Hunter Henry your start of the week. You've got Austin Hooper. You have the ability to attack that part of the field for the Patriots. And so I'm a little hopeful that they can keep it close. I think maybe the perception of New England is a little bit off right now. So they've won two of their last four games, right? So they won 25, 22, and they won 19 to 3.

In their two losses, they lost 20 to 17, so three points. Very close. And 22 to 28 against the Rams, six points. So they're not getting, like, they're not getting blown out. Like they haven't lost by even the line in this game. No, I took the Patriots to cover this line in our picks. I do believe it will be a little bit of a closer game and it's obviously a divisional matchup. Stevenson's the running back 20 on the year. You can play him, especially on a bi-week riddled. week like this one. You know, Hunter Henry, start of the week. We talked about him. Kishan Boutte. Six targets in each the last four games. Oh, Marga the beast. Playing a ton of, no, it's four straight games, Jason. That's six, six, six, six. Okay. But what's his last three? Margot the best. 82, 96, 97, 96 percent snap count. He's always out there. So if I'm taking a random shot, if I'm doing a

A DFS dart throw. I want them out there every play. I do not. You want them on the bench? No, I want them out there every play. I'm just, I don't want Bouté this week. You've got Pop Douglas over the last couple weeks as well. You know, games with nine targets, seven targets. He's involved as well. The Dolphins. Boutte or Waddle? Waddle. The Dolphins past defense has been very, very good. You know, schedule adjusted. Their top three against wide receivers, top five against quarterbacks. And, you know, you usually beat them on the ground. So I feel like Hunter Henry is fine. Remandre on a bye week is okay. And then you check out from the Patriots side of the ball. Johnny Smith after the big week and he's been performing or Hawkinson. Do you like Johnny or Hawkinson? I still like Hawkinson better. Andrews or Johnny Smith? Andrews. Ertz or Johnny Smith? Johnw Smith.

Okay, Tyree kills in your lineup, A-chan's in your lineup. Mostard is benched, hopefully. He has been doing nothing, and Jalen Wright's bench because he's been doing nothing as well. It's really been A-chan and no one else. And let me be clear, Jalen Waddle should be benched. So I just answered, I would play him over Boutte, but that is. That's not a sentence. That's impressive. We're talking wide receivers 40s, 50s, you know, not the order of them at that point. It doesn't really matter. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 4 and 6 off the buy, traveled to New York and take on the 2 and 8 Giants who will have a new quarterback. D.K. Sportsbook Line here, Tampa Mine is 6. Over under is 41.5, so it's pretty low. 23 to 17 is the line, or 2418. Both teams coming off the buy, actually, and Buccaneers have lost four in a row.

They've been close. They've been fighting. They've been trying. I can't believe they've lost four games in a row. It doesn't feel that way. All four of those games. They won our hearts during those games. They did. They played good football and took a bunch of L's. So there's a team coming off a buy who still has playoff aspirations unlike the Giants. That's like Al's League of Record team. Right. You know what I mean? They're out there. They're fighting. They're doing a good job, but they can't play defense. Yeah. Owl, your team is like. You look good. You look like a scary team. You might miss the playoffs. But. But great team. But it's super good team. Bad points against, though. Yeah, I don't know. Don't know why you're managing so poorly. He just upsets the other owners in the league. They score a lot of points against them. He just hypes. He gives them a lot of chalkboard material. You know what I mean? You're putting up posters about what he said. He's going to shoot us. Tommy DeVito will start for the.

Giants. Baker Mayfield is your bonus start of the week, Jason. And you'd play him over Gino. You'd play him over Tua. You'd play him over Love? Yeah. Yeah. Jordan Love, too? Well, no, no, no. I think I would. I think I would. We've got to remember how good Baker has been this year. He is the fifth-ranked quarterback in fantasy. On the course of the season, I believe he's quarterback four, but maybe scoring changes. The last two weeks, he had slightly down weeks. That was against Kansas City and against San Francisco, and that was without Mike Evans. You got to give the guy a little bit of a break with a bad toe. Now he's coming off a by with Mike Evans. I'm going to keep assuming that Baker has it. And they need, I mean, this is a must-win game for them. They are truly a team still competing for the playoffs, and they're playing against a team who is seemingly trying to get the best pick they can now. Kate Otten?

Very solid start, although the Giants have been the best team against the tight-in position. His line is 51.5. Jalen McMillan, a full participant in Wednesday, this is great coming off the buy, maybe a little bit scary or fraud. I honestly don't want to talk about Jailen McMillan ever again. Like Jailen-Millan has done jack crap for anybody ever since he's been talked about. Like ever since the injuries, he's done nothing. Three for 15, four for 35, missed the game. and then was a goose because he was active in week 10, but didn't play a snap. Yeah, I mean. So, like, I just don't think he's worth talking about until he has a game. I genuinely think he could. So here's why. Let me make the argument. He didn't do it without him. Let me, let me make the argument for it. I realize he didn't have big fantasy productive games. However, I think he's a good wide receiver, good tape rookie coming in. He had eight targets and then seven targets post Chris Godwin.

Then he got injured, and we haven't seen him since then. You say, oh, he was active. And it was basically like, you call it a healthy scratch, but he was injured. He didn't play. I understand that he had targets in those two games, but he did not have production. And they have other players that have also, they've also started to work into the offense. Sterling Shepard's been out there a lot. Otten has taken over. Mike Evans is coming back. Rashad White started getting more reception. I don't, I just think it's not worth. You don't want him hurting your Kate Otton.

I see right through you. He can't. He's proven he can't. Okay. He can't hurt them. He's helped him by not being good. Well, we'll see. I don't think he's going to end up hurting. And he's made mistakes, by the way. I don't think he's going to hurt Kate Otton. Kate Otten, I believe is established. He's not hurting anybody. But I would still, like Jaila Mcmillan, if he was on waivers, I would want him on my team. A rookie with opportunity could surprise. On the other side of the ball, I almost made Malik Neighbors my start of the week. I think he is worthy of that because I wanted.

You know, you worry. Like he hadn't been producing much with Daniel Jones, and now you go down to Tommy Danny DeVito, and you're like, can I start him? Yes, I believe you can't start, especially in this matchup. There's really no secondary for the Bucks. And that's why they've lost these games. They've lost four games in a row. It's because their secondary is non-existent. Tyrone Tracy is a definite start this week, averaging nearly 19 opportunities a game. I think you could play both Irving and Rashad White. That's been an area that Giants have become softer and softer in defending the running back. Bucky's been getting more and more praise from the head coach. 68 and a half is the rush receiving line. Bucky's looked good. Bucky's had big fantasy production as well. He's actually been kind of under the radar really good since about his opportunity, you know, when it started up in week three.

on pace since then for 51 receptions, 170 attempts on the ground, almost nine touchdowns. Yeah, I would be playing both of those running backs because I think it's funny. Bucky came onto the scene and I feel like got a lot of publicity while Rashad White was looking poor at the beginning of the year. And now under the radar is both of them because Rashad White's been good. Rashad White's, you know, the last month before the buy, he was double digits in all of those games, had one game where he, two games where he was a top 10 running back. So I think you start both players. All right. Let's take a quick break and then we'll jump into a couple more matchups. Before we move on. All righty. I want to, I want, well, hold on here. Let me go. Let me look here at these, these underpants. What is happening? What is going on? I'm just saying. I think Tommy DeVito.

is going to be an okay play this week. That is... He had five games started last year as a rookie. In those games, he was on pace for over 500 rushing yards, which is great. The matchup is good against Tampa Bay. And I'm not saying as a single quarterback start, but in Super Flex leagues... You can keep things in your head, man. You can keep things in your head. I have... You don't have to put them on. They're already on. I can't get them off. I don't know how to take them off. I just... Who on earth? You just want this out in the ether? You just want the world to hear you and Tommy DeVita? There are... DeVita? What are we doing here? Yeah, that was in my head. No, there are leagues where you are... I mean, I've had multiple Superflex leagues where I don't have a quarterback to play because of biweeks or if you had picked up Tommy DeVito and you don't have a second quarterback...

I think he's okay in a Superflex. That's what I'm saying. This isn't like a must start, you know, Tommy Cutlets, but I, you know, I think he's going to be a top 20 quarterback this week. Dallas is 3 and 7. The commanders are 7 and 4. It's in Washington. And Washington 10 and a half point home favorites. The overrunner is 45 and a half. It is becoming increasingly difficult to create a hypothetical world in which Dallas can do enough on offense. to defeat its opponent on any given week. That is the challenge. It just, their implied point total here, 17 and a half. The overrunners 45 and a half that gives the commanders almost 30 points. You know, Dan Quinn, you've seen his departure and the impact has had on Dallas. They are the worst team in the league, or rather, let's put it positively, everyone's favorite team to run on.

Yeah, when you talk about the running game, I mean, this is why I've got Brian Robinson as my start of the week. His D.K. rushing line is 69 and a half yards. Very nice. On the other side, you can make the argument, okay, Washington commanders who came out and shocked the world with how good they were are, they've lost the last two games in a row. So if for some reason this game goes awry and the Dallas Cowboys. you know, with Cooper Rush coming and beat him, I think people are going to start freaking out about the commanders. But it's probably not going to happen. The commanders lost by one point against Pittsburgh. They lost by one score against Philadelphia. I get it. I mean, they're going to win. You're not wrong. They'll panic. I think people want to see Jaden Daniels return to form in terms of fantasy production. Yes. You know, he's only hit 20 fantasy points once in the last five games. And the truth is is when a rookie quarterback comes out and is on fire like that.

We want to believe that the rest of his career is predetermined. And it's not, it's just not the case. The last five weeks, I mean, he hasn't finished. What's it been? Highest finish was quarterback nine on a week. That's the first time since week five. That's his highest finish. That's a long run. Yeah. He has not. Like he's the quarterback six on the year still. Through the first month of the season, he was top 10, three of the four times. He was the quarterback three, the quarterback four, the quarterback seven. And since that month, the first month of the season, like you said, he hasn't been higher than the quarterback nine. It's been kind of a middle. Would you worry about that going into the fantasy playoffs if you had them as your quarterback? I would not because I think that the first week against the Saints and the championship week against the Falcons are good matchups. This matchup is one where you have a path to worry.

because they're 10.5 point favorites. That's great. They should score a lot of points. But Brian Robinson in the running game can just eat up the Dallas Cowboys. And now all of a sudden, if you don't get a second half from Jaden Daniels because the game's out of hand. I mean, I just, I'm not that worried about that. I'm starting him. Dayton Daniels got 20 point, 28 point in played point total. I think he's going to be a big part of that. At least, you know, the rushing defense. that is so bad against running backs. It will also be bad against Jaden Daniels himself. Back on the horse with Terry McLaren? Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, you talked about the lockdown nature of the last opponent for Terry McLaren. He's the wide receiver six on the season. Last week was a huge dud game, but that was the first dud game since week two. Comfortable with Austin Echler. He's been putting up great numbers running back 16, 6 and 14 last week, even with Robinson back.

Flexworthy? I mean, he's looked great all season as far as on film. So I am fine in this matchup, 10 and a half point favorites. That's where you can share duties and put them in. Like next week, they play the Tennessee Titans. I think a much better run defense. I wouldn't start. I wouldn't start Echler there. Speaking of duties, the Cowboys offense, the Schoon Man is your titanium underpants start of the week. If you are desperate. But really, it's C.D. Lamb and that's it. Yeah. In terms of confidence plays, C.D. Lamb seems like the only one to talk about. Six and a half reception line primary target. Well, in honor of Mike, we've got to discuss Rico Dowdle. Rico Dowell. I just did when I said that CD Lam is your only start. Okay. All right. That was my way of speaking about Dowdle. Dowdle was not good last week. Only two receptions.

Only 10 carries. I don't think you can start him here, especially in a game where you are down. I will say that my- Single digits in the last two weeks. Yeah, my schoonmaker started the week. If I had to decide between him and Zach Ertz, I would actually go schoon man. Because while we talk about, hey, Jaden Daniels has a 28 point implied total and so he could get his, I don't think it has to come in the passing game that much. And I don't think they're going to need to be airing. Like, how many times you think Jane Dales throws the ball this game? You know, I don't think he goes north of 30. And so. Yeah, probably 30, 33, 34. So it's like, it's a small pie. Whereas for the whole game, you're going to have Cooper Rush, I think you're going to end up towards the end of the game with some prevent defense where Schoon Man just has four or five receptions of the fourth quarter.

The Chiefs are 9 and 1. The Panthers are 3 and 7 and the Chiefs get to go play them in Carolina. The sportsbook line here. Kansas City minus 11 over under is 43. Jason was disturbed. Maybe that's the wrong word. Displeased when I outbid him for the Chief's defense this week. Yeah, that was really upsetting. I needed them. I want to, every waiver while I like it when each, like everyone in the studio is unhappy with me. That means I did my job. Yeah, good job. Good work. But the chiefs this week, it looks really good against Bryce Young and company. His passing line for touchdowns is 0.5. Yeah, 0.5. So it's like, will he throw one or will he not? And I probably take the under. Yeah, it's not great. It's also hard right now to have any confidence in any wide out, especially in this matchup. So this is the wait and see week. Does stealing get a lot of opportunities in PPR? We'll find out this week with him on your bench. Xavier Leggett.

worked into the offense as the centerpiece. Find out with him on your bench. Yeah, exactly. And Jonathan Brooks expected to make his long away to debut rookie second round running back draft pick. And we'll learn about him from your bench. From your bench. And the only player you can play on the entire team is Chuba Hubbard. But even his rushing line is 49 and a half. Yeah, that's not great. Isn't that below Bucky Irving? And you don't know how much Jonathan Brooks is going to eat into that. I fully expect Truba Hubbard to have the lead role in this game. I don't think Jonathan Brooks comes in and makes it 50-50. But you're going to lose, I think, some of the passing work to Jonathan Brooks. And this is a terrible matchup. How bad? Well, over the last six weeks, over the last six weeks, Chiefs are number one against running backs. Over the season, they're number one. But if you adjust for schedule over the course of the season, also number one.

So they do not give up a lot on the ground to running backs. And what would you defend against if you were facing the Carolina Panthers? Like of all their scale position players, what would you possibly try to stop? I would focus on not Bryce Young. Yeah, I'd focus on the run. It's troublesome. Mahomes? I would prefer to not start him, to be honest. Now, he's been much better. You'd play Jordan Love. You play Bo Nix? Yes, I'd play Bo Nix. I'd play Baker Mayfield. He has... He's thrown some touchdowns. You know, he threw three touchdowns this last week and going back two weeks before that, three touchdowns. So there's some light. There's some light there. But at the same time, you know, he's not hitting 20 fantasy points. He's literally only hit that once this entire season. And this is the type of game where it's probably not going to be competitive. Any renewed excitement about Xavier Worthy after his 4-4-61 first drive last week? He then inexplicably,

did the thing where he catches a long pass and has the, it's super easy to get both feet in and he doesn't still somehow. I mean, he would have another like 40, 50 yards down the field all alone doesn't get his feet in. It was a little nice to see in so much as I think that's the packages going forward. Now that Juju Smith-Schuster was back and Hopkins wasn't the like Rushy Rice role and they kind of just utilized Xavier Worthy in, I think. Slightly better ways, but I don't want to start him. I'm not going to start him in this matchup. Are you learning about this new Kareem Hunt, Isaiah Pacheco rotation with either of them on your bench? Because Pacheco could be back out there. Andy Reid said they're going to find a way. Both are good players in terms of getting them snaps. Try to get them both in there. Are you scared? I don't think Pacheco plays this week. I will be very surprised. He's...

He's eligible. The reports last week were he's aiming for this week to play. So, I mean, you know, be prepared. It's just my presumption after following this for the whole season. You think next week, week 13? Yeah, I think week 13. So in that case, Hunt is in. Yeah, TBD. Hunt is super in. Hunt is in either way. If Pacheco is active, Hunt is 100% in. The question is if Pacheco is active against the. Panthers, you know, 32nd against running backs, a game you're going to be up. Could you start both of them? I'd like to give it a week because I don't know how much work they'll give Pacheco first game back. Especially if they don't need him. Yeah, I mean, so Hunt is no matter what in Pacheco is like a prayer if he's active, but I don't think he's going to be active. There was a lot of excitement around DeAndre Hopkins three weeks ago when he went eight for 86 with two touchdowns. Unfortunately, what we've seen from Hopkins in the last.

two to three years is he has those games even with tennessee he had those games with arizona towards the tail end he had those games where it was it looked kind of vintage hopkins always makes a competitive catch great around the red zone the last two weeks four for fifty six no scores three for twenty nine no scores a snap count down to forty seven percent last week against buffalo with juju's return We talked about Worthy. Are you worried about Hopkins at this point? Yeah, a little bit worried because Juju coming in and kind of splitting the role there, which allows Xavier Worthy to have an elevated role himself. You just don't know where the targets are going to go. You're seeing McCall Hardman out there again. And I fully expect Travis Kelsey to stay very, very involved. Obviously last week.

Two catches for eight yards. Noah Gray? Huge letdown. Noah Gray was the one at the tight-up position that got it done. But the previous three weeks, you had Kelsey with 12 targets, 10 receptions, 16 targets, 14 receptions, 12 targets, eight receptions. So you're not, you're not moving. I'm not terrified there. Let me ask you this, just giving you some names to compare with Hopkins in your confidence level. Tank Dell against Tennessee or DeAndre Hopkins. Those guys are back to back in my rankings this week. This week against Tennessee. I'm going to go tank. What about Waddle or DeAndre Hopkins? I'll go Hopkins. What about DJ Moore? I'll go DJ Moore. Okay. Calvin Ridley? Ridley. Josh Downs. Downs. Okay. So that's where we're at with Hopkins. You can see all of the weekly rankings on the site, the Fantasy Footballers.com. You can get the app. The Fantasy Footballers app on iOS or Android. And see the rankings on there. StartSit tool.

I think that covers that game pretty well. Does that mean it's time to party? I think it's time for some parley, partake. Could I get a crown please? Yes, sir. Thank you very much. It is, it is good to wear the crown. Yes, sir. We three kings. You're looking good, Jay Gris. This week was good. This week was good. Jay Gris has got the crown on too. So this last week, Andy, you had Calvin Ridley more than 50 receiving yards. He had 58. I had Bijon Robinson over three and a half receptions. He had four. Mike with George Pickens over 60 receiving yards. He had 89. We both, this is the second straight week. You had a panic attack because you thought you didn't get your number and then you just checked the box score. And then Bijan had one more catch than we saw. Yeah, A Chan two weeks ago, Bejohn this last week where I'm counting the catch is just watching the game and feeling like I'm one behind. And it just, what was crazy is like to start the game, Bijon had like three receptions, like right off the bat. Oh yeah, the first drive. He had, he had.