Week 16 Waivers + Jason Hurts, Full Stream Ahead - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/20

Well, he's getting 8 to 10 targets if. Yeah, Cooks and Collins. He can't be number two for me because you still have to watch Brandon Cooks and Nico Collins practice reports. I mean, I don't know if they come back to football this year. We don't know the full extent of what's going on with them. Of course, if they're out, then Chris Moore is very interesting. A couple more names that I think are intriguing this week. Russell Gage gets the Arizona Cardinals. That one has. 17% rostered right now. For 59 and 2 last week. Yeah, off of 12 targets, 62% of the snaps. This was the Russell gauge that people were starting to, you were getting excited for him as the third wide receiver for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And then they picked up Julio Jones. And it kind of destroyed all of that hope and that momentum. Julio Jones didn't play last week. I'm not sure what his status is. That's the same as more to me. This is exactly, it's very similar except.

You're playing the Arizona Cardinals, and it's still Tom Brady. I'd rather trust Tom Brady than over a Houston quarterback. And then the second name, who I think is a, like, I'm going to change my rankings and move him up of he's a one-week rental. It's Marquis Goodwin. Absolutely. Against the Kansas City Chiefs. He will be the plug and play replacement for Tyler Lockett. He is nowhere near as good as Tyler the Lockett because Lockett's a top tier wide receiver. But his opportunity is fantastic. He's come through already a couple times in this offense, and they're going to have to score. Like the Seattle Seahawks will not hold down the Kansas City Chiefs offense, forcing passing, and D.K. Metcalf and Markey's good one, I think, look pretty good right now. I agree with everything you just said. Those are my next two targets as well. Russell Gage has a great upcoming schedule. It's not just Arizona, but Arizona.

Carolina, and if you play in week 18, you've got Atlanta. So if Russell Gage kind of establishes that wide receiver three spot, and maybe the Tampa Bay Buccaneers get it together, great. And then obviously Goodwin this week against Kansas City. They're going to need him. We just saw him with 95 yards on a touchdown. He's had a couple big games. And if you're looking for a start, you have to start someone this week. This isn't a long-term thing. Goodwin is as good as anyone out there on the waivers for who. should be able to get 10 fantasy points this week. We're getting back to Great Win category? I think so. He could be. Now, he's a very good, he's a good player. He is a good player. He's got Olympic level speed, and I think it matches up pretty well against Kansas City Chiefs. That being said, this is going to be one of many super cold games in Kansas City, you know, feels like below zero type temperature. So that's never fun for the passers.

Yeah, and then you saw a huge step steps back for Ben Skoronic and Tutu Atwell this past week. They couldn't do anything yesterday with Baker. But they got a really good matchup this week. Mm-hmm. On Christmas. Denver Broncos. No, you don't touch any of them. Yep. You know, you've seen Richie James. You've seen involvement from Isaiah Hodgins. So. Desperate times if you need starts, those guys will be out there. The wide receiver, it's very top heavy. KJ. Osborne, you're chasing a week that isn't extremely prescriptive for me. That's chasing the dragon. You've basically had, you know, he had a pretty big week and week three and then disappeared for all of 10 weeks and then showed back up. So that's a tough one. They were throwing the ball a billion times in that game.

They play the Giants this week. I don't know if I'd chase. I don't, and call me crazy, I don't think they're going to be down 33 to do nothing before the half. And that's what caused last week's explosion. KJ. Osborne, I think, is a good player. I like him, but to rely on him when he could very realistically be the fourth target in the offense, it's hard, hard to put him in your starting lineup. I agree. And you can see all our waiver wire rankings on the website, the fantasy footballers.com for wide receivers. Let's dive into what running backs we are welcoming into the fold this week. Again, on the waiver show, we are targeting lower roster percentage players. And so right around 50-50, according to, I believe, Sleeper is Jerich McKinnon. I mean, this one is not, I mean, this is the layup of the week in terms of if he's there, you have to fight for him because he has back-to-back number one finishes.

at the running back position. Yeah, and he's got a great match up against Seattle. But let's assume he is rostered in your competitive leagues. And then that... Here we go. I mean, the question that I think most fancy managers have is how hard do you go after the Jonathan Taylor replacement and who is it? The situation is this. You have Zach Moss. who had the lion's share of the workload in replacement. As the game went on, it got even larger. No matter how bad he sucked, Jeff Saturday and the Colts team said, you're the guy we're relying on. Now, Andy pointed out in the studio that, because Dion Jackson is there, and Dion Jackson is better. He's just a better running back. He's looked good. He got the touchdown last week. He was far more efficient on every single carry. However,

He fumbled the ball. And when that fumble happened, that's when the splits were not so 50-50, and they gave much more work. I mean, they didn't want to, you know, fumble the game away and lose when they were up by so much. So they kept giving the ball to Zach Moss. So you have a question here of like, is Zach Moss going to be the leader of this timeshare in a significant way, a 60-40, 70-30 situation where he's the guy that the Colts are going to rely on, which I think has a realistic outcome? No. Or is it 50-50? No, I think it's not even 50-50. You think Dion Jackson takes over as the lead? I think Dion Jackson will have the majority of opportunities. And I think that comes down to my, you know, you have to write up what you think the game script's going to be. Do you believe the Chargers are going to put points up on the Colts? Yes.

Okay, who's the pass catcher? Dion Jackson is going to be out there for the past catching, in my opinion. Sure, Zach Moss did run more routes than Dion Jackson as well. So I don't think they have firm roles as one's a pass catcher, one's not. But here's the reality. He's the better player. Dion Jackson, like, let's say you go out there and you tell me, Zach Moss gets the ball 19 times and Dion Jackson gets the ball 14 times. I will absolutely take the fantasy points bet on Dion Jackson having more fantasy points than Zach Moss in that situation. Yeah, no, it's a good point. And I just think last game was not really indicative of their plans. I think if you told me I need a big guy to run into the back of my own lineman's butt and try to waste the clock out so we don't blow a 33 to nothing lead, I think you pick Zach Moss in that situation. If you want a more dynamic player, you pick Dion Jackson.

So I'm more on that side. I'm not saying it's impossible that Zach Moss could be the guy. I would be fighting tooth and nail for someone like Tyler Algier over either of those names. Tyler Algiers is 39% rosters. But, you know, people don't realize how good he's been and how committed the team is to him. If Cordarral Patterson was out on the waiver wire right now, what would we be discussing in the running back section? Nobody looks at Tyler Alger that way, but he gets more opportunities on the ground than Patterson every single week. Caleb Huntley is now out with an Achilles injury. It's not a huge amount of snaps, but it's more snaps. And I know you don't like the matchups because Baltimore is not a fun one on the road. The Falcons do not care who they're playing, where they're playing, what the score is. They will hand the ball off to the running backs over and over and over again. Alger was 17 for 139 against the New Orleans front last week.

You know, if McKinnon is presumably rostered, which in any competitive league, he 100% is after last week's RB1 finish. So he's not even really worth a discussion. I'm going Alger over Jackson and Moss. I will go Dion Jackson over Alger. Like I will go far harder the other way. And I think Alger is a good pickup as well. But the fact that the matchup, if I have to start one of these guys, the matchup against the Chargers versus on the road, Baltimore, the chance at. You know, I think both offenses are about the same quality as, you know, ability to put up points. And Dion Jackson going beyond that plays the Giants and the Houston Texans rest of the season. Both of these situations are- Algiers gets the Cardinals in two weeks. Both of these situations, you know, Caleb Huntley is done for the season. Jonathan Taylor is done. But Caleb Huntley, I think, you know, the last several weeks has been sub-five opportunities in each game. So Jonathan Taylor being gone.

I think you have a chance that Dion Jackson is, you know, is a league winner. So that's the player I'm going after. I don't disagree that there is a chance that one of those guys could become that. And when I'm making my bet, I'm putting it on Dion Jackson, too. Between him and Moss or between him and Alger? Between him and Moss. Of which of the Indianapolis Colts is the breakout? I mean, also remember, the plan for that game all week. was Jonathan Taylor. That was the game plan. And then it was, we have to react in real time and try and figure out what are we going to do here. Again, it could still end up, it could be Zach Moss. That's why. And so, so that's why I'm with Andy of, I'm going to go Tyler Algier, even though the matchup isn't nearly as good. But I know for sure what his role is in the offense. So I, and at this point, I would.

It's a very strange bet of huge, huge upside. But if you miss, you just, it's a complete, it could be a complete whiff where Tyler Alger will at least be steady and has some upside. Because he's, he's been pretty good considering his, his situation. I just, I just wanted to look back and remind myself, 24 carries for Zach Moss, and he scored eight fantasy points. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you're going to have to make your call based off of the information that we've laid out. At least there's good options here. Good options to go after. Yeah, Dion Jackson has a great opportunity against the Chargers this week, Alger, Arizona next week for the championship week. Cam Acres, you know he's going to get a decent amount of touches, probably rostered. Placed Denver. What do you do with the Chuba Hubbard deont de Foreman situation? Hubbard was awful.

Deont de Foreman was awful. Hubbard caught three passes, which is redeemable. If you have to pick someone up, you can't get the other guys on the list. Hubbard is an okay pickup, but he's playing against Detroit. The line's been shutting down the run completely over the last two months. So I'm not excited about Hubbard. And I, you know, hopefully you don't have to start one of those guys. I would rather roster someone like Jordan Mason. Alexander Madison. If you don't have to play them. Yeah, of course. You know, I think a lot of people might still be using their last bench spot on someone who can play like a Hubbard. But if you're not playing him, have the upside on your bench of, look, Jonathan Taylor just went down and now there's the mad dash. If, you know, Dalvin Cook.

were to go down. If Austin Echler were to go down, Joshua Kelly seems to be the clear backup. If Najee goes down, Jalen Warren is the backup. Those guys turn into championship week winning running backs. Are you fighting for Khalil Herbert? He's got two tougher matchups coming off of injured reserve. Detroit, you just talked about it. They shut down the run, and the bears are in Detroit next week, and then Buffalo this week. I'm not fighting for him. It's good to remember that he's coming back. Honestly, what he probably does is ruins a little bit of David Montgomery. If he is active for the game, they'll split the workload, and it's still Justin Fields as RB won. Tight end options this week. You can look at Tassum Hill, 37% rostered, had the passing touchdown in 80 yarder last week. Seven opportunities on the ground. Like, if you're telling me nine chances for Tassum Hill, like, okay, hope they go well. I mean, you got to hit one.

Yeah. You do. I mean, it's Cleveland in the lowest over under in five years, something like that. In a decade. Oh, in a decade. Oh, man. So there you go. And then, you know, that could be the kind of game, though, that they just, you know, he gets a few more opportunities on the ground. Evan Ingraham, don't pick him up, but Schmevin Schmingram has an opportunity against the Jets, 10 targets last week. What does this guy have to do? Currently the tight end four on the season? Not, not. like bury your soul when you need them most? He's winning. He's winning championships right now. Dawson Knox, I think, would have the tiebreaker over these guys. He's obviously been good the last few weeks, and he's got Josh Allen, so you can always rely on Josh Allen to throw a couple touchdowns, so you can hope it goes to your guy. You talked about Chig not being a tight end that you can play this week if Ryan Tanna Hill has a legit chance of missing or even

starting and then going out during the game. Schmevin, is that a really good year? He has. Schmevin since week five, it would be on pace for 80 for 8, 50, and 7. Yep. I don't know how he has a 1 for 8 game and a 1 for 4 game mixed in there, but he does. In the middle, he, remember, he did get beat up. You can't tell because of the box score and the snaps, but he got hurt. Dawson Knox, Jason brought him up. Juan Johnson. Yeah, baby. Mike, I mean, it's just, it be, well, it's over under the week. Well, I had to be excited for Joanne Johnson contractually because of how the year started of Taysom Hill versus Juan Johnson. But looking at what he has done is outrageous. It's all on the back of touchdowns, but whatever, with this tier of a player, I do not care. But in, one, two, three, four, five.

In his past six actual healthy games, he's been a top five tight end in four of them. Like, he's tough to argue with that. He's been so fantastic. And he just, like, he's got something going on with Andy Dalton. There is a little bit of a end zone meld going on. Yeah, he's had two touchdowns, one, one, one, and then two back in week seven. So that means he's basically got, uh, What is that? 17 touchdown pace in the last seven games. You have to chase that a little bit if you need help or tight in. Yeah. Let's dive into the team defenses. Who's your favorite this week of the available options? We've got basically one, two, three, four, five, six options under 33% rostered at the defensive position.

I mean, I had previously picked up the Tennessee Titans. They've got some injuries that hopefully are going to heal up. They've lost four games in a row, and they're playing against the Houston Texans that were the matchup. You just were dreaming about starting over and over and over. You wanted to target them. I think they're still good, but I don't know if they're number one anymore. A little nerve-wracking, too, with Malik Willis, short field situation turnovers. Exactly. I love the Cleveland Browns. We talked a lot about how the over-under in that game is. super low. I want the home team in that cold weather matchup. Andy Dalton can turn the ball over. You know, if I had to bet on a team to score a defensive touchdown, they're near the top of the list of the free agent options. Cleveland taking on New Orleans at home. Do you take the New Orleans side too? Yeah, no, absolutely. You can go either side, but obviously in those situations where it's a...

Pretty competitive, evenly matched, you know, similar defenses, similar offenses. I would always prefer the home team. 15 point implied point total for the Saints in that game. The Chargers defense plays Indianapolis. Yeah, I like it. Bengals play New England. I like it. Steelers take on the Raiders. That one's always got some risk, man. The Raiders have risk. The Jags is... Thursday night. The Thursday night, it's coming up quick here, but they're playing the Zach Wilson version of the New York Jets. I'm fine targeting Zach Wilson. I think you need to. You know he's going to make some really, really embarrassing mistakes. If you missed the play, I think we were able to find it searching like Michael Carter bailout or something where it's a positive play on the stat sheet, but just watch.

What Zach, the decision that Zach Wilson goes with, the angle that he decides to throw the ball, it is just a, like, I don't even know what I did. It goes straight up into the air. It had to have slipped out of his hand as he threw it or something because you've never seen a more wobbly. It's like you threw it bad on purpose and you tried to spin the ball long ways. It's such, the decision to not, to throw the ball is so bad. And then Michael Carter. just bullies the defender and comes down with it. The fact that it wasn't a pick is ridiculous. But he is, I highlight that because Zach Wilson will do that. He will make bad decisions believing that his arm can get things done that it can't. That was welcome to the fold presented by our friends at Samsung Galaxy Unfold. The edge to edge screen of the Galaxy Z Fold 4 to maximize your game viewing slash waiver wire experience wherever you're at. And you can visit Samsung.com to learn more.

Full stream ahead. So we're going to each give you a streaming quarterback option. Again, we're looking at, you know, sub 50% rostered players. It's a desperate time for the Kyla Murray, Jalen Hertz, Lamar Jackson managers. Those are three really big names. And so you're talking about bottom of the barrel opportunities here. And I'm going to bring up a name that I never thought. Oh, man. I would ever bring up. I went throughout the office and I was like, hey, Kyle, do I go with the player I went with or the one you're talking about? Because it's time. Put on your big boy pants. I mean, these underpants are riddled with years, years of stains. This was Zach Wilson before it was cool. Sammy playoff Darnold. Sam Darnold taking on the Detroit Lions. Yes, he is.

And to me, you know Carolina wants to run the ball over and over and over again, but Detroit has been excellent against the run. You saw last week, Deonta Foreman and Chuba Harbor couldn't get anything going. The Lions are going to put up points against Carolina's defense. And most importantly, of me even uttering good old Playoff Darnold's name, the Lions are the single best matchup for quarterbacks on the year. And they have been the best for the last five weeks. So. They have been very consistent on giving up 20 plus fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks. It's disgusting. Yep. But you are looking at, when you were aiming for a stream at this point, you're not trying to save Jalen Hertz with another Jalen Hertz. You're not going to be able to do that. You're trying to get 202. And then anything else is gravy from your emergency. You know, last week, the person who lost Kyler picked up Brock Purdy, 202.

It was enough to get it done. So Sam Donald against Detroit, you're 100% leaning on the matchup, but I think they're going to have to throw the football. And I think Detroit's going to put up enough points to make them throw the football. I do not disagree. It feels bad, but here's where we are. If you are having to stream a quarterback, I'm going to throw out Daniel Jones. He gets to play against the Minnesota Vikings, averaging seven and a half rushing attempts, 42 yards per game on the ground. gives you a decent baseline. And Minnesota, I mean, you saw it with the Colts. There was a reason why the unattainium underpant play of the week was Matt Ryan. And Matt Ryan was on his way to an okay game. And then 33 to zero happened and they shut down the offense. Minnesota allowing the most first down via the pass, the second highest yards per attempt. Look, the Minnesota secondary is bad.

Daniel Jones, Darius Slate, and they could hit on a big play, plus the rushing floor. So it's, you could definitely do worse than Daniel Jones this week. I've never seen a man with more going on in his head before he has to speak. What are you thinking about over here? I mean, he is having, for those listening at home and not watching this man melt down on air, I mean, he is reacting. What's wrong, buddy? He's reacting to his own internal dialogue in a conversation where his facial expressions are. are reacting to himself. Like the kombucha lady. I'm looking at the streaming options. The one that I had in, and basically what I'm trying to decide is push comes to shove between two players. Those two players are Zach Wilson, who we just talked about how bad he can be, how terrible, you know, a play he'll have, he'll throw it. But keep in mind, like, James Winston was phenomenal for fantasy.

when he threw 30 interceptions because sometimes you need that to have to throw the ball again. But he also threw touchdowns at the time. So did Zach Wilson last week. Zach Wilson was good last week. The Jacksonville Jaguars since week six, they are dead last and schedule adjusted fantasy points to quarterbacks. If you look over the last, I mean, just going backwards and you look versus teams averages, I mean, it's been forever since they haven't given up. more to the quarterback than what that quarterback's average usually is. Jason, I will give you anything to go for the ride on Thursday night. You're saying in my league of record matchup and put... Zach Wilson. No way. Okay, so then you can't possibly say this. Yes, that's the answer. That is the answer. So I'm, instead of unobtainium underpants or iron underpants, I'm taking my underpants off. Zach Wilson are... It's radio act. Like, you're...

You're going to end up terrible. If I can't do this, and I can't. He has six passing touchdowns and eight games. That's Zach Wilson. Thank you for talking sensitive to me. I'm going commando, which means I'm going Gardner Minshu, because you know he's going to commando. Oh, yeah, you know he's commando. He is still a viable streaming option. He's free. Here's what I don't think happens. I don't think that Minchu goes out and. has just, you know, eight or fewer fantasy points, falls completely on his face in a tough matchup against the Dallas Cowboys. With this offensive line, with the weapons, with A.J. Brown, Dallas Goddard back, Devontas Smith. I think he throws 202. Hopefully he runs a little bit more than we've seen because he does have that ability. And he is a, if push came to shove and this was my team.

And I had to make that start in fantasy playoffs. I couldn't get myself to actually start. Zach Wilson, thank you, Mike. I would put Minchu in. Russell Wilson is interesting if he's back. He has the Rams followed by the Chiefs over the next two weeks. Derek Carr has Pittsburgh. You don't want that. I mean, I don't mind it. He has Devante Adams as well. And then Brock Purdy has Washington. So those are three other options that are. Like, Jason, you already stashed Gino Smith. So that's somebody that you have as an option. You know, I don't think he's a guarantee he's better than these streamers. But he's somebody that is more proven than them over the course of the year. And the Lockett thing, that's troublesome. That would be my only concern about Mr. Gino Smith. Yeah. Of all of these options, I would start Gino Smith over.

Darnold Wilson, Minchu, Daniel Jones, Carr, Purdy. I mean, I'm going to be doing that. Obviously, the weather's going to be cold and you don't have Tyler Lockett, but I think... You're not thinking about Minchu to stack with your DeVante Smith, or you feel like that doubles your wrist. I was going to say, I think Devonty Smith becomes a, you know, I was telling Mike, he's probably a four-for-50 type of play this week, so I would rather not double up the whoops there. And I'm going to be trying to pick up Gardner Minchew, but I will probably play... Gino Smith. This week is tough for streaming quarterbacks. Next week in the championship week, there's actually really great options for starts. So this is the week where if you're in the streaming category, if you lost Hertz, if you lost Kyler and you're still in the playoffs, how about if you're not? What, if you're not in the playoffs? Oh, if you're not in the streaming category. You should still pick up good matches for next week. So you're not. I mean, Jason had Gino Smith already.

You're the Josh Allen manager. You're the, you know, Joe Burrow manager. Go get Jared Goff right now or something. Yeah, absolutely play some defense. Jared Goff's my favorite. I mean, he is going to be at home in Week 17 against Chicago. He should be a top 10 quarterback play in championship week. Yeah, then just we'll just rattle off some other names because you may need to be getting ready for the following week. You know, fingers crossed that you win. Goff, should he be there, would be sensational. Rogers is kind of right in that territory as well where maybe some people drop him, but he gets the Minnesota Vikings. If you roll with Daniel Jones, he gets the Colts. Andy mentioned Russell Wilson would get the Kansas Chiefs. Brock Purdy gets the Las Vegas Raiders. And the last one, should Colt McCoy come back from the concussion, he would get the Atlanta Falcons. So I think the bigger point is if you have Jalen Hertz, hold out your hope that you're going to get Jalen Hertz next week.

But you need to be planning that Jaylen Hertz is going to miss multiple weeks. So have your quarterback ready so that it doesn't, you're not waiting for next week's waivers to run. And the other team also knows exactly what you need to go after. Handle your business right now. All right. I think that's going to wrap things up. How are we doing over there in Ducer's Alley? We ready for the Christmas, Christmas Day this weekend? Doing great. Yeah. You got anything on your wish list, Brooksie? Anything special? Nah. You want Santa to bring you? Nah. Nothing on mine. Fresh basket of apples. Oh, there you go. Honey crisp. Yeah. I have an update here. First round of the Megalibol playoffs. And the shark from Jaws 3D. Oh, no. Is out. Oh, no. I told you your regular season don't matter. You.