Pump the Brakes, No-Bell Prize Winners, Counting Crows

I believe I saw that. He's obviously a handcuff. And James Connor is the top five running back rest of season. I mean, this is a team that's ascending. They've won a number of games in a row. Update on James Connor. He is expected to practice on Wednesday from the concussion concerns. So this is full steam ahead for James Connor and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Yeah. I'm not 100% sure it's Jalen Samuels because Stephen Ridley has come in in the past and performed well.

I think he played week 17 last year if memory serves right when pitch percent. They basically, I mean, it's not what you want. I mean, it's not what you want at all. But depending on what's available on the waiver wire, there are still some waiver running backs that probably rather roster than Jalen Samuels. But you know whoever's running back in that system is going to have a lot of scoring opportunities. Big news, the Monday Rams Chiefs game that was going to be played in Mexico City, well above sea level.

It's back in Los Angeles due to poor field conditions at Aztec a stadium. It is a 64 point over under, but this is going to be a quote-unquote home game for the Rams. I guess I put that in. That's a weird quotes. Well, I put it in quotes when you play in L.A., but that really only belongs to the Chargers. Yeah. Right. So it will be a home game. It will be an exciting game. It will be a very fun game for fantasy owners. Tons of matchups to be defined on Monday night.

So we'll get into those matchups later in the week. And then news broke, Brian Schottenheimer, confirmed that Chris Carson, Seattle running back will start week 11 tomorrow night against the Packers. We'll talk through the Thursday night preview later in the show. We'll talk about Carson, Mike Davis, and Rashad Penny. Yeah? Yeah. Yep. Let's get into the Mailbag. Mailbag. All right. Welcome into the Mailbag. If you have a question for the show.

Go to the website, the Fantasy Footballers.com. Click the submitted question button in the menu. Or you can dial our voicemail hotline. The number is 302-464-T-F-FB. We'll start with a voicemail. Hey, guys. This is Alex from Boston. I have a love bell question for you. We know you're not playing this year, but want to see what you guys think is keeper value is going forward. It's worth the first round pick, second-round pick. Who do you guys equated to? Awesome. Thanks a lot. I appreciate it. It's a great question because,

You can talk about Love Bell at a time when he won't matter. So I think he's a first rounder. Yeah, he's probably going to be a first rounder. He'll get the amount of money that guarantees his workload, but he won't be.

as good as he was for the Steelers because he won't be on a high-powered offense. He won't be behind a great offensive line. He's probably looking at teams like the New York Jets, the Oakland Raiders, teams that will have a lot of cap space and need, you know, that high price running back to sell tickets. I doubt this is a situation. You know, Philadelphia doesn't pay up and doesn't have the cap space. I would be shocked if all of a sudden next year they went and made a splash for Lev Bell. He's probably going to be playing.

A lot of snaps get a lot of usage for a sub 500 team would be my current projection, which would put him at the back of the first. From my projecting, I believe that the top teams, the most likely destination for Levium Bell, Colts, and this is not in a particular order. Colts, Jets, Raiders, Texans, and maybe Philadelphia. I think that they're a dark horse, but. I like those picks.

But those are the four, the most likely places. I would include Baltimore in there, myself. Okay. In division. And I think that, look, I know that Joe Flack was going to count against the cap if they let him go, but I think they will move on from him. And whenever you have the opportunity, anytime you have a DAC Zieg situation, right, where you're on a rookie deal, you can invest more in that running back. That could be a potential destination. Plus, you tell me, Love Bell doesn't want to go play in Baltimore. If the money's there.

So that he might mean, they want to run the ball. Or he can go play for the Colts in a nice dome and no more of those sludge vests in the winter. Do you guys have any concern with him skipping a year from an injury perspective? Not really because I would be more concerned if he comes back.

Middle of the year. He doesn't get training camp. He doesn't get things like that where all of a sudden he's going from zero to a hundred a la Des Bryant. We've seen players, Marshaun Lynch, Ricky Williams, who take off a year. Peterson did it. Not injured. Not by his own choice, but he did as well. But you're saying not by injury, by suspension or other means. And when they come back the next year, get the full training camp, I don't worry about injury in that situation.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Kyle in South Carolina has a question. If Carson plays, should I start him or Tyler Lockett in my flex? These are my best options in a 12-team non-PPR league. It's a standard scoring league, and we've got the Thursday night game. I assume this is Chris Carson and not Carson Daily. Did I get a chuckle from the back? That was. I got Brooks.

Shame on you, Brooks. I'm nearly certain, because that's a bad joke. I'm nearly certain that it's Chris Carson. Yeah, I'm going to go Chris Carson. Also, that joke falls right into the time period counting crows was hot. So Chris Carson. Were they ever hot? Yeah, I think so. They were hot. Versus Tyler Lockett. Tyler Lockett has been doing, you know, the.

The unimaginable things. Catching a touchdown almost every week, never getting more than about three receptions. It's hard to start him. Chris Carson, you've got the volume. You know, if he's in the game, he's getting 20 plus carries. But I think this is a legit question because in a game on Thursday night, short rest, short week, I have a hard time believing Chris Carson. Short rest for Chris Carson. Well, but Chris Carson didn't practice at all last week. Going from a place where you don't practice, don't play, can't.

Can't do that. And then in a short week, coming back and getting 20 plus carries, in a game with a high over under that's probably going to need to throw the ball, this looks like a great Tyler Lockett game. I'm going to take Chris Carson in this one. Jason, where do you, are you going Lockett? I guess I probably.

probability says Chris Carson will have more opportunity. But when Pete Carroll says things like Chris Carson is ready, he's going to be the guy, and Rashad Penny is still learning the offense. It was Ryan Schoenheimer. Sure, Sean. I love Michael Keith. Liar McLeaface. Right. Okay. That's good. I was about to make Rashad Penny my start of the week. Not really, but, you know. You just can't trust what comes out of Seattle. No, thank you. This question is going to open up a can of worms if I know Mike right. This is an ethics question.

How dare you? If you were going, yeah, he's a very questionable ethics. I mean, Mike is, he's the fuzziest of all ethics. If you were going into week 13 with a buy secured, would you set a suboptimal lineup to try to keep another team out of the playoffs? Oh, this question. This question ventures into doing the best for your team. We've talked about it at all time and time again. I know.

that the consensus viewpoint will be that this is wrong, I tend to think it's wrong as well. It's a league integrity issue. But when you think about what's best for your own personal teams, sometimes it's best to keep a competitor out of the playoffs that you think is better. That's where it's difficult. I mean, we've seen this type of thing from professional teams. I recall the different sports, so maybe

Maybe you've never heard of them, but the San Antonio Spurs have frequent... That's horse racing, right? Basketball. They have frequently rested star players in what seem like key situations, and it modifies their chances at winning and changes their playoff seating. The Commissioner of the League did instill penalties for that now because of league integrity issues, and ultimately...

That was more in line with fans pay money to go see players to play. Right. I think that you, I don't know. I think that you pretty much owe it to your league to play your players. I mean, if you're benching a player, what's the difference between playing a suboptimal lineup and just benching your players? Well, that's what I was going to bring up is, let's say you want to do this strategy and whatever. I wouldn't do it. I don't recommend it. But if you wanted to do it, you still must. You absolutely have to field a complete roster. You cannot.

I mean, because that's the rules of the game is you start one quarterback, one running back, one water, etc. Should be. Should be. Because that was another question people send in, my titan is on by. Like, Kittle, do I have to drop someone on my bench to feel the starting line? Uh-oh. Yeah, I'm guaranteed by in the playoffs. Do I have to do this? You do have to feel the full lineup. That's just a rule of the league. I mean, you can't fill. I have gone and not dropped a player in the past.

and had a buy, you know, in a, in a bypocalypse, it said there's no one I can drop. I'd rather not play a kicker. And in a situation like that, I mean, you're doing, you are doing the best you can. Yeah, because you're, you're talking about the integrity of the league. Is it better for your team to have filled that tight end spot with just absolute garbage who's going to get you two points or drop a player who is going to now help somebody else's team? I understand that.

I understand the logic behind that, but I put starting a full lineup at the top of what a league is, right? It's part of your job as an owner, and the beginning of the year to the end is to field a full lineup. If you know that as a standard and rule, then you have misappropriated your resources. You have not planned your team correctly because you knew you had to fill a full lineup. I can agree with that, and I think that leagues should have that as a league-wide rule, that you must field a lineup.

full roster every single week. I think it's pretty much a standard rule. It's inherent. It's a should-be rule. But I'm saying you should make it an official rule because like I said, I have personally had the bi-week player in because I didn't want to drop. If I knew in one of our leagues that you must feel the complete lineup every week, that is a hard and fast rule, I would have made plans prior to that week or else had to drop someone's same on me. Is it an auto forfeit if you don't make that rule? No. No. Okay.

But that's kind of what you're looking. At least this player, that's what they're asking for. So here's what I would do, the real answer to this question, because I believe you should be playing a lineup as well. Maybe you just play your, if you have real boom bust players, just go for it. Go for them. Say you're either just going to absolutely crush with a huge point total or maybe they help you out and they bust this week. Yeah, and I'll just throw in there the reality that.

We think that we can control our destiny in these leagues, but you don't know who you're going to play. There's so many interdependencies. You might not be able to do yourself many favors in even making that effort. You don't know how many points you need for tiebreakers. I mean, there's very few situations where this applies. But I mean, I get it. This question comes through. Hey, before we move on to some more questions, want to thank today's sponsor, Eero.

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