FootClan Titles + Owl Hoots, Week 18 Waivers & Motivation - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/31

There's no escaping. So the Titans right now are sitting with the number two pick. But that really is, for their purposes, kind of the number one... I mean, as it stands, the Patriots have the number one pick. And they're not going to go with the quarterback after drafting. No. No way. They are fully behind Drake May. They could trade it. They could trade him. They could trade May. They're not trading May. No. May will be their quarterback next year. I don't think that's happened. But, I mean, someone can trade up to get the number one pick. We'll see. You're probably right.

That would be... But you could be wrong. Insanity. Drake May looks like he has a future. All right. Let's talk a little bit about the situations here going into Week 18. Because if you are playing in a Week 18 title game, first of all, I feel worse for you than I even do for Mike. Thank you. But if you're there, let's talk about motivations. The Chiefs will start Carson Wentz. Going to rest a ton of their starters. They're playing a Broncos team that is now 10-point favorites who desperately need to win and will win this game at home. There was further reports, too,

of, like, Wentz might not even play the whole game. Yes. They're going to potentially go with McNeil or something like that. I don't remember what his name is. I think it's McElbow. Yeah. It's McGroin. Thank you. Wait. There was a Matt McGloin. Remember? Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. For the Raiders. Yeah, that was a good time. All things come back to groinindex.com. The Bills are the number two seed. Josh Allen has a consecutive game streak. He'll start and be out quickly in that game. The old Cal Ripken. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I mean, I started. I get it. Well, here's the truth.

The truth is that those consecutive game streaks should be reflective of a player's durability. So, in that respect, the fact that you were going to lose it because your team's resting a player, that's not fair. I would love if they don't even hand the ball off. Take a knee. On his one snap. Oh, yeah. On his one snap. Just have Josh Allen take a knee, lose a yard, and then run off the field. It would be electric. I want him to throw an 80-yard touchdown. Allen? Like, first play, just take a deep shot. You got one play. Okay, yeah, that's fine.

Take a knee or go for the touchdown. Yeah, that's fine. No handoffs. No weak handoffs. Papa Josh just left the studio momentarily. He went to get Jason a drink, but I saw the fear in your eyes. Go get Jason a drink. And I'm like, what the hell's happening? Am I about to get slimed? Here comes the bouquet. Yeah, I don't even know if he's really getting... Yeah, I'm like checking out the rafters above you right now. This is a real problem. But you know what? I would expect nothing less for your last day as executive producer of the show. The Texans are locked in

to the number four seed, the Eagles. They clenched the NFC East already, the number two seed. Saquon Barkley needs 101 rushing yards. Schefter was saying he would be shocked if Barkley plays in this game. I mean, it's TBD. I think we'll have more information as we get closer to the week, but it's no guarantee. I was talking about this to Mike. It's like, if I was the head coach, I would not know what to do. I asked Barkley. Yeah, sure. Yeah, you asked Barkley and I guess it's up to him. So I guess the question is if I'm Saquon Barkley,

I don't know what to do. I know what he'll say because he's such a good guy. He's going to say, Super Bowl is what matters. He shouldn't play. He shouldn't. He really shouldn't. He won't want to and the team won't want him to because if you get hurt in this game, you're done. You're toast. The season's over. Super Bowl goes away. It's just too much. It's 101. If it was like 50. Yeah. 35 yards, 45 yards. I can see him going for it, but you know. But they're locked in. Which ironically, it could be 30, 40 yards. It could have been.

If earlier in the season, remember when he was going for his career high and the coach, and you know, he asked him. He was just beating the crap out of the defense. He was just, I mean, it was so easy and he's like, hey, you want to get your career high? He's like, no, let the other guys get some work, which, you know, that's fine and dandy. You didn't know you were going to be on track for breaking the all-time record, but if in that game he just kept going, he could basically almost be there right now. Atlanta really needs to win

because Tampa needs to lose. Tampa needs to win to clinch. Detroit, they're locked in. They're playing Minnesota for the number one seed next week. Everybody will be playing on both sides. That's the biggest over-under we've seen in quite a while. I think it's 57. Washington's locked in. They'll be the six or seven seed. Green Bay, same situation. The Rams are locked in. They will be the three or four seed. And, yeah, so Atlanta, Tampa, big games for both of those teams. In the AFC, Baltimore's locked in. They need to win to clinch the three seed in the division. They have to play the Browns.

They will play their starters for a while. But I imagine that game, if it gets out of hand, they'll bench them in the second half. Yeah, it would seem so. And Pittsburgh's battling same situation to try to win the North, but they'll know. Pittsburgh, I mean, they'll know whether the Ravens... We should just call it right now. Like, Pittsburgh has nothing to play for. Because they're, by the time their game happens, the Ravens will have won. You know what I mean? Yeah. Obviously, if the Ravens lose to the Browns, whatever, it will change. But it's... Yeah, I don't know how Tomlin

will handle it. Chargers are locked into the playoffs battling for their wild card spot. Denver, Cincinnati, Miami, all battling for playoff spots. Right? So those are the big teams with the big opportunities. Broncos, they're winning, and if they win, they're in. Cortland Sutton has 82 receiving yards that he needs for an additional 500 grand. He'll get it. Yeah, I mean, he should be able to get it done, although they, that game could get out of hand if they score defensively. Yeah, but I mean, that's one of those things where, again, we brought this up a couple weeks ago. All the players,

all the teammates, all the coaches know these guys' incentives. They're going to go into this game and say, you know, if he ends up... I don't agree. I don't agree with you. No, I mean, it's not an opinion. It's literally not an opinion. All of these people know it. After every year, we're going to hear about it a week or two from now. I tried to get this guy the ball. I don't agree. How can you not agree with coaches who have in the past come out and said, we were trying to get this player the ball because he has an incentive?

Because that happens only in games that are of non-consequential situations. It doesn't happen in games where it's, if you lose this game, you don't make the playoffs. They're not worried about a player's incentives for Denver trying to make the playoffs. Yeah, but that was... They just need to win the game. That wasn't what I was saying. I mean, in this game, it is of consequence, right? Like, this is a... You lose and you probably don't make the playoffs. You win and you get in. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, so it's a game of consequence. No, no, no. I'm saying they don't pay attention

to incentives in games like this because they need to win the ball game. So it's not about the individual players' incentives in these games. They will focus on winning more. It's about winning the game. If they do it with three yards for Corlin Sutton, they won't care. That's what I'm saying. I agree, but my point is, let's say through the game, you're in the fourth quarter and he's got 60 yards. You know what I mean? It will try. At that point, if he's close, you'll have a play or two called up for him. That doesn't mean he's going to get it.

They knew it with Trey McBride for weeks and you saw it every time they got around the goal line. It's like, the play is for McBride. Didn't mean he got a touchdown, but they certainly try to do those things. You see the Johnny Smith one? So it's Johnny Smith can earn an additional 400 grand if the team is top 20 points scored or net yards and he plays 59% of the snaps. To get there, he would have to play 100% of the snaps this week. So we'll see on that one. And they're playing for a playoff spot too. Yeah. But it's like,

if they take him off the field one time, he loses that? He'll be out on the field just like laying down. Belly, belly just going up and down. 12 man, 12 man again. I'm not leaving the 12 man again. They're moving back. John, you get up. I'm not getting off the field. Yeah. I mean, I starts playing 400 grand. He plays defensive snaps. They bring him in at the end of like be safety because he's you could do that. They got a lot on the line too. They're the next up if Denver loses somehow. Are they above the the threshold

for the team scoring though? I don't know because obviously if they're not, they've been scoring a lot of points. It seems like it. Yeah, they've been good on offense. Yeah, we have the full article, all the player incentives, all the motivations up on the website. Like I said, the fantasy footballers dot com. Matthew Betts put that up there. That was today's news and notes presented by USAA insurance. Learn more at usaa.com slash insurance. Talk waivers briefly. Welcome to the waiver wire. Oh man, these graphics are getting better and better. If you're not on, you know, today is a day for YouTube.

Go over to youtube.com slash fantasy footballers and just enjoy the drops. Yeah, you know what? You should be doing this and it'll be good for your resume. Like, did Brian just stay up 48 straight hours? Oh, they had this prepped. No question. We didn't because we No, you did. Well, the idea was prepped, but we also had versions of everything with Mike in them in case he won. Oh, that's so sad. In case you lost? Hey, you know what? Sometimes you don't have to tell everybody everything. You can just be like, I was telling you that to make you feel

good. We wanted you in there with us. Wait, wait, wait. You were trying to make me feel good by reminding him. You need to evaluate of what you think would make people feel better. Yeah, my bad. telling me, I would have been in the graphic had Jameer Gibbs not run a 30-yard touchdown with three minutes left. It's like telling someone if your mom was still alive, she'd love this moment. My bad. I told you that to make you feel better. Remember her? Anyway, yes, Brian ran over like that. They paid for a big cake, too. They threw it out, but they paid

for a huge cake for you. It would have been great. Oh, I feel way better. All right. Thank you. So the waivers. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Spontaneous congratulations. This is Alyssa, Andy's favorite daughter, but I'm not here to talk about my dad. Owl, you are the greatest fantasy football champ in the world. Congrats on your victory over my dad. Oh, thanks, sweetie. Oh, man. There's one more to go. I don't think we've ever had more kids. I am dead. I'm dead. Stop. He's already dead. I mean, the show moments of the year, we're at the very end of the year,

and I don't know how this doesn't get towards the footies. It is. I mean, he's just, you know how like the Oscar people, they just, they put their movie out in December, like all the the Chalamet talk for his, what are the Bob Dylan movie, whatever it's called. And they're like, oh, he's going to win best actor. Yeah, we just kind of sneak it in at the end. Because that's when everyone is not really paying attention, but you are. You guys want to talk waivers? Go ahead. Sure. We can start at the running back position again, because this is week 18,

there's a bunch up in the air and you're in a championship matchup. There's not a ton of names. I would say the number one name right now, Khalil Herbert, the backup running back for the Cincinnati Bengals now. Again, this is up to Chase Brown's health. Right. Chase Brown is healthy and he's going to play. Cincinnati needs to win this game. Then Khalil Herbert's irrelevant. Amir Abdullah is the other name. He was so great last week. They decided that he should be the guy at the end of the year instead of Alexander Madison. You could have done this the whole season.

Amir Abdullah was there. A couple other combos. Michael Carter, Trey Benson, if Connor sits, even if he doesn't, Carter might be okay. Pierce Strong, Deontay Foreman. Foreman had much more of the groundwork. He'll have the goal line work. Pierce Strong, the targets in Cleveland in a meaningless game. Raheem Blackshear. Have you any wool? No. He is completely shaved clean. However, Chuba is on IR. The season's over, guys. This is one of those where if you have to make a decision. Now, he might be the name to pick up on waiver day because you know he's going to be getting work

and then wait later in the week for Khalil Herbert. Amir Abdullah got injured as well. I haven't seen anything on that. I haven't either. But those would be the running backs of note. Wide receivers, Alec Pierce, if Flacco starts. If Flacco doesn't start, I wouldn't start Pierce. Dobbs, 7 for 58 last week for Green Bay. Marvin Mims, hubba hubba. Jason gave me his $100. I sure did. 8 for 103 last week. Marvin Mims is very interesting. He's been a top six receiver two of four weeks. If you actually look at the last six games, I don't know if you even

are aware of this, some big plays in there, but he's on an over 1,000 yard pace for a full season over the last six. He's been more involved in this. This is a must-win for the Broncos. The snaps, Mims is hard to trust. It's a little janky. But the snaps the last two weeks are at 47% where he's been a mid-20s type of a player. Has he solidified that spot? I don't think we know for sure. It's sketchy. Malik Washington last week, five more targets. If Waddle doesn't play and the Dolphins need to win, it's the Jets game. We're still

waiting on who is the quarterback. You're waiting on Jalen Waddle. The last news I saw on Waddle was actually more positive that he might play. And the news on Tua is seemingly negative. Yeah, they are going to split first team reps, but they're going to give more first team reps to Tyler Huntley this week. So I think the expectation is that Tua is not able to go with that hip injury. And they can win this game without Tua. So if you're going to make the playoffs, it would be better to have a healthy hip. It would be a big punch

to the eight if you get Huntley back in there. I don't know why I motioned that. Chig Akanko at tight end last week seven more targets. I tweeted it. He just missed a 32-yard touchdown. He didn't miss it. I don't think that's fair to Chig. Mason Rudolph missed him. Yeah, there you go. He didn't look super fast, though. He had his guy totally beat. You've got to give him a shot to make that catch. But the grass was destroyed. Yes, it was raining. Players were slipping all over the place. Do you, is your Okonkwo belief and faith still strong? If you're

like, they're going to be rotating guys? Not, it's not amazing. I'd rather play Zach Hertz if he was out there six for 72 and two last week. Although, again, you know, what's the consequential situation there for Washington? Dizzley back out on the field. They need to win. Firemuth, Pittsburgh, they, he was seven for 60. That's an option. The matchup is great against both Dizzley and Firemuth this week have very, very good opposing defenses at the tight end position. And by that, I mean, they are poor. Right. They give up a lot of fantasy points. Defensively, there are a lot of options.

Again, all the waivers for Week 18 on the website, we've been sorting through them. Thefantasyfootballers.com, the waiver rankings. Defensively, you've got the Dolphins must win facing the hapless Jets offense. Dolphins defense has been pretty good lately. What, they gave up three points last week. They were a big score of the week before. Broncos against Kansas City's backups. The Buccaneers must win against nobody. I mean, the Raiders put up 12 fantasy points against New Orleans last week. The Falcons against Carolina. Falcons must win. And then you could go with Houston against some Will Levis. Some Will Levis in that game. And some

starters for the Texans. That was announced that they're going to play their starters. Maybe at the end of the game they get benched, but a half against some banana-rama is enough for a touchdown. Do you prefer Broncos, Buccaneers, or Dolphins? Their roster percentage is pretty close. I'd prefer the Dolphins. I'd prefer the Buccaneers. The Buccaneers, I think, are who I'd go with. But I mean, dude, all three of those are just neck and neck. They're good. None of them should cults you this week. Yeah. I wouldn't necessarily hit this button this week, but I feel like I've got to. Full stream