Fantasy Football 2017 - Pump the Brakes, Playoff Mailbag, Rodgers Returns!

This episode is sponsored by prize picks. Football is back and prize picks is giving users a new promo every day during stacked September. Sign up now for guaranteed picks every Sunday, along with profit boosts and daily discounts. You just pick two to six players and then you pick more or less on their projected stats.

I love playing on prize picks. It's great. And the max discount promos are back this season with a new name, Guarantee Picks. For week one's opener, Sam Darnold needs just one yard against New England to cash his pick. So check that out on the Price Picks app now. Download the app today. Use the code footballers to get $150 instantly in lineups if you win your first $5 lineup. Price Picks.

Run your game. If you're a smart business, the right hire can be a make or break. Indeed, sponsored jobs gets you quality candidates when you need them most. Join the 3.3 million employers worldwide that use Indeed to connect with quality talent that fits their needs. Listeners of this show,

We'll get a $75-sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at indeed.com slash podcast. That's indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now. Then this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. Whether you're into podcasts about ghastly crimes or hip-hop rhymes, there's always something new to discover on Spotify.

With a mix of originals and many of the world's most popular shows, listening to podcasts on Spotify is easy. Just open the app, tap browse, dive into their growing libraries. Subscribe to your favorites, including our entire archives, so you'll never miss a show. You can also download podcasts for these moments when you're up in the air or going underground. Podcasts on Spotify are streaming right now. Go check them out. The Fantasy Footballers podcast. Coming to you from the Playdraft Studios with your host, Andy Holloway.

Jason Moore and Mike Wright. Ah, welcome in. The fun is about to begin. Oh, that sounds awesome. Wednesday, December. Man, you broke the rhyme chain. 13th, 2017. Look, ever since the DAC experiment, rhyme experiment, we need to tread lightly on people's ability to comprehend what we say.

Because that was a... This is a fair point. Yeah, that's a fair point. So we have a great show for you today. We'll get into the Thursday night game, get you ready for that, week 14, just ahead of us. And we've got news and notes on the show today. We'll get into the mailbag, answer your questions. And we have Pump the brakes. So it's going to be a great one. It's going to be great, great, great. And, you know, let's just start it off. Oh, O'O, O'Reilly. O'Rile.

Oh! Whoa, Jason. Sorry about it. You brought it. All right. You got to bring it. Kicking it off with pump the brakes with a Riley auto parts. Jason, who are you pumping the brakes on this fine week 14? You know, as I looked through. 15, week 15. Yeah, week 15. 2013. You know, time is not.

functioning for me. Time doesn't exist, Andy, so you're fine. Come on. Catch up. Is that a Jim Carrey? I think that sounds like some Jim Carrey would say. Sure. Sure. So when I looked through for the semi-final week and I was trying to find, you know, defensive matchups that were difficult or players that might be too high from last week, I kept going back and back to the same thing, which is I really didn't want.

to play against Philadelphia this week. I feel like their defense has been unbelievable. And not only have they been good, and they're still in a fight for what is probably even more important now as home field advantage through the playoffs, they've lost their star quarterback. And we've seen this in the past. When you lose a star player, the team rallies. The team gets up for that next game. And so they're playing the New York Giants.

this week in New York, and I'm pumping the brakes on the New York Giants. I'm pumping it on Galman. I'm pumping it on Shepard. I'm even pumping it on Evan Ingram. I think this is going to be a very, very difficult game. Over the last six weeks, the Eagles have been the number one team against the tight end. They've been top five against all positions. I don't think this is going to be a good game for any New York Giants. So that's where I'm giving to break pump.

Mike, you're pumped the brakes. It hurts me. I know. I feel like I have to play him this week, but go ahead. And there could be people out there that you have to play him. But I am setting the bar very low for this fella. And that is DeMarco Murray, running back from the Titans. And I get it. A lot of people, if you're not fully tuned in paying attention, which if you're not listening to this podcast, you are, San Francisco was a Cupcake matchup early on in the season. You wanted to play.

the 49ers because their running defense was awful. But over the last month, San Francisco was allowing just 3.03 yards per carry. And that's against fellas like Jordan Howard and Lamar Miller. In that same time, DeMarco Murray has been running for about 2.83 yards per carry. Now, of course, Murray can score a touchdown and save the fantasy day. But if you don't get a touchdown from Murray, I think you're going to be super disappointed.

Would you play Murray or would you play Kerwin Williams? I would, projections are not fully complete, but my gut says I would play Kerwin Williams. So, and just to speak to your point, the 49ers who have been since 2016, one of the worst teams against running max possible, it's usually, you know, start your guys, light them up. Do you know where they rank giving up fantasy points over the last six weeks, Mike? I'm going to go top three.

You would get it right because they are third. Nice. They are not giving up a whole lot of points over the last month and a half against running back. So I can see that. But I do agree because of the volume, you might be in a situation where you need to start. DeMarco Murray last week, he was in on 47 of 60 snaps. Yeah, he plays. So he tempts you with that kind of utilization. Now, would you play Mixing coming back from the concussion against Minnesota in Minnesota? Would you play DeMarco Murray? That's brutal. Asking for a friend.

I would, oh, I'd probably play Murray. I don't know. That's where I'm at. Projections are not complete. So you're pumping them on DeMarco Murray. And look, you can kind of pump them on DeMarco Murray all year long. So while if you went into ESPN and you look at the matchup, San Francisco on the year is 30th against fantasy running back. So it looks like a juicy matchup. And what we're saying is it's not. It's not anymore.

I'm going to pump the brakes on Keelan Cole, wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Here's the deal. I got a tweet this morning saying, hey, do you start D.D. Westbrook or do you start Keelan Cole? Now, Keel and Cole scored last week. Big touchdown. Been emerging a little bit. Third in the league when it comes to yards per reception, okay? He's a deep threat. Big play opportunity. But the volume for Keel and Cole isn't there to sustain.

the hype. And so if you're out there looking for a start this week, you might be tempted to play him. You might be tweeting me saying D.D. or Keelan, I'm telling you, go strong on the D.D. Westbrook's side. He's more of the volume player. He's got more natural talent. And so I'm pumping the brakes on Keelan Cole. Yes, he could make a big play. But if he doesn't, he could also give you like a one-point fantasy week. And that would be my concern with Keelan Cole. So the Giants, DeMarcomerty, Keel and Cole.

That was pumped the brakes with O'Reilly Auto Parts, Better Parts, Better Prices. Every single day. Let's jump into the news. News and notes from around the league. It's juicy. I'll hit the pause button there and just remind people. They can follow us on Twitter at the FFBallers. And you can go to footclanvote.com. Oh, my goodness. How much time is left, Mike? Till Friday. So footclanvote.com. You get the opportunity to vote for us in the Best Social Media Award.

It's a one second click. Yeah, it won't take much long. You could have done it by the time we started talking about it. You could be complete right now. You could have done it five times now. That's all it takes. Yeah. And then shopballers.com if you want some fantasy footballers gear. The promo code is Rudolph. And we will be having a 2017 Foot Clan title t-shirt very soon within the next couple of weeks to celebrate those of you that take home a hashtag flick.

Foot Clan title. So without further ado, let's get into the headliner right here via Instagram. Aaron Rogers announced he's been medically cleared to return and we'll start this week against Carolina. Pick them up. Pick up Jordy. You never let go of Devante Adams, but I am I am completely and utterly willing to start.

Aaron Rogers and Jordy Nelson this week. That's where I stand. Aaron Rogers has been practicing the last few weeks. He's been throwing for weeks. He's looked great. The reports say he's looked great in practice. He's ready. He was gunning and trying to angle to get out there to play. I don't worry about it. And you might say, but Jason, what about Carolina? They're this really good defense. And you know what? Carolina does have a solid defense.

But over the last six weeks, the last month and a half, they haven't been the defense that we've all been expecting them to be. They're 28th against quarterbacks. 32nd, dead last against wide receivers as far as fantasy points given up. They have not been shutting people down recently. This is a must win for Aaron Rogers, who's got something to prove coming back from this injury. I'm a believer, and it was like last week, I believed in Russell Wilson because... You did?

I believe in Russell. I'm not worried about the matchup. Aaron Rogers is that type of player. This is the time of year when I'm going to put my chips on those guys. Yeah, it would have been nice if you had dropped Aaron Rogers in our dynasty league, so I could have grabbed him. Yeah, the dynasty. I could use a replacement for... I believe what you mean is it would have been nice if Mike could let me win that last game and get my incredibly great team in the playoffs. Thank goodness. Oh, my bad. Oh, okay. So, yeah, big implications for Jordy.

That's the bigger question for me is Jordy, because Aaron Rogers, I know a lot of people say, do I play this guy or do I play Aaron Rogers? I'm with Jason that the majority of those names, it's going to be Aaron Rogers. I spit upon the matchup for Aaron Rogers here. But Jordy, those first five weeks with Aaron Rogers before he broke the collarbone against Minnesota. In that time, six touchdowns, and that included a game.

Week two where we had that, where he got knocked out immediately. So essentially, Jordan Nelson has played four games with Aaron Rogers and scored six touchdown. So you, your confidence level, Jason, it shoots right back up. He is top 10, top 15. He is a, he will be no lower than wide receiver 24. So I wouldn't put him up in that top tier. But that's a, that's a must play. Yeah. I mean, my, my, my, uh, my guy that I was saying.

my rising star this week, D.D. Westbrook. I like D.D. Westbrook a lot. I'm willing to start him in the playoffs. But if I had a flex position where I'm deciding between D.D. Westbrook and Jordy, I'm going Jordy. All right. Doug Peterson says Zach Ertz has now cleared the concussion protocol and is good to go for Nick Foles and is good to go for Nick Foles.

I actually just pick Nick Foles up in our Dynasty League about 12 minutes ago. Congratulations. And I'm strongly considering playing him over Alex Smith this week in the playoffs. Good luck with that. Alex Smith is playing the force that is the Los Angeles Chargers defense right now. The Chargers points given up to quarterbacks over the last four weeks, 14, 5, 17, 12.

Yeah, they rank number. How many touchdowns have they given up? When's the last time they've given up two touchdowns to a quarterback? Do you want to answer me that? I'm going to say seven weeks ago. Week five. So you are... Very close. Real close. Eight weeks ago. I just knew it wouldn't be in the last six. How many times have they given up three on the year? None. I mean, they have been an absolute force. They haven't given up 300 yards passing since week eight.

And this is for the division. And these two teams facing each other. One is. Now the game's in Arrowhead. That matters. Yes, it does matter. But this is, you know, the Kansas City Chiefs look like they're on the brink of a collapse while the Chargers look like they're great. I mean, I don't know that I can get behind playing Nick Foles over Alex Smith. I'll have to look a little deeper today. But you do bring up good points. I mean, the Chargers are the second ranked against quarterback over the last six weeks. I don't.