Week 12 Studs & Duds + Wild Weekend Reactions! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 11/25

to the fantasy footballers podcast with your host Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. The fantasy footballers podcast Monday, November 25th. It's Megalodon Week. Oh, we're happy to be with you. You know, sometimes a weekend is a break. And sometimes coming to work is the break. And I feel like I'm getting the weekend of my weekend right now. Oh, really? Like this is the break from what was supposed to be a weekend. I was just very, very. Yeah, you had a lot of dad responsibilities this weekend. And I feel like this is our chance to kind of, we haven't seen each other in a while. This is a rare situation where the three of us this weekend did not watch any football together. We usually are the three of us in the studio with our.

giant TV wall trying to take in every snap of every game at the same time and reacting together and melt yeah but yeah there's uh mike was traveling you were uh at home i was in the studio and um so now it's like we we get here this morning and it's like we got to hit record because all we want to do is talk about all the things that happened this weekend and like what did you think of this what did you think and you all and you just got here so we had to hit record right as well yeah i was coming in a little hot

but a lot of the uh football kids are on break uh yeah are your kids on break right now my kids are not on break yeah not it was it was the morning workout no i know i did some kids are getting like the whole thanksgiving week off but not not are your kids off yeah what are they what did they didn't do this for me when i was a kid they didn't do it for me either it's just a new one but what are you gonna do yeah no i mean i slept till 7 a m yeah you were you still dropped them off at school they just don't have any

But we have a lot of football to talk about. I think I selected some of the worst puns I've ever selected. Okay. For Monday Punday. So good luck on those ones. And we have a lot of studs and duds to talk about. We got a pretty neat, ready to roll segment today breaking down some of the rookie quarterbacks. And I just, you know, I'm just thankful the footclans here, listening in, tuning in, getting ready for one more game in which, you know, tonight the horror bowl. And I need some help. I need, I need Lamar and Zay Flowers to outscore Mark Andrews by 30. Okay. So doable. Doable. Very doable. But you're in it. That's not like there is no, I think, perceived expectation of who wins and loses that. To me, I'm just going to count Lamar as 30 points. And it'll be Zayflowers versus Andrews heads up. That's why I'm looking at it. So we'll see what happens tonight. I'd rather be on the Zayflowers side.

Yeah. And what I am rooting for is, and I apologize, but I'm rooting for a defensive slugfest with very few fantasy points scored. I got league medians that I'm not, I've got no one else left to score. And right now I'm in it, but if other, I just need everybody to suck today. Like the Cardinals. Oh, man. Man. All right. Here are your Monday, Punday reactions. Thank you for submitting these gems. We didn't write these. I'll kick it off because I played him, baby. What do we got, Amir Abdullah? Oh, you're supposed to accentuate the Oolala. Oh, you know what I mean? Maybe you should have kicked it off. Yeah, I should have. Let's go with Cortland Strutton. And I guess we're going this way. Nico Ballin.

Jalen, what the heck was that all about? It was awesome. Oh, happy Thanksgiving. Yeah, he was good. And we've got Sequin Narlie. Napalm Barkley. I like that one. Noah Great? Wait, who played him? Noah was still good. Okay, that's Noah Gray, right? Yeah, and Yay McBride. Or Josh, Tracobst. Oh, but they're not all good. No, no. Kyler worried. And Cade Rotten. Oh, no. Oh, broke Bowers. Oh, that's a tight weak hill. Oh, man. What a loser. Sam Laporta. Hold on. Doodoo Samuel. How has that never been? That is a layup. Doodoo Samuel? That's great. Joe Nuffin Taylor. Yeah, and DK Met Crap. Oh, this is the first time he's ever been on this list. Probably.

Christian McCapry or McCrappery McRapry McRapry. Joe Missin. And I'm on Blah, St. Brown. What a weekend. Ammon Ra, CMC. Joe Nixon. Jonathan Taylor, all in the Duds list. You know who wasn't in the Duds list? Who I had the privilege of facing this week because, you know, fantasy football. Keenan freaking Allen. Dude. Oh, yeah. I saw him on the opponent's team. Thrilled. Dude. There were some... Then he, his first touch, he fumbles. There were some players this week that were basically not just dropped candidates. They were dropped. Oh, yeah. They were recommended drop. Like, you know, I'll take my L. I mean, Michael Pittman. Get rid of him. He's a bum. He's the third on the target pecking order. No, he's awesome. He's great with Anthony Richardson. He's going to be fantastic. Keenan Allen. There were so many players that were like, I mean, Jalen Waddle. Yeah.

Yeah. Who have just been so horrifically bad. And now all of a sudden, this was their week. This is their time to shine, which I guess when you're dealing with a bunch of bi weeks, that's great because a lot of these players actually were in lineups due to buy weeks. But it was this, this weekend man was, Jordan Addison. Yes. With Jefferson absolutely horrible for fantasy. This is why. If you make the playoffs, you can win the championship. Mike's 18 and 4, because we play with median in our dynasty league, his 18 and 14 faced a 1 and 21 team this week and got blown out. Yes. Yeah, that's how this week felt. This week felt like the top players were Jordan Addison, Jalen Waddle, DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, David Moore, Jacoby Myers. Those just felt like the best players.

to start this week. And, of course, they were. I feel like Bucky Irving didn't get any credit in the Monday Punday, but frankly, nobody could come up with something valuable there. There was a Bucky serving, and I was trying to tie it into Thanksgiving, but we didn't get there. Welcome to Ready to Roll, presented by Nissan. It's almost like you can't predict what's going to happen in the NFL. Not perfectly. Not 100%. No, you just have to stack the... odds in your favor each and every week and find a way to make it fun in the meantime in the process yeah yeah that's that's what this shows about not i mean one in 12 one in 10 they win the title and um we want you to enjoy the season all right into ready to roll and we uh we picked this week to take a look at the rookie quarterbacks that are performing at a very high level this year and maybe put them into a

historical context because in week 12, three of the top six fantasy quarterbacks happen to be rookies. Jaden Daniels, who threw a, what was it, 86 yards? Something like that. Touchdown to end the nearly in the game until the extra point was missed was the number one quarterback. Caleb Williams, number three on the week. By the way, that was, I had forgotten. That was the almost upset. That's as almost as you get overtime, lost to Minnesota. And then Bo Nix at number six on the week, which I think kind of felt like a disappointment. It really did. You know, to be honest, all three of these players were a disappointment through a large portion of the game this week, where it was like the end of, specifically the Daniels and Caleb Williams games.

the end of those two games were absolutely bonkers insane. And so many fantasy points came when you just thought everything was gone. Everything was out of reach. Even to the point of the game should be over, but defensive players are scoring touchdowns instead of going down so your player gets to get back on the field and throw. And it was just wild. But yes, historically, we looked at basically 32 quarterbacks that have started 12 games because we're 12 weeks in. Slight exceptions. Josh Allen had 11 starts his rookie, or Caleb Williams has already has biweek, so he's only had 11. But for the most part, that's what this data is. Yeah, 32 rookie quarterbacks dating back to 2008. In fantasy points per game, right now, Jaden Daniels is sitting at 6th, but maybe more interesting. Bo Nick sitting at 10th.

That's outrageous. Out of those 32 quarterbacks dating back, the 32 rookies dating back to 2008, Jaden is behind Cam Newton, RG3, Herbert in 2020, Stroud last year, and Kyler Murray. He's actually tied with Kyler Murray at 19.9. Bo Nex is sitting at 18.4, though. And I think even just showing, like, that's a point and a half gap between what Bonex is doing this year and Jaden Daniels, who started so hot that I think. And Bo was the opposite. I mean, in the first month of the season, in a four points passing touchdown, you know, he was under, he was 11 points or fewer in three of the first four games. And then since week five, Bo is the quarterback three in fantasy. The quarterback three since that first month of his season. It's unbelievable. And they're starting to lean on Marvin Mimsmore, Jason. I don't know if you saw that.

Big key to success for bone eggs. I don't believe it. I refuse to accept it. And I want to focus on Sean Payton saying really good things about Troy Franklin. Oh, because it was a season high for targets. Oh, boy. All the way up. Five. Did he catch them? He caught three of them. Oh, that's it. I thought he had like four. Okay. He had two carries. So six, tenth, and four. Caleb Williams is sitting 14 of 32. So. For all of the kind of shade thrown on Caleb Williams, that's still a, you know, that's above the halfway point for all the rookie quarterbacks that we looked at. Passing yards per game, they're all middle of the pack right now in terms of the context of rookie performances. They're not putting up huge yardage number 17th, 18th, and 20th. But completion percentage, Jaden Daniels is number two since 2008 among all rookie quarterbacks, 68.4%.

behind only Mac Jones superstar rookie quarterback. That was such a good rookie year for Mac Jones. They went to the playoffs, right? Maybe that's your like, that's your like, I hope that's not Bo Nix, right? 100%. Yeah, I mean, this is not a guarantee of future success, but there's certainly huge optimism here for most of this rookie class. And we've talked about Caleb Williams specifically like, I feel like we've seen enough to believe he will. be a franchise quarterback as opposed to what we saw from Bryce Young and his rookie year. But the name we haven't really talked hardly at all about is Drake May. And sure what we actually think because in the first game or two, it was like I liked a lot of what I saw, but I feel like I'm pretty disappointed in. I think he's doing the best he can do with what he's got. Honestly, I think he's actually not that bad. He's got a 65.5% completion percentage, which.

is above Bo Nix, which is above Caleb Williams. He's not in the samples when we looked at those three guys. He's literally surrounded by booty. He is literally surrounded by booty. Like when booty is your top. You can leave now. I mean, you just, we peaked. Mike showed up and you can leave. No, I'm, you know, when your top target is booty, you're not going to put up big numbers. Oh, man. Yeah. That's good stuff. But, yeah, I mean, I think Drake May is fine. I do. I think I don't view him. I think him and Caleb Williams are actually performing at a similar level right now, not the Bonix level. Yeah, I mean, look, the other three guys, like Cortland Sutton has, he has never come through. I think for what we had hoped he was going to be when he entered the league. I thought he was a second round pick. But it was like, no, he's a good player. Of course, the Bears have their weapons. And then Cherry McLaurant. So it's like.

Drake May compared to these other guys is just, he's got half the cards. Hey, I didn't notice any Anthony Richardson in the completion percentage area of the rookie stats. Is he not? It he doesn't. Kyle, do you know where he registers? I don't think he has 11 starts. Oh, you're probably right. It's also, he's more of a rookie. Yeah, he really is. 100%. The, the Richardson game is so weird. This week you're saying? Yes. Oh, it was weird. 11 for 28, 39% of his passes completed, 172 yards. But there was a... It wasn't that bad. There was a full dropped touchdown. Like we're talking a slant route, hit the, hit, what was it, Ogletree? It was Ogletree. It hit him right in the hands for a touchdown. Ugly tree. And then Hartitz had tweeted out. There was like, he had 70 passing yards called back on penalties. Yeah. Freaking penalties. Oh, my.

They still scored six points. Yeah, yeah. It wasn't as bad as the box score for sure. And he had some yards on the ground. But yeah, any chance I have to take a shot. I will say that there was there were missed opportunities and his game was slightly better than what the box score says. But also the box score says it was horrific. And it was a little better than that. It was still bad. There were plenty of plays out there. Because what I was focused on for Anthony Richardson was consistency and accuracy. Like, because he had it the previous game. Like is, is this what's developing? And that was 100% not there. What you saw in this game was still a couple, a couple of incredible throws and a couple just absurdly ridiculous. Like, whoops? Like, is it raining in that dome? Why is the ball coming out of your hand like that? I think it's also, you know, worth at this point highlighting because it will.

This will transfer over to next year. People, we're talking about 32 rookie quarterback since 2008. It's like, this is not normal. Mm-hmm. What is happening. And, you know, like, especially for, like, Terry McLaurin being a top-tier fantasy player, you know, like, they're, their, Cortland Sutton, their weapons doing what they're doing, don't. let that low you into a false sense of confidence next year when we're drafting rookie quarterback's top wide receivers. Right, right. Although we are seeing. It's not impossible. Well, yeah. It's just the probability is still very low. Yeah. I think it is low, but I think it is changing because perhaps we'll need to do like a slightly more. You know, we've seen it at the tight end position a little bit from the rookies. I think we're seeing slightly more.

a higher probability is there over time. I mean, I think people are going to win championships with Bo Nix and Jaden Daniels this year. Like Bo Nix has the eighth easiest schedule the rest of the way. They let him throw it around. He's playing great football. And Jaden Daniels, he's got some matchups in the playoffs. If you can get through Philly in Week 16, which, you know, when you have rushing baseline, you can get through a game like that. I think championships are going to be won on the back of two rookie quarterbacks. I really do. The rushing yards is a huge one of Jaden's averaging 46 yards a game. Bo Nix is at 25 and Caleb's at 30. That is a huge deal. And the only reason I say that I think it might be changing a little bit is just because, you know, last year, C.J. Stroud points per game was the fourth highest of that stretch. You had Herbert in 2020 and now you've got these guys this year. It's always going to depend on the situation you're in and the offense you're in. I mean.

There are players right now that Caleb Williams was doomed to die until they made this change at offensive coordinator. The last two weeks he's looked better. Did Caleb Williams just like hook into the Matrix and upgrade his software? I mean, it was a change in the offense. And a kind of a perfect situation for him to have to chuck it. Yeah. And so, and Sean Payton's doing great stuff with Boe Nix, whereas Drake May has booty right now. Yeah. And no offensive line. Yeah. So I'm just thrilled that we have this draft class because it wasn't long ago that we thought there was an incredible draft class that had Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson and Trey Lance and Justin Fields. And, you know, it was like, Mac Jones was in that one. I mean, you were like, this is the future of the NFL. How many? How many touchdowns does Sutton have on the year? And how many touchdowns does McLaren have on the year so far?

I don't know those off the top of my head. You can look them up, but I know that both wide receivers are top 10. That is crazy right now. Sutton is at, Sutton only has five. And where's McLaren? Let me look that up. His name is Terry. McClure. He is at seven. Because we were talking about the one piece, because I did an article on rookie quarterback performances before the year when we looked at Stroud. And the one thing that we saw was that. Generally speaking, they did not raise the bar unless they had a Hall of Famer. Like they could not get their wide receivers to those top performances or to double digit touchdowns.

That's what we had seen historically among rookie quarterbacks. Yeah, if they had Reggie Wayne or Steve Smith. Keenan Allen. Yeah, Adam Thielen was one ironically the year before. This is certainly breaking that mold because I think Tara McLaurin and Cortland Sutton are good wide receivers, but they are not that caliber. And number one overall picks was generally a much higher bar than the other ones. But yeah, this is an outlier year to Mike's point of not overreacting. So that was ready to roll. Thanks again to our sponsor, Nissan and the all new reimagined Nissan Kix. Take on the city with the Nissan Kix, bold new look plus safety features like the Nissan Safety Shield 360 technologies. That'll have your back in traffic. Head over to NissanUSA.com to learn more. Nissan Safety Shield Technologies. Can't prevent all collisions are worn in all situations. See the owner's manual for important safety information. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance.

Well, rarely a week goes by where we don't have news on Brian Robinson Jr. getting banged up. He injured his right ankle in the first quarter, returned, and then was ruled out in the second half. Him returning just visually. Again, I'm not a doctor. Not sure people understand that about my background. Yeah, the way I speak, sometimes it gets confusing. But that tackle was a, uh-oh. Brian Robinson is in. His season was over. Yeah. I mean, when that tackle happened and it looked like it was. Was it hip drop? A little bit like the player did kind of come down on it and bent him back, but I don't think it was, I don't think it was specifically a hip drop style of the beginning of the tackle. However, it was bent back over. You worried about the knee as well because you couldn't really tell that's hip drop.

I'm watching it right now. You couldn't really tell where the foot was, so you thought, man, he could completely destroy his knee on a tackle like that. You could break your fibula. This is exactly what happened to Joe Mixon when he got hip dropped and then tried to come back in that same game, then got ruled out. Then Joe Mixon missed what? Four weeks? Three. Three weeks. So, I mean, we've not had a lot to say about running backs on Waver Day because. Well, and Austin Echler... He's probably rostered. Austin Echler, at the very, very, very end of the game had a brutal concussion. He's getting the concussion protocol. For a second time this year, yes, correct. So he will not play this week. Jeremy McNichols. Yeah, now we have a name. Yeah. Yeah, Mick Nichols has been pretty good in his opportunities. So I did not see the Echler concussion. Josh Downs left the second half with a shoulder injury for the Colts. That's a bummer. David Montgomery left the...

Second half with a shoulder injury. They said he could have returned. And Dan Campbell said when asked about Monty, there are bigger fish to fry. They could give him a week. I mean, they could give him time because they are nine and one. He was very, or Dan Campbell, we'll see how he talks during the week. But, I mean, and it's, they're Thanksgiving, right? So they're in a game here in just a couple days. Yeah, that's true. I would, I'll just. guess that Montgomery will sit. He'll be fine. Well, I don't have Montgomery on any teams. He'll be fine, Michael. So I will guess that he will sit out. He's totally okay. Not a doctor, Jason. I'm not, not yet, but, um, I think he's absolutely fine. Can you? Can you imagine if Jason was a doctor, but he was treating the fantasy players. He was treating these players in.

I think there would be a little bit of a conflict of interest, I'm not being honest. Really? A little bit. Like if I, if they're on your team, you might give them different medical reports. Yeah. Or if they're on my opponent's team. Yeah, it's like the QB is getting the concussion check. Yeah. You're like, that guy, I don't think he's okay. Dude, he's good to go. I'd pump him full of, I'd pump him full of steroids and then an alert anonymously the league and be like, you got to test that dude. Oh, he's out. Who's got the backup? Oh, I already have him.

Yeah, baby. I don't know if we're in jeopardy of getting a medical license anytime soon. Chemical warfare and fantasy football. You got to do what you got to. Just juicing some guys coffee? Yeah. I mean, it's helping them make them stronger. Romeo Dobbs left with a concussion. They play on Thanksgiving too. You might as well rule them out now. Gardner Minshew out for the year with a fractured clavicle. Thank you, Gardner. Antonio Pierce said Aiden O'Connell could be activated off of IR as soon as Friday. Which is their game. They play, yeah, the Chiefs on Friday. This is actually, as someone who has the Chief's defense, this is devastating news. I was fully hoping I'd get the Chiefs against Desmond Ritter. I don't know that you're really scared about Aden O'Connell either. I would not be. Aiden O'Connell. You've ever seen Desmond Ritter, though? I've seen Aden O'Connell. Yeah, I'm thrilled no matter here. Aden O'Connell only has two picks and his four starts. That's not the numbers I'm looking for. I want three picks per game. I know Ritter can do that.

On the flip side, though, for people not just playing the Kansas City Chiefs, I mean, Brock Bowers takes a hit. Jacobi Myers, like this is a real shame that Gardner Menshu is out because for, you know, he's not a superstar quarterback, but he can. Competency. He's competent, yes. I mean, my Amir Abdullah. You're up dear, Amir Abdullah, Abdullah, Daetavian Sanders left yesterday's game of the neck injury, Panthers rookie. tied in. Oh, that one was scary. Still being evaluated. Yeah, that one was scary. And then Ladd-McConkie still questionable for tonight with a shoulder injury. We don't need to get into Rogers. I think you at least don't need to. Okay. Yes. The news that is spreading is, you know, that Aaron Rogers doesn't want to play for the Jets anymore. Well, it's, it's really, it's all likely. It's likely that they could place them on IR or bench him because he's had a bunch of injuries and refused to get scans on the injuries.

because and the jets are I mean they're cleaning house already uh like coach gone GM gone so you it's just you got to at least pay attention that's that'll kill Garrett Wilson that'll kill it won't Devonte Adams but it was it's Tyrod right yeah Tyrod Taylor so in his own right though if you're in a two QB league right now is the time this this waiver uh week tomorrow. Let's pick him up. And it was also reported, I think it was Rossini saying that Rogers wants to play next year, just not for the Jets. Like how? Like you can't bring all your dudes over there and then leave him. Oh, he can. I mean, if there is a villain left right now in the NFL, it's Aaron Roger. I don't think he'll go out like this. That's the thing. I don't think he will.

Just like if they bench him and put him on IR, I don't think he's not playing ever again, and this is the ending for him. It's going to take. He's owed $23 million. It's going to take a strong team to take him on. Yeah, or a really bad team. It might take a bad, bad team. I mean, like, it's. Carolina. The, the, the, the parallel here. Dude, Bryce Young is, that game against the Chiefs for Bryce Young was. He played pretty well. He played fantastic. Like, he's played. really, really well since the benching. But I'm saying the parallels of Rogers and the Brett Fav journey, they continue to be hilarious. But like the issues with- Oh, Minnesota? Yeah, the issues with Farr, well, that's already being rumored too. Yeah, well, I mean, they won't, I mean- Because if McCarthy just had a second cleanup on his knee. Yeah, McCarthy's injury is looking longer term. Like, Darnold probably has played himself into one of those like Baker-type contracts for a team. So they're going to need somebody. But I'm saying the,