Fantasy Football 2017 - Starts of the Week, Week 15 Matchups, Boom Boom

We can't just give all the love to Josh Gordon because he's new and shiny and forget about what Cory Coleman has been able to do in his very few games. You know, in his career, Cory Coleman, you know, he doesn't even have a complete season of games yet. And his percentage of valuable fantasy games are really high. So I'm just saying I'm not trying to throw shade on Josh Gordon. I'm not.

saying Josh Gordon isn't good. What I'm trying to say here is I believe Corey Coleman is a great wide receiver. And that's why we have a water bet this week. I've sent you a picture just so you don't forget Josh Gordon. I'm assuming that there are a lot of abs in this picture. There's at least 32. Yeah. 32 abs. He's got a 32 pass. And there's only one man in the picture. That is not. I took the picture. I took the picture. Yeah. It's not you. I know that.

Texans. Texans, Jaguars. Texans are 4 and 9. The Jags are 11-point favorites. It's hard to write the story of the Texans winning this game. It seems actually like an impossibility. Yes, it certainly is. Because of how the defense for the Jaguars is playing, they're even better than they've been on the year over the last six weeks. And frankly, I...

I'm starting DeAndre Hopkins because you have to do that. Jason, you looked up a very kind of crazy stat the other day. You looked up the percentage of targets that go to DeAndre Hopkins from the various quarterbacks the Texans have had, whether it was Savage and it was in the 30% area. And then even Deshaun Watson, it was in the 30-something percent area. Yeah, they're all 30. Brock Osweiler jumps in there, though, and he's like, no, guys. I'm only going to target him a quarter of the time.

Ridiculous. But. But DJ Yates in the small sample size was up almost at 60% of the targets are going. I'm telling you, that's how I would play quarterback. Oh, my would be in the 80s. I'd be like snap, one step drop, obviously. I'm not going to risk that Calais Campbell smashed. It's a zero step drop. Here's what I'm doing every play. I just snap, take that one step drop, and I'm going to immediately fake it wherever Hopkins isn't.

Like I'm just, I'm pumping. Oh, it's a fake automatic every time. Every time. I'm pumping wherever he's not. Every play. Pump, throw to Hopkins. Pump. They'll never catch on to that. No. No. So Hopkins, you start. You just can't not start the, you know, a top three wide receiver. It's not a great matchup, but he could still make something happen. He did it against Jimmy Smith. He did it against Patrick Peterson. I'm not going to doubt him at this point. And, you know, you put your trust in a guy like that. Yes.

Otherwise, that's about it. Lamar Miller, you're in a situation you have to start him. No. Yes, you are. I don't think so. As a running back, too, what are you going to do? I think if you have options like Kenyon, Drake, Alex Collins, Jamal Williams, guys, you've picked up off of waivers. If you're a waiver hotness, if you're a waiver hotness team, you know, you're in the playoffs because you've been dropping it like it's hot. I think you will have the luxury to be able to take a Lamar Miller and say this week isn't your week.

Take some rest. We haven't at 20, so that does fit your narrative there. We haven't had 20 just at the back end of the running back too. So if you are a player that has, like Rex Burkhead, you picked him up later in the year. Right. You'd go Burkhead over Lamar Miller. Exactly. What about Johnny Stu? No, I would go Lamar Miller over John. I mean, the volume is sure with Lamar Miller. Got it. I got Andy again. I didn't even hear it. What was it? You got to cook up some stew. Ah. Oh, man, I'm starving now. I'm also on fire.

Oh, yeah, you're just killing it today. $499 shows in. You're getting better. That's true. You're like a fine homeless wine. Fine dad pun wine. He's a fine dad pun wine. On the other side, though, look, the Texans, they're struggling against fantasy quarterbacks. Blake Bortles. Mike, you've been... I'm so ready. You've been all about Blake Bordles this week. And then, you know, for Nett, we're monitoring the injury. But when he plays...

he plays all the time. That's kind of the situation. When he's in there, he has the majority of all snaps, second highest amount of carries per week since week 10. If he's starting, he's in. Otherwise, Marquis Lee, Dede Westbrook. If you had to pick between one of those two guys, you like Bortles, he's going to throw it to somebody. How do you rank the wide receivers in Jacksonville before we get into the starts of the week? Obviously, Marquis Lee has been popping up.

on the injury reports very often, but that hasn't stopped him from having some great weeks, 86 yards against the Colts and then 65 against the Seahawks. I would go with Marquise Lee over Westbrook, despite him being the new hotness. Yeah, I have them back to back in my rankings. I've got Westbrook 28. So wide receiver three and four? I've got Westbrook.

at 28 and Mark easily at 29. It's really tough to call between those guys. And I'll be honest, I don't, I don't really love either. I like Blake Bortles, but he has enough weapons now. You've got a team across the field that's really susceptible to the tight end. So the touchdowns could go, you know, to...

Oh, no, not another Mercedes-Lewis game. This could be another Mercedes-Lewis game. Blake, don't do it. You have Keel and Cole who's been getting downfield, D.D. Westbrook, Marquise Lee. I love the fact that there are now multiple weapons that can be used for Blake Bortle's sake. I just don't like that for calling out which wide receiver is going to have it. Imagine the Jaguars. I mean, they opened the season. It was the Allen's as you're one and two. Al Robinson, Alan Hurd. Yeah, and now.

Now it's Lee Westbrook and Cole. And you're okay. You got to give a shout out to the Jags GM because they have done a great job drafting wide receivers. There's no way DD Westbrook isn't a core piece of this team for a long time. That's my opinion. Isn't Alan Robinson a free agent? Yes. Well, him and Lee. Both of are their contracts are expiring. You might not see either come back. They may draft a wide receiver. Maybe bring one back. I bet Lee comes back. Really? Over.

Alan Robinson. I do. Money. Yeah, the money. Alan Robinson, well, they're both going to be looking for nice contracts, but Robinson has that year. Yeah. And it's going to be tough for NFL teams to not overlook that. It'll be fun talking offseason stuff. Yes, it will. Free agency. All right, let's talk starts. Starts of the week.

All right, we're going to try to give you some names that can deliver for you in week 15. And a reminder, the rest of the matchups will be on tomorrow's episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. So tune in tomorrow and you'll get the rest. I'm going to start the quarterback position. And I'm going to go with Case Keenom. I love it. Case Keenum is at home. Case Keenum is fighting for that number one seed. Case Keenum is delivering each and every week. Case Keenum is a Pro Bowl quarterback.

What's it? What's it? Pro Bowl quarterback. Quarterback? And Case Keenum gets to face a Bengals defense that is 22nd in the league over the last six weeks, giving up 18.6 points. They're just to the quarterback. They're beat up. And putting them on the road. I mean, last week they were at home against the Bears in Mitch Trubisky put up a fantasy relevant week. If you don't think Case Keenom and company can have a good week, you're crazy. So I am all aboard Minnesota this week. Case Keenom started the week. All right. I have a question here for an audible.

Okay, this is, this question comes up for Jason, uh, in Phoenix, Arizona. Omaha. I'm calling onaudible at the lunch. Is it, I see what you did. All I could think of was me. They were just yelling cities out. Is it okay to make a start of the week Aaron Rogers? Uh, only if you have them in your top three. I, uh, I will allow it. Well, let's go to the judge, judge. I allow it.

All right. Barely. You know what? I agree. I agree because every team that has Aaron Rogers has another quarterback that they've been starting. Yes. Therefore, you're telling them what? With this start of the week, what are you telling people that they don't already know with your start of the week? What I'm telling them is I'm saying that the Carolina Panthers have not been a good defense lately. And the Aaron Rogers is not going to come back and be bad. It's just, he's not going to. I'm changing to Johnny Unitas.

So my start of the week was Dak Prescott. And when I was making the argument for Dak Prescott, it was going to, you know, but would I start him over Aaron Rogers? That question I've seen a lot. And no, I would start Aaron Rogers even ahead of Dak Prescott. So this is where I'm trying to give people the confidence. If you've picked him up, Aaron Rogers is a guy that you should start. You should not wait and see if he's back from the injury. That's why Aaron Rogers is my start of the week.

Fellas, I will start over Aaron Rogers. Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson. Big Ben. I almost said, I said Bren. Yeah, he did. A little Game of Thrones there. Big Ben. Oh, that's great. Big Brin. Yeah. Darth? Yeah, sure. Yeah. Tom Brady. I love that. That's it. I mean, my fire is just so, it's so hot right now. My jokes, I don't even need to do it. Your joke fire? Yeah. Joke fire. Who's your start of the wing?

You know who it is because I'm so very excited. The BB gun. The BB gun. Blake Bortles, the matchup is tremendous against Houston. And now you may have a banged up Leonard Furnett going up against a, you know, kind of middle of the pack rushing defense that the Houston Texans have. So I like Blake Bortles as a stream a lot. All right. Well, look, let's gather around the Christmas tree.

There's two presents underneath it, and you pick your favorite. Start of the week at the running back position for you. Can I shake these presents and see if one of them is rattling? Maybe it's broke. Like its shoulders hurt? Yeah. You can shake them and check them out. Okay. I'm staying with the Vikings. Latavius Murray slash Jerich McKinnon. Pick your favorite. I think there's opportunity. Latavius. I understand you saying that, but if Kyle Rudolph's out and McKinnon's fine practices in Fold Today, you may be, you know.

You may be actually wondering which one to open. And McKinnon last week, seven carries for 46 yards, had a great first half for fantasy purposes, just had the shoulder injury. And Murray was not. Murray was not good. And this is an opportunity against a Cincinnati Bengals defense that is 30th in the league against running backs. We talked earlier. It was the Bills, right, and the dolphins.

that were 31 and 32. Well, the Bengals, they're doing their best. 27 fantasy points. That's enough for both players to have a good game. That's the reality. That's enough for both players to have a little Devonthe Freeman, Tevin Coleman action. And despite the fact they've been sharing the backfield, I believe Minnesota's been eighth in the run since the switchover from the Delvin Cook scenario. So I'm starting up Minnesota's backfield, Latavis Murray, Jerich McKinnon, pick your favorite. You've got to lean Murray right now with the shoulder situation.

I think both could have a good game. Yeah, I said this earlier, but my start of the week at running back is Kenyon Drake, a guy I loved coming out of college. I felt a little stupid this, you know, his rookie year because I gave so much love to him. I really believed in the talent. They drafted him in the third round.

And we've seen the talent come through. Now, I'm really, really hoping, and I'm, you know, that Damian Williams does not play this week so that you can get the value out of picking up Kenyon Drake. But Drake has just been great. In fact, it's gone on longer than you realize. Since Jay Ajai has left, even when Damian Williams was there, Drake was successful and involved since week nine, which is enough of a sample size to be sure of whether or not he's good or not.

Kenya Drake is the running back six. The only guys ahead of him are Mark Ingraham, Jamal Williams, Levon, Bell, Todd Gurley, and Alvin Camara. So if you have Drake and you're not starting him, you're making... Shame on you. Yeah. Breaking news. All right, a little bit of breaking news. First, I should have mentioned it earlier. Alvin Camara is going to play this. Sean Payton came out and said he expects him to play. The breaking news is this. Joe Mixen returned to full practice on Thursday. Oh.

Does not guarantee he's going to return this week. Very positive sign since he was held out of the Wednesday session. We'll know more about it on Friday. But if you wanted him to have any chance of playing this week, now he plays Minnesota. Yeah, I was going to say, I don't like Mixing this week. The thing given I'm not using the Jonathan Stewart outlier game as the complete precedent setting thing. Stewart had a big game against Minnesota last week. Mixon was getting 20 plus touches a game. It's hard to find that elsewhere. So if you're out there and you're saying,

I have an option of Theoretic in a split back field of Joe Mixon. That's a tough call for me. Yeah. I mean, Joe Mixon. It's very similar to me to Lamar Miller, where I'm saying you don't have to start him if you've got better options. Yep. I'd love to be able to bench him this week. But the volume says he is usually a start. And then Matt Forte have returned to practice as well. All right, Mike, give us your running back start of the week. So my start. I think I like it. Yeah. That's the thing about this start of the week. This is not an automatic start. This is not like.