Start Your Studs? Playoff Mailbag, TNF Preview - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/11

The Fantasy Footballer Studio is brought to you by Amazon Prime. To the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in. They call it Wednesday. December 11th, the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Some call it hump day. Jason Moore is here. Mostly camels. What are you doing over there? Mike Wright.

Got some hot news, Jay. You're leaving the show there to look at your watch. No, I left nowhere. I just got a text message. Is it from Shifty? No. No, as a reminder, it said, reminder, you have to start someone off waivers this week in your playoffs and you don't know who it is. I will say this. For my playoffs, I am super excited for waivers to run and not because of who I'm picking up. I'm praying someone's dropped, man. I'm like, Come on, people. Drop stuff on the startable. You know the dragon meme? With the, like, really scary looking dragon. The Hydra, the three-headed one. The three-headed one. And there's the hydra. And then there's Jason in the playoffs. Like, Jason's the third Hydra. For sure. You should find that, Al. You should find that meme here for the YouTube audience. Oh, they know it. If you're on YouTube, you know exactly what we're talking about. You know, I guess they were down with the.

uh forest gump reference yeah so we're these are internet people these are internet people um there it is yeah that's the one uh hungry for more today the NFL news uh we've got some for you we got Thursday night preview we got some mailbag and we'll be talking everything playoffs everything fantasy playoffs and how you know the mindset we'll have waivers go through at some point and um yeah yeah jason's doing good Jason's doing real, real good. Got news this morning. I mean, a little preview of the news, but Breeze Hall. Oh, yeah. Uncertain for week 15. Fantastic. Who needs them? There, there I am. There he is. There's everyone else in the league in the playoffs. Zoinks. There's the sixth seed. Yeah. Right over there on the right. Yeah. Trying to find someone better than.

Kendra Miller or Kareem Hahn or MVS or Calvin Austin. I mean, if you want to go on a Where's Waldo, Jason? There are multiple guys in the waiver wire in my opinion right now that I would be playing over them, yes, for sure. Oh, where's Waldo? Yeah. Well, I don't want to give them the names. No, but that's, like there are like there are some neon signs in our waiver wire right now that are like for your team. Everyone else is. No one's claiming these players. Like, I get whoever I want. This is a zero dollar fab bit. Right. Well, I have zero dollars. So that's great news. All in. You are so, you are so like, how are you in the playoffs? I shouldn't have been.

and that's how I want to win it. I'm telling you, I want three wins in a row, and I don't want to score more an 80. I want to back my way into that ring. You need to play Kendri Miller, because do you really want a title where you haven't played Kendri Miller is your flag? I mean, that is perfect for you. So I'll be honest. I'll just reveal. I know my opponent is in the room on waivers, but when I'm looking to make a start, the way that my team is, I want glory. I'm going Troy Franklin or something like that over Hunter Henry, who, okay, maybe he's got a higher baseline. I don't care because I want my glory. I want my name on it. Let's talk about this for a second. This can be in lieu of our quick question for today because I think it's an interesting discussion to have. We often give the advice if you're a major underdog, which a lot of people, you're going into your playoffs this week. You're like Jason. You're the kind of weird looking hydra, right?

You don't belong. He's really easy means a cuddly hydra. And we say, well, you need to take your shots, right? You want upside. But we know this from the world of the great parley out there. You can't hit six. You can't hit a six late. You're not hitting a plus 50,000 on your playoff week. And so like if you have two, what I'm saying is if you have too many pieces of your lineup that are all dart throws. Mm-hmm. you're not hitting that plus 115,000 parley with your lineup. Troy Franklin plus Kendrae Miller plus MVS plus Dantavian Wicks. Like they're not all hitting together. So what would the advice be? Well, to me it's like fewer injuries. Well, sure. That would have come weeks ago or, you know, having your backups or whatever. But I would say that you got to pick a couple. I think it's just got to be one or two. It's got to be.

The baseline plus a couple of lottery tickets. That's all I'm saying. What you're trying to say, not for me, but for the Footland, if you're, if you've got a couple of holes to fill, instead of just going for the touchdown variance upside, the Rashad Bateman times two. Correct. You're saying get one guy. Maybe it's Ray Ray McLeod. Exactly. I'm a cloud, a Hunter Henry, a someone that has the targets, has a baseline, and then throw in another shot for a touchdown upset. Then it's Xavier Worthy. Then it's baitman. Then it's an upside guy. I don't know if you have a different thought, Mike. It's just, no, I'm in completing. Hitting on all of them is just so improbable that you'd hate to hit on two and lose because the other two did nothing is my point. And factoring in, like looking at your matchup, like I will. Like,

He's looking at your match of Jay. No, like legitimately. Look, it's trying to identify on the other team's side. Like, who has an actual chance of not coming through? Do you think it's Karen Williams? Or Justin Jefferson or Josh Jacobs or? Josh Jacobs. Josh Jacobs is the player I would identify this week. That sounds like a really good team. It is a very good team, Owl. But like it. Obviously, Josh Jacobs could be. A little too good. Jacobs will be ranked very high because the guys having a fantastic season. But he is getting super lucky when it comes to touchdowns. Last week, what it was like 60-something rushing yards for Josh Jacobs. I know. We scored three times. Awesome for fantasy football. But he's against Seattle on the road. And the Seattle defense of late has been much, much better. Help Connor to nine yards rushing two weeks ago? There is a chance that.

that players on the other side have subpar weeks. Like factoring all of those things in to your whatever, your witches brew dirty mojo that you're cultivating over there. I'm looking at this thing, man, and you have no shot. You got a real uphill battle, man. I'm going to need about four or five injuries on Jerbares team. I know what you need. What you need is a James Winston. Oh, you're trying to give me to put James back in there. He's in there right now. So, look, I just think pick your dart throws wisely out there. Those of you that are underdogs, do what Mike said, you know, last week, for example, I went into a matchup. I was a 30-point underdog. Things happen quickly. We don't know if Kenneth Walker's back. We don't know if Bruce Hall is back. We don't know if George Pickens is back. He's not. Well, they said, you know, there's a slim chance, but injuries can happen.

Underdogs win all of the time. By the way, shout out to all of the people sharing their 0 and 6 stories. I love those stories. Getting into the playoffs, it's awesome. So what do you do if you're in a different situation than Jason, Mike? So you're on the bye week? Let's say you're on the bye week. Hypothetically speaking, you're on the bye. I mean, bye week is if you want to sit and do nothing, okay. I wouldn't recommend that. I would be looking around of like there are like our League of Record. There are still a couple backups. Maybe these are not backups to starting running backs for the playoff teams. But those are the guys that if something goes wrong, the value absolutely skyrocket. Find your future Garindo. And yeah, yeah, exactly. Find the future Garendo. And then I had someone ask me like, hey, I'm on the buy week. Is it fair game?

Because they have kickers. Like, could I drop my kicker and pick up whatever, a backup running back. I'm like, absolutely. You're not, you're not fielding a roster. You are not, you're not tampering with your matchup. You're trying to make your team better. So it's things like that. Maybe you're, that's a good one. Or you're like, my defense is I wasn't able to like load up and prepare for that. You got crap defense. I would rather have some insurance running backs on my, on the bench. while I'm not playing just in case. So there are tiny little strategic moves that you can do to try and shift the balance of power into your favor. All right. Let's move forward. Welcome to Hungry for More, presented by Uber Eads. By the way, I don't know if you guys knew this, but I have given up the habit. Like I'm no longer, no more chewing tobacco on the show. Oh, that's good. Did you switch to the pouches?

Yeah, yeah, I know that. Is that what? The Falcon, what are those things called? Zins? Zins, okay. I thought I would ask the young buck, but. I just wanted you guys to know I gave up the habit. Oh, all right, good for you. Ever since my days is a relief pitcher in Major League Baseball. Probably, is that why the tooth fell out in the first place? That's right. Yeah, it was deterioration. All right, Hungry for More. I'm taking an angle here with Hungry for More of, it's not always the diamond in the rough that you need in the playoffs. Sometimes you just need.

a little bit of consistency. And so my hunger for more is actually Brock Purdy. Not for Brock Purdy's sake. For Juan Jennings and George Kittle. I need... What about me? Debo. Debo is the dart throw. Remember when I was good? I feel like Debo is that meme right now. It's like... Oh, and the other two are Kittles and Jennings. And then there's Debo. And he's like Debo. And there's Debo. I need the ball more guys. If only I had the ball. No, I want to be able to count on George Kittle for the remainder of the year. And I want to be able to count on Joanne Jennings for the remainder of the year. Those are the two players that have been so good when Brock Purdy is good. He has been a top 10 quarterback himself in five to seven starts. And the division's close enough where the 49ers are still alive. So I am hungry for more.

consistent offensive performances from the 49ers that guarantee me that George Kettle and Juan Jennings are key parts of a fantasy championship run. I'm just, this is, you know, just it's an aside. But I'm having the realization here of like, John Jennings is like this is more San Francisco magic of like he's Brock Purdy. Like they drafted Trey Lance at the, they traded everything to get Trey Lance moved up to the three and then they got Brooke Purdy with their last pick of the draft. They gave Brandon Ayuk all that cash, and they gave Joanne Jennings just a little bit of an extension this off season. And Juan is everything that they wanted Debo and Iyuk to be. Yeah, I thought you were going to bring up, you know, it was Pierce all that was supposed to have the role. Yeah, that too. And it's Joanne Jennings. No, I mean, by the way, Debo, Samuel, fewer receiving yards this year than Hunter Henry, Alec Pierce, Chris Godwin, he hasn't played since week seven. Just because I don't get the ball. Kate Otten, Ray Ray McLeod, Christian Watson. I need the ball.

What is that voice? I don't know. Oh, man. Debo has fallen. It's Debo. So, Jason, who's your hungry for more candidate? My hungry for more candidate was Mike's last week. Yeah, baby. It was great. And so I'm going back for second helpings or dessert. I'm hungry for more Jalen Waddle. And really what we saw last week was awesome. The way that the Dolphins offense worked was better. Why is that, Jason? Well, it might just be because they started targeting Tyree Kill and Jalen Waddle instead of Jonu Smith and Devon Anshan. And lo and behold, more explosive, bigger plays, higher scores. They had to go to overtime. Yeah, as you said, and then they had to lean on Johnny. They had to lean on Johnny to win the game. First read targets. This was pointed out by Jared Smola. Tyreekilled 34%. Jailen Wadle 34%. John who was down at 9%. They still won the game. But.

Oh, man. Tyreek and Jalen Waddle had good games. Yeah. And honestly, Waddle, you know, the last few weeks, you've got an uptick in Target Share. You know, he was 15% the first 11 weeks. He's been 19% the last three weeks. Finally getting it done. You feel like you could start him. And I think you can start Jalen Waddle. The matchup this week, it's a good team, but this is. I think the actual specifics of how he's matching up against that defense works for him. They're getting him yak opportunities, the way that, I mean, that's really his superpower. You know, and he even had three red zone targets last week, which he had three in the previous eight weeks combined. So let's stay in the flames with Jalen Waddle. I love it. He's a good player. He needs the ball. I want to bring up Brian Thomas Jr., who.

I feel like he is a little bit of a blind spot right now because the season started so well for him, you know, a later round rookie pick. He was a first-run guy by the selection by the Jags. It's coming out of the gates super hot. Then you had the, just a weird lull in the middle of the season. Not weird of the, we knew what happened, but it just, it was frustrating of this player was, he's the chosen one. He's supposed to be. a superstar here. It had fallen apart. Trevor Lawrence is out. Mac Jones is in. And yet, over the last three weeks, Brian Thomas said 82 yards, 76 yards, 86 yards, or 76 yards, then 86. Like, he's putting up strong yardage totals. And it, he's kind of felt like a, well, I can't possibly play him with Mac Jones. I just, it's not something I can do. And yet he's been producing. So I just, I thought he was.

an interesting player of having the conversation of, like, I think we got to move away from, well, Brian Thomas can't possibly be a started for you. He's back. Oh, he could definitely be a starter for me. Mike, I need Brian Thomas to be started for me. I'm saying there's a lot of teams in the playoffs. Brian Thomas Senior could start for Jason. Yeah, yeah. He probably probably do not too bad for me. His first two double digit target games of his entire career came the last two starts with Mac Jones. So there is a bit of a Mac Jones is out there just.

throwing it around, like Parker Washington had a big game with him, and Brian Thomas Jr. will get the opportunities. He might be missed on them, but I'll have the opportunities. So I think it's fair to look at him and say, hey, maybe we need to renew our confidence. Like the last three weeks, you know, with Mack, Evan Engram is, it's nothing. You know, like Mac Jones, different play style here. We get, like, start to pay attention to the trends here and not just, oh, it's a backup quarterback. Brian Thomas is a great player, and it seems like Mack Jones has enough to get him to be a fantasy starter, at least a flex. Well, he's always a threat for a big, like, long touchdown, and he's still been double digits the last three weeks in fantasy. So the floor is probably much higher than we thought it might be with Mac Jones, which is, I think, your point. So hungry for more opportunity for Brian Thomas, because those are explosive plays.

That was hungry for more presented by Uber Eats, where you can get the best deals on game day food all season long. Uber Eats, the official on-demand delivery partner of the NFL you can order now. All right, let's jump into the news. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. He was and never was. Zemir White on Injured Reserve for the Raiders. Yeah. He has a sweet 2.8 yards per carry this off season and is a perfect example of why moving forward and away from your franchise running back doesn't always go the way you hope. It carries tremendous risk. I don't remember the stat because I don't have it right in front of me, but he was him and Zach Moss were the two players, you know, before the season of like, guys, the...

The percentage, the actual amount of people who break out in year four, or wherever we are, drafted where he is. It's like two people. And the odds were so against him. So hopefully you avoided him, which is wild, considering he was supposed to be the starter. Pierce kept saying over and over, he's going to be the guy. And Madison, like the backfield had value. Alexander Madison was very startable for a stretch there. Looks like he's a very start. Only the backup can be good. Zimir was the starter and so that just can't. He was good when he was the backup. Exactly. And it was a mirage to end the year. It was a lot of opportunities that didn't translate into him being proficient in this season. So, Breeze Hall uncertain for week 15. Their head coach said he is, quote, struggling a bit with his knee injury.

Yeah, I mean, that's how injuries work. Not improving as much as he'd like. Yeah, that means he's not going to play this week. If his, if right now in the middle of the week, you're saying it's not improving, I'm struggling with it. I didn't play last week. That's not like, yeah, I'm going to suit up. Or if you do suit up, I'm going to be a big part of the offense when you know you can get something from Allen and Davis on top. I mean, it's almost worse for fantasy players to like tease this out too long and not make a different plan.

If you had a plan. Yeah, you have to have a breeiceless plan because you're going to have a breeiceless team this week. I bet you wish some of your teams were breeiceless. I certainly do. Well, they are. Yes, they are. Yeah, hitching my wagon to Breece Hall is hurt. George Pickens has a quote, outside chance of playing in week 15. Yeah, I don't think he's going to play. I did this week's episode of the Dynasty podcast. And we were talking, you know, George Pickens' long-term outlook. So if you want to check out that conversation, it's on the Fantasy Footballers Dynasty Pod. But we're talking with Matthew Betts certified PT. And his opinion was more of he's putting Pickens at very questionable for next week, where I was on the opinion of I think there's a chance he suits up next week, but Betts is more concerned than I am. Well, it's just going to be what's on the line for the Steelers in the final couple weeks. Is it playoff positioning divisional?

you know, championship, you know, what is, what is going to be on the line and how long can you wait on George Pickens? Schedule-wise, it's wild. It's Baltimore, right? This week is Philadelphia, who they are, or, I mean, that's a really, they're heavy underducks. Yeah, that's a tough match. Then the divisional on the road with Baltimore, and then they get the Chiefs, which if they keep winning, like that game against the Chiefs, there's a chance that the Steelers are trying to steal away a by week. Like, that's not. I know it's wild. Buffalo is there and everything. Where are they at, 9 and 3? I think they're 10 and 3. Let me double check that. But it was, yeah, Pittsburgh is a 5-point road dog. They are 10 and 3. They're 10 and 3. So they're 10 and 3. The bills are 10 and 3. Two games behind the Chiefs. And the Chiefs are 12 and 1. But they play the Chiefs. Yeah, it just seems hard to believe that they're going to win against Philly and Baltimore the next couple of weeks. But we'll see. Sean Payton talked about Marvin Mims and his expanded roles as a running back.

Okay, Sean. Why is this quote in here? I don't know why it's in there. Because it's funny. Every time Sean Payton talks about Marvin Mims, yeah, right. Isaac Garando did not practice in or did not participate in the walkthrough. Most people's opinion that I've read is that he's not going to play on Thursday. Now we don't. But it's a foot. It's a foot injury, Mike. I mean, that's literally the hardest thing. I would expect him to be able to be at the walkthrough. if you're going to play in the game. I would agree with that if he's not participating in the walkthrough seeming less likely that he will play. But we kind of talked about this yesterday. We know he's not going to practice. If he plays Thursday, they basically said he's not practicing until then. Now is today's news and notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. We'll take a break. We'll hit the preview. All right. It's time to jump into our TNF preview. Thursday night breakdown.

Well, we just talked about Isaac Garindo, so that will bring us into this discussion. The Rams at 7 and 6 taking on the 6 and 7 49ers. The 49ers are 2.5 point home favorites. The overrunners 49 and a half. And, you know, I think this is a pretty fun matchup for Thursday night. This is a game where in the division right now, the Seahawks are 8 and 5, Rams are 7 and 6, Cardinals are 6 and 7, 49ers are 6 and 7. You know, you're here where Arizona plays New England at home. They're going to be favored there. They could go to seven and seven. And if the 49ers fulfill the line here, there could be three seven and seven teams with the Seahawks maybe, you know, a game ahead because they play the Packers. So it's a competitive division where literally all four teams are still in the mix. The Rams coming off their biggest win of the year, 44, 42 over the bills.

It was an outrageous game to watch. It was outrageous for fantasy, Kyron and Puka and Cup, all getting it done. Even Matthew Stafford, fantasy-wise, was very good. Obviously, they played each other earlier in the year. The Rams won the game, 27-24. The running back is the question mark for San Francisco in this game because it's a very, very vulnerable Rams defense. The 49ers are at home. The Rams are 23rd against the run. Tell the world what to do, guys, and totally don't include asking me. If Garendo is out, I would have confidence. I would play Patrick Taylor as like a top 24 option. Jason, you seem to have more hesitancy than I do, but I would, it's tough. It's a really tough decision here, but I think the Thursday night.

with the early game plan and these guys, like, I'm not worried about Kishon Vaughn coming in. Abanacanda is, he's the more interesting player, but he was just added to the team. He was inactive on Sunday because, of course, he just got there. And then with the short week, I think they would really lean on Patrick Taylor. Now, can he get it done? I think I would have faith in the system and faith in the matchup. So all those things put together, Taylor is a startable guy. Yeah, I mean, it is most likely going to be Patrick Taylor. My worries with being confident in him as the starter is that I can see a world where Israel Banakanda comes in and basically becomes this starter. And if he is, you know, he was inactive last week. He was new to the team. He is the best athlete of that running back room that is left alive.

And that is usually who they put in. So it's, it's tough. I mean, to call your shot on a start for Israel, you know, Izzy would be very, very difficult to plug. You can't start him. You can't, Mike. You cannot advise starting. I mean, he may not even be active. Yeah. Well, right, right. I mean, obviously, I do not recommend starting a guy who's not active. Never tell me the odds. I'm still putting them in. You can't stop me. I think Patrick Taylor has one game where he was the guy in Green Bay a couple years ago. He had 11 carries, 53 yards, 4.8 a carry, scored a touchdown. Otherwise, we don't have a huge sample size of what he'd be able to do. I mostly agree with Mike's take on this. If you were going to ride one, that would be the one I'd give it a go. You know, we got seven carries last week.

after the injuries. And then really the advice on a Wednesday is not very good advice here. That's kind of part of, I mean, we need a little bit more on Garindo's availability and who's going to be active on this game. If you did get word that there's three backs active, lower your expectations for Taylor. It would just concern me a little bit. Well, I think they'll have, they might have three active. I mean, like, Garindo's, it, How have they been doing it? I mean, like when McCaffrey, McAfrey Mason and Grendo were all active in that Buffalo game, I think they'll have three no matter what. Yeah, I don't know if that's signal for Patrick Taylor or not. Are you at the point here, let's say it is, Garindo's just inactive and they have Taylor Vaughanaganza active. Would you just punt and play Sincere McCormick against Atlanta or the Gus Bus or DeAndre Swift? Are you going to take your shot at getting...