Fantasy Football 2017 - 500th Episode! Week 15 Matchups + Greatest Moments

you know, on that week to get activated to clear the concussion protocol. So I would expect Joe Mixer to play in Tevick-Colman as of now to not play. I actually think that now Geo Bernard was limited as well, so that'd be nice for them to get Joe Mixing back. But I'm like 60-40 that Mix-N-Plays. It's late in the week and the practice was limited. He basically had the pads and the helmet on but didn't do a bunch? Today's a huge day for that. Yeah. And didn't we see Ertz practice last week?

In limited fashion and then get deactivated before the game. So you have to be very careful. And I would say this. I don't like mixing this week. Tough matchup. It's not a good matchup at all. And if Miami or Minnesota scores and racks up the points, I think you could see more geo as well. So I'm not a big mix-up fan, even if he's activated. Okay. Makes sense. I was curious, the Viking 7th right now over the last.

Six weeks, seventh in the league against fantasy running backs. So they are still good. Yeah. Gio Bernard limited. We don't know anything else. Pay attention to that. But in or out. What do you think? In. In. Lamar Miller, in or out. In. Damien Williams? Come on, man. Out. My K Drake needs you out. But he did get back to limited practice. I think he will be out, actually. Forte? In. I think in.

Yeah, he did not practice on Thursday with the knee. Elijah McGuire, I think, is out. Yeah, okay. I can, I don't know. These jets running backs are you going to start him? Out of your fantasy lineup. Yeah, I'm not going to start any of them. If I had to start one, it would be Blal Powell, but I'm not excited to start him either. Because he's the only guy not on the report. Moving to the wide receivers, I don't want to panic anybody, but I'm going to try and panic. But jump off the ship.

I'm a little worried. We're going down. DeAndre Hopkins was added to the injury report on Thursday and didn't practice at all. Here's my take on this. DeAndre Hopkins, he's competing with Antonio Brown to be the best wide receiver. Oh, he trolled him on Twitter, by the way. He saw the attention that Antonio Brown got when he did not practice and people were panicking because of a toe injury. And Hopkins said, how can I take this to another level? I will do the same thing.

And then I will have a game against Jacksonville. And I will up the ante. So I'm not concerned as of right now. I will see your narrative. And I will. That is completely made up. Yes. I will see your completely made up narrative. And I will raise you a counter narrative of he's competing for the best wide receiver. And he's seen what Jalen Ramsey has done to everyone else. And he's saying, oh, I might not be able to go this game. But I'll be back next week. Don't worry.

Hey, Brooks, I'm going to give you the real story. Yeah, there we go. Here's the real story. If you're added to an injury report after you had a full practice and then you miss a full practice, you might have hurt yourself in practice. So you really need to pay attention to DeAndre Hopkins today. Maybe you need an excuse to bench him for somebody else like Michael Crabtree who has an amazing matchup this week. You can pay attention to the report because they hurt DeAndre Hopkins against Jalen Ramsey does not a great week make. No, I would start.

Crabtree over Hopkins. What? Yeah, I would. At this point, I mean, Hopkins with the toe injury against Jalen Ramsey, it's not like I'm saying bench Hopkins. I'm saying Crabtree is a really good option this week. I would rather go with that safety and still have, because he's got a high ceiling too, I think, in Crabtree. So I would be willing and my rankings shall reflect that. It's interesting, though. Crabtree. It's been a while since he had a good game. Week six.

And on, he hasn't had one game higher than any of Hopkins last eight games. Yep. That's why I would go down with Hopkins. Yes, and go down, I shall. Alshan Jeffrey didn't practice due to an illness. We anticipate he'll be okay. Yep. In or out? In. In. Shepard. As in Sterling Shepherd. I will say in, but out of your fantasy lineup. Marie Cooper, same thing. Out. Chris Hogan? In. Yep. In your lineup?

Yeah, you complain. Sure. Juju? I think he'll be in, but again, I worry about the tiny hamstrings. Mike Wallace didn't practice. He'll be fine. His quotes are saying he's fine. His veteran rest. Mark East Lee, same story. Yep. He'll be in. All right. Muhammad Sunu, knee injury limited on Thursday. He'll be in. Yep. Tight ends. Kyle Rudolph, what's your gut telling you right now based on the reports? Kyle Rudolph in or out. It is definitely trending.

The wrong way for Kyle Rudolph. This is, I believe he'll be in, but you need to be ready for a replacement. Yeah, I mean, I'm calling him out as of right now. All right. Jimmy Graham didn't practice on Thursday. He never does. Yep. He's in. Charles Clay. In. Yep. Cameron Bray. In, out of your lineup. Tyler Croft. I think he's going to be out. Out, out of your lineup. Yes. David and Joku. Limited Thursday. I'll bet he's in. Yeah, in. Shaheen.

We're digging deep here. Not really. Shaheen, 14 points last week. Touchdown for four receptions. He's actually interesting. Yeah. In. Okay. And he does have a great matchup this week. He does. For, uh, for tight ends. All right. We're about ready for these matchups. The rest of the matchups, the highlights for the show. Certainly. And before we do that, we want to thank today's sponsor. Sherry's berries. Oh, so merry. Oh. Merry, Mary, Mary, quite contrary. Buy me some chocolate-dipped strawberries. From.

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Let's get into the forecast. Fantasy forecast. I was thinking, guys, Sherry's Berries has the domain Berries.com. That's pretty nice. Yeah. I was thinking maybe we can get like football.com or like NFL. Ballers.com. I bet that maybe like football.com is readily available. Yeah. Let me check go, Daddy. What have we got Google.com and then forwarded it to our podcast? There you go. Genius.

I guess we'll just stick with the fantasy footballers.com. Thanks. Thanks for ruining everything. Thanks, Brooks. Yeah. Technically, fantasy footballers.com also works. Yes. Thanks, Jay. You're welcome. Five and eight Bengals against the 10 and three Vikings. Oh, no. The Vikings are 10.5 point favorites. And no, this is not an almost upset of the week. 42 point over under. Troubles.

Troubles of plenty for the Bengals. This season is a lost one. The Vikings, on the other hand, are playing for first place in the NFC and home field advantage, which for the Vikings, if you're not aware, this would be home field advantage throughout the playoffs, including the Super Bowl, because the Super Bowl is in Minnesota this year. So if they happen to win this one seed, which seems more likely now with Carson Wentz out, and this matchup, then they'd have, they'd never travel.

And that's something that would actually really, really help, I think, a guy like Case Keenum to be solid enough in the playoffs. So very interesting. But from a fantasy perspective, I've already said Case Keenom started the week, Latavius Murray-Jerick McKinnon, who, by the way, returned to a full practice. Pick your favorite. That's what I said. They're my running back starts the week. So where else is the value coming from? If Keenom's going to perform well in this game against the Bengals who right now are floundering.

Is it going to be on the back of Thielen once again, or can you actually invest in Diggs, put him in as a flex? Both guys. Thielen will have a great game, and I think Diggs will have a great game. As I said a minute ago in the inner out section, I expect Kyle Rudolph to be out. If he's in, he's still going to be limited. This is a guy that's, you know, hurt his ankle, not been able to practice, wasn't able to finish the game last week. So we've seen kind of the Diggs and Rudolph.

combination of, you know, Rudolph gets much better when Diggs is out. Now, if Rudolph is out, I expect Diggs to be more involved. I really like starting both of these players, and I want to fire up my Vikings because this has all the makings of a blowout to me. This is one team that looks like they are disappointed in their season. It's a loss season. There's, you know, the camaraderie is starting to fall apart. Last week, they were blown out.

I mean, it's just, it's all bad news for the Bengals, and it's still an important game. This doesn't even have, like, that divisional hope of the Bengals wanting to ruin the Vikings season because they're a divisional rival. I really worry about the Bengals. This is why I said I don't like Joe Mixin in this game. I don't like Geo Bernard. I mean, the only player that I like at all from the Bengals side is A.J. Green.

because he's AJ Green. AJ Green's been targeted 52 times since week 10. That's the fourth most in the league. And if there's one area that the Vikings have been much more middle of the pack, it's been against the wide receiver position. So if you don't like Joe Mixon, it stands to reason the targets will at least be there for AJ Green. Yeah, but it's Xavier Rhodes will be shadow covering AJ Green. That's not going to stop me from playing Green, but it's certainly is not ideal timing for your fantasy playoffs. Meanwhile, Case Keenham.

Andy's start of the week is averaging almost 275 passing yards per game since week 10. That's fourth best. Pro Bowl. And those are going to the Vikings wide receivers who are averaging nearly 200 yards a game since week 10. The third best. Backs up Jason's point about being able to start both of them. Yes. The Jets take on the Saints in New Orleans. The Saints are 15 and a half point favorites. One of the reasons I love them as a defense this week.

And if you're just joining us, Josh McCown is out for the year. So Bryce Petty gets the start. We're excited for exactly no one on the New York Jets offense. You have to have... Do you have a sprinkle of joy in your eye for Robbie Anderson? No, you have a sprinkle of hope. It is not joy. Thank you, Jason. We know that last year when Robbie Anderson became...

somewhat of a name in fantasy football. This was on the back of Bryce Petty giving him about an 85% target share. That's what it seemed like. I mean, you saw the way that T.J. 8's handled Hopkins. That's the way that Bryce Petty was going to Robbie Anderson. So the volume, I believe that the volume will be there for Robbie Anderson. But it's, you're still kind of playing with fire there. You absolutely are. Juju Smith-Schuster against New England or Robbie Anderson against New Orleans. I would have gone Juju.

Prior to the news of his hamstring injury, that is the perfect example of now I'll go Robbie Anderson for fear that Juju might end up, you know, playing half the game. Crowder against Arizona or Robbie Anderson. Robbie Anderson. Okay, you're starting Camara, you're starting Ingram, you're starting Breeze, you're starting Michael Thomas. Yep. So I don't really think, you know, is Ted Ginflexworthy this week? I don't think I would.

See, I think I lean that I would. And the reason why is because the Jets are sneaky good against the run. You're obviously playing Ingram and you're playing Camara. I'm not, I'm not, you know, throwing any shade on that. But if there is less success in the run game at home, Drew Brees might need to throw the ball. And he'll find easier success against the Jets because they haven't been good, you know, against wide receivers. I think I'd start a guy like Paul Richardson over Ted Ginn this week.