Fantasy Football Podcast for Week 11/12

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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. Fantasy Footmuller's podcast with your host, Andy Holloway and Mike Wright. Hello, hello, hello, hello.

It is a lonely day here at the fantasy footballers podcast. This is Andy Holloway. Welcome to the show. Mike Wright, my faithful companion here at the fantasy footballers is out of town this week. And so I will be doing this bad boy solo, which is just fine. We'll get you ready for your fantasy week. Break down what's been going on this week. If you want to follow the fantasy footballers.

which we'd love it if you would. You can find us on iTunes. You can visit the podcast section. Search for the fantasy footballers, subscribe. And then all of our podcasts will be right there on your phone. You can also now find us on Stitcher. So if you search for the fantasy footballers on Stitcher, you can find us and follow us there. If that's a website you use, you can also find us on Facebook. You can submit questions to us on Facebook or via email.

at the fantasy footballers at gmail.com. And we will be more than happy to answer your fantasy football questions. And one of the things we prioritize when you send those questions in is use a funny name. Use a goofy name. That's our show. We do what we want. And so we answer questions to people who have creative names first. But go ahead and send those into us and we'll be happy to answer. So let's get into the show to the day.

Show today, though, will be a bit of an abridged version. We won't be going through absolutely everything since Mike's not here, but we'll make sure you get the news and notes that you need. Hit the waiver wire. Some great starts this week. Fantasy playoffs are coming. And so a couple more weeks for most leagues to get your roster in order for the fantasy playoffs. So let's get into it. News and notes from around the league.

All right, lots of big news this week. In the world of injuries, some sadness for a lot of owners out there. One of the big injuries this week was Ahmad Bradshaw. Not that we should be surprised, but unfortunately, as Ahmad Bradshaw attempted to enter the end zone several times in the Colts game, he...

He couldn't do it, and he broke his ankle. They're saying broken fibula now. So he is out for the year. So if you were leaning on Ahmad Bradshaw, I'm so sorry. Hopefully you handcuffed him with Trent Richardson. Now, we can't expect explosiveness from Richardson, but you do have volume there. And so Bradshaw is out for the year, and Richardson is stepping into probably a every-down roll with Dan Herron filling in as well.

In other news, we had some damage done to the Broncos' explosive offense. You had both Julius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders go down this week. Manuel Sanders took a brutal hit. If you saw this, it was a brutal hit that looked illegal, but absolutely wasn't. But he is out with a concussion. He'll have to go through the concussion protocol this week. Sanders has, despite the injury, he ended up in the...

He's going to end up in the top five wide receivers at this point for the fantasy football world, which is something that people just didn't expect. He's actually pretty close to Demarius Thomas now in production. And so Emmanuel Sanders, keep an eye on the practice reports this week. I suspect he will play this weekend. One guy that will probably not play this weekend is his fellow offensive mate Julius Thomas, one of the premier tight ends in fantasy football. Thomas...

went down with an ankle injury. There was a lot of concern initially. He missed the rest of the game. But it's looking at least so far like it's not severe, but that doesn't mean he's playing this week. So you're going to want to pick up a waiver wire tight end for your roster if you have Thomas, because I do not expect Thomas to play this week at all. Another tight end that went down was Dwayne Allen. Dwayne Allen from the Indianapolis Colts. He had a high ankle sprain, and so there's some concern that he'll be out for a little while.

Kobe Fleener's the guy to own in terms of a replacement there. Another tied in, Travis Kelsey, had some injury concerns, but reports this week are that Kelsey is practicing. And so if you need him this week, he should be available to you, but keep an eye on the practice reports in Kansas City. We also have the big news that just broke, I believe, this morning. Adrian Peterson will not play this year.

So I know we've been talking a little bit about preparing yourself. If you're a McKinnon owner, if you're an Asiata owner, what do we do when Adrian Peterson comes back? If he does come back, well, it doesn't look like he's coming back. The NFL's looking like they are not considering his paid suspension at all. And so the reports are still coming out as to what that will mean for next year. But he's supposed to be on unpaid suspension for the rest of 2014.

Do not expect him back. It's a bump for McKinnon for the rest of the year. But he will not be back. Adrian Peterson is gone. The wide receiver situation in Jacksonville, which I know most people would like to ignore. Alan Hearns is battling some concussion symptoms. He will start. We know that Alan Robinson is out for the year. And so the guys to own there are Cecil Shorts and Hearns. This is kind of a garbage time situation, but those guys do.

pick up stats. So Hearns is supposed to be starting this week alongside Cecil Shorts. One guy I forgot to mention from Denver, who just barely returned, was Monte Ball. Now Monta Ball is, I think you can now put him in the category of fantasy irrelevance. He is going to miss another two to three weeks, if not more, for reaggraving his groin. It's possible he comes back.

in time for fantasy championship games, but who wants to start a guy like that when people like C.J. Anderson, Juan Thompson, have probably established themselves, at least in some sort of role. So Monta Ball is gone. He's been a disappointment this year. I know he went so high in the draft, and everybody knows that the running back from Denver is going to be productive, but Ball just is not a unique talent, and you mix in the injuries, it's a major problem.

A couple more quick hitters to mention in the news and notes section before we move on here. Brandon Cooks is out for four to six weeks, which is a blow to that offense a little bit, but you should see Kenny Stills step into that role. You should see Colston get a little bit more action. And then there's been some concerns about Philip Rivers. They're denying that he is injured in any way, but he's had a rough few weeks and doesn't look the same. So it's unfortunate for those of us who have...

bought into Rivers as the every week franchise guy and then you're seeing him struggle now in time for the playoffs. But keep your eyes on him. His play has been disconcerting. So that's all I have by way of news and notes. And so we're going to go ahead and get into some waiver wire discussion now. All right. Well, this is, I think, an important time of year, obviously.

If you are heading into the fantasy playoffs, there are guys out there that you might need to start. You still have some bye weeks remaining. And so I want to walk through a few waiver wire options this week. Who do we think is the best in terms of possible guys to pick up to start? And so the two guys that stand out at the quarterback position for me are Mark Sanchez and Josh McCown. Now, Sanchez did come back to Earth.

from a very practical quarterback standpoint this week. If you watched that game, I think I heard somebody say the first game Sanchez plays, you didn't hear Nick Foll's name mentioned once. But in this game, you saw a lot of the camera panning over to Foles and saying, yeah, he might be back. He might not be back. So Sanchez struggled. After dominating the Panthers in week 10, he kind of crashed back to Earth, but still...

And here's the key point for fantasy. He still threw for 350 yards, two touchdowns. He had four turnovers, but he had plenty of garbage time production, and that offense moves the ball. And honestly, they were playing a very in-tune Packers defense in Lambo. And so I think that Sanchez is still a viable starting fantasy quarterback in that Chip Kelly offense. And he doesn't have a very bad schedule coming up. So Sanchez is a guy that you can still.

pick up and start. I highly recommend using him if you are in one of those situations that you're streaming quarterbacks or you just don't have a good guy at that position. The other guy that continues to produce now in two straight games is Josh McCown in Tampa. And he's another guy that benefits from the weapons around him. Mike Evans is breaking out in a humongous way. I know if Mike was here, he would probably be saying, oh yeah.

because he signed him and played him this past week. And Vincent Jackson is there, obviously, and McCown has thrown two touchdowns each of the past two weeks. So he's a very, he's a viable streaming option. And he also has a very, very nice schedule coming up. He plays at Chicago, versus Cincinnati, at Detroit, at Carolina, and then Green Bay. So he's a depth option for you. He's also a potential streaming starter.

So let's go ahead and move on to some waiver options at the running back position. Now, the guy that everybody needs to be talking about, he has to be owned after his performance last week, but C.J. Anderson looks like he is the top option right now. Anderson came out of nowhere against the Raiders and had a monster game, but now you have Monte Ball, Ronnie Hillman, both injured, both probably missing extended time. I'm hearing three to four weeks now on Hillman, even though reports are saying...

They're kind of taking it week by week. I don't think Hillman's back. And so it's going to be the C.J. Anderson with a little bit of Joanne Thompson mixed in. And it doesn't take much in terms of production or in terms of just activity in that offense to be super productive at the running back position. So C.J. Anderson is a must own and a must start moving forward. Another guy that had a much better week this past week is Trey Mason. He was kind of the waiver wire darling.

A few weeks back, he's clearly the most talented running back on this roster. Zach Stacey isn't even seeing a carry anymore. And so it's the Trey Mason with some Benny Cunningham mixed in. Still not the best situation to kind of decipher there, but he looks like the lead back. They just drafted him. He's able to handle a large workload. And so Mason's a guy that, you know, you can start, he had 29.

carries this past week. So he's a guy who if they're playing in a close game or head, he's going to see the ball a lot. Other guy that we've been talking about a little bit, Charles Sims. He's seeing more playing time now. He's not performing necessarily, but playing time is one of the things you want to look at, especially if you're hurting at running back. Maybe you're a guy who lost Bradshaw recently.

Maybe you're concerned about, you know, you lost Reggie Bush or you thought Bush was going to be valuable to you. But Charles Sims is a guy that you can plug in and kind of see what happens. So there's a pretty good chance of the remainder of the season he's going to lead his team in carries and touches. So Charles Sims is a guy you want to watch. Two more guys worth mentioning real quick at the running back position are Bryce Brown and Isaiah Cruel. Bryce Brown is...