Week 16 Matchups + Tough Decisions, Happy Holidays - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/23

You know, if this was Kyler, we would be dreaming about the matchup here. If this was Colt McCoy, we'd be having questions about his viability as a legitimate streamer. That's fair. I personally have seen only horrific play from Trace McSorley going back to college, so I can't rely on him. I think they're going to use James. Please don't. Please don't rely on him. I think they're going to use James Connor. a lot in this game. His utilization has just been outrageous. I mean, you're talking Christian McCaffrey levels of snaps and involvement. The last three games, 97% of snaps, 95% of snaps, 91% of snaps for James Connor. Yeah, he's in a tough situation where, you know, the defense is going to focus on him because that's what I would do. So they're going to make Trace McSorley do something.

James Connor will be the focus, but the volume is so good that you've got to play him. Fournett, Rashad White. Man. Fournett played more snaps last week. 14 opportunities for him. Rashad White had 11. Looking at opportunities on the ground, guess what? That was 11 for Rashad White. They were all carries, which was disappointing. It's really the opportunities through the air that matter. And if you want to know if Leonard Fournette, is he still dumping like a truck? Since he came back from his injury, seven targets, seven targets, four targets. He's still dumped like a truck, and I think you can play Leonard Fournett, you know, with confidence. Yeah, and Rashad White last week just two targets, but the previous three weeks, nine, eight, and five. Yeah, I think he's still playable. Who would you start between those? Are we back to starting Fournet over Rashad White? Not me. I think I am. That's where I am as well. Fournet over, over White, but I see them very similar.

Mike Evans, Jason's start of the week, needs 112 receiving yards for a ninth consecutive thousand yards season. Let's go, Mike. Chris Godwin, play him. Play Evans, play Godwin. Mike has Kate Otten as the start of the week at tight end. It is, it's always going to be risky business with a young end. But I like him more than Greg D. I'll be honest with you. I think Cardinals, the fact that they give up more, I think they're at 14 touchdowns or something this year, giving up to the tight end position. So. We don't expect, do we expect Julio Jones back out on the field? Does it take Russell Gage out of contention? Julio, we know that he's getting in limited practices. If he doesn't play and you need to break the glass, Russell Gage would be interesting. People still want to hear about DeAndre Hopkins. We talked about it over the course of the week. I think you're going to get five or six catches for some amount of yards, lower the normal odds of a touchdown.

But if Hollywood's out, I mean, you're going to get a lot of targets to DeAndo Hopkins. All right, Monday night football, aka Mike's semi-championship sweat. Chargers 8 and 6, Colts, 49, and 4. No, they're not 4-9-4. Hey, you caught it. Kyle's not even, thank goodness, right? You did catch it, 4-9-4. They have four ties on the year. Goodness gracious. I was a soccer. I was about one syllable into the palindrome joke before I realized that that was a typo. They've also played their entire season already. That'd be 4-9 and 1. The Draft King Sportsbook line, Los Angeles minus 4 and a half. The overrunners 45.5. Let's get some more Jeff Saturday out there in the primetime game. Monday night football. Chargers on the verge of the playoffs. You got to love to see that. See, that's where, you know, Justin Herbert, it's been up and down for fantasy.

But we all know Justin Herbert, the NFL quarterback is really, really good. He's a special player. And I want to see him in the playoffs. I want to see what he can do with these weapons in the playoffs because they're the type of team that could surprise, right? They could come out and really like they did to Miami though, where their defense looked horrible. And then all of a sudden, 10 for 2, 10 for 28 to Herbert is my start of the week. Indianapolis is allowing a league high 81% of opponents to go. take that red zone trip and turn it into a touchdown. Austin Echler, yep, Mike Williams, give it another go. Keenan Allen, PPR friend of the week. Absolutely. Gerald Everett, we've talked about it. Jason feels like there's an opportunity here, but it's, there's a lot of malice defeat, right? In Los Angeles.

Yeah, there's a lot of mouths to feed. And like I said, I love Mike Williams this week. Keenan Allen is locked and loaded. Echler is obviously going to get his reception. So it's really one of those things where I don't think Everett is someone you can rely on. You know, if I'm playing in my fantasy playoffs, there are probably, we've talked on this show already of players that I'd prefer to have, the Taysome Hills. I could see a path for him getting one of the touchdowns and just really upsetting other players who are starting Mike Williams and Keenan Allen. So I guess we're hoping ever it doesn't have a good game. Yeah, Chargers 94% chance in making the playoffs right now. Nick Foles will start for the Colts. He will have the luxury of Zach Moss and Dion Jackson in the backfield. He will have Michael Pittman, who is now tied for sixth.

in the lowest yards per reception of a wide receiver with 120 targets over the last 23 years. So if, you know, he's almost just a checkdown Charlie at this point. Yeah, which is very frustrating. But if you get enough of them and the incompetence of Ellingager, Eligenger, sorry. Yes, there we go. And Matt Ryan, like, it can't be worse. That's what we'll say. Well, that's what we'll hope. You've got a game where they are projected to score 20 points still in this one at home. You know, I think Pittman's okay. I think Pittman's okay, which is a high praise. He can go as high as okay. Pump the brakes over there. He can go as high as okay and he can go as low as okay. Yeah, he's somewhere between okay and maybe all right. Yes, that's true. So, you know, he does have that range. That's why I saw, you know, when comparing him to Christian Watson, I think he's got a higher floor.

but he does not have the ceiling. Dion Jackson, Zach Moss decision. On one hand, if you go with Zach Moss, you will be the guy that went with Zach Moss, which will be potentially embarrassing. On the other hand, Dion Jackson, we just don't know how indicative of a normal game plan last week was. They were up 33 to nothing. They were trying to burn clock. That just seems like Zach Moss's wheelhouse. If you want three and out, Zach Moss can give you three and out. And so Dion Jackson is more talented. Better PPR player, got the earlier snaps, had the fumble. I still lean that direction. I know you lean the Dion Jackson direction. I definitely leaned Dion Jackson over Zach Moss. I can see it going the other way because we don't know what Jeff Saturday might do. But if the Chargers get up, if the Chargers get up in this game and you're needing to pass the ball and you're needing explosive plays, you're needing to come back and score, you're not going to play the tuba and roll out Zach Moss if you want to try to get down the field in a hurry.

Yeah, there's Zach Moss going. To be fair, or to put some criticism to that argument, that's rational. What you just said is like what most people in the NFL would go with. But there are some guys out that we got Arthur Smith who's like, what? Why would I do that when I can continue to establish it? The Chicago Bears, like the run heaviest team of all time. Keep trailing in matchups. So there is a world where, like, I'm with you guys that I think the play is Dion Jackson, but my confidence level in either of these players is very low. Yeah, I would feel, the only way I'd feel okay with the Dion Jackson situation is if I'm in a two flex league and I've got a second flex available. Sure. I'm willing to take that chance. Another reminder for you, no live stream this weekend with the holiday. And so we won't be having Sunday live.

We will be back the following week. Correct. On New Year's Day with a Sunday Live. The rankings, the start sit tool on the website, the fantasy footballers.com. Oh, boy. Let's do it. Fantasy Faceoff, presented by Draft Kings. I'm going to be honest with you, gentlemen. When I woke up this morning, I had the little adrenaline drop of, oh, crap, I have to get shamed again today. That's how I'm, that's how Friday's mean to you. That's how used to Friday I am of late. So, um, it didn't go that way last week. I, I, I handled my business actually won it. And I super handled my business. I dominated Mike by less than a point. Uh, sorry, Mike. I think that's, that's now twice where. Yeah, you've, you've, where Andy was the winner.

And then it was me and you separated by a fraction of a point. Yeah, do better me. You still remember how to do this? You ready? Yeah, I think so. Wheel of shame. Give me that wheel. Spin it. All right. Where do we got? We got surfs up. Oopalupa. Duckface? Oh, Grinch. Perfection. The Grinch. The fix is in. The Grinch. The fix is in. Now what a. How much grinch. Oh, it's actually the Grinch. Oh, yeah. Very nice. Oh, it's already shedding all over the place. Just just, just. Oh, my. Oh, my. Look at this. The air, I don't think you can really see it. We're breathing in some Grinch hair. It's kind of like when you watch a rainy game, you can't see the rain on the broadcast and then you go to a different angle and you're like, whoa, it is pouring, but you just can't see it. Right now we are breathing in. The asbestos is fair. We are breathing in tiny green hairs that are floating everywhere. That is actually a really nice Grinch mask. Woo.

Put on those, no, put on them gloves. I'm trying to get my lineup up here. Is that all right? Yeah, you can pull that up first. Well done. I am really impressed by it. This is like the Jim Carrey Grinch mask. And I understand he went through like eight hours of makeup. You just did this in seconds. He could have saved a lot of time. And let the record show Al Borland was so benevolent that he cut you a mouth hole today. There wasn't one. There was no, how would you make a mask without a mouth hole? There was no mouthhole. There's a, having done this segment for two years, there's a shocking amount of masks without mouth holes that really get in our way of being able to have great costumes here. He looks great and you wore the red. I was going to say this. I mean, you look outstanding. How do you feel? Uh, I feel like I look on the outside how I feel on the inside. Da, da, da, da, grange.

All right. Well, let's dig in. I'll kick it off. Quarterback. Also, visibility is limited. Yes, yes, because of the fake eyes covering your real ones. I can't see. He's grabbing his face. I love this. And I'm telling you, the red hoodie brings it all together. This is great. I'm going Patrick Mahomes. Oh, baby. I'm taking Patrick Mahomes, 8400 at home at Kansas City. Him and Josh Allen were neck and neck in Draft Kings cost. It's the most expensive quarterback on the week. I'm taking the one. without the wind. I absolutely love that pick. I think he is worth every single cent. There are only two quarterbacks that I considered going with this week. One was Patrick Mahomes. The other was the exact opposite. Gardner Minchew at 4,800. That's what you did? That is the quarterback that I have gone with to build up elsewhere. Gardner Minshew, baby. All right. Let's take those discounts and see what we can do. I was going to say, now we've got, as we set up the rest of these lineups, I'm staring at the Grinch over here.

You can't see. You can't do anything. It's great. The part of the eye is just, I can't get it to pop out. It's just going directly into my eyeball. That sounds awful. They really want to get you in character. Okay. I think we're good. The problem now is I spent 8,400 and you spent 4,800. So there's a big gap there. My running backs, I couldn't, I didn't want to go with this player, but I had to. because you both had to have. Of course. Derek Henry. Derek Henry is in all three of our liners. 8,600. I can't not do it. It's too risky in cash. And now you're out of money. Yeah, you had to go to Ross. So I'm actually going with Derek McKinnon. Derek McKinnon is 5,900 at home with my quarterback. That is the stack that I built out. He's a wide receiver and a running back slot.

I absolutely loved that pick. I had him in a couple lineups. I didn't end up with him. I have Derek Henry as well because, of course, against the Tennessee tight against the Houston Texans. I'm very afraid of this next name. And the next name is Dalvin Cook. Okay. I went with Dalvin Cook at 7200 at home against the Giants. I think he is a smash play. All right. Mike, who do you have? Derek Henry and Delvin Cook. Oh, very nice. I like your roster so far, Mike. All three of you are the same. My wide receivers. D.K. Metcalfe. Oh, man. For Seattle, 7100. Darius Slayton in Minnesota, 5200. And then this is where I saved some money, 3,900. Oh, Jehan Dodson for Washington against the 49ers. Had him in a couple lineups as well. Dodson, we've got Dodson here.

I have D.K. Metcalf as well. Oh, bummer. This is a player that this morning I decided I just had to smash in my lineup. In order to smash him in, I had to save a bunch of money all the way down to this. This is my C. If you can find out where I save some cash. Khalif Raymond at 3,100 because I also have Jamar Chase. I know it's in New England, but look, Jamar Chase is just too good. I get it. So I paid up. So I've got Jamar Chase, D.K. McCaff and Khalif Raymond. Mike? It's really humid in here. Yeah, yeah. Like my face is covered in. Why do you think the Grinch is so grouchy? I understand now. D.K. Metcalf is in my lineup. No! At 7100. No! The sun god. Ammon Ross, St. Brown. Yeah. 7,800 against the Carolina Panthers. And then to get some correlation on the other side and save some money, baby, lock jaw.

Territish Marshall at 3,600. Yeah, he was in my lineup earlier in the week. Terrace Marshall at 3,600 is one of the best values of the week. We ride. Wow, that's fun. All right. My tight end, you mentioned that it was probably going to be my tight end. I went with the 2,600. Isaiah likely, Baltimore, two tight-in sets, no Devin Duvernay anymore. So I saved a lot of money on Isaiah. My flex is DeAndre Swift, the 5,500. Oh, you sucker. Yeah, yeah, Detroit. against Carolina, DeAndre Swift, nine targets last week. And then my defense, no money left, right on the money, the Saints, 2,800 against the Cleveland Brown. Yeah, yeah, that's nice and safe. Oh, that's really, that's, that's really nice. I have Jordan Aikins at 2,900 at tight end, saved money there. For Flex, I went with J.K. Dobbins at 50. Are you freaking kidding me? No. Okay.

Why? Jordan Akins and J.K. Dobbins are in my lineup. So we have a lot of similarities. All of them. How about the Eagles defense? The Philadelphia Eagles are my defense. So you're telling me the only difference in our lineup is basically Jamar Chase and Khalif Raymond Raw and Lockjaw. Oh, how interesting. Okay. This is not bode well for me. Well, I love your lineup. Your lineup is fantastic. Thank you. That's wild. That's wild. So, all right, that'll do it. Mike is enjoying himself inside of his mask. That was the fantasy faceoff presented by Draft King's Sportsbook. Download the Draft King's Sportsbook app now and use the promo code ballers to get $200 in free bets instantly when you place a $5 bet on any football game. That is the code ballers only at Draft King's Sportsbook. Merry Christmas, everybody. Enjoy the holiday.

The holiday season, enjoy your families and all of the fun and the festivities and the food and the football and good luck. The winning. Good luck, yeah. Fantasy football title time. Let's do it. Goodbye, everybody. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join thefoot.com. And follow us on Twitter at the FF ballers.