Week 16 Waivers + Full Stream Ahead, Bird in the Hand - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/22

Here's the more complicated decision. We don't know the status of Ezekiel Elliott other than to say that Ezekiel Elliott was inactive late in the game last week. I see how you're going to make it. Yeah. And so Tony Pollard is less rostered than Daryl Henderson than Levy on Bell than anybody. He's about 34% on ESPN, 46% on Yahoo. But you don't know if he has the job. You don't know.

But he represents tremendous upside, number one running back last week. Yeah. If Zeke was out and you could only play Daryl Henderson or Tony Pollard, you're playing Tony Pollard. You're playing Tony Pollard. That's where I'm at. But tomorrow is Waver Day. So you have to make a judgment call. And how do you make that call between prioritizing Pollard with the risk that he's a second option versus Daryl Henderson, who you now know is the number one option versus Love Bell?

Yeah, I mean, Pollard would be my number two option personally. And the reason that I would lean Henderson over Pollard is obvious. It's the fact that we know his situation. Cam Acres has a high ankle sprain is not going to play this week. Ezekiel Elliott was a surprise inactive. They were expecting him to be there. He's gotten an extra week of rest. So now I would be surprised if he's not there this next week.

So my expectation is that Pollard will be irrelevant. And because you have kind of a known good thing versus an unknown great thing, I'm going to take my known good. Bird in the hand. Okay. I think that's good analysis. What is bird in the hand? How does... Versus two in the bush? That's a dumb saying. Is it? A bird in the hand. Why is that valuable? Well, because you think there are two in the bush. You're not certain. But why do I need a bird?

I mean, it's a good place to start, I suppose. Why do I need a bird in my head? If you need a bird. If you need a bird, it's better to have one in your hand. It's better to already have one in your hand than think that maybe you can grab two in the bush. And that's why that's a stupid saying, because nobody has ever needed a bird in their hand. Would it be better if it was like a chicken? Nuggets. Like a fried chicken? Like, better have chicken nuggets in your hand than at a restaurant hoping they're not out of stock. You know what I'm saying? I think that gets a little too deep.

Yeah, it doesn't have the same. Sounds more delicious, though. It sure does. All right. Guaranteed carries, though. That's a part of the process for the waiver wire. What if I could guarantee you 20 carries? I would say, what is your name? What if I said, I am infinite and I am all and I am eternal? That was my fear. And I would say, no, thank you.

Frank Gore last week, 23 carries against the Los Angeles Rams defense. Yes. Ends up with 59 yards, but a touchdown. If you have no Moster, do you have no Robinson? Are you playing Frank Gore? Are you playing Edo Smith? Are you playing Levy on Bell? I would play Frank Gore over Edo Smith. I don't believe in the Falcons running game at all.

has, you know, he has the ability to be relevant this week. But I would take Frank Gore's known rushing attempts. But I don't want either of these guys. I mean, this isn't even, like Frank Gore is someone that I don't think I would even play Keep Away with. You know, I'm saying if I'm not going to start him, I'm not worried if my opponent picks up and plays Frank Gore. I, I'm kind of, I want that out there. I want him to have like a solid seven and a half points on his.

fantasy lineup from one of his players. So I'm not playing Frank Gore. We had a story last night of Keep Away Gone Wrong. Did you see this? Because this is a big part. I mean, part of the Waver Wire show today that should be mentioned is you are not just picking. You might not need anybody. You're in the championship. You got a good team. Right. But your opponent might have an injury or they might have been streaming quarterbacks or defenses. And you can play some defense.

But it can go wrong. Like last night when we had a Foot Clan supporter, submit a priority question and said that their opponent played keepaway from them and took, I believe, four Steelers away from them. Leaving them just one player left. And that player they were stuck with was Gio Bernard. And they won. Yeah. So, all right. So do you view the Falcons backfield or the Jacksonville backfield as the.

I would rather rely on the Falcon's offense as a whole scoring opportunities, higher over, under, if I have to pick one of those two backfields. You know, it's funny because last year the Jaguars were terrible, and usually you don't want running backs on terrible teams, but Leonard Fournette was a volume play and was great even though he stunk. This year, you've got an undrafted rookie free agent in James Robinson, who's been great on a terrible team because of volume? So the volume could be there, but...

Eventually, eventually the water runs out of the well, right? It's not an infinity well of water, and I feel like I'm not relying on Jacksonville's offense. I don't want to do that. You can't make me do it. No, I can't. I would really be looking at starting a Miami Dolphins running back if you have the ability to do it because, you know, Savon Ahmed. Yes, Savon Ahmed is a super interesting name. He is in line with Tony Pollard to me.

in the sense that if he is... It's Las Vegas. If he is available, he absolutely needs to be picked up. He could be irrelevant. If the gas man is back, it's been two weeks, the gasman should be back. I believe that Miles Gaskin will be the starting running back. And so he might be someone that's on waivers because he was, you know, unavailable. Maybe he was dropped. Take a look at the Miami backfield. Both of those...

players need to be rostered. Whoever has been the starting running back has just gotten a ton of volume, dump off targets, plenty of carries, goal line opportunities. I expect it to be the gas man this week. I'm going to throw one more name out there at the very, very, very bottom. Well, maybe two. Darrell Williams, Chiefs running back. If for some reason, the Love Bell got hurt twice in this game.

Post game made it seem like he's fine and he's going to take over. So I, Darrell Williams is at the bottom of the barrel, but he has next man up. And then the Jeff Wilson, Tevin Coleman, Jerich McKinnon situation. Jeff Wilson came out of the game injured as well, right hamstring strain, ankle sprain. He is questionable for week 16. If there's no mustard, which we don't know definitively, and there's no Jeff Wilson, which we don't know definitively, then Tevin Coleman's the next man up. Not for me. Not for me. Not for you. That's right. Not for me.

The next man up is a boy who's strong, as he called himself. Jerich McKinnon. Not me. Not for you. Here's real. Kevin Coleman would be for me. Tevin Coleman, when he's come in the game over the last couple of weeks, and there's only been a few opportunities. When he's been in the game, he has looked incompetent. He looks like someone that is not physically right. D-U-N-washed.

Like, I would not rely on Tevin Coleman. I think he... So it's like Todd Gurley. If Mostert and Wilson were out, you aren't trying to gamble then with the backfield? I would gamble on Jerk McKinnon. McKinn could have zero. Absolutely. But Coleman could have negative. So zero could be the better option. All right. Yeah. I don't know. I think if it's Arizona, Saturday game, hopefully you have better options. All right. So let's... This is the very bottom of the discussion. Okay. We've talked through these players. Let's rank.

our top three or four in order. You know, I think we both agree. Darrell Henderson. If I have to have a running back start, Henderson's number one. If I don't have to have a running back to start, I'm going to put Pollard one. Okay. Either way. They're not playing for anything. They could sit down Zeke again and Pollard could be electric. So I think I would go those two numbers. Those are the top. Beyond that, then I'm going to go offense. I'm going to go with Lev Bell.

And then at that point, I take the shot on Ahmed just in case Gaskin is not there. We are identical. I would go Henderson, Pollard, Lev Bell. And when you say Ahmed, I would go either Ahmed or Miles Gaskin. I would put Gaskin ahead of Ahmed if they were both on waivers. All right, which is possible if people let go of them after the COVID situation. Tight-end.

Waver wire pickups. This is, it's crunch time at a position that is very difficult to project because you're looking, if you don't have an established tight end, you're looking for a touchdown, you're looking for upside, you're looking for potential. If Logan Thomas isn't out there, who has been unbelievable, 15 targets, he is absolutely the number one pickup. He's available in about 50% of leagues across platforms. He's, without a doubt, the number one pickup. And that was a huge width.

last week because I was scared off by Dwayne Haskins. And Logan Thomas has just been so utilized. And apparently Haskins saw Logan Thomas be excellent with Alex Smith and was like, oh, I should throw that guy more. So Logan Thomas is number one. Number two for me, and I think it's a good start this week. I think you can pick him up and start him is Austin Hooper, who had a disappearing act after his appendix disappeared.

But last week was back, was involved. He was in on 70% of snaps, had five for 41 and a touchdown. But the matchup this week is as good as it gets against the Jets. They bleed points to the tight end position. So those are the two I would roll with. I don't know that I want to go much deeper into the... You may not want to. Would you roll with the postman? Dan Arnold.

Three for 54. Dan Arnold is at least a big play type of tight end. He is not a dink and dunk Colcomette around the line of scrimmage competing with another tight end. Like if you're going to get a big play, it's going to be Dan Arnold. The postman has delivered recently. He has delivered. This is a tough conversation. By the way, Dwayne Haskins might not even be starting this week. There's some Dwayne Haskins news breaking right now.

social media posts, unmasked in some establishments, and there's a decent chance he's unavailable in week 16. You could have Alex Smith back behind center. So what, what a, what a dummy face. What an absolute dummy dumb dumb, dumb. He's the quarterback trying to have a future in the NFL, gets his opportunity back, and then makes boneheaded decisions. Not trying very hard. No. No. Not a leader.

No, it doesn't seem like it. I definitely, you know, when I'm looking at this week and the starts of the week and looking at options that are deeper at tight end, Hooper came to mind. I'm still a little bit worried about it, but Baker's been on fire. So I get it. I get it. It makes sense. Jordan Akins was five for 50 last week. I doubt anybody wants to hear me talk about Jordan Aiken's, but as Cincinnati, Irv Smith, if Kyle Rudolph is out again, is always a touchdown threat.

and I'm going to bring him up again. Tyler Higby, I don't see him in our list here. But Tyler Higby, over 80% of snaps, a couple of touchdowns over the last three weeks, could have struggles with the running game. You know, there's a reason Cam Acres was starting over Daryl Henderson. And it's a pretty important game. So there is the chance that Tyler Higby is involved again around the goal line. He had a season high in yards last week. I don't know if you realize that. Yeah, I mean, it was a great play last week. The matchup was there.

And, you know, they needed him with Acres being out. And, you know, I mean, when you're down against the Jets. Right. It's, I mean, in. That's the beginning of a bad sentence. Yeah. So, but to that point, that's why I really like Austin Hooper. I mean, you saw Higby have a great game against the Jets. The Jets are a prime matchup. And I would, I would pick up and play Hooper. All right. Defensively, this week.

Who do you like more? Browns, defense against the Jets, the resurgent Jets. Yeah, you're done. Texans, defense against the Bengals? No, I mean, you said, who do I like more? I don't know that there's anyone you could pick up potentially off of waivers that would be a better pickup than the Browns against the Jets. What about the Panthers against Washington? What if Haskins and Smith don't play? So. I can't even tell you who third on the debt chart is right now.

because Kyle Allen's out. Yeah. So it's fourth on the depth chart, and I have no idea. It's got to be a practice squad type of player that we haven't heard of. I'd be shocked if I've heard the name before. Oh, it's Taylor Heineke. I am not shocked. Yeah, there you go. Okay, so, yeah, the Browns are an important pick-up and play.

or keep them away from others against the Jets. I know the Jets had a good game last week. That's the outlier. The Cardinals defense is sneaky this week. Yeah? The 49ers are going to be starting CJ Betherd. Nick Mullins didn't mention in the news. He's going to miss time. So Cardinals against C.J. Bethard, they've been good at getting sacks over the last couple weeks. So that would be another option, just to bring others to mind. Because the Browns, if your league is with it, they probably got picked up.