Week 17 Waivers + Trey or Nay, Owl’s Funeral - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/28

Now, I mean, is it significant that Travis Kelsey's name's not there yet? You know, when it was down to the wire, we'll have to find out. You heard Andy Reid say it's hopeful that he'll be off. But again, you got to pay attention to that. And same with Dalvin Cook through the week. Mike Evans, David Johnson, Julio Jones, Josh Reynolds, Dan Arnold added to the list. Hmm.

Do do do do do do 2020. And that's just Tuesday. There will be more. That's just Tuesday with COVID. We know that there will be more. All right. That was today's news and notes brought to you by Sleeper, the leader in Breaking News Alerts. Grab the app, join the breaking alerts channel faster than every other source. Before we jump into the waivers, want to thank today's sponsor. Head and shoulders. Head and shoulders, scalp, shield technology.

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slash footballers to get the deal and start protecting yourself online today. Put me in, coach. If you want a silver lining on this defeat owl, we have discovered a wide and vast array of depressed owl gifts. The amount of gifts coming through has been very impressed. I didn't know these exist. I didn't know owls got depressed, but clearly they do.

And there's a lot of them. I've seen them in the cold. You do, you do? We do. That's because they're so wise, man. Most birds are just like, give me some bird seed. But owls are like deep thinkers. It's a heavy burden to carry. Yeah. Your loss? Just the wisdom, the losses. The wisdom, the knowledge of the loss. Yeah. I was, I was browsing Twitter while you guys were reading the ads. And, um.

I saw your most recent tweet, Al, that said, you know, I woke up this morning with a clear head and enough focus to say that I officially hate fantasy football, which really, that is the essence of fantasy football. If you can't, if you can't hate something, then you can't love something. Oh, yeah. Right. It's a fine line. There must be balance. I hate it, and I can't wait till draft day. All right. Well, a wide receiver waiver discussion at hand.

It's time to talk about week 17, and it's time to talk about options that you can put into your lineup. Maybe you need one right now, and maybe you will need one later in the week. So preparation is key. And where are we at with the main waiver wire pickups at wide receiver? There are a couple of guys that you just need to at least check. Make sure that they are.

rostered. They're probably rostered in your leagues. But if they're not, they're smash pickups. And honestly, one of them is Amon Ross St. Brown. If you played him, you're probably in the championship because he's been great. I personally know someone that would have been in the championship if they played him. But Amin Ross, St. Brown, he's got a good match against Seattle. And then the other one is superstar, I believe, Hall of Fame wide receiver. Oh, yeah, he'll be. And you think he will be? Antonio? Different, different conversations. Oh, what?

I definitely think he will be. Oh, I didn't know that was like there were people who feel like he wouldn't be. Sometimes when you're crazy, it counts against you. And he crazy. I'm talking about Antonio Brown. He does some interesting things. Wide receiver for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers now. But he was the dude this last week. And he will be the dude again. Yes. So if they are available, check, grab them, play them. And then the other guys we're looking at Isaiah McKenzie for the Buffalo Bills. He has a very interesting name because

He is available everywhere. He had a fantastic game against the New England Patriots, which is not an easy thing to do. He went right into the slot roll, and you have Gabe Davis and Cole Beasley, who I can't say with 100% certainty they'll be out, but it seems like they will be out. They are part of the non-vaccinated protocol. So I think that the timeline hits that they're going to miss. And the matchup with the Atlanta Falcons here is...

It's sensational for all wide receivers. And if you're a starting wide receiver for Josh Allen, you have an opportunity. I'm curious where you guys are with Isaiah McKenzie versus Manny Sanders. Andy, is there any chance that you're, like you've got Sanders on your bench, you've held on through all the lows. Would you make the swap to McKenzie or would you go put Sanders out there? I would definitely play McKinsey.

Yeah, I mean, I think we saw enough last week where, like, Emmanuel Sanders hasn't done anything since the beginning of the year. And you're talking about a player that is an elder statesman. Yes. You know, he dropped the touchdown last week. I will say that. I mean, he had an end zone target that he just plain old dropped. It's because of his old hands. They're frail. My biggest concern is that it might be too easy against Atlanta. Like, I was looking at Matt Ryan's box scores. And this is not, it's not a good.

picture man don't eat before you do that like he can't put up numbers in buffalo's defense is just you know well they need 12 targets to isaiah mackenzie that is my biggest concern but i look 11 for 125 and 1 is not something to ignore yeah and and not only that but i want to remind you a lot of people are not aware what isaiah mackenzie did

last year because he did it in week 17. He did it when a lot of fantasy players had checked out and their championship was over. You sound like you're never not working, Jason. I'm never. Impressive. But the reality is that was the only game last year that Cole Beasley missed. So we have two games in the last two years where Cole Beasley missed. This last week, he was 11 for 125 and 1. And last year.

He got 91% of the snaps, nine targets, 65 yards, and two touchdowns. He was the wide receiver 6. So when Cole Beasley's gone, he comes in. And that was a game where they beat Miami by 30 points. So you talk about maybe you don't need him. But he's going to man that role. And he's a little itty-bitty guy. I don't think he could do this for a season. But he could do this for two weeks. I like Isaiah McKenzie. I think you can pick him up and start them even in your championship. It's scary.

to start a guy who's available in 100% of leagues. But I do think he is a realistic option for, I mean, every single league, you're going to have the championship game where you are missing a COVID player. Someone in that championship game is going to last minute go, oh, no, I can't believe I lost this player. He's a name that's out there. Yeah. It's a good waiver note here. This is just strategy of you may look at your team right now.

I don't need the waiver show. My roster is so awesome. No, you need to be adding these players who are great starts. If you talk to yourself that way, that's a little creepy, though. Well, you've got to have self-confidence, man. If you can't love yourself, who's going to love you? That sounded a little blues-closy. But my point is, your strategy this week should certainly be.

A bunch of players are going to go on the COVID list. They might be players on my team. And come Saturday morning, I might be scrambling saying, oh, crap, now I need a player for tomorrow morning. So you need to be adding these players. Do not drop your backup running backs. Need to have them. And if you do have the spot, some of these running backs we're going to be talking about like backup running backs for your opponents, specifically your opponent in the championship round.

I'm targeting those players as well. This is a this is the wild west of fantasy football where there's like the laws are gone. There's no rules right now because COVID has taken over. There's new sheriff in town and unfortunately it's a virus.

That does not care about your feelings. Oh, no. When you duel, shoot first, man. Oh, yeah. Look, shoot at eight. Ten paces? No, no, man. Eight paces. Eight paces and shoot because when it's all over, you're alive. Okay? It's kill or be killed. Yes. Oh, my God. Championship week. It's true. It's not, it ain't a lie. It's been tough. It's tough in the streets. You've got to do your preparation now. Just load your bench up.

so that you can pivot without panic. I mean, that's the goal, is be able to pivot. And there are other players, too, at the wide receiver position. Like, Alan Lazard was a drop away from a two-touchdown game last week. Now, we don't know if NBS will be back against Minnesota. But that Minnesota game is likely to be somewhat competitive. Divisional game, a lot on the line, you know, and so KJ. Osborne enters the contention.

there as well. I'm not as excited about him as I personally am about Lazard. And Josh Palmer, Mike Williams is gone for another week. So Josh Palmer had six targets, five for 43 in a touchdown, had another end zone target. Look, they couldn't pass the ball well, but Austin Eccler coming back is going to help the offense. They need to get the ball down the field. And Josh Palmer can catch, he's definitely got a shot at a touchdown. You saw Keenan Allen did nothing last week. So.

I think that those are guys that you can put on your bench and at least have pivots. Yeah, I agree. I do, I wonder, you know, obviously the office is better with Austin Echler, but I do wonder with those targets whether Josh Palmer will, you know, Jackson got so many of them. I'm not concerned. Like there wasn't a complete absence of targets to the running back position.

And then, you know, the one thing with Alan Lazard and MVS that I will say, and we'll talk about this a lot, I'm sure as the week goes on, this is the Sunday night football game. It kicks off at 820 their time. And the current expectation for temperature is two. Two degrees. That is 30 degrees. That is 30 degrees below freezing. I mean, that is.

That is insanity. And I've been doing a lot of deep dive over here on, you know, because it matters a lot this week. Yep. And there's been about 10 games, including playoff games in, you know, modern history that have been that temperature. 80% of them are below 45 total points. There have been a couple, two games that had monster points scored. So this is not.