Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - Week 17 Waiver Wire Pickups, Streaming Options, Playoff News

Carlos Williams. He is the Carlos Williams to what Carlos was to Shady. That's true. He's just coming in and stealing touchdowns. This game matters to the bills. Oh, you better believe it does. Because they win and they could keep Rex's team, the Jets, out of the playoffs. Rex's old team, yeah. There's no possible place that you could try and convince me that Rex Ryan does not want that to happen. So let me put this in perspective, Gillesley or Artist Payne this week.

Artist pain. Assuming Jonathan Stewart is out, I think Cameron Artist's pain is a great point. Because of the fozzy injury that stacks it more towards pain for me. What about Gillesley or somebody like Christine Michael who had a really bad week? Nobody could run in Seattle. Now Seattle takes on Arizona. Gillisley. Yeah, Gillisley. What about some of these other names on this waiver list that are going to come up? Rashad Jennings is very interesting. Very, very interesting this week.

Like I said, the Giants are playing against Philadelphia, saw David Johnson run for almost 200 yards on them. Last three weeks. Read the carries. Read the carries. 22 carries, 16 carries, 14 carries. They're finally giving him the ball. And surprise, surprise, he's producing. He had 62 through the air last week as well. I mean, you've gotten rid of that four-headed running back situation, which is, I don't understand. I mean, granted, I'm not an NFL coach.

But you saw the Giants stink. The running game has been terrible all year long. How do you get in a flow with your offense when every play, you know, the guy that's on the field next to your quarterback is different. It's like they're getting in a line. It's like, run in. Okay, run. Okay, back to the back of the line. Next. Well, it's hard because you also add in the variables of execution. You know, now four players.

Have to execute every play in the playbook the right way every time they got on the field, too. You don't get a rapport or you don't get a game flow, as Jason's saying, where a guy can take the ball three or four times and get into a rhythm on the field. Jennings has been a lot better. He's certainly playing a defense that's ranked 27th against the running back. I like him as a really good option this week. He could be in that streaming category, that starting category. Yeah, absolutely where I think Randall is an okay option. I think Jennings is a...

pretty good option this week. Probably my favorite running back signing. I think he's the guy that needs, maybe the best free agent signing that's out there because he's still owned in, you know, 50 to 60 percent of leagues right now. So he's out there in a lot of leagues as an operator. And there's a lot of owners that, you know, got burnt with Christine Michael or, you know, had been lost Rawls or Ingram of those guys in the playoffs. Here you are in the playoff game and you just need a running back to give you something.

because you've got all the other pieces. I could have used that this past week. I ran out of a team in a third place game. Julio Jones and Brandon Marshall were my wide receiver. They did pretty well. But I had Christine Michael and Cameron Artis Payne as my running back. That was not very good. No. Did Cameron Artis Payne get a touchdown call back? Is that what happened? I don't recall. I mean, he wasn't the end of the world in terms of points. But I need a guy like Rashad Jennings that can go out and give me 10.

Give me 10 points with those wide receivers, and it makes a huge difference on your team being able to perform. So you would rather have Rashad Jennings than Cameronar's pain? Yeah, I would. For this week, I think I would. I think I would. You know, Tampa's not bad against the run. You know, and so I think either guy, I'd be okay starting them. I'd sure like to, you know, start those two guys over the two I had last week. I'd go with Jennings of those two.

Charles Sims, another Charles Sims type of day. You know, limited carries, limited catches, but pretty effective. The guy scores fairly often. Three for 72 through the air. He also had some other names I'm going to throw out there. You guys can talk about him. Pierre Thomas saw a lot of snaps. Travarez Cadet saw some snaps. And Isaiah Cruel. Yeah, Pierre Thomas, to me, is a guy that because the Washington Redskins are going to be sitting players. Pierre Thomas is the guy that's like, okay, well, let's just.

Let's just put him out. Let him carry the mail. Yeah, because what happens if he gets hurt? So it's definitely a more risky play. I mean, you just don't know how it's going to go down, but you do know. I mean, look at last week. Last week he got, you know, four carries for 22, but he got seven catches. He caught the ball seven times for 67 yards, and now they're going to be sitting their starters or a lot of them. I expect Pierre Thomas to be playing.

And backup quarterbacks, they like to check the ball down. Pierre Thomas is as good a pass catching back as there exists. He led the league in receptions last year, I believe, from the running back position. And nowhere on the tires this year. Yeah, my concern, because initially I had, I was totally with you guys on the Pierre Thomas and I liked it. My concern is that he's old and he's 31 and it looked like they have bumped him ahead of Chris Thompson in the pecking order.

So would they rather risk Thomas taking an injury this week, or would they maybe want to pull his workload back and give it all to Chris Thompson and see what he can do this week? And so I'm not, I don't know which guy I stand with. And just to be factually correct, Jason, he led the league in receiving from the running back position two years ago. Oh, two years ago. It was 2013 that he did. Last year he had 45 receptions, but he was 77 and 2013. Yeah, yeah.

All right, so any other running backs that stand out to you? Maybe Crowell just because you know he can have the big game, but he's hit or miss. But like we were talking about where you want a guy who can actually get you the 10 points instead of a guy. Well, he's going to get me four in this week where I need my team to explode. So I think that Crowell is worth...

the flyer. If like a Jennings isn't there, then sure, I'll try out Crowell. Well, and he's a little bit more similar to Jennings than that he's been getting the ball more lately, and their running team, their running game has been atrocious all year, but the last couple weeks they've kind of got it together. So you've got some good signs there. All right, we're going to move to some tight end options for your team.

Sure, it took a few extra weeks to get him going. He's back from the farm. Thanks to that concussion. But old Vance McDonald had a big game, 5 for 61 and a touchdown showing kind of what he had showed before the concussion that, you know, he's going to be targeted in the offense when he's healthy. He's had a nose for the end zone when he's been in there. And so, Vance McDonald this week, what are your thoughts? I like him. He's a little bit deeper than the other guys on this list for me, but...

He is clearly capable. If you look at the games where Vance McDonald with Blaine Gabbard and where he is the guy, he's the main tight end, everyone else has either hurt or shipped out of town, then Vance McDonald has been, I feel like he's scored in every single one of those games. If I wanted to find a tight end on the waiver wire right now, and this guy is owned, according to ESPN, he's in the 55, 57% area. Zach Gertz is the guy I want on my team. Because you have this. Yes.

He's getting targets, a million of them. He's the one guy that can kind of reliably catch the ball on that team when the game is taking place. Now, Jordan Matthews is great in those last five minutes. The game after the game. The game after the game, Jordan Matthews. Oh, the garbage land can. But Zach, Zackertz represents a lot of dump-off passes. He kind of, you know, he's a more athletic Jason Whitten.

in that offense right now where he can, he could break a bigger run, but he's kind of getting the dump-off passes, sure hands. And last week, I mean, what more can you say? We called Rule 86. It applies to Mr. Ertz as well. He went out there after a game with 8 for 78 and a touchdown against Arizona. He was...

13 for 122 against Washington. He's been double digits in four of his last six games. He scored in a couple of those games, which is something he hadn't been able to do. He was just missed on a 45-year touchdown and whatever that was in the last game. San Bradford just missed. Yes, yes. He did not miss it. And now he's going up against the team. That's 31st against tight-in? There's nobody better than Zach Rich right now on the waiver wire if he's available in your league to roll out there. And it almost guarantees you no dud from the position. If you're going up against a gronk,

This week, I'd love to have Zach Kurtz on the other side to just mitigate as much as possible. Sure. Yeah, and I like it. The other guys we like, Zach Miller has continued to emerge in Chicago with the other passing options just being hurt. He was their number one receiver last week. Yeah, it's not surprised. Martellus Bennett's gone. Alshan Jeffries, legs don't work. Zach Miller's a good option. Did you guys see the reports of Chicago before the season?

They had started a new program that they were to help prevent soft tissue injuries. And everyone's raving about it except for Alshan Jeffrey. And Eddie Royal. And I don't remember who it was. Was it Forte? Yeah. So Forte kind of threw Alshan under the bus saying, you know, like the program works as long as you're doing it at home. Really? Yeah. So it was very implied.

that some people were not doing the program. Jeffrey's a tough case because you do have these receivers, whether it's genetics or, you know, an unwillingness to put yourself in the right position. It's called fosterism. Right. Aryan fosterism. Sure. You're saying when your soft tissues seem to have issues? It's not soft tissue issues? He doesn't have soft tissue. He has...

Very soft tissue. Thank you. Medical doctors. I could not think of a better word. Mike Wright, MD. That's a medical term. But the point, the point I'm making is that he is a, he's a risk. There's a reason he doesn't have a contract. And he's a risk because he's a great player. He's a great player when he's healthy. He's a player that's always hurt. So, you know, we'll have to see. I'll take him. Well, yeah, as a keeper. Me personally. So objectively.

If you're a Bears fan or a fan of any team, you would take the season he just put out. You would pay for it. You would pay for this past season. Well, not this past season. No, that's what I'm asking. Oh, but you got to look at the money based on this past season. This past season, no, but he looked at the body of work the seasons prior to that. Wouldn't use the word body. That's going to really hurt your. The soft body of work. Did you mention Will Ty? No, we didn't get there. Will Ty didn't have a great game this week.

But that was also a factor of the Giants just got destroyed. A factor of Eli having no completions until somewhere in the second border. Similar to the Packers last week of the whole team just imploded. So it's not a shock that everyone had a bad game. Yeah, you throw that game in the garbage for the team. Yeah, they did. They did. All right. Quarterback options this week, we can talk about Matt Ryan. Matt Ryan's a great person to talk about.

He's owned in a lot of leagues, but he's not started good. He's a great person. He's a great guy. I just, I think his hair is delightful. Yeah, how does he get that? Against the Saints this week. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Matt Ryan is somebody who, you know, if he's on your bench or your waiver wire, you need to seriously consider a start of Matt Ryan this week.

You know, hopefully there was some sort of brain circuit connection that registered when he threw the ball up to that Julio Jones fellow. And Julio came down with the ball and got him a lot of fantasy points. We missed that this year. We really, really missed it. Yeah, hopefully it was one of those.

The door opens and your memory banks. And he say, I've been here before. Sure. I've done this. Yeah, and it was pleasant. It feels so familiar and so safe, and I just want to give it a big hug. And maybe he'll throw the ball to Julio Jones over a 20-yard pass. Now, what do we say? Julio is three catches away from being second in the record books in total catches? Yeah, a very, very good point. He has 120 plus catches, and he is...

Like Andy said, I think he's three behind Antonio Brown's record for second, and a longer shot of 16 away from the best, the highest catch total ever. An NFL history. Let's make it happen this week, Matt Ryan. The Falcons have nothing to play for. They could force feed Julio Jones this week. You know who I would pick up off of the waivers? If I'm a team playing in week 17, I don't have a good quarterback. Who I'm picking up at least tonight.

on the main waiver day where I don't think a lot of people, you know, I'm going to actually pick up Andrew Luck because there's a chance he plays this week against the Titans, and we all know how the Colts are still in it. Must win. But I would pick him up just to see. Now, I don't necessarily expect him to start this week, and I'm not saying he's the greatest start ever, but he is a type of guy that is not normally on waivers, if not for this injury. They have...