Studs & Duds + Week 17 Waivers, Amari Christmas! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/26

Travis Kelsey is 6.79. He's ninth. Yeah. And they'll have a big game next week, Cincinnati. Dalton Schultz, 8 for 61. We'll see if Houston gets back. CJ Stroud next week. Let's take a break and talk about them duds. This segment's always kind of difficult this time of year because it's like, did you survive? Right. Did you make it through with a dud or not? Because some of these guys, you probably did. Poopped in his big boy pants. By the way, in case anyone he's curious and you needed to reference the score of me and Josh's match. Oh, what was it? It is up on the screen. We got it? Yeah, it was 157.6-2 to 119.38. Okay. That's a beat down. Yeah, that was a lot. I almost didn't need a Mari Cooper, but Mike, you were reacting. It's the poopiest pants. Purdy? Yeah. Turdy? Yes. I mean, this is the worst performance at the worst possible time.

I mean, he may, all Brock Purdy had to do was play well the rest of the season, and he would have won the league MVP. I believe that. Yeah. Not anymore. Nope. No, that's gone. Hope you didn't bet him because he's not winning MVP when pretty much on the brightest stage, the brightest lights, the biggest game of the season. A true Super Bowl, you know, these were the odds-on favorite teams from each conference to make Super Bowl. You're not winning the MVP after that performance. Yeah, four picks, got injured. Could have thrown more, you know, but left the game. They cruised to start this game. They had like 150 yards in the first, you know, two or three drives, and they ended up with three points. I mean, he threw a red zone interception, which was just pretty inexcusable. It was bad. Now Lamar Jackson the favorite. Running back duds, and there are some conversations to be had. I mean, Travis E. TN. I mean,

Jason kind of had a moment this past week where he was just discussing the inefficiency of Travis ETN. It doesn't get more inefficient than 6 for 12. At least it's easy math. Dudd of the year. I mean, thank you. Yes, that would be to carry. And then Tony Pollard is getting most of the blame for the Dallas Cowboys defeat because he managed to not, if you watch the replay, he managed to not get into the end zone. on a toss play where he could have run directly to the pylon and been in. And he decides to cut it back up field, get stuff somehow, which seemed impossible. And then they fumbled the next play, disrupting a long drive to start the game. But he has been, you know, we've had a long history of Pollard being great. And then you had Ezekiel Elliott and Zieg's the goal lineback, and we all resent it.

And we're all upset about it because we want Pollard to get everything. And Pollard's been a horrible goaling back. Oh, so inefficient. He wasn't the one who fumbled, right? No. He was the one who didn't score on the easiest touchdown of his life and decided to cut it back. I won't argue with that. But it's funny of like, well, he didn't get it. They had another play. And then that guy fumbled, but it's Tony's fault. Yeah, I think everybody just looks at it like, hey, you didn't need to have the second play. Like, that play shouldn't have existed. Sure. On the course of the year.

Okay, I mean, here's all you need to say. Fifteen attempts inside the five, how many touchdowns on 15 attempts? Yeah, that number should be like eight, nine, ten. That's, that's high. I mean, seven, seven. Would you be happy with two? No, I'd be happy with seven. I mean, two touchdowns on, Tony Pollard, on that level of work inside the five, we should be talking about his season. as a top team, not the running back 14, but the running back five. Yeah, and now he plays Detroit. And he was franchised. Yeah. So will the running back situation look the same in Dallas next year? He's going to be more affordable. That's for sure. His market has not grown this season. So this was interesting too, and it's going to factor into a Baltimore matchup in Baltimore next week, the running backs for the Dolphins.

Moster got banged up, but it wasn't as bad as it looked. No, and he came back in the game, scored, but Jeff Wilson had a bunch of work late in the game. But Devon A-chan, seven for 24, hasn't had an explosive play in a little while, and then, like, he had an opportunity in this game to do a lot more against the team that just gave up 178 yards to James Cook. A-chan's trust level going into Baltimore next week, it cannot be. 100%. No, I trust, but he's a boom bust type of back, a low volume, high ability of explosiveness, like Breece Hall. Breece Hall's similar. Like, you just need one of those plays to. At least Breece gets all the snaps. Yeah, yeah, yeah. His opportunity is much higher, but I'm just talking about like you can have a player where you just see him stuffed so much.

So ineffective. And then boom. He's like, oh, there's the 80 yards that won me my week. And so I don't see how you bench A. Chan, but certainly he's not. I mean, James Connor versus A. Chan is a discussion. Oh, that would be, that would be very, I would not want to have those two players unless I had two spots on my roster to put them. I mean, just to bring it up. I mean, I know A. Chan, like, you can't do what he did during the three games. No. The three games he scored five times, he was number one, number four, number four. But then the five games since he's come back, he got hurt. Then he had a big game, number four. And the last three weeks have been, you know, not up to his previous numbers. And there were good matchups for him. That's the problem. Like Tennessee had slowed down against the run. The Jets in Dallas had been beat against the run. And these last three weeks have been tough. So I think he's a tougher decision this week, and we'll get into it.

It's going to be based on the players you have. Like, I don't know, Mike. Clyde Edwards Allaire. Or A-chan? I think you play H-N, right? I don't know. I don't know. If Clyde is by himself. Mike, wouldn't it be? Let's take a pause. Mike and I are facing off in the Dynasty League. Look, I know where we're going here. Mike and I played in year two of our Dynasty League. This is like year eight, I think. I won that year in the championship. Mike then invested a couple years later and a little guy named Clyde Edwards-Dillard. Yeah. Yeah, loved Jonathan Taylor. You go ahead. Jonathan Taylor was a Jason and I were so infatuated with Jonathan Taylor. Yeah, you guys were like writing them notes and stuff. Oh, I love John the Taylor. And then the stupid Kansas City Chiefs select Clyde Edwards-Alair, which turned the entire rookie draft on its head for, I don't have the data. I'll say the majority of leaks.

Because that offense, a pass catcher for Mahomes, all the narratives of they asked Mahomes, who do you want on the team? And he said Clyde. And it was like, well, of course, this is perfect. Was a league winner for people? And he was with, so I want to beat you, obviously. I would like to win the championship. But the most, I mean, a poetic indie would be Mike the fantasy hitman on the back of the muscle hamster 2.0. It would be amazing. It would be so funny. If I could just win the dynasty championship, and then cut him. I'll cut him in the off-season. Thank you for your victory. I mean, he does win. Thanks for ruining my life for so many years. I mean, he was like a bomb placed on your team to blow it to smithereens. More duds, though. I mean, Kenneth Walker could not get it done this week. No, he could not. Charbonnet was a non-factor. Joe Mixing.

Devin Singletary. Singletary was a victim of a really bad game script. Yeah, right off the bat, early in that game. Singletary was great. Look great. I mean, when the score was close, it was like they were giving him the ball and he was super efficient. Oh, yeah, he's been all year. Nine for 44, three for 19. He had a 45-yard run and a 45-yard reception and a long run, both called back on holding penalties. Yeah, it was an unfortunate turnabout, but I would. keep sticking with him personally. If you, like, Connor. Oh, that's going to be, oh, that's going to be fun. You get to do it again. Yeah, with everything on the line. Yeah. Ty Chandler. Yeah. He scored, but goodness, this is a bad game. Thank goodness. He scored, but he had, it was very strange because he had no targets, and this was a team that needed to throw a bunch, and they got next to the goal line of.

a good amount and then they kept throwing it was oh when you got nick mullins yeah they gotta air it out you point out your score there so it was and then we'll see what happened i mean that madison played he got two snaps he had negative one rushing yard uh i mean the the green bay next week it was hopeful that the volume could overcome the matchup but it didn't work this week so next week against green bay as long as you get the the full green lights, it seems like, from the coaching staff, then Chandler is back in the RB2 mix. Yeah, I think he will be. And we'll have to wait and see if Addison's back. We know Hawkinson's not going to be there. So they're going to need whatever weapons they have. And that's, you know, Ty Chandler is a weapon. If you survived with this next guy, congratulations, because he's the wide receiver 55. What is happening? The wide receiver 55 since week 10, Stefan Diggs, the invisibility cloak.

has not been removed. He's had one finish inside the top 45. He's averaging 7.1 fantasy points per game. He has a spike week against Philadelphia where he scored 16 points and you thought, okay, we're back. No problem. But weeks 10 through 16, you have that one spike week and then the other ones. He's under five points. Five for 29. Three of them. He's never finished above seven points. Someone out there. And I can speak to this. I traded once upon a time for Greg Olson. I had a team that was on the way to the championship. And I gave it my all. I traded my future because he was on a tear. Right in the middle of the season, I traded for Greg Olson to put me over the top. And at that point, from that point, the rest of the season, he was the worst player imaginable. That you couldn't bench. That I couldn't bench. And someone out there traded after week nine.

for Stefan Diggs to put them over the top. I traded him in our League of Record, man. Oh, my goodness. And I passed on him. That's right. That was that time. Oh, my word. People wanted Stefan Diggs. Everyone in the league thought that I was going to trade for him because I had all the draft capital. And I just something in my soul said, don't do it. Wow. And I have been bailed out. I high point trade is the fun tics. I mean, I still think at this point you're looking at it and you're going, how do you not playing at home against New England? Oh, you're going to? Yeah, you should. Just like the Greg Olson. I mean, Jason ended up naming one of our two bathrooms at the studio after Greg Olson. The one in this room is Greg Olson. I'm because of what happened. The Andre Hopkins, Deontate Johnson, and Drake London. Yeah. Second straight dud for London. We just need to be used to this. This is just.

As long as, and we got word that Arthur Smith's probably going to, I mean, there's a chance he's going to be back here, right? They won the game. Yeah, if he had lost this week. They play Chicago, New Orleans. There's a good chance Arthur Smith's back. And if he's back, you're always going to know that he could decide to remove some of your hope any given week. Yeah, and you've got to add in the quarterback. I mean, you just don't have a quarterback good enough to be. Consistent. Confident. Yeah. Unless you've got a great matchup. I mean, you know, when he was playing against Tampa Bay, when Mike and I were really excited, it's like, this matchup is so good anyone could succeed in the passing game. He doesn't have any of those matchups left this season. So Drake London is someone you're not going to want to play. Well, if you went into your semi-final matchup with Leporta or McBride, you were left wanting. Laporta, three for 18. The matchup, it was a tough one. And then Trey McBride.

This was the bigger disappointment because you had no – you didn't have Hollywood Brown, and you end up six for 31. It just was not the kind of week that you hoped for. Yeah, I mean, hopefully you're in a full PPR league if you've got McBride. Six receptions is at least a baseline where he didn't crush you, but certainly disappointing. Matchup against Philly this next week is good. You're going to play them. Yeah, you're going to play that one, and you're going to play Leporta against Dallas as well. So, yeah, Dalton Kincaid, We've moved on. Hopefully, I mean, we had said we wouldn't play him, but the involvement is not there. Well, I mean, Stefan Diggs, Dalton Kincaid, they all disappointed because they were in the shadow of Gabe the babe. Yeah. Who? Oh, man. He showed up. Legend. Like, true, truly a legendary season for Gabe Davis of it. You flip the coin. You get zero or.

You get a weak winning performance. Can we just tell the truth? Like he, it's people should be deciding. It's like he's Darius Slayton, guys. He's Darius Slayton. If he catches a long touchdown, you're like, that guy's great. And that's it. How in the world did we not know that this one would be a good one? He is Mr. Christmas. All of his games are red and green. Oh, you know what I mean? Like he's either. Ah, very nice that. Yeah. I mean. Our analysis, let you down. Yeah, Christmas light analysis we were weak on this year. By the way, Don't Kincaid snaps in case you're curious, 49% 42%. Don't play him. What are they doing? Winning? Yeah, barely. I mean, they barely won that ball game. They should have lost it. Does the charger flop. So they look weird. I mean, the chiefs and the bills look weird on offense right now. Think about it. Diggs. Kelsey. Yes. Like, these are fundamental.

staples for your roster. At least Josh Allen runs the ball. So we've got a waiver wire for you as well. Put me in, coach. This just in. All of Josh's players available on the waiver wire. All of them have been, they've been let go. All right. All right, Mike, take it away. I mean, it's the waiver wire is tough for this week because this is literally you're picking them up to play them or to block your opponent from playing them. And. I don't see a world where Clyde Edwards O'Lear is not the number one pickup. It is. I was so happy to see he's not available in our league. It will be, yeah. I don't want my opponent to pick him up. Yes. Thank you for rostering him everywhere, Mike. You're welcome. It's the weirdest thing because you will playing Clyde in a championship weekend feels about the sketchiest thing you can possibly do. But the process of.

And this is all assuming that Pacheco doesn't clear the concussion protocol, which we all imagine it will be tough. It's not impossible, but we'll be tough for him to be back. But it's Clyde against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals who, if you remember just a couple weeks ago when Ty Chandler was the hero of the moment, part of that is because he played against the Bengals. So you mean, if you need a running back help or your opponent needs running back help, this is who I'm targeting. Yeah. Yeah, the Bengals, I mean, they gave up 21 points to the Naji Warren combo. I gave it 23 points to Chandler the week before. Yeah. They gave up big games to Baltimore and Houston and Pittsburgh and twice in Jacksonville. So they've pretty much given up like high double digits every week. It's a great matchup. He'll be all alone. The touchdown opportunities should be there. So they gave up 34 points to Pittsburgh, man.

Yeah, I would absolutely... And they're going to Arrowhead. The game's an Arrowhead. Oh, my gosh. Clyde's a great pickup. It's going to be a get-right game for them, isn't it? And he's the only... Basing every chief, every chief under the sun. He's the only reliable. Now, granted, Pacheco could still clear a protocol. It's not a guarantee. You've really got three players out here. Because you're just talking about who can you pick up and start realistically, reliably? confidently. The player that's out there that I would pick up and start in a heartbeat if the starter is injured is Zemir White. Yeah, I know Josh Jacobs was. Yeah, they're committed to the run. Oh, yeah, they are. And you saw it, you saw like the cliche, the cliche ending of like, you wear down a defense. Like, it was like,

The Chiefs at the very end of that game, their defense just finally broke. Because their defense was good, and they just kept running the ball, kept running the ball, kept running the ball, kept running the ball. And then it was like, oh, they just, they were done. And at the end, then it was everything was a chunk run from Zemir White. And that's what they want to do. So Josh Jacobs was, you know, talked about as like a true game time decision. So I think right now you kind of expect him to be back this week. But he didn't practice all week.

And this is a team that, you know, is still in the playoff mix. And so you might want him to be healthy before you bring him back. I would love to play Zemir if Jacobs is out this week. Aiden O'Connell. Oh, yeah. Aidan O'Connell, all of his passing yard is was in the first quarter. Did he not complete another? I'm going through it because I know for sure in the second and third he did not complete a pass. And I'm going play by play trying to see if anything happened. Yeah, Kyle saying is correct. He didn't complete a pass in the second, third, or fourth quarter, and you beat the Kansas City Chiefs. Yeah, I mean, this is an offense that if they are. That's like an immediate, you're no longer the interim head coach. You're just, you, you won the job. Congratulations. Zero pass. You had no quarterback production and we won. I mean, we didn't talk about it on the duds. We should have. I mean, Devante Adams had one catch for four yards. Yeah, because there was.

No yards to go around. Yeah, he won the game in Arrowhead. In Arrowhead, he did not throw for 70 yards. Not 170. He did not. Total full game, 62 passing yards. That is unbelievable. For the offense. This is a team that wants to run the ball. So, yeah, Zemir White. And then we saw Deontiforming get ruled out suddenly. It was listed as personal reasons. So we have no clue what's going on there. But if he is out again, Khalil Herbert will be, he'll be the primary running back. No, thank you. That's what we learned this past week. It's Atlanta. Atlanta's brutal against the run. Yeah. Chris Rodriguez went out due to injury, so I'm not going to really mention him. But Justice Hill, Justice Hill gets a ton of opportunity with Baltimore. And so it's worth mentioning the fact that he will be on the field. Yeah, he's been on the field a lot. I mean, he's played a lot of snaps to.

Let me just read his total fantasy production. Seven points this last week, great. Two the week before, two the week before, three the week before, one the week before, one the week before. These are not fantasy finishes. That's total fantasy points. He's on the field, but it's irrelevant. I don't think you could play him. He is the running back equivalent of Elijah Moore. Elijah Moore has so many targets. Yeah. So many snaps and so much nothing. And you can't blame the quarterback. No. Flacko is. Oh, man, Amari Cooper's good. He's a good wide receiver. Well, he's always made those, like, incredible catches that your eyes are like, what? How? He just doesn't have a quarterback. This is why quarterbacks matter, man. Also the Jets, man. Yeah. Garrett Wilson could have been a ridiculous superstar this year. If you just picked up Flacco, who was already in your system, who already had, you know,

familiarity with. Yeah. So then, wrong with them. If Chris Rodriguez is hurt and if Brian Robinson is hurt still, Antonio Gibson will at least get volume. Yep, it'll be San Francisco. The wide receiver room, or the wide receiver waiver wire, rather, DeMarcus Robinson, 14% rostered, keeps getting it done. DeMario Douglas had a nice game, five for 74. The Dorch, Greg Dorch for Arizona, scored a touchdown. And then you had seven targets for Wondale. You also had a big game from, like, if you look at the snap counts for Darius Slayton, there's a reason why, like, I was microscopically close to playing him over Adam Thielen in our dynasty league. He had another huge touchdown. He's playing all the time. And Tyra Taylor is back. He's back. Like, this is good for Sequin for next week. It is good for your dart throws at wide receiver.

I'll mention him in the same breath as Wondale. I'd rather have Slayton because if you have a good offensive play for Wondale, it's eight yards. If you have a good offensive play for Slayton, it's always a touchdown. Both guys' floors are irrelevant. You could be zero. Yeah. KJ. Osborne, Minnesota Vikings wide receiver, he went ham with five for 95 and a touchdown against Detroit. He. It's not someone I love counting on, but if Addison is out. Yeah, he's the pickup. And they're playing the Packers. Yeah, my top two, I mean, do you, I think DeMarcus Robinson's a great pickup. He's worth picking up and playing Douglas against Buffalo and Osborne. So how do you have those three ranks, Jason? I would have Osborne first. At the top, okay. And then DeMarcus.

Yeah, DeMarcus has a nice Giants matchup too, so that's worth looking at. And DeMario Douglas, it's tough because that team, you just never know who's healthy on a weekly basis. Parker, Juju, is he back? But Douglas is a player you could throw into your lineup if he needed to. I don't think he's really had a game above double digits, like 10 points. No, he's been a very good for a rookie wide receiver for New England. Yeah, the best ever. Like if that is the bar. Yeah, he did. Yeah, he's the best ever. There you go. And then Tyler Boyd this past week got it done with no Jamar Chase. And that could be the case again. Like when I say got it done, I mean, it was like eight points. But, you know, they play Kansas City. You figure T. Higgins is going to get the Sneed treatment. I mean, Sneed followed Adams around this past week and Adams did nothing. Higgins gets Sneed. I mean, Tyler Boyd. Yeah, it's not a bad call. I think that that one might be your sneakiest pickup if he's available. He's not, it's 55% of leagues he's rostered.

Yeah, him and, thank you. Thank you. Where are you guys with Romeo Dobbs if he happened to be out there on your waiver? Because the data we're seeing Yahoo's 57% rostered. I just like those other guys more. Okay. Yeah, we don't know right now, Jaden Reed, whether he'll be back next week or not. And Minnesota's defense. Yeah, they might have their way. Is really good. Tide ends, who are you willing to start? Or pick up and basically make that emergency play over something. Like maybe you were counting on Concade and you made it through. Maybe you were counting on somebody else, like Hawkinson. Make sure that Isaiah likely is not there. There's a small chance. And then I think of the remaining guys, I would go Tucker Kraft, Green Bay Packers rookie against Minnesota. You could look to Gerald Everett. Gerald Everett would be my pickup. Against the Giants, you'd go him over Tucker Kraft. He doesn't play the Giants. I see that in this. But.

Oh, he plays against the Denver Broncos. And so, you know, I've been targeting. I'm taking Chig Ocuncuo as my favorite pickup. He's six for six targets in this past game with Tana Hill scored and was the number two tight in on the week. What if it's Levis? Which it could be. I'm still okay with Oconquo. I mean, we're not happy here, people. We're not, we're not thrilled. I mean, Everett, seven for 42, Chig was six for 63. I mean. I think I'm just going to choose the matchup. You know, for me, it's, uh, target the teams you've been targeting, you know. Is it Houston week against the tight end position? Uh, Houston's an okay matchup, yeah. Yeah. So I think both of those are in play. Defenses this week. You could be like me and stashed Cleveland. Sure. For Thursday? Because I've been, I, eyeballed that from like week.

eight or something because you want to play against them, but you probably can't pick them up. So when you need to pick someone up, the Rams are at the tippy top of the list. They play the Giants in New York. And the Bears. The Bears are at the top of the list too. I would put the Jags at the top for me. I signed the Jags. Against Carolina. I signed the Jags last week to keep them away from our opponent in the championship because I was terrified that he'd pick them up. And they play Carolina. Josh Allen will wreck Bryce Young.

Yeah. Yeah, what? You know what? This was the first week I saw a little bit of stuff from Bryce Young that I was like, I was like, that was okay. He still missed way too many open throws, but he was, I mean, DJ Chark, Adam Thieland both had good games. Yeah, Thelan had like almost 100, right? Yeah. It's been a while. And they almost knocked off Green Bay. Green Bay will play Minnesota and Nick Mullins and he's a chucker. It's, I mean. Nick Mullins. He is a wild man. How are they allowing him to keep doing this? Listen, we can't. When you see a backup quarterback come in and they're too conservative, we scream into the heavens. Yes. We're angry. It takes away any potential for anybody. But then you bring in Mullins and this guy has, he's full de-gaffed. This is the opposite end of the spectrum. Maybe find a middle ground where you push the ball downfield. It's a real Goldilocks situation. Sometimes. Yeah.