Hello, everybody, Welcome into the Fantasy pros Football Podcast. I'm Ryan Warmley, joined on this Wednesday before Thanksgiving by Andrew Rickson and Pat Fitzmorris Fellas. This is our Thursday show. We are tapping in a day early because of the holiday obviously, so it's kind of a blanket full disclosure.
If any kind of news regards to injuries or anything else drops between now, which is Wednesday afternoon, and then Thursday when this episode is released, that's why we're not hitting on it because we are taping this early, like many shows are doing for the holidays. Ericson Fits and I have already done a couple of shows recently where we've talked a bit about some of our Thanksgiving You know, you can call it hot takes, you can just call
it your rankings, your preferences. How do you approach Thanksgiving? What goes on your plate in what order? What are you prioritizing at your Thanksgiving dinner?
For me, it's just trying to give a little bit of everything, right. I like having a surplus of different types of flavors, so I try not to overdo it on one particular item. We Usually it's like the mashed potatoes are like the turkey, but I try to get a sample of every type of side, and I don't like to just go over the top. I kind of like to pace myself in the beginning because I like
being hungry, like four meals. Like I don't want to eat a giant meal and then immediately have to go get like and eat dessert.
Right.
I like having okay, like I'm good right now, wait some time, and then go back and get that dessert and really enjoy it, as opposed to I can't eat anything else, but I'm gonna eat it else anyway. Like I try not to do that. I've done that before and I just don't have a feeling that great. So that's usually min stow.
You and I are very different people. We approach thanks kids very differently. Are you yeah or day? On Cranberry sauce?
I take it or leave it. I'm not.
I'm not like, oh my god, Cranberry sauce, how could you like this? Or this is the worst thing ever? Or people like I mean, I'm pretty indifferent. If it's there, it's there.
I guess. I know.
My wife is very much has to be from a can versus I guess there are other methods of doing it, but yeah, I'm kind of you know, hit or miss you now.
Fits is your mouth watering already just thinking about tomorrow?
It is definitely. Let me ask you guys about dessert. What does dessert look like for you guys on Thanksgiving?
My family typically has a couple of variations of some kind of pie. My dad really likes pecan pie, you know, a pumpkin pie, kind of some of the classic stuff. I'm not really a pie guy, so I usually will just kind of make myself a small little Sunday you know, ice cream, some chocolate, like just kind of kind off to the side, and I find the ice cream to be pretty refreshing after a very you know, salty, caloric, heavy meal. I like kind of the cool, refreshing. I mean,
I just love ice cream in general. That's more appealing to me than the pie. But I also I'm a little biased, just because I don't tend to like really most pies in general. What about you, Erickson?
Yeah, pie for me, that's usually my go to my memory of Thanksgiving. There's only one specific dessert. It's like a like a chocolate pie. There's another word for it. Not like a custard, because that's more like fruit relays, but like fudgy, like whipped a lot of cream in it. I don't really remember the being like a lot of like flakiness to this pie. I'm doing a very bad job of describing this item. I'm gonna take a picture. I would be like, what is this? Please tell me
because I don't know how to describe it. So I'll be ready for next year when I break down this chocolate.
My mom and also.
Her mom both like to make brownies, and you know, with different icings and chocolate chips in them that they don't always make it for Thanksgiving, but just in general family gatherings that's often one of my go to desserts as well. They both make a really really excellent brownies.
What about you, fits, We are a pie household.
At my mom's she's always got an apple pie and a pumpkin pie, of course, and I do like pumpkin pie, but my wife has convinced me that sweet potato pie is better than pumpkin pie, like it's sweeter and tastier. So you know, if anyone trusts me on my pie judgment, I think you should consider replacing pumpkin pie with sweet potato pie. I actually wrote about this in our waiver article.
I suggested some ads and drops for Thanksgiving dinner. So I know it's past the waiver run for most people, but you might want to check that out to get the chance.
My parents don't really like sweet potato anything, so I don't think I've ever had sweet potato pie. I don't think I would like it because of my approach to most pies, but if you are a pie person, then I would trust Fits and go over that. Like I mentioned, this is our Thursday show, just on a Wednesday this week, still getting released on Thursday. We're talking starts sits, guys. We added on waivers if we're starting, sending them touchdown
calls at the end of the show. As always, all of our weekly consensus rankings and tears can be found at fantasypros dot com slash rankings. Guys, let's jump into those waiver wire ads. Fits just mentioned the article that he works on every week, so be sure to go check that out. We're so early enough in the week that obviously waivers have already run, but there might be some guys that slip through the cracks that you want to go check out, so be sure to hit up
Fantasy Pros dot com to check out that article. Are we starting or sitting in the week thirteen? Gus Edwards? It just came out actually finally today, coming off that Monday night game that JK. Dobbins, you know, does have. I believe it's an MCL. He's going to miss some time at the very least this upcoming week. So Fitz, I'll start with you. Gus Edwards. Is he somebody that we're starting here in week thirteen with Dobbins out?
I really don't want to start Gus Edwards in a full point PPR league because he is zero pass catching upside whatsoever. In standard or half PPR, he's more startable, like I've got him as a you know, in standard, I think I have him as a high end running back three, and in half point PPR like a mid range running back three. We know that Gus is probably not going to have the entire backfield to himself, that it's probably going to be a little bit of Hassan
Haskins and or Kamani Vadel mixed in. But he is very familiar with Greg Roman's system, and Roman knows what Gus's limitations are like, they have a familiarity there. I would expect somewhere from like twelve to eighteen carries for Gus, and he probably doesn't really make your day unless he gets into the end zone because he's just not explosive, doesn't catch pass says. But then again, he has a pretty good chance of getting into the end zone for you.
So not thrilled about starting him, but he is certainly playable.
I think with JK. Dobbins out, what.
Do you think ericson? For me, if you think the Chargers are gonna win this game, and if you like them over the Falcons, then I like us a bit more because he would be the guy you would think they would used to close out the game. They're favored by one on the road in Atlanta, so it's you know, it's not like there are some heavy favorites or anything going into this one. But to me, if you like the Chargers, you might like us a bit more than in a vacuum. How are you approaching him?
I think it's did a great job describing it. I mean I think that if you're throwing him in there and have PPR and standard, you're gonna hope he scores a touchdown. He knows the system with Greg Roman. Is the reason why they brought him in, the reason they signed him to do a bigger contract than JK. Dobbins because at the time, Edwards was coming off the big year and he was the healthier running back. Obviously that hasn't played out this season, but they brought him in
for a reason. And even if it takes twenty carries to get him too fifty yards, like, he's gonna get a decent amount of volume. And it's a good matchup against Atlanta Falcas. You talked about we like the Chargers offense. It's not like they're going to go to Atlanta and score zero points. The Falcons don't have a good run defense. So yeah, I think that he's a low end or mid range RB three. He's got a good touchdown equity. I mean, he scored touchdown last week because again they don't have
Dobmin Dobbin's missed. He was the guy they went to. Yes, Haskins Vidal the old reallyason Like the downside with Edwards is just if the Chargers fall behind like significantly somehow, you know they're playing on the East coast after a short week. That's how he gets like a zero for you. But besides that, I think that he comes with a decent touch floor and obviously a lot of touchdown equity ericson.
I'll stick with you, Amre Abdullah. I kind of guess that we're kind of approaching this from the exact opposite approach where we like him better in PPR. He had five catches for thirty seven yards in a touchdown last week against the Broncos. On the ground just eight for twenty eight and no touchdown. Am I correct in this assessment? They see a guy that you like better in PPR?
Yeah, I mean that's all he's playing. The Chiefs can't run the ball in the Chiefs and me Abdula can't run the ball anyway. The Raiders can't run the ball. So look, Madison, the last time he played the Chiefs, he caught five passes. Right, you're just hoping that Abdullah again, he's playing essentially all included ninety ton of the snaps, right, Like he's gonna be on the field most of the time, and you're just hoping he's just catching passes. So consider
you can't run on the Chiefs defense. Yeah, Abdullah gain another flex play someone that I don't think has a ton of upside, but we know a couple of things. He's going to catch passes an O'Connell cannot move. He's a statue, so he's going to get the ball quick to his running back, which is going to be a mere Abdullah and obvious passing down. So I'm not going to say he could flirt with eight or nine catches, but I don't think it's out of his range of outcomes.
So I don't think that if you're in a pinch this week with running backs, you can deal with an injury. I know where he's hall popped up on the injury report this week. Abdullah, Assuming that Madison and his mere wide are out, I think he could definitely be a top thirty running back in full PBR fits.
I would play him ahead of Goss in full PPR and maybe even half PPR if Madison is out. But we're gonna have to watch the status of Madison. Zamir White didn't practice on Wednesday, but Madison apparently did return to practice limited bassis though, so his status still seems like it's kind of up in the air. I think if Madison plays, that sort of nukes any fantasy value that am Abdullah might have had.
Another running back I wanted to hit on, Jeremy McNichols. This is obviously dependent on the health of the other guys in the commander's backfield. Again, we are taking this on Wednesday, so we don't have full insight into what that looks like yet. I believe Brian Robinson I saw was going to practice in a limited capacity today unless I read that wrong, So maybe he ends up playing and McNichols isn't that appealing. But let's assume that the
room for volume is here. If Robinson and Eckler are not playing, fits Jeremy McNichols, are you interested in starting him in that scenario.
I would be.
I'd have him as sort of a high end running back three if Robinson didn't play, And it seemed like the signs were kind of pointing that way with the resigning of Chris Rodriguez after they had released him, and I thought I saw that they gave tryouts to like James Robinson and Boston Scott this week, which sort of suggests that maybe Robinson wasn't totally healthy. So yeah, I mean like McNichols falls out of the top out of RB three territory if Robinson plays. But if Robinson is
out and McNichols is the primary guy, absolutely playable. And there is pass catching upside because when he sort of broke into the league with the Titans, I think he was seen as like a pass a designated passing down back. So yeah, I mean, I think there's some utility here with McNichols potentially taking that Austin Eckler role as sort of the you know, like not a full rushing load, but all of the passing downs and maybe some of the running work.
Ericson what do you think about McNichols.
I just can't get this memory out of my mind of last year one when I was playing Josh Kelly against the Tennessee Titans run defense, because it looked like he was going to be the starter for that team. So I'm not saying that Jerman Nichols is Josh Kelly, but it is kind of eerily similar. In the Titians, they're one of the best run defenses in the NFL, and we've obviously seen the Commanders the last couple weeks kind of struggle to run the football. Even against Dallas
last week. You know they didn't get it done. Obviously they were dealing with injuries. I would say as well that Eckler's definitely going to be out. I feel pretty confidence in that because he had a concussion. He had his second concussion of the season at the end of that Commander's Dallas game. So I think that also plays into why the Commanders are looking at other running backs, because it's not just Robinson the worried about. It's Eckler, who I think is definitely going to miss this game.
I think that I wasn't maybe thinking about the past game work as much. I'm glad that Glad that Fits brought that up because I think I was overlooking that part of his game. So I think that he does kind of fall into that RB three territory. But among the guys we talked about, if the injuries play out, where Abdullah is a starter or Gus Edwards is going to be the guy, I'd rather play those guys over
Jemmy McNichols, but again he has touched on. I just really hate the matchup against the against the Tennessee Titians.
I didn't include this last name in the out line because it was just an update from this morning. But Brice Hall, I guess, is not practicing today and there's now, you know, some question but whether or not he's going to play. So Braylon Allen, I think we'd obviously be interested in starting somebody like Braylon Allen if Brees Hall is not there. He's been kind of viewed as a high end handcuff in this scenario for most of the year. How aggressively would you guys be ranking Braylan Allen in
the event that Breslaw doesn't play out. I want to ask, even though we don't know yet, just because I want people who are watching this later on in the week to know how we would approach it if Hall doesn't play again. We don't really know as of right now what his status is going to look like, but he is questionable. So ericson Braylan Allen, where would he rank for you if Brice Hall is not playing?
I think you'd have to be top twenty running back. I mean, who else would we expect to see getting usage in that backfield? We've seen Brees Hall basically flirt with an eighty percent snapshare over the last couple of weeks under this new offense Braylon Allen. At the beginning of the year, we were looking at, man, this guy is going to be so good if he gets a chance. Now it's kind of peered off a little bit the last couple of week because he hasn't been as involved.
But when he was at the end of the year, this Skuy looked like an absolute monster. And I don't want to forget about that just because we haven't seen as much of him the last couple of weeks. But Seattle Seahawks, Yes, they played well last week. They're playing better on defense, but still a defense that has given up a lot of usage in yards to running backs this season. And brail Now and Man just guys bounce
off of him when they try to tackle him. So if he's getting anywhere between fifteen to twenty touches, I want to find a way to get that guy in my lineup, especially if he's looking at the full work. I just don't see you scenario again. We always say this, who else they can give touches to? Maybe they'll find a way to get someone else involved. But just because they were so focused on getting Breese Hall involved as the guy I feel like they might do the same
with Braymon Allen. So again early haven't really dug into my exact rankings, but I'd probably rank him probably near the top twenty.
He was pretty rostered fits early on in the year when he was looking great. That's come down a bit as teams have you had dealt with injuries in bi weeks and whatnot. Only thirty two percent rostered on Yahoo, sixteen percent rostered on ESPN. So he is somebody that should be available if you want to go out and pick him up, and I think is they must pick up even just while we're still kind of in the gray area with breeshall because again, if Hall doesn't play,
you're going to want to start Allen. Where would you rank him if Haul's out?
I'd be a little lower maybe than eericson, just because yeah, like Alan looked spectacular early in the season, he hasn't looked as good like over the last month and a half. I don't know if he's even averaged over three yards per carry. And I know it's been like a bunch of small sample sizes with Braylan Allen, so it's really
hard to draw any conclusions there. But just with the overall trajectory of the Jets, which is basically a nose dive that kind of would prevent me from going over the top of the Braylen Allen ranking and the guy I would I'm looking at my rankings right now and looking at Rashad White at like RB twenty seven and trying to decide if I would rather start Braylan Allen if Breese Hall is out or Rashad White, like that's kind of where I would have him around RB twenty seven RB twenty eight.
Would you start Allan over Naji Harris? I think I would. I think the White thing is more debatable.
Steelers are all about running the ball.
They've run the ball in like fifty two point three percent of their offense of snaps this year. Like they are going to run the ball on no matter what, even though like the Bengals kind of want you to throw on them. They're sort of a pass funnel. Doesn't matter what the Steelers, they just do what they do. So no, I mean, I just feel a little better about the Steelers being in the game and in a run friendly game.
Script. I don't know about this Jets offense, and it just seems like the team is kind of waved the white flag already.
Let's plant our flags. Speaking of waving flags on some players, for Week thirteen, Fits, you were going back to the well of a guy who got U zero last week.
Yeah, I had a spectacular flag plant on Quentin Johnston last week, and then twenty twenty three, Quentin Johnston walked through the door for that game against the Ravens. And yeah, so here on Thanksgiving, we have this American tradition of pardoning a turkey, and I am going to grant a turkey pardon to Quenton Johnston after that turkey of a performance against the Ravens and plant my flag on him again.
Here's hoping we get a bounce back season. He's at a good year, so I think he's going to give us a big play this week.
Five targets, zero receptions against the Ravens. And obviously that that drop and everybody saw.
It was worse than it looked.
If that's so much room to run on that one drop too, that you know, really cost the Chargers of the game in a certain perspective. Ericson, what do you think about this pick of Quentin Johnston.
I love it because Fits is trust in the process here. It was a good process play playing Quinn Johnson's not his fault. It's not Fits's fault that Quin Johnson could squeze the ball. Like all we can do is set up. Hey, this guy set up, he's gonna smash. He catches that ball, he's running for a touchdown. And then we're and then Fits is coming on here, Victory Lapping. He's like, I can't pick Quinn Johnson again because he did so good for us.
On Monday Night football.
So again, as someone that went back to the well with Jaylen Waddle a lot to success, you can't again. Eventually we got it right. I like Fits going back to h to Johnson here because I think maybe just a week earlier I would like to point a good matchup for him.
So Erickson reached out to me to say, you should do one of these clown memes of starting Jalen Wattle again on social and I was like, sure, that's funny. He's been terrible all year. So I did a couple of variations of it on a couple of our different platforms, and then he had his actual breakout game finally of the season, and I kept getting all these replies and comments with your aged Well, I was like, I just posted it because Erickson told me to.
I always try to do it.
My favorite My favorite ones are the ones that h age like Milky.
Listen. I'm if I if I had the power to make him good by finally making a joke about him being bad, I would have done it in week two so he could have helped my teams earlier in this.
You know you need to do that for this week. You need to put Kyla Murray on the clown this week. Well, he's fantasy managers need.
Does tend to bounce back after his bad games.
So no, it's all of his games.
All right, ericson here are you planting your flag on? He can't do Jalen Wattle because he plays on Thursday, So you got to pick someone else.
I also wouldn't want to because I think it's it's going to go south real quick for getting the battel. But Bucky Irving for me, he's kind of entering I think league winner mode right now. Like you look at the upcoming stretch that Bucky Irving has such favorable matchups coming up for the Tampa BA Buccaneers as they kind of make a run at the NSC South Division title, and I think they're going to lean a lot on Bucky Irving the last two weeks that he's played his
top six fantasy running back. Yeah, last week he got tackled inside the one yard line twice and he still ended up finishing really highly in the weekly rankings. Eighteen touches was a season high in a game that Rashard White was also active for, and his fifty two percent snap share was also a season high. So I think we're starting to see again. We saw it before the bye week. The team was very much Hey, we like both these running backs, but every single week we see
more and more of Bucky Irving. It's how the coaches cannot get this guy more involved. I know that they did the Shan Tucker experiment again. They're getting him involved in the first drive and what does he do. He fulmos the ball at the goal line right and then you never see him again. So if we get this backfield back to two guys between Sean White and Bucky Irving, I think both guys are very much in play this week.
That's why I would be hesitant to even play Braylon out over Shadway because the matchup is just so good against the Carolina Panthers. So I could make for Shad White my flyplant too, just because Hey, we love Bucky. But it's no reason you should be out on Rashad Why either, because I think both guys can really smash her. But I just want to be I want to make sure people get your lineups you set them. Bucky everyway's
got to find your way into your lineup. And it's weird because he was a guy that you drafted as a depth piece, got off waivers, but he set up so well in this spot and I think for the rest of the season.
Fitz, I'll get your opinion on Bucky Irving in a second because he's a part of our first player debate. But before we get to that, the NFL season is rolling along and the contenders are separating from the pack. The one thing that hasn't changed this season, DraftKings sports Book, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL, is the number one place to bet touchdowns. Fade to the corner of the end zone, running back breaks through the line and
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As I mentioned Fitz, we are about to talk about Bucky irvings some more. Erickson has his great habit of waiting for me to fill out the whole outline, and then he only to pick one player to plant to slag on, and it's a player we're already talking about later in the show. In this case, it transitions nicely because it's the first player we're talking about here in our start.
You should be thanking man ready.
I'll thank you for this week. Bucky Irving versus James Connor fits. What do you think about this one?
So you're mad at ericson and now I'm met at you for bringing up this rankings panel because I swear to get this is the player versus player debate that caused me the most anguish when I was setting my rankings. I like stared at these guys for five minutes trying to justify one over the other. I love watching Bucky Irving play, like trying to tackle that dude is like trying to tackle an eel, Like he is so slippery,
strings together multiple moves just makes defenders look silly. And he's averaging five point four yards per carry Among all running backs with at least forty rushing attempts. Bucky is second in yards after contact per attempt with four point one nine. He's ninth in breakaway run rate among running backs with at least forty carries.
He adds value as a pass catcher.
All of that said, I have Bucky ranked one spot below James Counter. I've got Connor RB eighteen Bucky RB nineteen. I just Connor is probably getting fifteen or more carries and catching a few passes barring any unusual circumstances. Bucky has not had fifteen carries in a game this season. Like, I just can't take even in the great matchup against
the Panthers, I just can't take the timeshare back. And it could be a three way if they don't put Sean Tucker into fumble jail like we saw them want to use Sean Tucker at the goal line, which is kind of a problematic if you're a Bucky Irving or Rashad White investor. I'm just following the volume here, man. As much as I like Bucky and don't want to put him in my bench, and hopefully only people in the most shallow of leagues would have this dilemma.
But I've got Connor one spot ahead Erickson.
You have Bucky Irving obviously as you're playing your flag player, so I'm assuming you're going to go with him.
Yeah, I'm going to go with Bucky even in the limited, even if he sees fewer touches in James Connor. I mean the matchup, I mean touches versus the Panthers, it's like double essentially because of how fishing they're going to be. And then you look at the matchup against James Scalar is playing the Vikings. Not a good matchup for him. They're really good against them. I mean their defense is overall are really good. Like I'm trying to figure out in my mind, like how can I feasibly start Kyler
Murray again? And he's going to find a way to get it done, But does that mean James Color gets it done too? Like I have concerns about the matchup. So that's yeah.
I will say the matchup against the Vikings a little less tough with linebacker Ivan Pace going on injured reserve, Like he's a really good run stoffer and that's going to hurt the Vikings.
Where did you say you had Connor ranked Erickson.
I have him ranked twenty two, so a pretty.
Decent gap for you. Then between the two guys. Yeah, let's go to another running back debate here, Travis Etn versus Nick Chubb. Eric's want to start with you this time. Who do you prefer? Etn or Chubb?
I actually like Etn a little bit more. It's not by much. I think that both guys are ranked really closely together. For me, I'm kind of looking for who has the most outs in terms of their particular matchups. I have more faith in the Jaguars offense scoring more points at home than the Cleveland Browns on the road against the Denver Broncos. I don't love that matchup for that offense overall. Nick Chubb got there obviously last week
because of the touchdowns that he scored. What if he doesn't score the touchdowns this week, then you're kind of left, all right, he got some rushing yards if they fall behind, is even in the game, he's getting out stop by Jerome Ford. So Etn I feel like again feel better at the Jaguars offense overall. He catches passes, So however the game script goes, if they're behind or ahead, I think that he's still going to get some type of volume. I don't know what the health status of tank Bigsby is.
I think that he's playing, He's going to be active, but what does the touch share look like? I don't know. I don't think really anybody knows. And Etn still gets a decent amount of red zone looks too, So both guys are in the low end RB three range for me. But I just like Etn's outlook a little bit more. I think he has more outs and less chance of botting him out versus job.
What do you think here fits Chubb or Etn?
Yeah, I mean, not a fun choice. Chubb is averaging three yards per carry since coming back. He's going up against the Broncos run defense that's fourth in DVLA. Chubb hasn't done anything as a pass catcher so far. He's as touchdown dependent as he has ever been in his career. I don't want to trash a guy who's made this valiant comeback from a serious leg injury. But like, this is not the Nick Chubb where he used to Seeing that said, I to absolutely take Chubb over Etn because
I do think Bigsby is coming back. He had returned to practice before the Jaguars went on by, and then he got the extra week of recovery time, so I think he's going to be back. And Bigsby has simply been a better runner than Etn. Like, hands down, Bigsby
among qualifying running backs. He leads everyone in the league in yards per contact after yards after contact per carry, and so Etn's the second best runner on his own team in a bad offense, hasn't scored a touchdown since Week two, and hasn't even been that good in the passing game so far this year four point six yards per catch and three point four yards per target.
No thanks, Let's look at some wide receiver debates here, Garrett Wilson or Zay Flowers. I thought this was an interesting one. Ericson, I'll start with you this time. Who do you prefer? Garrett Wilson or Ze Flowers?
So this was my version of Fitz's James Connovers bucket. This this one gave me the most angst as I was looking through the show sheet, because originally he's like, oh, say Flowers, like easy, like he played Lamar Jackson's quarterback, Aaron Rodgers is his quarterback.
Oh this is slam dung And then.
Like ah Eagles, one of these actual really tough perimeter secondary defenses. And then look at say Flowers last couple of weeks, you know, hasn't been amazing in terms of the production, not the thing. He's not being used at all in the offense. Came up short a couple of times in the red zone in the Ravens last game. So for me, it's like who's more likely to score a touchdown? Because they both guys see a deep amount
of volume. I would say Garrett Wilson probably has a better projection in terms of raw volumes because they just don't have Breese Hall. I mean, is Aaron Rodgers gonna elect to want to run the ball more?
Like? I don't necessarily think so.
Aaron Rodgers likes to throw the ball, especially when you look at the matchup against the Seattle Seahawks. So given that, and especially in the red zone, right like, that's where the Jets have one of the highest passing touchdown rates is in the red zone. Same thing with the Seahawks. They've given up the majority of their touchdowns through the air and not on the ground. So I think that Garret Wilson actually has a better chance of finding the
end zone the spot. So I have a rank back to back but I will get the lean towards Garrett Wilson to bounce back after the bye week.
We haven't talked fits all that much about za Flowers on this show this year because he has felt like a very obvious start, but I wanted to bring him up. There was a five game stretch we're in. Four of the five games between Week five and Week nine, he had one hundred and eleven yards or more. Outside of that, he really only has one big yardage total game this season, Za Flowers, that was back in Week two. He only has two touchdowns this season outside of that stretch in
the middle of the season. Now, that stretch did happen, and he looked awesome there, and he's been a very helpful player for the offense in general, but it hasn't been this set it and forget it, superstar fantasy wide receiver outside of that one month. So what do you think, Jay Flowers? Garrett Wilson.
Yeah, I like Zay. He's a baller.
It's just that the usage can be inconsistent in an offense that really likes to run the ball and has some other pretty good weapons in the passing game with you know, Bateman is really up this year and Andrews, even though he's not getting the targets he used to, he still gets like his five targets every week. So yeah, I mean, I have Wilson ranked one spot higher, and I know it hasn't been pretty with him lately. His last two games he's had nine catches for fifty nine yards.
But before that, Wilson had a five game stretch from Week five to Week nine where he had forty catches, four hundred and seventy two yards and four touchdowns. He was the wide receiver one over that period in fantasy scoring. So I haven't forgotten that. And even though we're not excited about this Jets offense anymore, like I would still start Wilson over Zay Flowers, close call, but Wilson is still kind of inside my circle of trust.
You said you kind of have the back to back. There are they both inside your top fifteen, inside your top twenty and sideer top twenty four? Where do they kind of fall?
Wilson's wide receiver eighteen, za is wide receiver nineteen.
And so ericson you. You know, in preferring Zay, I think you said similar range where they are, No, I prefer Wilson obviously.
Yeah, but I have Wilson sixteen and Flower seventeen, so yeah, okay, pretty much same range.
Also back to back. Yeah, it was hard to put together the outline this week because it was so early in the week. We didn't really have like finalized rankings for me to work off of. So I'm very happy to hear that you struggled with.
Some of these.
You're doing a better job.
You gotta go look at the rankings at all off the knogging. Yeah, well this is an interesting one, and I wonder where you guys are gonna come down on it. For the other wide receiver debate, a couple of teammates DK Metcalf, where Jackson Smith and Jigba ericson. I'll start with you, obviously, both Seahawks receivers. We were a little you know, not worried, but you know, curious to see what the usage for JSN is going to look like. Once DK Metcalf came back and JSN has been extremely productive.
It's still DK Metcalf though, So who are you ranking higher this week amongst these teammates.
Dk Metcalf For me, this week, I look at the Jets, they are tied in terms. They're tied for fourth in terms of most deep passes face this season, and that's Deky metchals bren Butter Like, he's still the air yards guy. I was wrong about selling JSN on the trade show because of his production, but I wasn't wrong about him going back to this low a dot role Like we
saw it last week. It was all underneath stuff and he had that monster yards out to the catch play that really kind of got him to the Again, given credit to the guy, like I was wrong, the production is not has not decreased, but his role has changed back to what it was before a little bit. Whereas Metcalf is that downfield guy. He's still seeing the majority of air yards. And we look at the Jets defense
again bad against the deep ball. They've allowed the fourth or excuse me, the sixth fewest yards to players aligned to the slot this season. So again, both guys are starting. Both guys are top twenty wide receivers this week. But if I had to pick one, I would go with Metcalf.
What do you think fits?
Yeah, hopefully no one's making this decision because that means they would have drafted two Seattle Seahawks receivers, which would be suboptimal draft strategy. Look, man, JSN is coming on straight, no question about it. Great to see him starting to fulfill his potential in the NFL, and he strung some good games together. Seems pretty clear that this isn't a fluke, that this is a legitimate year two breakout. But DK
Metcalf is still the big dog in the Seattle passing game. Like, I don't care if JSN has outscored DK the last couple of weeks, Like, fade DK Metcalf at your own risk.
I think he's still number one in Seattle.
It's a classic case of locket with outscore Metcalf. Be like, oh, why why are we ranking lock and so much behind Metcalf? And then the next week Metcalf has his marquee Metcalf game.
One hundred and eighty yards two touchdowns exactly, So you guys both agree on Metcalf.
JSN is actually ranked higher by one spot in ECR with our experts from across the industry. This is in half PPR scoring. JSN is wide receiver twenty one and DK Metcalf is wide receiver twenty two.
So from what it.
Sounds like, you guys are maybe somewhat in line with consensus on JSN. You're both just higher on Metcalf. Is that a fair assessment?
Yeah?
Yeah, I think so, yeah, because I have JSN right in the same ECR, but I just have Metcalf way higher than wide Receiver twenty.
I mean, I like DK Metcalf.
You could chop his leg off and I'm not leaving them outside the top twenty?
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to apply at the perfect time. By answering only a few short questions about your lawn, Scott's experts will craft the program that's right for you in your yard. Visit Scotts dot com to learn more. Feed your lawn, Feed it all Right, guys, we'll go to some more rapid fire start sit decisions here. Another running back for you.
We talked about him a bit in the start sit on the waivers segment, but Gus Edwards or Javonte Williams this week, so it's our weekly Javante Williams question fits Williams or Edwards this week?
Guss.
I know Gus is getting at least a dozen carries. I have no idea what's going on with the Broncos backfield. It's this three man gulash now with Javonte Williams, Julia McLoughlin, Audric Estimate. They all have cool names, but what's going on with the Denver backfield is not cool at all.
I want no part of it.
Ericson, who do you prefer? Gus Edwards, Givante.
We forgot about honorary running back Marvin Mims. He's also seen carries in this backfield. So look, if you want to play Javonte, play might your on risk. I'm not going to touch him. So Gus Edwards for me too?
All right? How about at wide receiver? A couple of guys that we haven't really talked about much either on this show. The opposite the anti Javonte Williams. If you will divo Samuel or DeAndre Hopkins, FITS will start with you.
There are a lot of moving parts in this one because of the weather in Buffalo, and because we don't know whether it's going to be brock Perty or Brandon Allen playing quarterback for the forty nine ers. So I ranked these guys as if Alan we're going to play another week at quarterback for the forty nine ers, and I've got.
Hopkins ahead of Depot.
And although I think if there is a blizzard in Buffalo, I tend to think that hurts Deebo less than it hurts Juwan Jennings because you get those short area targets, like you can still get the ball in Deebo's hands. He's still really dangerous and maybe even more dangerous in the snow when he knows where he's going and the defenders don't know where he's going. So a blizzard would
not totally trash Deebo's fantasy value. But that said, I'll go with Hopkins like he had that two touchdown game against the Buccaneers in his second game with the Chiefs, and in the three games since he's only averaged five targets, but there's just hasn't been much of a reason to feel great about Deebo lately, Whereas it does seem like the Chiefs passing game is on an upswing right.
Now, So then if Purdy were to play with that change how you approach this fits Hmm.
I'm gonna be keeping a real close eye on the other forecasts for Buffalo Worm. That depends, like if if it's a Blizzard and brock Party plays and there's no wind, Like if there's just snow and not allow of wind, I think I might play Deebo ahead of Hopkins. But like, if we're getting like thirty mile an hour gusts, then I kind of want to be out of the business of the forty nine ers passing game.
What do you think ericson Deebo or DeAndre Hopkins.
So the other issue here is the Chiefs are playing on Black Friday, so you're gonna be working with less
information to make this call. I think for me, based on the information I have at my right now, like we still do't know if Perdy's gonna play Blizzard conditions, it's close enough for me where I would just play Hopkins if this is the information we know right now, because I don't want to be caught with the bag like, oh, the weather is really really bad, like this is going to be a run fest and you're gonna get Brandon Allen as the quarterback with a broken thumb. I just
don't I don't want to do that. And if I could have played Hopkins, in hindsight, I would just played him. He's playing the Raiders like it's a good matchup, so I think I would just take the safe out with Hopkins.
It's a good point on the earlier game for Hopkins, and it's a good opportunity to use the are they Playing tool. It's not updated as it yet because we're still early enough in the week you don't really have practice report info yet, but it's a great tool. Fantasypros dot com Are they Playing? You can check out on Friday and look to see if we are projecting rock Purdy versus Allen in that game, and also hopefully get a better sense of the weather as we get closer.
Let's look at a flex here, ericson Calvin Ridley or Remandre Stevenson.
I think both guys are are good flex players. I think this is the appropriate range where you should be looking at them. I just kind of like Ramandre. I like this Colts Patriots matchup to have a sneaky spot for some points. Patriots games have kind of been more fun when they've had Drake May on her center and the Patriots defense is so horrible. I think the Colts are gonna be to move the ball and force Patriots
into more offensive game. Stevenson in games where it's more back and forth and Patris aren'tetting blow out like Stevens has been really productive. And you look at the Colts, I mean, they're not any type of elite run defense. Fourth best matchup of running backs of the last four weeks, even though they've gotten some of their guys back on the defensive line. So yeah, I think this can be a fun game for the Patriots and Colts. I will be in attendance, so I'm looking forward to hopefully see
some points. So I will selfishly play Romandre Stevenson fits what do you think really close?
Call? Close enough?
I would probably play Ridley in a full point PPR league, but otherwise I would play Stevenson just because of the touch certainty you get with a running back. Generally, if it's a close flex call between a running back and wide receiver, I'll lead towards the running back. You know, Ridley was getting a ton of targets for a while, but the last two weeks six targets both games, and
these are Will Levice targets. You know, a couple of weeks ago, when he had been a wash in targets every week for like a month, I would have gone with Ridley, But now I gotta go with Stevenson.
Let's look at another flex one here. Kobe Myers or Jalen Warren fits Myers.
He is quietly on one hundred catch pace right now, like he and Bauers are just devouring all of the targets. And I feel better about the Raiders passing game with Aiden O'Connell than I would have if it had been Desmond Ritter playing in place with the injured Gardner Minshew. So yeah, I mean, I'll take him over Warren like I like Warren. And we know that both running backs are going to get touches in the Pittsburgh offense. But Myers is such a target hog now I prefer him.
Erickson Jacoby Myers is the truth.
Just this underrated, you know, pseudo alphacusot Bowers is the alpha, but I mean he's right there.
It's kind of the same thing you saw with Raiders. Last year.
It was just Davante and it was Jacoby and now this time it's just Bowers and Jacoby. So he's got the chemistry with Aidan O'Connell dating back to last season. So yeah, he's gonna get the targets. He's going to be efficient.
Man.
I wish that he was on the New England Patriots still, but last they had to have Juju instead. So yeah, it's going be a clean sweep for me with Myers over jayaln Warren. Again, we talked about this on the show before, but the Bengals run defense isn't nearly as bad as some of the season long numbers suggest. Like they've been one of the few teams that because I had to contain Derrick Henry to some extent, and it's also a split workload between Warren and and Naji.
Another flex here ericson Jordan Addison coming off a big game or Isaiah Pichecko assuming he plays. Obviously, again early in the week, it felt like he was, you know, maybe getting closer last week, so I'm kind of operating under the assumption that we'll see him this week. We will know that one earlier obviously with the Friday game, like you allude to before, But assuming Pacheco plays him or Jordan Adison.
I just want to stay in the flames with Addison. I mean, this guy's been red hot. He's a great matchup. Third, most fantas points allowed too, perimeter wide receivers as the Arizona Cardinals. Pachecko, Yes, he's practicing in full, I believe on Tuesday. I still don't know what his workload is going to be, Like, we really don't know. Are they going to completely get away from Kareem Hunt. That remains to be seen. He didn't play last week again the Raiders.
It's a good matchup there as well, but I don't know. I kind of want to keep playing Jordan Adison again to bring it back up. Addison's duy hearing is next week, so this might be the last page you get to start him if he end up getting suspended.
So've written about that in the forecast.
Originally it was supposed to be in October, it got moved to December third, so this might be the last week of play Adison, so take advantage while the matchup is is good fits.
We talked last week how if Pachecko was on the field, we were expecting something reasonably close to full workload, because what incentive would the Chiefs have to bring it back early if he wasn't ready for a full workload. Is it kind of the same thought this week, where if he is on the field, you're going to be operating like he's going to be looking something close to normal and therefore him over Addison or are you just going with Addison and the quote unquote sure thing.
Well, I think we discussed that as a possibility of how they handle the Isaiah Pachecko return. The other side of the coin worm is that the Chiefs are ten and one and really have the luxury of kind of slow rolling the Pachecko return if they want to. And here's a guy as Admiral as Kareem Hunt has filled
in for Pachecko. I don't think there's any doubt about who the better running back is, and the Chiefs have a much better chance of you know, fulfilling their three peat destiny with Isaiah Pachecko in the backfield instead of Kareem Hunt, So maybe that is there insteaentive not to give Isaiah Pachecko fifteen plus carries right away.
So I'm with Ericson.
I think he's kind of seeing this the same way I am. I'm definitely not expecting another one hundred and sixty two yards for Addison this week. But as Ericson said, it's a good matchup, and Addison is just he is a good and really underrated receiver. Scored a touchdown in three of his last four games. He's averaging ten point four yards per target, has a sixty four percent catch rate, even though his average depth of target is fourteen point
six yards. Like, this guy is a baller. So yeah, considering we just can't count on a good number of touches from Isaiah Pachecko, I mean that, like he could get a good number of touches, but we can't guarantee it.
So I'd go with.
Addison one last flex here, and I kind of put this together again with some uncertainty on some of the running back health situations, Cedric Tillman or Brian Robinson, assuming obviously that Brian Robinson ends up playing again. He did practice in a limited capacity I believe on today Wednesday fits Tilman or a healthy ish Robinson if he plays.
I don't think we know of either of these guys are gonna play. Where As Tilman cleared concussion protocol, I don't think he had as of this recording. So yeah, I mean, like, if they're both playing, I'm playing Robinson like the Tilman. The Tillman breakout has been fun and I think we're gonna be really excited about him for twenty twenty five. But the schedule for the Browns passing
game over the next three weeks is absolutely horrible. Denver this week, then Pittsburgh again after the Steelers put the clamps on Tilman a couple of weeks ago in the snow, and then the Chiefs.
So I just I wouldn't want Tillman in my lineup in.
Any of those weeks, and I'd go with Robinson here if they both are healthy.
It's a good point on Tilman too, especially like he has an extra day to clear the protocol, but it also means extra uncertainty with him not playing until Monday in that Denver game, So it's a good point on him, you know, having his own variation of an injury thing to deal with, ericson, just for the sake of argument, assuming they both play Tilman or Robinson.
Yeah, it's Brian Robinson for me. I mean, I think he's still starting running back. He gets all the touchdown equity. It's not like the Again, the Titans match is not great, but I'm not projecting the Commanders to score zero points like they're favorite to win their game. So if they score, it's probably gonna be either Brian Robinson or Jaye Daniels that runs it into the end zone. So Brian Robinson for me and Tilman the concussion Monday night brutal matchup
against Denver. I mean, if you're the it's a revenge game for Jerry Judy. I'm sure he'll be amped up for that. We'll see how he follows it up.
So if anything, let me spin this a different way then, because I don't. It wasn't probably the best, you know, head to head start to the decision given the injury stuff. Just in talking about Brian Rominson in general for the rest of the season, Ericson, how kind of nervous are you about this? You know, Cliff Kingsbury kind of falling off the Cliff again, you know, yet another offense that starts off really hot and then looks poor in the
second half the season, at least so far. Obviously, there's been some you know, rib injury stuff with Jane Daniels that maybe has led into that recently, starting to look a little healthier running a bit more lately. So in general, with a guy like Brian Robinson, who's really benefited from this being such a strong offense to start the year, how nervous are you about him going forward? With what we've seen out of the Commander's offense recently.
I'm gonna be nervous when they played the Eagles, but not when they play the Saints and Falcons, so that I mean, I think it's just really about the matchups. Again, they haven't had their bye week yet, so this is a team that's probably overdue for their bye week given that, Hey, we haven't had we haven't had a chance to address the issues in the offense. We haven't a chance to give Jane Daniels time to let his ribs heal. Well.
Now they'll get that opportunity.
Brian Robinson's playing through like a new injury every single week, seemingly so yes, they just need to get through this Titans matchup. It's going to be a grind, get to the bye week, and then I think those week fifteen and seventeen I think are going to be good spots for this offense. Eagles obviously is gonna be tough, but the Saints and Falcons are good matchups.
Fate's I got a quarterback one here for you, Sam Donald or Drake May.
So.
Drake May is the golden boy right now. Everyone loves him.
I love him too, but let's talk about Sam Donald for half a minute. Donald is QB ten in Fantasy points per game this season, tied with Patrick Mahomes. Donald ranks fifth in yards per attempt this season with eight point three, behind only Jered Goff, Lamar Jackson, Brock Purty, Jalen Hurts. Donald has thrown multiple touchdown passes in eight of eleven starts this season, including four of his last five,
and now with TJ. Hockinson healthy again, Donald has the pass catching trio of Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and TJ.
Hockinson.
That's a pretty good group and Donald's been doing it all year. A little respect for Sam Donald, please, I am starting him over. Drake May have got Donald QB seventeen, May QB eighteen.
Donald is a couple of spots ahead in ECR as well, Donald QB sixteen Drake make QB nineteen. Ericson who do you prefer?
Clean?
Sweep Sam Donald? I needed some convincing because again I'm the Patriots guy. So I love Drake May. I love me some Drake May. But Sam Donald set up so well. They're back in the Dome at home against the Cardinals, not a great defense, and look, is Justin Jefferson gonna be quiet every single week? I mean Justin Jeffers's gonna pop off in this game. Chances are Sam Donald's gonna be along for the ride. So he got it done last week with everyone else except Justin Jefferson. I think
Jefferson's gonna have a big game this week. I think that he's kind of Is.
There any chance Jefferson doesn't pop up? It's funny that like he is. I think wide receiver six in ECR, Like, there's no chance Jefferson doesn't completely explore.
He's fine wide receiver one. He's gonna go off this week.
Wow, he is, He's wide receiver five in ECR behind Nico, Collins, AJ Brown, Jamar Chase and Puah.
He's gonna go bonkers.
I can't.
I can't see oh man, No, that's way too low ahead of He's behind Pooka and Nico.
He's behind Pooka. Nico's number one in ECR. This is in half VPR scoring and then AJ Brown, which I think makes sense given the matchup. Jamar Chase obviously has been great to see. Hear Pooka and then Jefferson.
Who's going to block to help get Nico open downfield? That's what I want to know.
All right, Well, speaking of a J Brown in that one, I do have Dallas Goddard in our tight end starts a decision here, Goddard or Kyle Pitts fits.
I'll go go Goddard. I have him ranked one spot higher. It's sort of based on the assumption that DeVante Smith misses another game with his hamstring injury, in which case Dallas Goddard is going to have this enhanced target outlook against a Ravens defense that's given up the eleventh most
Fantasy points to tight ends. Didn't really work for Goddard last week with Smith out, he had four catches for nineteen yards, But I do think he's a slightly better percentage play than the highly unpredictable Kyle Pitts if Davante Smith continues to be sidelined.
Yeah, I quite like Goddard this week. The middle of the field is wide open for the Ravens defense. Roquwand Smith is practicing today, so maybe he's back in the field, but at the very least not fully healthy. And yeah, that middle of the field is just a train wreck for them defensively. So I really like Goddard this week. Ericson who do you prefer?
Goddard or Pitts, Yeah, got it from you as well.
And again, like Fitz said, didn't work out this past game with DeVonta Smith out, but that's kind of how it worked out the first time one of these Eagles receivers missed. You will recall against the Falcons in Week two, three catches for thirty eight yards, there was no Aj Brown and we're like, oh, no, disappointed. What do you doing next week? Ten catches one hundred and seventy yards. And that's the reason why he's a top twelve tight end on the season because of that one game that
he had so be patient with Dallas Goddard. Great matchup should be points galore, even though like where I said, the Eagles are going to win.
But yeah, Dallas got it for me as well.
If not for Lamar's track record against the NFC, where he's one loss in his career, I would like be betting the mortgage on the Eagles. I just really think you're gonna win this game. That is the only stat that gives me pause in that. In that respect, say goodbye to your start shit dilemmas. With Fantasy Pros, Start sit Assistant within seconds, you'll know exactly who to play
for optimal results each and every week. Leveraging insights from numerous experts to start sit Assistant aligns their lineup decisions with the top minds in fantasy football, giving you a competitive edge. Maximize your lineups potential with just a few clicks. Head to Fantasypros dot com, slash my playbook and make winning decisions in no time time. For our touchdown calls contest, I will go first at tight end.
I was.
I actually wrote down Taysom Hill, but because we just talked about it, I'm going to switch out to Dallas Goddard. I think you scored in this one.
Look you reverseinks in your team? Man?
What anywhere that I'm out? You should or reverse jinks?
Oh man, you should try this with Maryland basketball where I'm this reverse jinks. Maybe it'll help the terms.
Yeah, I'm gonna go bet money on they play Bucknell later today and hopefully that that helps them out the Bucknail money line exactly. So Dalla's got it for me at tight end, although I do like dayson Hill as well. Ericson who's your running back?
James Cook? He is going to again? Forty niners are cooked? And James cooks in me the one putting the knife in the turkey. It's over the forty nine ers and James Who's going to deliver the final blow when he scores two? Three touchdowns? Forty nine ers third most points led running backs of the last four weeks. They've given up the third highest touchdown rate this season on the road in Buffalo in the snow, James Cook is gonna have a hell of a fun time.
So touchdown to score for me?
Forty nine ers are James cooked? Who's your receiver?
Tank Dell?
It's been a disappointing season for him. You would think things would have gone better for him with both Stefan Diggs and Nico Collins missing time. Only two touchdowns for Tank Dell this year, but Dell does have the great matchup against the Jaguars and Dell scored a touchdown in each of his two games against the Jaguars last year.
All right, we will wrap up there, so Dallas Goddard and Tank Dell and James Cook, who was the last one I already had deleted and forgot what he.
Eric said, you're too concerned about switching tas and hell off, Dallas gotts.
Of brain fart. Dallas Goddard, take Dell and James Cook are our fixed there. Happy Thanksgiving everybody, Thank you for staying with us. And if you're listening to this on Thanksgiving, hope you're spending some fun time with your family and enjoying some turkey, which I continue to think gets a bad rap when people say it's overrated on Thanksgiving. It's an essential part of the meal. So I hope you're enjoying your turkey and all the stuff things inside and
everything else. For ericson and fits, I'm ryan warmly thanks again for listening Best of Lucky Week thirteen, and we'll see you next time. Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football podcast. If you love the show, the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts at Fantasypros dot com slash review or on Spotify. Follow us on x, Instagram and TikTok at Fantasy Pros, and subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube dot com slash Fantasy Pros