Wow, Wow, Hey everybody, It's Wednesday, December eighteenth, twenty twenty four. Welcome to the NFL Fantasy Football Show where we see a light at the end of the tunnel. It's been your man, MG Marcus Grant, joined by Michael le f Florio. I know the Kwan Jones today. Hopefully he's back with us next week. But we still got plenty to talk about. It's week sixteen. How many leagues have you survived and advanced in?
So last week I was on here, like, I only made it in three of my double digit playoffs, which wasn't great, but all three advanced, so I'm happy with that.
All three that were big underdogs this week.
Okay, so yeah, I was in in a couple. One I'm done, the other one I had a buy. So I made it through, which is great because the guys that I would have started did not do well.
So is that the one that we're playing each other in a dynasty?
We are?
That's the same one? Yes? Are we playing at each other now? Okay? So yeah, this is for the semi Yeah, if I had played last week, I would have lost because my team did not do well. Gino, I had sequon I had a lot of guys who did not have big you know.
What, that's what happens to your team like these big Cooper Cup Saquon all of those teams that had to buy and survived it.
And we're gonna win the championship because you just you get the bad one out of the way and then you just roll on through. So we will dive into the Week sixteen slate also give you some fantasy hot takes. But let's get started as we normally do about this time with some fantasy headlines. And got a couple of quarterback related headlines today. A first one in Cleveland, Jamis Winston now being sent to the bench. It'll be Dorian Thompson Robinson getting the start for the Cleveland Browns, so
no more Jamis instead of his DTR. We had really come to get comfortable with having David and Joku and Jerry Judy in our lineups. Does this mean that time is over now?
So full disclosure.
I had Jerry Judy as a start in stardhum sit him, and then this news came out and I was like.
Delete, because I can in good faith.
Be like start him. No questions asked to me. It's a lot more matchup dependent when it comes to Jerry Judy, Like, who are your other options? If you don't have anyone that you feel great about, I think it's worth taking the shot on him. David and Joku though just I would take the shot on him because one, it is the best matchup a tight end could have right now. Two, I still think he's gonna get plenty of volume. But three, like,
who are you gonna play over him? Tight end is so bad right now that I think you still start him. But this is awful for fantasy purposes because yeah, we had starters in like Judy and stuff. And the thing is, I know he doesn't turn the like Jamis was turning the ball over a bunch. Dtrs interception rate small sample size, but this year it's twice as high as Winston's.
Yeah, there's just there's nothing about dtr that's going to make you want to start him right because he's not going to distribute the football. He'll run a little bit, but not enough that you feel great. It's not a you know, it's not a justin Field sort of situation with with Dorian Thompson road, but obviously we don't really feel great enough about a lot of the pass catchers that you can absolutely for sure start them. I know Jamis was a turnover machine, but he was also throwing
the ball forty times a game. He was putting up big yards and was throwing touchdowns. But that looks like it is over now for the Brown.
He's a UCLA Bruin, so I know you don't like it.
Also that part so like it's just gonna be hard to trust him anyway, because bruin. Anyway, speaking of former Pac twelve vers, Michael PENNOCKX Junior is now the starting quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons. Kirk Cousins sent to the bench after yet another terrible game for Atlanta. I mean, I guess a similar situation right, this quarterback changed. What does it mean for Drake London, Darnell Mooney, the rest of the pass catchers down there in Atlanta? Uh?
I think with Draken like it can't get any worse, right, Like you've watched Kirk Cousins play. There was a four game shirts where he didn't throw a touchdown and he had eight interceptions. And like I keep joking that Drake London was playing power forward because he had a box everything out because they were all coming in like I was throwing the ball or something like that. So I
think this is a good thing for Drake London. I think you could take a wait and see approach with Darnell Mooney because he's a little bit less in the target pecking order everything. But like in that Dynasty league where we're facing each other, Marcus, I have to start Kyle Pitts because like there's no one out there on waivers in a dynasty.
League, And I'm like, Okay, maybe I have.
Some hope here because I don't know, he could put velocity on his throws and get the ball out pretty quick. One thing I was thinking this morning though, was like we were all so high on this Washington Huskies offense coming into the NFL. Roma Dunza hasn't hit, Jalen Polk hasn't hit, McMillan's been okay, Ryan Grubbs offense, and Seattle hasn't hit. Maybe it was all thanks to Michael Pennix.
Maybe maybe he is the skeleton key that unlocks everything. So we're gonna find out. By the way, as you mentioned for Drake London playing power forward, he actually was a guard at USC. He played three games. A total of six minutes played during these three games, oh for one shooting for one from the free throw line. But I do believe he had uh oh see he two turnovers, two fouls and three totals.
Like I'm getting on his box sheets so one.
Way, three total rebounds. So he was a stat sheet stuffer, but not necessarily any great way. Obviously, sticking with football was the right choice for Drake London for sure. But to your point, though, I'm sort of with you. I think you can always believe in the Atlanta Falcons pass catchers a little bit more. You're gonna have a quarterback that can get the football out to them. That's something that we didn't really have the last few weeks with
Kirk Cousins. He was regressing. I don't know if it was, you know, age injury, whatever it was, but Kirk Cousins was looking really awful, and I think it was sort of bringing everybody down with him. Also, they're playing the Giants also, that which I think is which I think is a big reason why they made the change. Now, since right.
You've dominated in college, go dominate a college defense.
That's what they're asking him to do.
I mean, so, yeah, it definitely made sense for them to give him the start here and a game where I get it, you're still very much in the playoff race trying to win a division, but also put your rookie in against a defense. It's not quite as intimidating as something almost lost for the Raiders with Kirk Cousins. It can't get any worse. They get any worse, for sure. All right, let's get into some of the week sixteen
game previews. We'll get a handful of them here. You can get the rest of them on NFL Plus Fantasy Extra to keep an eye out for that. We'll start with Thursday Night Football, the Broncos at the Chargers right next door at SOFI Stadium. You can see that game eight fifteen pm Eastern on Prime Video. Choose your fighter. Would you start bow Knicks or would you start Justin Herbert's bo Nix?
And it's not even close for me, Like, I know both they're coming off of a couple of down games, but I kept trying to be like, all right, this is the week Justin Herbert bounces back because he's had good matchup after good matchup, and it just hasn't really happened last week, struggled against the Bucks, who allow every quarterback they face to finish as a QB one seemingly. But the Chargers have really struggled against the pass as of late in the last month. Nicks had a good
game against them week six. That's before he broke out, and that's before the Chargers defense really started struggling. So yeah, I'm excited for bow Knicks this week, not at all for Justin Herbert.
Yeah, I'm pretty much out on Herbert on Fantasy Live. I named him as one of the risky starts of the week. Just you mentioned that game in Week six. He gave you about thirteen point six Fantasy points in that one, and you talk about Nicks. I think that was when we started to realize that, oh, maybe there's
something there with bow Knicks. And I feel like, because he's gonna run a little bit more, I think he gets out of the pocket, I think that gives him a little bit of a higher floor for the Chargers passing game wise, lately, it's really kind of been Lad mcconky and that's it. They can't run the football. There's just more going on right now in the Denver offense, So I would go with Nicks over Herbert in this one if you're setting a DFS lineup, for instance, in
that situation. We have two Saturday games coming up this week as well, the first one the Texans at the Kansas City Chiefs. How many players are you comfortable starting in this game on either side? Really?
Man, if you ask me this in anyone this in like week before the season, we'd be like, everyone, get them all.
Yeah, I wrote.
Start sit this week. I have mahomes as a sit.
But Checko as they sit, de Hop as they sit, Travis Kelcey as they sit like I.
I because Patrick Mahomes is.
We were joking about this before the show, like he's gonna try to play this week.
This is what he does.
He has a lot of lebron in him.
He likes to late in the years, sell some injuries and then play through them.
But I do believe this ankle injury is going to be a factor here because not only is he hobbled up eleven or more QB hits in three straight games like that was happened three times in his first one hundred and twenty five career starts, so that a line issue is a big deal, and the Texans generate pressure at the third highest rate. On the Texan side, Nico Collins is the only must star. I think you you talked about Joe Mixon on Fantasy Live. I feel like,
if you have mix in, you probably gotta start him. Yeah, but it depends on your options. But yeah, like the Chiefs have been elite at stopping the run this season.
They have.
I mean, Joe Mixon's schedule down the stretch is not great because they got the Chiefs this week, the Ravens and the Titans for you weirdos who are playing like DFS or something in Week eighteen. Either way, it's just a bad setup for Joe Mixon. But because he's been so good, it's just hard to get away from him at this point. But it is not a good situation. I'm with you. Nico Collins is the only guy that I feel any real level of confidence in.
And even he had like seventeen yards last.
Yeah, like, yeah, It's it's been rough for the Texans offense and the matchup is bad on both sides of the football. This week a big one in the AFC North between the Steelers and the Ravens. Derrick Henry not great last week. The Steelers run defense has been good. We know that when these two teams played, generally there's not a whole lot of offense. Can you envision a Derek Henry bounce back, Yes, easily, Like he's Dereck Henry, I mean against any he is the capability of going off.
But like the first time these two teams played, Derek Henry fumbled and it was like his first fumble in like three years or.
Something crazy like that.
So this game being in Baltimore, and I think Derek Henry was brought in four games like this being like, look it as awesome as Lamar is. He has historically struggled against the Steelers defense. You want to take as much pressure away from him and take responsibilities off of his plate. And a great way of doing that is just feeding Derek Henry, who hasn't had a Derek Henry game in a little bit.
That that could change this week.
You're right to the point about him being brought in for these games, right, We've seen so much in his career. November, December, January is when he gets stronger. I mean, look, part of it is you're talking about trying to tackle literally a tank in cold weather. You get a lot of defensive backs making business decisions here. But also to take some of that pressure off of Lamar Jackson, so he's not having a shoulder so much of a burden running
the football, throwing the football. He's been great with his arm this year. Now he's got the guy behind him to take some of the pressure off. I don't think you're gonna get a huge Derrick Henry game, but I think it's gonna be better than what we've seen kind of the last couple of weeks where it's been kind of mess so I think you get somewhere in between. Look if you get say ten to twelve points out of Derrick Henry, I think that's pretty good against the
Steelers defense. I don't think you're gonna get one of those, you know, twenty twenty five point Derek Henry games like we were seeing earlier in the season, and he's going with three straight games I believe it is without a touchdown.
I need him to.
We have a Fantasy Live playoff the draft going on, which will have fun with later in the year.
I need Dereck Henry.
He didn't come through for me last week, which was a game I thought it'd be the Dereck Henry games.
Yeah, so we'll see what happens. But it should be an interesting one though against the Steelers. Always entertaining when these two teams play, and now you can see that. Of course. On Saturday, there on Fox Time to talk about some sleepers for the week. Who is your player for this this segment of the show.
I went with a mirror Abdullah, who I'm more excited about than I probably should be. Last week, after Sinceinna McCormick got hurt, he played more snaps than Alexander Madison. He had seven targets and that led to him scoring nineteen Fantasy points and in the game prior to Sincere McCormick's breakout, he had seventeen Fantasy points there as well.
The Jags top three and fantasy points per game allowed, but also in the top five and catches, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns allowed to running backs, and he is their past catching back.
Yeah.
I look, we have been trying to make it happen with a Raiders running back all season long, whether it was Samir Whites, Alexander Madison, Abdullah. At one point Sincera McCormick. Now want to be going to be Sincere McCormick. Well, now we're back to a mirror of Doula here and the matchup, the matchup the rest of the way for Raiders running backs is really really good. So we'll see if Abdullah can take advantage of that. For me, gonna be Briton Strange, and I know a lot of you
out there are what exactly is a Breton Strange. He's designed in the Jacksonville Jaguars. Now that Evan Ingram is done for the season, Strange steps in and gets a whole lot more opportunity. We saw it last week with twelve targets for Briton Strange. He finished the week as the tight end two. You'll be forgiven if you were not aware of that, because I mean, who was checking for Brenton Strange. On the one hand, it might feel like chasing points a little bit, but he's getting a
whole lot more opportunity. Mac Jones is going to be the quarterback for the rest of the season, not necessarily pushing the ball downfield. There's not a lot of options here. I mean, it's Brian Thomas Junior and then it looks like Britain Strange accruiting to be in the second option in the passing game here. It's a really good matchup against the Raiders, who struggled against the tight end position
all season long. So while on the one hand, yes, maybe it does feel like chasing the points a little bit, on the other hand, you can make a really strong case that there's just really a lot of opportunity here in this passing game because there aren't a lot of places for Mac Jones to go with the football. So Briton Strange a very deep sleeper at tight end. But if you need to stream the position this week, or you just kind of want to contrariy and play written,
Strange could be your guy for the Jacksonville Jaguars. I gonna step away for a quick break. We come back. We got some hot starts for the week, and I look at some more out of the week sixteen game slate. That's all coming up next here on the NFL Fantasy Football Show, It's time to see who will deliver? Presented by Uber Eats. Who is your hot start for this week?
I'm excited for lad McConkie.
How did you say it?
On Fantasy Luis led mcconkin.
Yeah, I'm excited because in his last four games seventeen point five fantasy points per game.
He runs two thirds of his routes from the slot.
So I don't think we're gonna get Patrick's ten shadowing him or anything like that.
Sir Ten operates out wide.
And then, to get even more excited, the Broncos use man coverage at the fifth highest rate in the NFL. The only wide receivers with more yards against man coverage this year AJ Brown and C.
D Lamb.
It is just a the lead company for Ladi McConkie, who has quickly become the go to guy for Justin Herbert. So I don't love the quarterback there, but I love Ladi mcconk.
That's the beauty of this is that the quarterback doesn't necessarily have to have a great day for the wide receiver to have a great day. And McConkie has consistently been the wide receiver one, which is something I sort of assum's going to happen there. Just there was just a big void there in Los Angeles, and McConkie has filled it very well, stepping in, you know, Mike Williams gone, Keenan Allen gone, Gerald Ever gone. Lad McConkie has filled
the void very well. Speaking of young receivers stepping up, Jackson Smith and Jigba and you and I talked about this on Fantasy Live. Look, he looks like the new wide receiver one in Seattle. I thought coming into the year that he was going to pass Tyler Lockett to be the wide receiver too. That has certainly happened. Lockett has not been very effective this year, but Jayson might have surpassed DK Metcalf as the go to guy in this Seattle past game. It's nice they've been working some things.
Out Ryan Grubb.
You're talking about Ryan Grubb's offense maybe not hitting the way we thought it would. He has certainly unlocked JSN though that was something that Shane Waldron was not able to do last year in Seattle, throwing the fact that he's working primarily out of the slot, going against a Vikings defense that has given up a lot of yards, not necessarily a lot of touchdowns through the air, but a lot of yards and especially a lot of yards
to slot receivers. We saw last week Keenan Allen go out, have a really nice fantasy game against this Vikings defense. I think regardless of whether it is Gino Smith or Sam Howell, I think you can expect good things out of JSN. The Gino I like it a little bit better, but I still think Sam Howell finds a way to get Smith in Jigba of the football. And I mean you weren't not starting him at this point. I mean he's been too good. But now I think you can
expect a pretty good game coming out of him. This week. That was Who Will Deliver presented by Uber Eats, where you can get the best deals on game day food all season long, the official on demand delivery partner of the NFL Order Now Eagles at the Commanders. Last time these teams played, Jayden Daniels did not have a great game. The Eagles have been tough on quarterbacks all year long. Would you trust starting Jaden Daniels against Philly this week?
You know who you're asking?
I just look, I'm just trying to help the people here.
Okay, And look, I've gotten a lot of questions this week about about it, and I do yes. I know he struggled the first time they played, but context like they came out after the game and we're like, his ribs weren't an issue, But if you watch that game on Thursday Night Football a few weeks ago, the ribs were clearly an issue for Jayde and Daniels. Since he had that mini by to recover and then the real buy, He's averaged twenty seven Fantasy points per game in games since that Eagles game.
He is running more. Him and Terry McLaurin feel.
Safe for like a touchdown or two each and every week, and even more than that. Look at the state of the quarterback position right now. We have so many teams playing backups, and then we have guys like Brock Perdy and Tua who were like more fringe options, are in tough matchup, Like what are you gonna play Aaron Rodgers over him? Like I am riding with Jayde and Daniels until the wheels fall off.
Yeah, I mean, I just think there's a way for him to succeed, and it doesn't necessarily have to be with his arm. It's nice if you throw the football, you get Terry McLaurin involved.
Or what have you.
But we know he can break out of the pocket and run and that always gives him some value. So I'm sort of with you there, right regardless of what Philly's done, regardless of what happened the last time around, I can't get away from Jayden Daniels at this point.
Plus it's in Washington this go around, and he saw them a few weeks ago.
I don't know. Reason for optimism.
Is he a top five quarterback pick next year?
I think so.
Yeah, Like we were talking about it on Monday, but I think the top five is pretty secure.
In Alan Lamar, I think those are the top two.
No questions asked, Jalen Hurts, Joe burrow Man, Joe Burrow and Jayde and Daniels.
I think those are the top five. Yeah, I think I think that's probably where we are right now with Jayde and Daniels. Sunday Night Football, Buccaneers at the Cowboys. Mike Evans on his quest for one thousand yards see right now is two hundred and fifty one yards away. Let's put it at seventy two and a half receiving yards more or less for Mike Evan way more. All right, we're going to the moon.
I think he goes off because there's incentive to be had here. One the Cowboys have allowed the most passing yards since Week eleven. To Baker Mayfield is playing really good football, and look, I'm not saying he deserves to win it, but I think maybe we should have a conversation like should Baker be in the conversation for MVP, like as like the fourth or fifth candidate something like that.
But yeah, like there's incentive here they want. The Bucks are just as like they want to get Mike Evans one thousand yards, just as bad as Mike Evans wants to get a thousand yards. So I think they're going to force feed in the ball.
Every week going forward.
He's got an average about eighty three yards per game, little more than eighty three yards per game to get there over the final three games. That seems very doable, in part because, as you mentioned, I do think the Bucks want to keep this street going. We know Mike Evans wants to keep this streak going, but also look, they still trying to lock up the division, and to do that, you gotta get your best player of the football, and Mike Evans is their best offensive player.
What I love about the Bucks is they're kind of like the Ravens and the Lions. Like, no matter what the score is, they're gonna keep throwing. Yes, Like, yeah, that's just what they do. This is just what we do. They're gonna keep throwing the football.
So I'm with you.
I think Mike Evans goes over that number. I know. Earlier in the week, Patrick Claybound suggested that he's gonna get pretty close, pretty far along the path to one thousand yards this week against the Cowboys coming up. We'll see how that goes. Hey, we're for one fifty nine last week against the Chargers. So not a crazy idea at all.
Monday Night football.
It is the Saints at the Packers. I know, to choose your fighter here, Jayden Reid, Christian Watson or Romeo Dobbs.
I I hate that this has.
Become a thing because, like, I want Jayden Reid to be the guy so bad, and that's the one I'll pick here because the matchup against the Saints, Like, I think that you could just generate a lot of short, quick touches for Jayden.
Reid and let him run wild.
He could get used as a ball carrier as well. The other two kind of eat off of each other's place. Like Reid has a role as a the lead slot guy here and the guy that they manufactured touches for the other two. It's kind of a guessing game week to week, so I don't really love.
Going that route. Yeah, you know, we noticed last week they did get a lot more rushing attempts for Jaden Reed, which is a thing they had kind of gotten away from over the previous few weeks, but they kind of started getting him back going again. And it's Reed and not Deebo Samuel that leads all wide receivers and rushing yards this year. So dry Landebo legitimately is a thing this season. I still think he's the guy if I'm picking between the three, if I'm putting together a daily
fantasy lineup, I'm picking Reed. He's probably the guy that is gonna cost you the most, but he's also the guy that seems the most guaranteed. They got a lot of opportunities over the course of the game. So there is any Saints, is it? You know? He states any states that we really like. I mean, we don't know what Alvin Kamara's situation is just yet.
I was gonna say maybe Kendre Miller, and that's it.
It's bad. It's bleak, especially with word that Derek Carr probably done for the rest of the season.
Like, I think Alvin Kamara just wants to not he wants to hang out with his friends, and none of his friends are on the field right now, so he's like, what am I gonna do?
I get it, I get it. We all just want to hang out with our friends at some point. If you want to see the rest of our Week sixteen game previews, you can check us out on Fantasy Extra over on NFL Plus. Be sure to take check that out. It's time to drive your line. I'm presented by the all new hybrid Toyota. Camry Florio gets spicy. What's your hot take for the week?
The player who cannot catch a touchdown at all? Trey McBride scores not one, but two touchdowns this week because I think the look the Cardinals, just like you, know that he doesn't have a touchdown, and he's quickly approaching all the records or most catches and yards and everything in a season without a touchdown. The Cardinals are aware of this, and they tried getting him a touchdown on a manufacturer touch on the goal line last week. It
didn't work. I think we get something like that early on in the game, and then I think mcbrid just catches a routine touchdown because no team has allowed more to the tight end position than the Carolina Panthers. And despite not having a touchdown, he's still giving you twenty fantasy points weer game in the last month. So imagine what he could do if he catches a touchdown or two.
Yeah, I mean, he just said once he breaks the seal, then I think touchdowns are just gonna come. But you know, they gotta fight away four in the final two days. Gonna fight away to get that first one, and then we're off and running from there. Along those lines, Isaay Cooper cup catches two touchdown passes because why not. The overcorrection is coming right. He had just three targets no catches last week against the San Francisco forty nine ers. Matt Stafford's not gonna let his boy go out like
that two games in a row. They're gonna figure out a way to get it done. Throw in the fact that the Jets secondary has not been great for the last few weeks. We saw last week I was Brian Thomas Junior doing some work from the slot had a couple of touchdown catches against the Jets. So look, I think Pooka the Cooystal eats. If you're worried that one guy's going to eat in the other one, well, I think both Pooka and Cooper Cup can have good games.
But for everybody who survived the bagel or had the buye, this is when Cooper Cup comes to life for you. This week. That was Drive Your Lineup, presented by the all new hybrid Toyota Camra. Whatever your vibe, it's a camera vibe. Learn more at Toyota dot com slash Camri. Before we get out of here, want to take a moment to say goodbye to a member of our team. Our producer, Madison Sanders, is off to new adventures. We have appreciated all the work she has put in with
us over the last couple of seasons. Has been a big part of why this show is what it is and how it works, and so we are happy for you, but we will miss you here immensely. Madison. We appreciate all of your work here on this show. So there you go. The meantime for us, that is it. We are done. We appreciate you hanging out with the NFL Fantasy Football show.
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