December 11, 2025 • 28 mins
Chris Welsh, Pat Fitzmaurice, and Andrew Erickson are breaking down Week 15’s biggest quarterback and tight end ranking differences, engaging in debates, and highlighting the expert consensus for Week 15
Don't miss our deep-dive into this week's rankings, must-start options, and value plays to dominate your fantasy matchup!
Timestamps: (May be off due to ads)
Intro - 0:00:00
Trophy Smack Giveaway - 0:02:36
QB Rankings - 0:03:34
Jaxson Dart - 0:04:21
Baker Mayfield - 0:07:59
Sam Darnold - 0:10:28
Phillip Rivers - 0:13:01
TE Rankings - 0:14:48
Tyler Warren - 0:15:14
Harold Fannin - 0:19:41
Brenton Strange - 0:21:09
Isaiah Likely - 0:23:24
Outro - 0:26:51
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, friends, and welcome into Fantasy Pros. This is the
Fantasy Football podcast Quarterbacks and tight Ends per week fifteen
Fantasy Playoff run. We're gonna be going through the top
twelve at each position, a little bit of streamy talk
that'll be happening outside of that, outside of the top
twelve guys, and hopefully answering some questions that you guys
are gonna have. There are some tight quarterback questions, gentlemen.
(00:22):
I'm Chris Welsch. That is Pat Fitzmorris and Andrew Erickson.
I've got one. How about I'm gonna throw you guys
one right now. I'm gonna throw you one in our
Fantasy Pros Guillotine League where I'm the representative of you guys,
because we've got like devs versus Content and we're going
into the finals. I have both Drake May and Matthew
(00:43):
Stafford in our consensus ECR ranks. Matthew Stafford is two,
Drake May is three. I hate the thought of sitting
Drake May, but I have Matthew Stafford in going against
Detroit right now, ericson what side are you going on
as the as a co owner of the Content representative
Guillotine Championship. You picked the.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Wrong too, analysts to ask a Drake May question versus
Matthew Stile.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
I know, so I'm asking it, FITZI.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
I've got Stafford ranked higher this week. I know this
is an offense to my fellow Drake May disciples, but yeah,
I just so, No, Brian Branch for the Lions is
like Kirby Joseph has banged been banged up. I don't
know if he's going to play Terry and Arnold like
their secondary is kind of a mess, and that game
(01:35):
is going to be a high flying shootout. So I
just feel like the offensive environment might be a little
bit better in that game. I don't know, That's what
I'm thinking.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
That's what I'm thinking. Well, here's the cool thing. You
guys listening probably don't have that question, So that's why
I could ask it. At the top. You're not like
these a Drake May or Matthew Stafford, But we are
going to be hitting some quarterbacks that there are going
to be some questions for. Usually the top end of
any of these positions aren't big ones. There's a massive
conversation to be had around tight ends as well. With
the Philip Rivers situation. We're going to talk about Tyler
(02:10):
Warren and just a piece of news that came down
today's we're recording this Jayan and Daniels is officially out.
He will not be clear, So Marcus Mariota is going
to be the starter. You know, he wasn't in the conversation,
and maybe that was because of the question marks of
if Daniels would play. But neither one of these guys
were in the questions of the top twelve. But so
moving and shakin man, there's some moving on some of
(02:31):
these positional things. So hopefully we are going to get
you guys covered with all of it. We're going to
jump into quarterbacks here in a second, but giveaway time.
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(03:13):
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the big winner. So look at that all right. Quarterback
(03:35):
ranks take up the big board. Here your top twelve
for the week. We've got Josh Allen coming in at
number one, going up against New England. Matthew Stafford and
Drake May both mentioned that's you're two and three. Joe
Burrow at four, Jalen Hurts at five, Lamar Jackson at six.
The bottom half got Dak Prescott, Jackson, Dart Patrick Mahomes,
brock perty, Jared Goff and Trevor Lawrence. I do think
(03:58):
there's going to be people concerned about Lamar Jackson. I
think there'd be questions that are going to pop up.
I do think there's gonna be questions for people around
Patrick Mahomes and just his overall production. I understand all
those VIBA questions At the end of the day, I
think they're relatively chalky, unless you are going to come
to us of hey, guys, I have Joe Burrow or
Patrick Mahomes. So it's not something My whole point of
(04:20):
is we're not going to sit on that. But let's
talk about Jackson Dart. Jackson Dart is kind of thrown
in this mix. I mean, look at the sandwich there.
You got Dak Prescott on top and Patrick Mahomes on
the bottom, and then Jackson Darts right in the middle.
It's a really good matchup. It is actually the only
five star rating in our top twelve quarterbacks of any
going up against Washington. He is quarterback eight and you
(04:42):
two gentlemen are a little bit on opposite ends. Fits
you are even more positive you have him as the
sixth rated quarterback. Can I take a guest, do you
have him above Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
I have him ahead of Lamar Jackson okay, knew it
was one of them, and directly behind, directly ahead of Lamar,
directly behind Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Okay, So then who's the quarterback that because if he's eight,
what is your five six and seven?
Speaker 3 (05:13):
So five six seven has hurt start Lamar. I've got
Dak at eight.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Okay, Dak Okay, that's my brain. I was trying to
process like where Dak was on there? Okay, So not
about Dak here, But you're even higher on Jackson Dart.
So let's hear the selling pitch.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Yeah, it's just so they wanted him to be a
little bit less aggressive as a runner, and his rushing
volume is slightly down since the firing of Brian Dable,
but Dart is still averaging six rushing attempts and forty
seven point three rushing arts per game in the three
games under interim head coach Mike Kafka, and he's run
for a touchdown in two of those three games and
(05:49):
has six touchdown runs in his last six games. So
still a lot of rushing value that we're squeezing out
of Jackson Dart. And then you've got this positive passing
game match up against the Commanders, who ran twenty ninth
in DVA against the pass, have the worst opponent passer
rating in the league, are averaging a league worst eight
point six opponent yards per pass attempt, So it's an
(06:13):
awful pass defense. Dark can make plays in the passing game,
and we know he can make plays with its legs.
So he's a confident start for me this week.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Now, Erickson, you've got him a little bit lower than
the ACR ten, you still have them as QB one.
That's all positive. I'm guessing there's got to be a
matchup or two that's that was lower that you just
fell in love with, or is this about just a
hesitation that Jackson darts upside is really like what we're
kind of making it out to be.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Well, I'm a little bit more concerned about the designed
rushes for him because in his first game back after
missing a couple of games with the concussion, he had
zero design rushes against the Patriots, and that coincided with
his worst fantasy finish of the year, which he was
QB twenty one, thirteen point six fantasy points per game.
It's like the Patriots defense has been shutting out posing quarterbacks.
Now they're not as bad as the Washington Commanders. So
that's why I still have him as a top ten guys,
(07:02):
top ten in my rankings as number ten. But I
don't want to just ignore the fact that he's not
going to get design rushes like they're not calling hey,
Jackson Dart QB run up the middle for a touchdown.
So a lot of his production has been tied to
rushing touchdowns. And if they're not calling his name at
the goal line, it has to be a scramble. Well,
I think that hurts him a little bit. So that's
(07:22):
just why I'm a little bit lower.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
All right, two quarterbacks that did not make the top
twelve and at least on ECR and kind of seeing
where they're at because I think this is where I mean,
looking at this list, I kind of think I want
to say party should be a question, but perty's probably
not because it's Tennessee. People will just you know, plug
their nose and go. Goff against the Rams is probably
another plug your nose and go And Trevor Lawrence has
(07:46):
been good, so you could argue that maybe the questions
start around like nine or something like that. All of
those are half decent matchups. But then you get into
this world of a couple quarterbacks that are going to
be in heavy conversations, and Baker Mayfe is one of them.
He is actually ECR thirteen, so just missing this list.
But both of you guys are a little bit lower
than ECR, so Erickson, does Baker Mayfield belong in the
(08:11):
tier of Trevor Lawrence or is he the start of
like another tier?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
I think he's the start of another tier. For me,
I feel pretty confident about Trevor Lawrence facing the New
York Jets terrible defense, and lawrence last nine games one
finish outside the top fifteen quarterbacks, and that was at
the Houston Texans, who we all know shut down every
single quarterback. So Trevor Lawrence I feel like pretty confidence
starting this week against the New York Jets. Mayfield is
(08:35):
where you run into some question marks just because he
hasn't been a top performer in recent weeks. But he
is getting Mike Evans back, so I think that that matters.
I think that he's appropriately ranked in a ECRQB thirteen.
I have him at fourteen, but to me, it's like
him versus Darnold versus Stroud, where these guys that are
kind of more pocket passers. But if the Texans and
(08:59):
Seahawks are true to their implied team totals, which are
massive because they're facing two terrible defenses and two terrible teams,
or at least they should score a lot of points,
then you're going to see the quarterbacks possibly benefit from that.
So I'm trying to capture that. But I think Mayfield's
probably someone to move ahead once we get confirmation that
Mike Evans is a full go for this week against
(09:19):
the Falcons.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Yeah, and FITZI you've got You're a little bit more
pessimistic on Baker. I suppose you got him at sixteen.
Is there any potential movement for you if if Mike
Evans is like officially activated or are you just kind
of down in general? I guess this also kind of
comes back to that, like a Google conversation, we had
no wide receiver episodes, But what's your take on Baker
as a start this week?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
So it's sort of both. I've moved him already up
to QB fifteen with the looking like evans return on
Thursday night is pretty imminent, so he will go there,
but I'm not I'm not sure if I'm going to
have him any higher than QB fifteen. It's just like
it's going to help for Baker, but man, things have
not been good for him for a long time now.
(10:04):
Like over his last seven starts, Baker Mayfield has only
had two games with more than two hundred passing yards
and only one game with more than one touchdown pass.
And he's averaged five point three yards per pass attempt
in those seven games, which is just a terrible number.
So I don't know if Evans alone can sort of
shake Mayfield out of this, you know, prolonged slump he's
(10:27):
been in.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Now Ericson kind of alluded to the other guy we
were going to talk about, what about Sam Donald? For you, fits,
I think Sam Donald is in that same kind of range,
and you were saying, maybe Mayfield moves up, So what
does that internally do for Donald, who's going up against
the Colts.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
So I've got Donald one spot ahead now at QB fourteen,
and I just worry about what the passing volume is
going to look like in a game where the Seahawks
are favored by thirteen and a half points, like as
it is the Sea Hawks are the run heaviest team
in the league. They are the only team in the
NFL that's had more runs than passes so far this season,
(11:06):
and they've got the third lowest pass rate over expected
at minus seven percent on the season. So what happens
if the Colts can't keep up in this game? Like,
I have no concern about Donald's effectiveness or efficiency, and
if we were only counting first half fantasy points for
all the quarterbacks this week, I'd probably have Donald ranked
as a quarterback one. But I am just worried that
(11:29):
he throws like five or six passes in the second
half and it winds up with nineteen or twenty pass
attempts for the game.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Ericson, you were kind of eluding. I think you were
saying Donald over Mayfield when you were originally talking.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
I'm honestly still not sure what I want to do
with these two players, So I'm going to have to
go back in the lab and figure out what exactly
I want to rank them. I think it's close, because
the concerns with Donald are real, but I don't always
like following that process where well, if this team kills
this other team, then he's not going to score enough points.
Oh well, Sam Donald through five touchdowns and that's why
(12:02):
they killed the Indianapolis coult So that is always something
that's kind of in the back of my mind. But
to fit this point, the Seahawks do like to run
the football, so it's a little bit different from a
team that's always very high pass rate over expectation, which
really hasn't been the case with the Seahawks. The last
three games for Sam Donald, which have kind of been
all blowout wins for the Seattle Seahawks, He's been QB
eleven and QB four in two of those three games.
(12:25):
But against the Vikings in Max brsmur he was QB
thirty in a game where he basically didn't have to
do anything. So if we get that same type of
game script, well you just started the quarterback thirty on
the week with Sam Donald, even in a quote unquote
good matchup on paper. So I think it probably just
leaned towards Mayfield over Donald because I think it feels
a little bit safer a divisional game on a Thursday night.
(12:47):
I think it's a little bit more back and forth,
a closer spread, where at least Mayfield has pushed a
little bit more, whereas with Donald there are the concerns that, yeah,
he just doesn't have to do a lot against the
Colt and Philip Rivers throwing the ball. So I think
I am going to move Mayfield one spot ahead of
Darnold and clearly.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
The number one question on everybody's minds. We start in
Philip Rivers this week.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
In the amount of leagues he got picked up in
super Flax, you're just like, oh man, this is gonna
be fun.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Legitimately, like if you're in a super fly, where does
he rank for you? Guys? I know it's like jokes.
There is going to there are people out there that
are like, would you start Brady Cook or Philip Rivers?
Like we actually saw legitimately saw that question. Like you
can't feel super super confident about it, but like somebody
else pointed out there, like someone's going to win one
(13:33):
of those like milli dfs contests with starting Philip Rivers
this week? Is there any world fitsy where Philip Rivers
is anything, Like we're not advocating to starting him. I
just wanted to say his name because he's one of
the biggest stories that's out there right now.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
I do have him ranked ahead of Kenny Pickett, who
is going to fill.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
We have somebody excellent? Can I get Can I get
him over anybody else? Or is that your line?
Speaker 3 (13:56):
That's my line in the sand?
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Well, but Kenny Pickett line?
Speaker 2 (13:59):
All right, Brady Cook over over Phil Rivers. If Brady
Cook gets the star again, they just said he's get
all the first two reps because Taylor and Fields are
not practicing today.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Yeah, we're trying to figure out what is the line
that a forty four year old grandfather who hasn't played
in five years, who is he better than? And we've
confirmed Kenny Pickett, So that's awesome. So is it also
Brady Cook. That's how bad they.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Are that one. I'm gonna have to retreat to my
lab for that. To Cook to the lab.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Oh my gosh, I can't get I told ericson this,
I cannot get Big Daddy out of my head where
it's like hey, old man Rivers, zip it or I'll
break your hip. And then like the five year play,
like all of those bits or some social like our socialty,
you gotta do something with all that with Philip Rivers.
But no, we're not starting him or doing anything with that.
But it is the transition to the tight ends, and
(14:51):
it is going to be the first guy we're going
to talk about your top twelve on tight ends. Though.
Here's the big board. We've got Trey McBride at one,
George Kittle at two, Brock Bauers at three, Tyler Warren, Yes,
that Tyler Warren, and at four still Harold fan and
Junior coming in at five, followed by Kyle Pitts, Travis Kelce,
Brenton Strange, Jake Ferguson, Dalton Kin, Kate, Mark Andrews, and
(15:11):
Colson Lovelin. That's your top twelve Warren. So Warren is
in at number four. You guys clearly hate this from
a rank perspective. I've been kind of vocal about this.
I don't think Philip Rivers is gonna be great. They
can't not have him throw the ball. I wouldn't be
surprised if it's a forty percent target share to Tyler
Warren this week. I wouldn't be surprised if Tyler Warren
(15:33):
does some stuff on the ground. I think they could
gadget some stuff, and I think he is the safety
net for yards after the catch. Now where I could
be wrong, is he could have six catches for forty
yards because Philip Rivers can't throw more than nine yards.
But I think Philip Rivers is not going to be
looking for massive checkdowns. It's going to be easy things.
And I think that really either is going to be
(15:54):
some really bad throws to the first read wide receivers
or it is going to be one read check down
to Tyler Warren a lot. So I like him still
as a top five tight end. You both do. Not
Erickson at twelve fits at nine Ericson. Let's start with
you. You are barely putting him in as a starter, So
I'm guessing you're starting Mark Andrews. I know it's the
Bengals ken kaid for You're starting everybody over Tyler Warren
(16:17):
at this point.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Well, I have him tight end twelve, so that means
he's still a guy. You can start to your point
of the things that you lay it out. Yeah, there
is a case in a path where Tyler Warren is
still involved in this Colts passing attack. It's a good
matchup on paper against the Seahawks, although they are going
to get Julian Love back another week from his injury.
He's one of their better safeties, so I think that
could help kind of stuff out some of these tight
end productions the Seahawks have been giving up. So that's
(16:40):
one concern that you have to consider. For me, it's
just going back to upside, right with tight ends, and
Tyler Warren as a player we know has a ton
of upside, especially the way that they can get him
the football in space. He can create yards after the catch.
But look, if I started Tyler Warren and he went
six for sixty seven targets or something like that, I
feel like, Okay, that's fine. And last week bat with TJ.
Hawkinson or excuse me, in week thirteen, that's what TJ.
(17:02):
Howkinson did with Mack Brosmer as his quarterback, and he
was a tight end fourteen on the week. So I
understand your positive case for Tyler Warren, but I don't
think that's going to trains like to Ohwa's tight end
four on the week, especially if he doesn't score a touchdown,
which is my biggest concern with this entire Colts offense. Look,
even if Daniel Jones was the starting quarterback, how many
(17:22):
touchdowns would we project for the Colts offensive score? On
the road against the Seattle Seahawks. So like that is
my big pushback where it's like, Dude, I've seen this
Bengals defense play some of the worst tight ends and
it doesn't matter. Like Likely and Mark Andrews have so
much more upside in my opinion than Tyler Warren does,
because I mean, Isaiah Likely's basically been a top three
(17:42):
tight end the last two weeks if you could just
talk about him get into the end zone and just
finished the play. So that's why I have him tight
end twelve again, not someone that I think that you
have to downride bench because for the most part, he's
probably still better than most waiver wire tight ends. But
I think it's a clear case for everyone I ranked
ahead of him, why their upside is just higher.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
So I Fitz, you got Warren a little bit higher,
and I don't know if one needs to be four
in a full PPR. My case is a little bit
stronger half PPR. It's maybe not, but I'm comfortable with
him around six or seven something like that. But what
say you on tighten nine for Tyler Warren?
Speaker 3 (18:20):
I really want to talk myself into this premise that
a rusty Philip Rivers, who hasn't played since twenty twenty
and has spent the last five years bouncing grand babies
on his knee. It's going to be the guy who
reverses sort of discouraging trends for Tyler Warren. Let's do it,
because over his last six games, Tyler Warren has had
one touchdown and one game with more than fifty three
(18:41):
receiving yards. He's had twenty six or fewer receiving yards
in three of his last six games. So maybe this
is too low tight end nine if it is Philip
Rivers at quarterback, because I do kind of agree with
this premise that he might be the number one go
to for Rivers. As of now, I have Tyler Warren
(19:04):
behind Trey McBride, George Kittle, Brock Bauers, Harold Fannin, Travis Kelcey,
Kyle Pitts, and we just found out Drake London is
not going to play on Thursday night, Dalton Kincaid, and
Mark Andrews who has that red carpet matchup against the Bengals.
But I have Warren ahead of Isaiah likely, and I'm
second guessing that because Isaiah likely also gets to face
(19:27):
the Bengals, So I can't honestly see myself moving up
Warren in a TE six or TE seven range.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Well, all right, a couple of the tight ends we
are going to talk about likely to end Harold fan
and Halt Fannon really jumps up. He is tight end five.
You guys are pretty much in agreement here. Obviously Shador
looked fantastic in that game, and Fannon is going to
be a target going up against the Chicago Bears. Fitsy,
why don't you kick it off on Harold Fannon? Why
Harold Fannon is exponentially better than like taking a risk
(19:58):
on a guy like Tyler Warren too.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Yeah, tight end four for me, And maybe I'm overreacting
to Fannin's tight end one overall finish last week eight
catches for one hundred and fourteen yards and a touchdown
twenty five point four PPR points. But I do think
Shador Sanders makes fan In more viable than he was
with Dylan Gabriel and the Browns other tight end David
Njoku questionable with a knee injury, and the Browns are
(20:22):
facing a Bears defense that's given up the eighth most
receptions to tight end so I like the spot for fannin.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Eric'son same thing. I think you haven't met uh. I
don't even him at five, Fitz, He's got him at four.
Either way, you guys are just both super high on him.
Fan And has moved up into another tier of tight ends,
and you seem to agree.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Target leader since Shadar Sanders took over as the starting quarterback,
the targets are really like consolidating around him. You know,
Jerry Judy gets a couple here and there, but David
and Joke is clearly not healthy continuing to deal with injuries.
So if you're getting a past happy game script for
the Cleveland Browns, yeah, I like this spot for health
and I don't think you he'd overthink it. He's a
(21:00):
really He's a rookie tight end that broke out in
the first game of the year and has flashed at
points and it all kind of came together last week,
and I think that you just continue to play him.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Britain Strange is tight end eight on this list. You
guys are a little bit. You guys are both lower
than ECR. You both have him though as a tight
end one. It's a good matchup Trevor Lawrence slings the
ball a bunch. We didn't see the big output we
thought we would get last week. Erickson, you still haven't
been tight end nine, so you're like almost essentially at consensus.
You're still a full go on Britain.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Strange, Yeah, we got at the lucky last week. He
had a touchdown callback because of OPI right, so he
would have been fine as a maybe not exactly top five,
but he would have finished much higher than his three
caps for twenty seven yards would indicate. And he had
multiple red zone targets last week, six targets in total,
so great matchupgainst the New York Jets again another player
that why should I start Tyler Warren over Brenton Strange
this week? Brenton Strange has been terrific since coming back
(21:53):
from his injury, and like I said, if that touchdown
just counts last week, I don't think we're even second guessing,
like moving him down the ranking. So he's another guy
that I wouldn't raly think twice about starting Tyler Warren
over Tyler Warren.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
So FITZI, you got him at twelve, you're a little
bit lower, and I guess what I wanted to ask,
was like, do you have him in another Originally was
going to say, do you have him in the tier
of Kelsey, but you just like, clearly don't. Is he
like the start of a different tier of tight ends
or is he maybe the end of that tier that's
like Tyler Warren and Ferguson and whatnot.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
He's kind of the end of that tier. For me,
I would say, you know, I'd group him with Ferguson
likely maybe even Theo Johnson and Colston Loveland because I
think those guys haven't maybe even Mike Getsicky. I'd put
in that tier if t Higgins is gonna be out,
and it seems almost certain he would be.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
Like I just.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
So Strange came back from his injury and had that
five catch ninety three yard game against the Cardinals and
everyone kind of just fell in love with Brenton Strange
as a mid range tight end one. But since then,
like I know, he had the touchdown called back three
catches for forty five yards and the touchdown three catches
(23:10):
for twenty seven yards last week. He's been averaging five
targets a game since he's been back. He's fine. I
just see him as more of a low end tight
end one than a mid range tight end one, because
I don't think he's getting mid range tight end one.
Target volume.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Okay, the final one I think is probably the most
important because it'll have so many questions attached to it.
This is both We're going to do both of the
Baltimore Ravens tight ends because you're going up against the
Cincinnati Bengals. Mark Andrews comes in at eleven, Isaiah likely
is thirteen. I can see that you both have Isaiah
likely at eleven on this list. The question is are
(23:47):
you likely over Andrews? And then I guess you already
have likely as a tight end one at your confidence level,
because I am likely over Andrews at this point because
of not just Andrews has just touched on equity. He's
the Chris Rodriguez of tight end, that's all. He is
likely is also some volume with yards playmaking, and he
is getting targets from Lamar Jackson. So I am likely
over Andrews clear. But where you guys, that fits likely
(24:12):
or Andrews, and both are probably viable starters for you
this week. I'm guessing yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
I I mean, you make a really good case Welsh.
I I do have Likely behind Andrews right now, and
man like Likely, he's had nine catches, one hundred and
twenty yards and a touchdown over his last two games.
I do think this matchup makes him a tight end
(24:37):
one the bank two.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Of the flukiest non touchdowns as well, like the first
one stupid the catch last week. Like you, if he
has those two touchdowns, I don't. I think we're talking
about Likely in a completely different tier because everyone's losing
their mind about the touchdown equity and everything. Sorry didn't
mean like.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
That's a good point. And it's funny that you know
Likely has on this this upswing right as the Ravens
kind of made their choice and signed Mark Andrews' long
term and looks like they're gonna let Isaia Likely walk
in free agency. But there's a chance both of these
guys can have big days against the Bengals. Bengals have
given up to tight ends ninety seven catches, twelve hundred
(25:18):
and fifty eight yards and fifteen touchdowns.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
So Trey McBride's season, they make any tight end become
treymon like what.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
It's like a vintage Tony Gonzalez season plus like, add
another good tight end from a different team and throw
that on there, and that's what the Bengals are giving up.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
It's just crazy that is wild ericson same thing, Likely
or Andrews and are both startable this week.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Both are startable this week, And you've convinced me that
it should be likely over Andrews. If Likely catches those
two touchdowns, He's a top three fantasy tight end back
to back weeks. And again, the Cincinnati Bengals made Dawson
Knox okay Antonio Gates last week dozand Knocks had done
literally nothing all season despite having like a pretty good
role in the Bills offense when Dalton kin k was
(26:06):
missing time. I mean, I think they quoted Dalton King
gad after the game and they said, yeah, it was
it was a game for the tight ends, and I
just wanted to comment and be like, no, it was
a game against the Cincinnati Bengals defense. Like, look, we
don't always want to overvalue matchups, but when it's so
clear that this matchup that the Bengals they just don't care,
like they don't try to stop tight ends in any capacity.
(26:27):
So going back to who has top five upside, this
week Top three upside. Give me the Ravens tight ends
over Tyler Warren. I just I don't think that it's
in his range of outcomes this week. He has to
run so hot with big plays touchdown equity. I don't
think the Ravens are going to have trouble find in
the end zone this week. And you just got to
cross your fingers that Likely can just squeeze the ball
into the end zone all the way, get five feet
(26:49):
in and we're good to go.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
What do you guys think Likely or Andrews? You can
put it in the comments below and are both startable.
That is going to do it for the quarterback in
tight end ranks for week fifteen. Boy, you guys know
where to find us. We've got lots of live streams
over on Twitch. You can catch us over here on YouTube.
Make sure you're subscribed to the podcast and make sure
you got the app. All the tools help you out
become your best friend and if all else phils Sunday
(27:14):
morning you can catch us live for a couple hours
answering all your last minute playoff fantasy questions. And you
can find us on the socials as well. That's gonna
do it for Ericson and Fitzie. I'm well, you guys
have a fantastic one. Good luck. Hopefully we talk to
you next week in the playoffs, and we'll do it
right here on Fantasy Pros. Bye bye.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football podcast.
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Speaker 3 (27:40):
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Follow us on x, Instagram and TikTok at Fantasy Pros,
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slash Fantasypros p
Hello, friends, and welcome into Fantasy Pros. This is the
Fantasy Football podcast Quarterbacks and tight Ends per week fifteen
Fantasy Playoff run. We're gonna be going through the top
twelve at each position, a little bit of streamy talk
that'll be happening outside of that, outside of the top
twelve guys, and hopefully answering some questions that you guys
are gonna have. There are some tight quarterback questions, gentlemen.
(00:22):
I'm Chris Welsch. That is Pat Fitzmorris and Andrew Erickson.
I've got one. How about I'm gonna throw you guys
one right now. I'm gonna throw you one in our
Fantasy Pros Guillotine League where I'm the representative of you guys,
because we've got like devs versus Content and we're going
into the finals. I have both Drake May and Matthew
(00:43):
Stafford in our consensus ECR ranks. Matthew Stafford is two,
Drake May is three. I hate the thought of sitting
Drake May, but I have Matthew Stafford in going against
Detroit right now, ericson what side are you going on
as the as a co owner of the Content representative
Guillotine Championship. You picked the.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Wrong too, analysts to ask a Drake May question versus
Matthew Stile.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
I know, so I'm asking it, FITZI.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
I've got Stafford ranked higher this week. I know this
is an offense to my fellow Drake May disciples, but yeah,
I just so, No, Brian Branch for the Lions is
like Kirby Joseph has banged been banged up. I don't
know if he's going to play Terry and Arnold like
their secondary is kind of a mess, and that game
(01:35):
is going to be a high flying shootout. So I
just feel like the offensive environment might be a little
bit better in that game. I don't know, That's what
I'm thinking.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
That's what I'm thinking. Well, here's the cool thing. You
guys listening probably don't have that question, So that's why
I could ask it. At the top. You're not like
these a Drake May or Matthew Stafford, But we are
going to be hitting some quarterbacks that there are going
to be some questions for. Usually the top end of
any of these positions aren't big ones. There's a massive
conversation to be had around tight ends as well. With
the Philip Rivers situation. We're going to talk about Tyler
(02:10):
Warren and just a piece of news that came down
today's we're recording this Jayan and Daniels is officially out.
He will not be clear, So Marcus Mariota is going
to be the starter. You know, he wasn't in the conversation,
and maybe that was because of the question marks of
if Daniels would play. But neither one of these guys
were in the questions of the top twelve. But so
moving and shakin man, there's some moving on some of
(02:31):
these positional things. So hopefully we are going to get
you guys covered with all of it. We're going to
jump into quarterbacks here in a second, but giveaway time.
If you want a chance to win the ultimate symbol
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of our good friends at trophy Smack, the number one
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(02:51):
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(03:13):
Make yourself in life a little bit easier. And that's it.
We'll be announcing a winner right here on the channel.
So make sure you turn on notifications. Don't miss your
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your entire league or make it part of the league.
You can be ad be like a superstar. You win
that belt, you bring us a Hey, guys, this is
going to go to the championship. You're going to be
the big winner. So look at that all right. Quarterback
(03:35):
ranks take up the big board. Here your top twelve
for the week. We've got Josh Allen coming in at
number one, going up against New England. Matthew Stafford and
Drake May both mentioned that's you're two and three. Joe
Burrow at four, Jalen Hurts at five, Lamar Jackson at six.
The bottom half got Dak Prescott, Jackson, Dart Patrick Mahomes,
brock perty, Jared Goff and Trevor Lawrence. I do think
(03:58):
there's going to be people concerned about Lamar Jackson. I
think there'd be questions that are going to pop up.
I do think there's gonna be questions for people around
Patrick Mahomes and just his overall production. I understand all
those VIBA questions At the end of the day, I
think they're relatively chalky, unless you are going to come
to us of hey, guys, I have Joe Burrow or
Patrick Mahomes. So it's not something My whole point of
(04:20):
is we're not going to sit on that. But let's
talk about Jackson Dart. Jackson Dart is kind of thrown
in this mix. I mean, look at the sandwich there.
You got Dak Prescott on top and Patrick Mahomes on
the bottom, and then Jackson Darts right in the middle.
It's a really good matchup. It is actually the only
five star rating in our top twelve quarterbacks of any
going up against Washington. He is quarterback eight and you
(04:42):
two gentlemen are a little bit on opposite ends. Fits
you are even more positive you have him as the
sixth rated quarterback. Can I take a guest, do you
have him above Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
I have him ahead of Lamar Jackson okay, knew it
was one of them, and directly behind, directly ahead of Lamar,
directly behind Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Okay, So then who's the quarterback that because if he's eight,
what is your five six and seven?
Speaker 3 (05:13):
So five six seven has hurt start Lamar. I've got
Dak at eight.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Okay, Dak Okay, that's my brain. I was trying to
process like where Dak was on there? Okay, So not
about Dak here, But you're even higher on Jackson Dart.
So let's hear the selling pitch.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Yeah, it's just so they wanted him to be a
little bit less aggressive as a runner, and his rushing
volume is slightly down since the firing of Brian Dable,
but Dart is still averaging six rushing attempts and forty
seven point three rushing arts per game in the three
games under interim head coach Mike Kafka, and he's run
for a touchdown in two of those three games and
(05:49):
has six touchdown runs in his last six games. So
still a lot of rushing value that we're squeezing out
of Jackson Dart. And then you've got this positive passing
game match up against the Commanders, who ran twenty ninth
in DVA against the pass, have the worst opponent passer
rating in the league, are averaging a league worst eight
point six opponent yards per pass attempt, So it's an
(06:13):
awful pass defense. Dark can make plays in the passing game,
and we know he can make plays with its legs.
So he's a confident start for me this week.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Now, Erickson, you've got him a little bit lower than
the ACR ten, you still have them as QB one.
That's all positive. I'm guessing there's got to be a
matchup or two that's that was lower that you just
fell in love with, or is this about just a
hesitation that Jackson darts upside is really like what we're
kind of making it out to be.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Well, I'm a little bit more concerned about the designed
rushes for him because in his first game back after
missing a couple of games with the concussion, he had
zero design rushes against the Patriots, and that coincided with
his worst fantasy finish of the year, which he was
QB twenty one, thirteen point six fantasy points per game.
It's like the Patriots defense has been shutting out posing quarterbacks.
Now they're not as bad as the Washington Commanders. So
that's why I still have him as a top ten guys,
(07:02):
top ten in my rankings as number ten. But I
don't want to just ignore the fact that he's not
going to get design rushes like they're not calling hey,
Jackson Dart QB run up the middle for a touchdown.
So a lot of his production has been tied to
rushing touchdowns. And if they're not calling his name at
the goal line, it has to be a scramble. Well,
I think that hurts him a little bit. So that's
(07:22):
just why I'm a little bit lower.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
All right, two quarterbacks that did not make the top
twelve and at least on ECR and kind of seeing
where they're at because I think this is where I mean,
looking at this list, I kind of think I want
to say party should be a question, but perty's probably
not because it's Tennessee. People will just you know, plug
their nose and go. Goff against the Rams is probably
another plug your nose and go And Trevor Lawrence has
(07:46):
been good, so you could argue that maybe the questions
start around like nine or something like that. All of
those are half decent matchups. But then you get into
this world of a couple quarterbacks that are going to
be in heavy conversations, and Baker Mayfe is one of them.
He is actually ECR thirteen, so just missing this list.
But both of you guys are a little bit lower
than ECR, so Erickson, does Baker Mayfield belong in the
(08:11):
tier of Trevor Lawrence or is he the start of
like another tier?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
I think he's the start of another tier. For me,
I feel pretty confident about Trevor Lawrence facing the New
York Jets terrible defense, and lawrence last nine games one
finish outside the top fifteen quarterbacks, and that was at
the Houston Texans, who we all know shut down every
single quarterback. So Trevor Lawrence I feel like pretty confidence
starting this week against the New York Jets. Mayfield is
(08:35):
where you run into some question marks just because he
hasn't been a top performer in recent weeks. But he
is getting Mike Evans back, so I think that that matters.
I think that he's appropriately ranked in a ECRQB thirteen.
I have him at fourteen, but to me, it's like
him versus Darnold versus Stroud, where these guys that are
kind of more pocket passers. But if the Texans and
(08:59):
Seahawks are true to their implied team totals, which are
massive because they're facing two terrible defenses and two terrible teams,
or at least they should score a lot of points,
then you're going to see the quarterbacks possibly benefit from that.
So I'm trying to capture that. But I think Mayfield's
probably someone to move ahead once we get confirmation that
Mike Evans is a full go for this week against
(09:19):
the Falcons.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Yeah, and FITZI you've got You're a little bit more
pessimistic on Baker. I suppose you got him at sixteen.
Is there any potential movement for you if if Mike
Evans is like officially activated or are you just kind
of down in general? I guess this also kind of
comes back to that, like a Google conversation, we had
no wide receiver episodes, But what's your take on Baker
as a start this week?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
So it's sort of both. I've moved him already up
to QB fifteen with the looking like evans return on
Thursday night is pretty imminent, so he will go there,
but I'm not I'm not sure if I'm going to
have him any higher than QB fifteen. It's just like
it's going to help for Baker, but man, things have
not been good for him for a long time now.
(10:04):
Like over his last seven starts, Baker Mayfield has only
had two games with more than two hundred passing yards
and only one game with more than one touchdown pass.
And he's averaged five point three yards per pass attempt
in those seven games, which is just a terrible number.
So I don't know if Evans alone can sort of
shake Mayfield out of this, you know, prolonged slump he's
(10:27):
been in.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Now Ericson kind of alluded to the other guy we
were going to talk about, what about Sam Donald? For you, fits,
I think Sam Donald is in that same kind of range,
and you were saying, maybe Mayfield moves up, So what
does that internally do for Donald, who's going up against
the Colts.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
So I've got Donald one spot ahead now at QB fourteen,
and I just worry about what the passing volume is
going to look like in a game where the Seahawks
are favored by thirteen and a half points, like as
it is the Sea Hawks are the run heaviest team
in the league. They are the only team in the
NFL that's had more runs than passes so far this season,
(11:06):
and they've got the third lowest pass rate over expected
at minus seven percent on the season. So what happens
if the Colts can't keep up in this game? Like,
I have no concern about Donald's effectiveness or efficiency, and
if we were only counting first half fantasy points for
all the quarterbacks this week, I'd probably have Donald ranked
as a quarterback one. But I am just worried that
(11:29):
he throws like five or six passes in the second
half and it winds up with nineteen or twenty pass
attempts for the game.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Ericson, you were kind of eluding. I think you were
saying Donald over Mayfield when you were originally talking.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
I'm honestly still not sure what I want to do
with these two players, So I'm going to have to
go back in the lab and figure out what exactly
I want to rank them. I think it's close, because
the concerns with Donald are real, but I don't always
like following that process where well, if this team kills
this other team, then he's not going to score enough points.
Oh well, Sam Donald through five touchdowns and that's why
(12:02):
they killed the Indianapolis coult So that is always something
that's kind of in the back of my mind. But
to fit this point, the Seahawks do like to run
the football, so it's a little bit different from a
team that's always very high pass rate over expectation, which
really hasn't been the case with the Seahawks. The last
three games for Sam Donald, which have kind of been
all blowout wins for the Seattle Seahawks, He's been QB
eleven and QB four in two of those three games.
(12:25):
But against the Vikings in Max brsmur he was QB
thirty in a game where he basically didn't have to
do anything. So if we get that same type of
game script, well you just started the quarterback thirty on
the week with Sam Donald, even in a quote unquote
good matchup on paper. So I think it probably just
leaned towards Mayfield over Donald because I think it feels
a little bit safer a divisional game on a Thursday night.
(12:47):
I think it's a little bit more back and forth,
a closer spread, where at least Mayfield has pushed a
little bit more, whereas with Donald there are the concerns that, yeah,
he just doesn't have to do a lot against the
Colt and Philip Rivers throwing the ball. So I think
I am going to move Mayfield one spot ahead of
Darnold and clearly.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
The number one question on everybody's minds. We start in
Philip Rivers this week.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
In the amount of leagues he got picked up in
super Flax, you're just like, oh man, this is gonna
be fun.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Legitimately, like if you're in a super fly, where does
he rank for you? Guys? I know it's like jokes.
There is going to there are people out there that
are like, would you start Brady Cook or Philip Rivers?
Like we actually saw legitimately saw that question. Like you
can't feel super super confident about it, but like somebody
else pointed out there, like someone's going to win one
(13:33):
of those like milli dfs contests with starting Philip Rivers
this week? Is there any world fitsy where Philip Rivers
is anything, Like we're not advocating to starting him. I
just wanted to say his name because he's one of
the biggest stories that's out there right now.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
I do have him ranked ahead of Kenny Pickett, who
is going to fill.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
We have somebody excellent? Can I get Can I get
him over anybody else? Or is that your line?
Speaker 3 (13:56):
That's my line in the sand?
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Well, but Kenny Pickett line?
Speaker 2 (13:59):
All right, Brady Cook over over Phil Rivers. If Brady
Cook gets the star again, they just said he's get
all the first two reps because Taylor and Fields are
not practicing today.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Yeah, we're trying to figure out what is the line
that a forty four year old grandfather who hasn't played
in five years, who is he better than? And we've
confirmed Kenny Pickett, So that's awesome. So is it also
Brady Cook. That's how bad they.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Are that one. I'm gonna have to retreat to my
lab for that. To Cook to the lab.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Oh my gosh, I can't get I told ericson this,
I cannot get Big Daddy out of my head where
it's like hey, old man Rivers, zip it or I'll
break your hip. And then like the five year play,
like all of those bits or some social like our socialty,
you gotta do something with all that with Philip Rivers.
But no, we're not starting him or doing anything with that.
But it is the transition to the tight ends, and
(14:51):
it is going to be the first guy we're going
to talk about your top twelve on tight ends. Though.
Here's the big board. We've got Trey McBride at one,
George Kittle at two, Brock Bauers at three, Tyler Warren, Yes,
that Tyler Warren, and at four still Harold fan and
Junior coming in at five, followed by Kyle Pitts, Travis Kelce,
Brenton Strange, Jake Ferguson, Dalton Kin, Kate, Mark Andrews, and
(15:11):
Colson Lovelin. That's your top twelve Warren. So Warren is
in at number four. You guys clearly hate this from
a rank perspective. I've been kind of vocal about this.
I don't think Philip Rivers is gonna be great. They
can't not have him throw the ball. I wouldn't be
surprised if it's a forty percent target share to Tyler
Warren this week. I wouldn't be surprised if Tyler Warren
(15:33):
does some stuff on the ground. I think they could
gadget some stuff, and I think he is the safety
net for yards after the catch. Now where I could
be wrong, is he could have six catches for forty
yards because Philip Rivers can't throw more than nine yards.
But I think Philip Rivers is not going to be
looking for massive checkdowns. It's going to be easy things.
And I think that really either is going to be
(15:54):
some really bad throws to the first read wide receivers
or it is going to be one read check down
to Tyler Warren a lot. So I like him still
as a top five tight end. You both do. Not
Erickson at twelve fits at nine Ericson. Let's start with
you. You are barely putting him in as a starter, So
I'm guessing you're starting Mark Andrews. I know it's the
Bengals ken kaid for You're starting everybody over Tyler Warren
(16:17):
at this point.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Well, I have him tight end twelve, so that means
he's still a guy. You can start to your point
of the things that you lay it out. Yeah, there
is a case in a path where Tyler Warren is
still involved in this Colts passing attack. It's a good
matchup on paper against the Seahawks, although they are going
to get Julian Love back another week from his injury.
He's one of their better safeties, so I think that
could help kind of stuff out some of these tight
end productions the Seahawks have been giving up. So that's
(16:40):
one concern that you have to consider. For me, it's
just going back to upside, right with tight ends, and
Tyler Warren as a player we know has a ton
of upside, especially the way that they can get him
the football in space. He can create yards after the catch.
But look, if I started Tyler Warren and he went
six for sixty seven targets or something like that, I
feel like, Okay, that's fine. And last week bat with TJ.
Hawkinson or excuse me, in week thirteen, that's what TJ.
(17:02):
Howkinson did with Mack Brosmer as his quarterback, and he
was a tight end fourteen on the week. So I
understand your positive case for Tyler Warren, but I don't
think that's going to trains like to Ohwa's tight end
four on the week, especially if he doesn't score a touchdown,
which is my biggest concern with this entire Colts offense. Look,
even if Daniel Jones was the starting quarterback, how many
(17:22):
touchdowns would we project for the Colts offensive score? On
the road against the Seattle Seahawks. So like that is
my big pushback where it's like, Dude, I've seen this
Bengals defense play some of the worst tight ends and
it doesn't matter. Like Likely and Mark Andrews have so
much more upside in my opinion than Tyler Warren does,
because I mean, Isaiah Likely's basically been a top three
(17:42):
tight end the last two weeks if you could just
talk about him get into the end zone and just
finished the play. So that's why I have him tight
end twelve again, not someone that I think that you
have to downride bench because for the most part, he's
probably still better than most waiver wire tight ends. But
I think it's a clear case for everyone I ranked
ahead of him, why their upside is just higher.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
So I Fitz, you got Warren a little bit higher,
and I don't know if one needs to be four
in a full PPR. My case is a little bit
stronger half PPR. It's maybe not, but I'm comfortable with
him around six or seven something like that. But what
say you on tighten nine for Tyler Warren?
Speaker 3 (18:20):
I really want to talk myself into this premise that
a rusty Philip Rivers, who hasn't played since twenty twenty
and has spent the last five years bouncing grand babies
on his knee. It's going to be the guy who
reverses sort of discouraging trends for Tyler Warren. Let's do it,
because over his last six games, Tyler Warren has had
one touchdown and one game with more than fifty three
(18:41):
receiving yards. He's had twenty six or fewer receiving yards
in three of his last six games. So maybe this
is too low tight end nine if it is Philip
Rivers at quarterback, because I do kind of agree with
this premise that he might be the number one go
to for Rivers. As of now, I have Tyler Warren
(19:04):
behind Trey McBride, George Kittle, Brock Bauers, Harold Fannin, Travis Kelcey,
Kyle Pitts, and we just found out Drake London is
not going to play on Thursday night, Dalton Kincaid, and
Mark Andrews who has that red carpet matchup against the Bengals.
But I have Warren ahead of Isaiah likely, and I'm
second guessing that because Isaiah likely also gets to face
(19:27):
the Bengals, So I can't honestly see myself moving up
Warren in a TE six or TE seven range.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Well, all right, a couple of the tight ends we
are going to talk about likely to end Harold fan
and Halt Fannon really jumps up. He is tight end five.
You guys are pretty much in agreement here. Obviously Shador
looked fantastic in that game, and Fannon is going to
be a target going up against the Chicago Bears. Fitsy,
why don't you kick it off on Harold Fannon? Why
Harold Fannon is exponentially better than like taking a risk
(19:58):
on a guy like Tyler Warren too.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Yeah, tight end four for me, And maybe I'm overreacting
to Fannin's tight end one overall finish last week eight
catches for one hundred and fourteen yards and a touchdown
twenty five point four PPR points. But I do think
Shador Sanders makes fan In more viable than he was
with Dylan Gabriel and the Browns other tight end David
Njoku questionable with a knee injury, and the Browns are
(20:22):
facing a Bears defense that's given up the eighth most
receptions to tight end so I like the spot for fannin.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Eric'son same thing. I think you haven't met uh. I
don't even him at five, Fitz, He's got him at four.
Either way, you guys are just both super high on him.
Fan And has moved up into another tier of tight ends,
and you seem to agree.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Target leader since Shadar Sanders took over as the starting quarterback,
the targets are really like consolidating around him. You know,
Jerry Judy gets a couple here and there, but David
and Joke is clearly not healthy continuing to deal with injuries.
So if you're getting a past happy game script for
the Cleveland Browns, yeah, I like this spot for health
and I don't think you he'd overthink it. He's a
(21:00):
really He's a rookie tight end that broke out in
the first game of the year and has flashed at
points and it all kind of came together last week,
and I think that you just continue to play him.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Britain Strange is tight end eight on this list. You
guys are a little bit. You guys are both lower
than ECR. You both have him though as a tight
end one. It's a good matchup Trevor Lawrence slings the
ball a bunch. We didn't see the big output we
thought we would get last week. Erickson, you still haven't
been tight end nine, so you're like almost essentially at consensus.
You're still a full go on Britain.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Strange, Yeah, we got at the lucky last week. He
had a touchdown callback because of OPI right, so he
would have been fine as a maybe not exactly top five,
but he would have finished much higher than his three
caps for twenty seven yards would indicate. And he had
multiple red zone targets last week, six targets in total,
so great matchupgainst the New York Jets again another player
that why should I start Tyler Warren over Brenton Strange
this week? Brenton Strange has been terrific since coming back
(21:53):
from his injury, and like I said, if that touchdown
just counts last week, I don't think we're even second guessing,
like moving him down the ranking. So he's another guy
that I wouldn't raly think twice about starting Tyler Warren
over Tyler Warren.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
So FITZI, you got him at twelve, you're a little
bit lower, and I guess what I wanted to ask,
was like, do you have him in another Originally was
going to say, do you have him in the tier
of Kelsey, but you just like, clearly don't. Is he
like the start of a different tier of tight ends
or is he maybe the end of that tier that's
like Tyler Warren and Ferguson and whatnot.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
He's kind of the end of that tier. For me,
I would say, you know, I'd group him with Ferguson
likely maybe even Theo Johnson and Colston Loveland because I
think those guys haven't maybe even Mike Getsicky. I'd put
in that tier if t Higgins is gonna be out,
and it seems almost certain he would be.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
Like I just.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
So Strange came back from his injury and had that
five catch ninety three yard game against the Cardinals and
everyone kind of just fell in love with Brenton Strange
as a mid range tight end one. But since then,
like I know, he had the touchdown called back three
catches for forty five yards and the touchdown three catches
(23:10):
for twenty seven yards last week. He's been averaging five
targets a game since he's been back. He's fine. I
just see him as more of a low end tight
end one than a mid range tight end one, because
I don't think he's getting mid range tight end one.
Target volume.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Okay, the final one I think is probably the most
important because it'll have so many questions attached to it.
This is both We're going to do both of the
Baltimore Ravens tight ends because you're going up against the
Cincinnati Bengals. Mark Andrews comes in at eleven, Isaiah likely
is thirteen. I can see that you both have Isaiah
likely at eleven on this list. The question is are
(23:47):
you likely over Andrews? And then I guess you already
have likely as a tight end one at your confidence level,
because I am likely over Andrews at this point because
of not just Andrews has just touched on equity. He's
the Chris Rodriguez of tight end, that's all. He is
likely is also some volume with yards playmaking, and he
is getting targets from Lamar Jackson. So I am likely
over Andrews clear. But where you guys, that fits likely
(24:12):
or Andrews, and both are probably viable starters for you
this week. I'm guessing yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
I I mean, you make a really good case Welsh.
I I do have Likely behind Andrews right now, and
man like Likely, he's had nine catches, one hundred and
twenty yards and a touchdown over his last two games.
I do think this matchup makes him a tight end
(24:37):
one the bank two.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Of the flukiest non touchdowns as well, like the first
one stupid the catch last week. Like you, if he
has those two touchdowns, I don't. I think we're talking
about Likely in a completely different tier because everyone's losing
their mind about the touchdown equity and everything. Sorry didn't
mean like.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
That's a good point. And it's funny that you know
Likely has on this this upswing right as the Ravens
kind of made their choice and signed Mark Andrews' long
term and looks like they're gonna let Isaia Likely walk
in free agency. But there's a chance both of these
guys can have big days against the Bengals. Bengals have
given up to tight ends ninety seven catches, twelve hundred
(25:18):
and fifty eight yards and fifteen touchdowns.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
So Trey McBride's season, they make any tight end become
treymon like what.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
It's like a vintage Tony Gonzalez season plus like, add
another good tight end from a different team and throw
that on there, and that's what the Bengals are giving up.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
It's just crazy that is wild ericson same thing, Likely
or Andrews and are both startable this week.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Both are startable this week, And you've convinced me that
it should be likely over Andrews. If Likely catches those
two touchdowns, He's a top three fantasy tight end back
to back weeks. And again, the Cincinnati Bengals made Dawson
Knox okay Antonio Gates last week dozand Knocks had done
literally nothing all season despite having like a pretty good
role in the Bills offense when Dalton kin k was
(26:06):
missing time. I mean, I think they quoted Dalton King
gad after the game and they said, yeah, it was
it was a game for the tight ends, and I
just wanted to comment and be like, no, it was
a game against the Cincinnati Bengals defense. Like, look, we
don't always want to overvalue matchups, but when it's so
clear that this matchup that the Bengals they just don't care,
like they don't try to stop tight ends in any capacity.
(26:27):
So going back to who has top five upside, this
week Top three upside. Give me the Ravens tight ends
over Tyler Warren. I just I don't think that it's
in his range of outcomes this week. He has to
run so hot with big plays touchdown equity. I don't
think the Ravens are going to have trouble find in
the end zone this week. And you just got to
cross your fingers that Likely can just squeeze the ball
into the end zone all the way, get five feet
(26:49):
in and we're good to go.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
What do you guys think Likely or Andrews? You can
put it in the comments below and are both startable.
That is going to do it for the quarterback in
tight end ranks for week fifteen. Boy, you guys know
where to find us. We've got lots of live streams
over on Twitch. You can catch us over here on YouTube.
Make sure you're subscribed to the podcast and make sure
you got the app. All the tools help you out
become your best friend and if all else phils Sunday
(27:14):
morning you can catch us live for a couple hours
answering all your last minute playoff fantasy questions. And you
can find us on the socials as well. That's gonna
do it for Ericson and Fitzie. I'm well, you guys
have a fantastic one. Good luck. Hopefully we talk to
you next week in the playoffs, and we'll do it
right here on Fantasy Pros. Bye bye.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football podcast.
If you love the show, the best freeway to support
us is by leaving a positive review on Apple podcasts
at Fantasypros dot com, slash.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Review, or on Spotify.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
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Hosts And Creators
Andrew Erickson
Joe Pisapia
Derek Brown
Thor Nystrom
Ryan Wormeli
Pat Fitzmaurice
Matthew Freedman
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