December 18, 2025 • 28 mins
Chris Welsh, Pat Fitzmaurice, and Andrew Erickson are breaking down Week 16’s biggest quarterback and tight end ranking differences, engaging in debates, and highlighting the expert consensus for Week 16
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 - 0:02:25
QB Rankings - 0:03:39
Dak Prescott - 0:04:08
Jacoby Brissett - 0:08:32
Matthew Stafford - 0:11:07
Jaxson Dart - 0:14:41
TE Rankings - 0:16:27
Colby Parkinson - 0:16:56
Tyler Warren and Darren Waller - 0:20:36
Oronde Gadsden II - 0:23:36
Outro - 0:26:54
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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. The week sixteen
Quarterback in tight End Ranks episodes. We're going through the
top twelve quarterbacks, maybe a little bit more, Top twelve
tight ends, maybe a smidge more. We'll be going through
some of the top plays for you joining me, I'm
Chris Welch. That is Pat Fitzmorris and Andrew Erickson. We
will combine both of these bad boys into a show.
(00:21):
And little did you know that you might be like,
should I really start and stream Tyler Shuck because I
lost Patrick Mahomes? Should I pick up Colby Parkinson and
play him over Tyler Warren? The answer to those might
be yes, to be honest with you, and those are
some of the things we're going to have to deal with.
Did you think that's where we were headed? Erickson? You
think that was the land we were going to be
(00:42):
living in?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
No?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
I really did not. But that's what makes fantasy football
is so fun. You never know, and this always happens
because you log back into your fantasy league after the
season ends, you start the new season, and you look
at your team You're like, who are half these players?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Like who is this running back? Because you know the
war of attrition that football season is. Guys have to
be put into certain situations that have to step up
and make opportunities to make plays. So yeah, ready to
break it down?
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah, FITZI, we are like a banged up Herbert. We
just lost Patrick Mahomes for the season. Tuatungbola was benched
for Quinn viewers, Like, there's some significant quarterback questions that
are floating around here. The core guys are still kind
of like the core dudes, But there are playoff teams
that could still be alive, specifically that just lost Patrick Mahomes,
(01:33):
and those are the ones going to be reeling. Hopefully
Tyler Shuck is not the thing they have to pivot
to or like a Kirk Cousins and they've got a
better option, but there are some that won't.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Yeah, fantasy football takes some unpredictable turns and it might
be Tyler Shuck leading some people of fantasy championships. And
who could have imagined that it would be Week sixteen
in twenty twenty five and I would be ranking Michael
Wilson a dozen spots higher than Justin Jefferson this week.
If you would have told me that in August, you
(02:03):
could have knocked me over with a feather. So yeah,
fantasy football is a weird game sometimes.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Who could have thought we could have made a really,
really good compelling case to start Kobe Brissett over Lamar Jackson.
Well you can this week, and that's the world that
we live in. We're gonna talk about quarterbacks to start here,
going through the top twelve, and we've even got one
quarterback that's not in that has got some nice rank
adjustment between you guys. Before we do start a little
giveaway action because you guys love some giveaways and we
(02:30):
love to hook you guys up, as does Trophy Smack,
because we partner with Trophy Smack, the number one destination
for epic fantasy football hardware to give away the teeny
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The Pine size Belt is the perfect reminder of your
dumpster fire season. It's hilarious, it's humiliating, and it's a
(02:53):
muss half for every league that takes last place punishments seriously.
To enter, all you've got to do is subscribe to
the Fantasy Pros YouTube and I'll do it right now.
If you haven't drop a comment below like on this
video or any video this month, and that's it and
you're hooked up. We'll be announcing a winner right here
on the channel, so make sure to turn on notifications
because you don't want to miss your chance to claim
this awesome championship belt and flex it on the rest
(03:15):
of your league. All right, theeranks Fantasypros dot Com slash
rankings if you guys want to follow along for quarterbacks
and tight ends all the way up until kickoff. Any
of the adjustments is rankers. Shout out to our boy
de bro for finishing number one this week. Any of
the rankers that are going to be coming in later
or whatever are going to have adjustments, So if you
want to follow along on the show or up until kickoff,
(03:36):
go to Fantasypros dot com slash rankings. Quarterbacks and gentlemen,
let's go to the big board. We've got Josh Allen
as your number one quarterback for the week, with a
tough matchup by the way, Jalen Hurts coming in at
two with a great matchup Drake May, Joe Burrow, brock
Perty at five, Dak Prescott at six, and then your
bottom half is Lamar Jackson at seven, aforementioned Kobe Burssett
(03:56):
at eight, Jared Goff, Matthew Stafford, Justin Herbert, and Jordan Love.
The top five I think is pretty chalk. There probably
is a conversation that could be had about Rock Party
being so high, but it's a solid matchup. But how
about Dak Prescott, because Dak was that's a disappointment, like
we need those big stats. Frankly, Dak killed me in
a league in the Flex leagues. I went into the championship,
(04:19):
I went into the final matchup having Dak, Ferguson and
Justin Jefferson, and I was down thirty and I lost
by ten. And those guys did absolutely nothing for me.
And Dak is supposed to be the chalk play. It's
a one star graded matchups, the worst of the grouping
of these top twelve quarterbacks. Kind of a bomb out
last week that worked with George Pickens. There's a little
(04:40):
element of probably feeling dicey about it, and you guys
both kind of agree. You do have him as a
QB one. Hard to not have Dak as a QB one,
but you are lower than consensus. Fitzy, why don't we
start with you. You've got him at eight, not crazy low.
But I'm also curious in any concerns you have about him,
like who do you have right above him? So right
(05:01):
above him? I have you have him at nine?
Speaker 4 (05:03):
I'm sorry, yeah, I have him at nine, right above him,
Jacoby Brissett at eight, Jared Goff at seven, brock Perty
at six.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Okay, so Jacoby Brissett over Dak Prescott and where are
your concerns?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Lie?
Speaker 1 (05:16):
After that? That last game matchup Chargers.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
Chargers have allowed the second fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks,
lowest opponent passer rating in the league. They've given up
twelve touchdown passes this season, fewest in the league, less
than one a game on average. They're only giving up
six point three yards per ten. So it's a really
tough matchup and maybe Dak can overcome it. I mean,
he's got two outstanding receivers in Ceedee Lamb and George Pickens,
(05:42):
and some other useful weapons like Jake Ferguson and the
surging Ryan Floornoy. But I do think it's reasonable to
lower expectations for Dak, even though he's been terrific. QB
three and Fantasy points per game only that since week ten,
coming out of the by like, he's been fantastic Since then,
only Josh Allen and Trevor Lawrence have scored more Fantasy
(06:04):
points per game at the QB position since Week eleven.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Eric, So this is a tough one because it's like
he has been great and then he had this great
matchup and it bombed and it was a big failure,
and then you're staring at a really bad matchup, and like,
how does he bounce back if you're still viable in
the playoffs? So what's your take? You've got him at eight.
You're lower than consensus on Dak. This is the season
as a whole, in the volume passer has been great
(06:32):
versus a bad week last week, put up against a
really horrific matchup this week.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah, I think with Dak, and again I'm lower versus consensus.
I don't really feel that way because I think if
people ask me, do I start Dak or Tyler Shuck,
I'm just gonna say I'm starring Dak press Wow.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Is that really a question?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Though?
Speaker 1 (06:50):
But what about Jared Goff versus Dak Prescott?
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Yes, that's a better question. So I have GoF ahead,
So we just look at some of the implied team totals,
like the Cowboys are behind the lines in the forty
nine right, so looking at okay, Rock Perdy not necessarily
a strict pocket passer, adds a little value with his legs,
but mostly getting his points through the arm. Jared Goff,
we know doesn't run, so he's getting his points through
his arm. I'd rather want to bet on the total
(07:14):
in that game. The Lions are playing at home in Detroit.
You know Jared Goff can score a ton of points
in that type of environment. But with Dak Prescott, they're
also playing at home. This has the highest total on
the slate, So when you look at the defensive match,
you're thinking, man like, he's facing the number one defense,
their number two defense in terms of fantasy points, a
lot of quarterbacks. But this game also has the highest
total on the slate. So I think the Cowboys just
(07:37):
kind of create this game environment where it kind of
doesn't matter who they're playing. I mean, he's played the Chiefs,
he was QB six, He's faced the Eagles, he was
QB three at home. So when you play in Jerry World,
you have a ceiling that I think a player like
Dak Prescott can definitely overcome that. Being said, I am
lower than ECR just because I do like Purdy Jared
Goff and I'm not gonna knock anyone. If you want
(07:57):
to start Jcoe Prisset, who will get into here as well.
I might even move you Coper Sett ahead of Dak
Prescott as well, just because I mean that guy's matchup
prove I mean, he's the reason why I finished one
hundred and fifty eight in quarterback rankings last week because
I buried Jacoby Brissette against the Houston Dexans, and I
mean what he was QB ten QUB elet on the
week because he just finds we had to get it done.
And I think that Jacoby is going to find a
(08:19):
way to again be another QB one. So if you
are kind of like concerned about the Dak matchup, I'm
not like overly concerned about it. I mean, you can't
go wrong with Jacoby Brissett. It's showing that you literally
cannot go wrong starting this guy basically over anybody.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yeah, you guys are flipped in your ranks on Brissette.
Where and where you are with Dak so ericson, You've
got Dak at eight, You've got Persett at nine. Currently,
Fitz he's got Brissett at eight where he had Dak
at nine. What about the Prissett versus like Lamar situation?
Because I think this is a it's a median matchup.
Brissette has got the Falcons, He's gonna slag the ball.
There's a questionable running game that's out there that could
(08:53):
get them throwing the ball a little bit more. It's
gonna be McBride and Wilson. We don't I don't at
this moment know the status of Marvin Harrison. But what
do you think about that Brissette versus Lamar Jackson thing? Ericson,
is it just easy Lamar versus the Patriots? Or do
you think this is a question with j Kobe.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
It's still Lamar for me. The thing with the Patriots
defense and this is one of their this is their
Achilles heel essentially and really hasn't been exposed against bad quarterbacks.
They have the worst red defense in the NFL. We
saw Lamar Jackson throw two touchdowns on eight completions last week.
He's going to throw for multiple touchdowns against the New
England Patriots, because they're going to score and be efficient
(09:30):
in the red zone, and that's all you need from Lamar. Like,
that's what he's traditionally been so great at, is being
uber efficient, and I don't think that's going to change
against the Patriots at home. So it's still going to
be Lamar for me.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
FITZI, what do you think you've got Jacoby one spot
higher than Dak. I'm gonna guess you probably got Lamar
right above. But how close do you think Brissett versus
Lamar is in your comfortability of starting Jacoby this week? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (09:54):
I mean I've got Lamar ranked fifth. I just yeah,
I want the rushing potential.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
But Brissette.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
In his nine games as a starter for the Cardinals,
Jacoby Brissett is avering forty two point eight pass attempts,
twenty eight point four completions, and three hundred point nine
passing yards a game, oh and two touchdown passes a game.
And Brissett has had at least forty pass attempts in
all but two of those nine starts for Arizona. He's
(10:22):
QB four and Fantasy points per game since taking over
as the starter in place at Kyler Murray, which is
just crazy. And last week against the Texans, toughest matchup
you can possibly get QB twelve, and now he gets
the Falcons a neutrol matchup at worst, and the Cardinals
with all their injuries at the running back position, they're
probably going to throw forty plus passes. Again, I just
(10:46):
think Brissett's a great start. I'm in one league where
I had Patrick Mahomes, I was lucky enough to have
Brissett as my backup, and I don't even feel like
it's a downgrade at quarterback.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Completely agree. Lots of spots are probably starting Brissette over
big question. I do think of the top twelve quarterbacks,
Dak maybe has like one of the bigger questions. But
I think the biggest question is sitting right at Matthew Stafford.
Matthew Stafford comes in at ten. He had been forming
at a top twelve. Two negatives for this week no
(11:17):
DeVante Adams and the Seattle Seahawks defense. Bad matchup, one
big impact wide receiver, and that puts serious questions into
the viability of him. Now might not have options. You know,
if it's Matthew Stafford and you know whoever, you know
Tyler Shuck even. I don't even know if you could
like shy away from Matthew Stafford, but I do think
(11:37):
there's some big questions around it, and your ranks both
exemplify that. So Vitty, you don't you don't have a
rank change. You are at ECR, so you're saying that
Matthew Stafford is still a QB one. But you did
sigh when I said his name, So I feel like
you do have some some overall concerns, like you're kind
of blind. They're closing your eyes with the rank of Stafford.
Because of how good that offense has been.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
It would be really hard to bench a guy who
has had multiple touchdown passes in eight straight games and
could still conceivably get to fifty for the season, and
those touchdown that streak of multiple touchdown games is what
gives me some hope here. And the last time he
(12:19):
played the Seahawks, Matthew Stafford had a season low one
hundred and thirty passing yards, but he did have multiple
touchdown passes. He threw two tds in that game. But yeah,
it's a tough matchup and he doesn't have DeVante Adams,
so I'm there's a chance. I'm going to be closer
to Ericson than ECR by the time we kick off
on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
And that's the giveaway. Ericson, you are seventeen on him,
So you are out on Matthew Stafford. Want to hear
why you're out, But also I'd love to hear like
the two quarterbacks that you have higher than Matthew Stafford
right now to give people perspective.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
So I have Caleb Williams ahead about the Stafford against
a Micah Parsons list Green Bay Packers defense. And I
had Baker Mayfield ahead of Matthew Stafford because he has
Mike Evans back, and I like the ceiling perspective. I
guess for me, does this scream like a Matthew Stafford's
ceiling performance. I don't think so. We saw him play
Seattle already this year. He's QB sixteen on the week
(13:15):
to fit to this point season low in passing yardage. Again,
he can throw two touchdowns in this game and make
Kobe Parkinson managers happy, make Kyra Williams your play CORR
managers happy if they catch a receiving touchdown. But because
he adds no value with his legs. Two passing touchdowns
doesn't guarantee that you're a fantasy quarterback stud. It just doesn't.
So without de Monte Adams, who has been a red
(13:36):
zone a monster all season long, we also might see them, Hey,
we're not going to force it here with Matthew Stafford
in the red zone. We are just going to hand
it off to Kyrien or to Blake corm And that
hurts Matthew Stafford too. So Matthew Stafford on the season
as a whole, Yes, he throws like two passing touchdowns
every single week. I remember seeing his prop last week
was over two and it was his passing touchdown was
but two and a half passing touchdowns.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
It's been like that for like ten weeks. It's feel
like that for ten weeks.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Which which you just don't usually see. It's usually one
and a half passing touchdout is like the standard for
a quarterback player prop. But Stafford's obviously kind of broken
that the norm there. But he's been outside the top
twelve quarterbacks in half of his games this season, so
half the games because he doesn't add any value as
a rusher, and of the games that he actually has
fallen outside that top twelve range. Four of them have
(14:21):
been outdoor road games. That's exactly what you're looking at.
Here is outdoor on the road against Seattle divisional matchup.
We've seen divisional underdogs just perform well above expectation on
Thursday nights without DeVante. I just don't think this is
a ceiling spot for Stafford. So yeah, I think that
he's someone that you can do better than in Week sixteen.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
All right, last one, we can kind of hit it quick.
One of the quarterbacks that you have decided you can
do better on is Jackson Dart. Jackson Dart is fifteen
on ECR and Ericson you've got him at twelve fitthy
you are lower quite a bit lower. So you guys
are on the opposite spectrum. Just a quick breakdown of
you have Jackson Dart over Stafford, So that is the direction.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
You would go, yes, because he is a mobile quarterback.
And I've basically been wrong boy Jackson Dart every single
week because I haven't valued his rushing enough. And even
though he keeps going into the blue ten to get
concussion protocol check, he continues to run. And even though
they took away the design runs, he just says, you
know what, whatever, I'll just scramble on my own anyway,
So that's really it. It's just the rushing equity with him,
(15:20):
and the Vikings do have a couple of injuries on
their defense, so I know that they shut down Dak
Prescott last week, but if you're a mobile quarterback sometimes
it just doesn't necessarily matter. So Dart, for me, I
think it could be a lowing QB one, which is
basically what he has been since he took over as
the Giant starting quarterback.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Fitz, you got him at nineteen, quite a bit lower
on Jackson, Dart, so where's your hesitation?
Speaker 4 (15:38):
A few minutes ago, I refer to the Texans as
the toughest possible matchup a quarterback could have. In recent weeks,
it's actually been the Vikings. They have been just a
hilacious matchup for quarterbacks. They have not given up a
touchdown pass since Lamar Jackson had one against them on
November ninth, five straight games without giving up a touchdown pass,
(15:59):
and up until last week when Dak Prescott broke the
streak against them, they'd held opposing quarterbacks under two hundred
passing yards in five straight games. Like Brian Flores has
been in his bag. Man, he is dialing up some
exotic stuff to shut down quarterbacks. It's working. I know
the Vikings do have some injuries on defense, but man,
I do not want to start a quarterback against the
(16:19):
Vikings right now.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
There you go, quarterbacks. Check out more fantasypros dot com
slash rankings if you want to dig a little bit deeper.
Obviously we got the Q and a's to help you out.
Let's go over to tight ends. We got a couple
big discussions to hit the top twelve tight end board.
You've got Trey McBride coming in at number one, George
Kittle at two, Kyle Pitts at three over Brock Powers,
who's at four, Dallas Goddard and Harold Fannon. That's your
top six, number seven, Kolby Parkinson over Travis Kelce, followed
(16:45):
by Dalton Schultz, Darren Waller, Tyler Warren all the way
down at eleven, and Dalton kin Kaid. Probably the going
to be top one to two of most asked questions
for this week should be about Kobe Parkinson because I mean,
he comes in at seven, He's over some huge names.
He's probably one of the top waiver wire guys. People
(17:05):
are gonna be asking to flex him out. He is
tight end seven and manned to both of you guys
co sign on it. Fitz he's at six Ericson's at seven. Fitsy.
Why don't you start us off here? I love Kobe
Parkinson in this spot. I think I would take him
over Fannin at this point. I don't know if you're
in that same range. But what do you think about
Parkinson for this week and just how much do you
(17:26):
want to co sign of him as a strong starter.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
The only reason I don't think he's going to be
one of the most asked about players this week, Walsh,
is because he plays on Thursday night and people are
gonna have two and a half last days to ask
questions about You.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Are correct about that, yes, but that was not registering
in my brain. Yes, you are correct. You know what,
He's not the most asked about player because it's over.
It's done, thig zag.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
He's a very vexing player. Is six touchdown catches though
over his last six games, and last week he had
a season high five catches for seventy five yards and
two touchdowns against the Lions. Parkinson could be heavily in
this week with DeVante Adams out for the Rams, and
as good as the Seattle pass defense has been, the
Seahawks are actually sneaky bad against tight ends. They have
(18:09):
a lot of the second most receptions and fourth most
receiving yards to the position. So I think Colby Parkinson
is going to be used pretty heavily unless what Ericson
hinted about in a different ranking show comes to fruition
and it's the Terrence Ferguson game that no one is expecting.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
I will say though, that Thursday livestream we have is
before Thursday Night Football. I guarantee you every question was
Bob that one the volume will be there. But yeah,
I wasn't even thinking about Thursday Night Football. Ericson same thing.
You can be quick if you want on it. You
got Parkinson at six, We're up on there. Everyone kind
of just is a big buy on the play.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Yeah, And to be honest, I kind of wanted to
come on here and pull cold water on Parkings because
when I first did my rankings, I did not have
him anywhere near this range. But then as I kind
of thought about it more going through Okay, what are
we expecting from this Rams offense, And like park Sid
as a player too, because when I think about him,
he kind of falls into the category of okay, catch
the ball, fall down type of tight end, but that
(19:07):
really hasn't been when he's done this year among tight ends,
fifth in yards per out run, seventh in yards out
to the catch per receptions. As a revenge game for
him against the Seattle Seahawks who used to play for
and when you look at what does this offense, what
do we expect from this offense without DeVante Adams. Again,
this is the first game that Adams is going to miss.
But we saw them play without puquin Deakua in that
(19:28):
game against the Jaguars in London, and what do they do?
They used thirteen personnel at one of the highest rates
in the NFL, so using all three tight ends. So
that suggests that Parkers is going to be heavily involved
along with the other tight ends. He led the team
in yards in that particular contest. He had three catches
for forty seven yards. He only had three targets, but
(19:49):
Tyler Higby was still active in that game. Higby actually
led the team with six targets in that particular contest,
so and he also he didn't score touchdown, but obviously
we know the touchdown upside is there with Kobe argets
and that's what he's been doing the last six games,
even with Devonte Adams healthy and in the lineup. So yeah,
I think I went in trying to really overanalyze and
(20:10):
try to figure out a way like is this just
is this not gonna work? But I couldn't really find
a reason for this not to work, where it's just like, dude,
they take out the guy that gets to all the
touchdowns and put in some other guy that catches the
second most touchdowns. Good matchup overall. I know that Julian
Love is gonna be back and healthy for this game
as well, so that's just one thing to kind of
note as one of the Seahawks' safeties. But yeah, I
(20:30):
really can't think for reasons, So I think to make
it simple as just like, hey, like start Koe Barkinson
on Thursday.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
I think maybe then one of the more popular questions
that has more legs to it is can I start
Tyler Warren? And a lot of people are down on
Tyler Warren and this isn't about actually Tyler Warren, but
this is a move that ericson. You are making over
him pretty dramatically. He is one spot higher than Warren
in the ECR. It's Darren Waller, and you've got Darren
Waller at tight end eighth this week. This is that,
(20:58):
you know, shame on for the Ravens tight ends. But
it's like you look at the Bengals matchup and you're
just like yep, You're like you just got to go
and it didn't work out last week in a big
embarrassing failure. It looks like you were kind of back
in on like you know, the quarterback change, you know,
the Wattle situation, Waller getting targets, horrifically bad defense against
(21:20):
tight end. I mean, did I just kind of like
lay out the Darren Waller side. You have him at
eight this week.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Yeah, I got to move him down though because it
was more when Tua was still the quarterback. And again
I'm not super high on Wattle. This week with quin
you were under center, and it's just again we want
to try to bet on things that we are confident in.
Obviously we're confident in the matchup for the Bengals, but
never seen Quen. You were again shouldce I never seen
He did play a little bit in that Browns game
for the Dolphins earlier this year, but haven't seen him
(21:47):
play with Darren Waller, so it feels more like a
leap of faith to like, oh, yeah, I'm going to
like roll the dice on Darren Waller against the Bengals
with the quarterback that we haven't really seen him play with,
So that's that's a concern. So he's going to move
down a little bit, probably behind some of these other
players that have also flashed a type of ceiling. He
could probably end up like in that fourteen to fifteen range,
where yeah, he's a streamable tight end, but rather go
(22:07):
with Parkinson, I don't think I would move him ahead
of like a guy like Harold Fannin. And to back
to the I mentioned this earlier, but I also would
do Parkinson over Harold Fannin. I'm brutally terrified of this
Bill's matchup, and again going back to try to like
dive into the lab, but like, oh well, Harold fann
can overcome this Bill's matchup because of X, Y, and Z,
(22:27):
and I could not find any reason why that would
be the case. He had fourteen targets last week and
was barely a tight end one. So even if is
seeing all this volume against Buffalo, odds are it's still
not going to be enough to warrant him as like
a smash start, given that he's probably going to have
a very low efficiency type of game because of how
good the Bills are defending tight ends.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Fitzer, you've got Waller at fourteen, looks like you may
have probably already built in the Quinn Yewers is starting situation.
What do you think on Waller?
Speaker 4 (22:55):
I did, and he has six touchdowns in seven games
this season, but that was all with and how does
this work with Quinn Ewers? And even with all those touchdowns,
Waller's average two point nine catches and thirty four point
seven receiving yards a game, So it's not like he's
getting a lot of volume. And I don't even know
if the Bengals tight end thing applies to Waller because
(23:16):
really he's not like a real tight end. He's really
more like an X receiver. So I just know, I mean,
do the Bengals maybe stick DJ Turner on him in
the red zone? I don't know, so like I would,
I'm not necessarily all in on Waller this week just
because of the matchup.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
All right, final one here, this is just a really
interesting one. He's not a top twelve tight end. He
comes in at thirteen. He has been a smash avoid
for quite some time. It's ARONDI Godsten. You're gonna understand
why the talk here is. But Fitzy, let's start with you,
because you've got him at easier. I goa be honest
with you. Even see him at thirteen seems kind of
a surprise. So talk to us about the ECR value
(23:58):
of Godsden and then we're gonna jump into ericson who
seems to be all in on Godsend this week.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Yeah, he burned brightly like a comet for a little while,
and then boy did that comet get extinguished in a hurry.
But you know, so it had been a really quiet
four game stretch for Ronde Gadsten, and then he's sort
of resurfaced last week with four catches for sixty one
yards against the Chiefs on five targets. It's just it
is hard to confidently start Gadsden when Justin Herbert has
(24:26):
thrown for two hundred and twenty or fewer yards in
five straight games and only has five touchdown passes over
that stretch, so just not a lot of yardage r
tds to go.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Around ericson tight end six for Gadsden, we haven't seen
that in god knows how long. Where is that blind
or analytical optimism putting you to get Godson at six?
Speaker 3 (24:51):
So I did adjust it slightly. He's at eight now.
I had to do some maneuvering with Parkinson and obviously
Travis Kelce too. I had to move him back up
because it doesn't seem like there's a chance that Rossie
Rice doesn't play based on him being in the concussion protocol.
But with Gadston, it's again it's been not good, but
(25:11):
we've seen him flash a really high ceiling at points
where he could win you your week based on a really
high end performance. And against Dallas man you gotta sometimes
throw out the past game logs out the window because
things can just get crazy in these types of environments
where the Chargers can have a plan that yeah, we're
gonna do X, Y and Z, and then the Dallas
Cowboys score a bunch of points on them and they
have to throw the football. So Gadston, I think that
(25:34):
it's not a coincidence that he had his best game
in a long time when Johnston wasn't active last week.
So if Johnston misses again, you're seeing Gadston deployed as Okay,
here's a guy that could potentially leave the team in
routes run because we know that's not going to be
Keenan Allen kind of to the similar point of why
I want to chase the upside with lad McConkie, even
though I know it's a scary floor, because there's a
(25:54):
chance that a Chargers player could win you your week
against the Dallas Cowboys this week, and I don't want
to miss that type of opportunity, especially at tight end
when you know that most Titans are gonna putting up
that four for forty stat line anyway, So why not
try to shoot for the moon. You're with a guy
like Gadston who has flashed it again it's been a while,
but the optics of this particular matchup could suggest, Hey,
he could have a big game here. So that's why
(26:16):
I want to be a little bit more aggressive on
him versus like the Jake Ferguson's or the Dalton Schultz's
Kinkaid's where they have a floor with them. I mean,
would you do Fannin over Gadston, like who has a
higher ceiling? This week? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Well, I mean you want to pretend that Gadsden does.
It's just been so bad. I mean, I don't know.
I gona be honest with the fourteen targets. It might
still be Fanning, But I know what you're saying. I
know what you're saying here. Yeah, your logic makes sense,
and that's a big thing. Upside versus the floor. You're
gonna have to make those decisions in the playoffs. Sometimes
that shines even brighter. And in the tight end position
this week, it seems like there's a little bit more
(26:50):
of a hyper focus on the upside than it is
some of those floor plays that are out there. You
guys know where to find us if there are more
tight end or quarterback questions. Lots of different outlets, and
we are here for you, and we'll be here for
you next week as well. A little bit earlier. There's
a Christmas obviously crazy schedule that's going on, but that
doesn't mean we aren't going to have all the great episodes,
and we'll be recording a little bit earlier, so we'll
(27:11):
get you set up for your championship a week. Good
luck this week, be here next A week can guide
you through the championship. For Pat Fitzmorris and Andrew Ericson,
I'm Chris Welsh. Good luck and we'll talk to you
next time right here on Fantasy Pros.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football podcast.
If you love the show, the best freeway to support
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Speaker 1 (28:01):
Back up the bo
Hello, friends, and welcome into Fantasy Pros. The week sixteen
Quarterback in tight End Ranks episodes. We're going through the
top twelve quarterbacks, maybe a little bit more, Top twelve
tight ends, maybe a smidge more. We'll be going through
some of the top plays for you joining me, I'm
Chris Welch. That is Pat Fitzmorris and Andrew Erickson. We
will combine both of these bad boys into a show.
(00:21):
And little did you know that you might be like,
should I really start and stream Tyler Shuck because I
lost Patrick Mahomes? Should I pick up Colby Parkinson and
play him over Tyler Warren? The answer to those might
be yes, to be honest with you, and those are
some of the things we're going to have to deal with.
Did you think that's where we were headed? Erickson? You
think that was the land we were going to be
(00:42):
living in?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
No?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
I really did not. But that's what makes fantasy football
is so fun. You never know, and this always happens
because you log back into your fantasy league after the
season ends, you start the new season, and you look
at your team You're like, who are half these players?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Like who is this running back? Because you know the
war of attrition that football season is. Guys have to
be put into certain situations that have to step up
and make opportunities to make plays. So yeah, ready to
break it down?
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah, FITZI, we are like a banged up Herbert. We
just lost Patrick Mahomes for the season. Tuatungbola was benched
for Quinn viewers, Like, there's some significant quarterback questions that
are floating around here. The core guys are still kind
of like the core dudes, But there are playoff teams
that could still be alive, specifically that just lost Patrick Mahomes,
(01:33):
and those are the ones going to be reeling. Hopefully
Tyler Shuck is not the thing they have to pivot
to or like a Kirk Cousins and they've got a
better option, but there are some that won't.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Yeah, fantasy football takes some unpredictable turns and it might
be Tyler Shuck leading some people of fantasy championships. And
who could have imagined that it would be Week sixteen
in twenty twenty five and I would be ranking Michael
Wilson a dozen spots higher than Justin Jefferson this week.
If you would have told me that in August, you
(02:03):
could have knocked me over with a feather. So yeah,
fantasy football is a weird game sometimes.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Who could have thought we could have made a really,
really good compelling case to start Kobe Brissett over Lamar Jackson.
Well you can this week, and that's the world that
we live in. We're gonna talk about quarterbacks to start here,
going through the top twelve, and we've even got one
quarterback that's not in that has got some nice rank
adjustment between you guys. Before we do start a little
giveaway action because you guys love some giveaways and we
(02:30):
love to hook you guys up, as does Trophy Smack,
because we partner with Trophy Smack, the number one destination
for epic fantasy football hardware to give away the teeny
Tyner Loser Mini Belt, the ultimate prize for fantasy football failure.
The Pine size Belt is the perfect reminder of your
dumpster fire season. It's hilarious, it's humiliating, and it's a
(02:53):
muss half for every league that takes last place punishments seriously.
To enter, all you've got to do is subscribe to
the Fantasy Pros YouTube and I'll do it right now.
If you haven't drop a comment below like on this
video or any video this month, and that's it and
you're hooked up. We'll be announcing a winner right here
on the channel, so make sure to turn on notifications
because you don't want to miss your chance to claim
this awesome championship belt and flex it on the rest
(03:15):
of your league. All right, theeranks Fantasypros dot Com slash
rankings if you guys want to follow along for quarterbacks
and tight ends all the way up until kickoff. Any
of the adjustments is rankers. Shout out to our boy
de bro for finishing number one this week. Any of
the rankers that are going to be coming in later
or whatever are going to have adjustments, So if you
want to follow along on the show or up until kickoff,
(03:36):
go to Fantasypros dot com slash rankings. Quarterbacks and gentlemen,
let's go to the big board. We've got Josh Allen
as your number one quarterback for the week, with a
tough matchup by the way, Jalen Hurts coming in at
two with a great matchup Drake May, Joe Burrow, brock
Perty at five, Dak Prescott at six, and then your
bottom half is Lamar Jackson at seven, aforementioned Kobe Burssett
(03:56):
at eight, Jared Goff, Matthew Stafford, Justin Herbert, and Jordan Love.
The top five I think is pretty chalk. There probably
is a conversation that could be had about Rock Party
being so high, but it's a solid matchup. But how
about Dak Prescott, because Dak was that's a disappointment, like
we need those big stats. Frankly, Dak killed me in
a league in the Flex leagues. I went into the championship,
(04:19):
I went into the final matchup having Dak, Ferguson and
Justin Jefferson, and I was down thirty and I lost
by ten. And those guys did absolutely nothing for me.
And Dak is supposed to be the chalk play. It's
a one star graded matchups, the worst of the grouping
of these top twelve quarterbacks. Kind of a bomb out
last week that worked with George Pickens. There's a little
(04:40):
element of probably feeling dicey about it, and you guys
both kind of agree. You do have him as a
QB one. Hard to not have Dak as a QB one,
but you are lower than consensus. Fitzy, why don't we
start with you. You've got him at eight, not crazy low.
But I'm also curious in any concerns you have about him,
like who do you have right above him? So right
(05:01):
above him? I have you have him at nine?
Speaker 4 (05:03):
I'm sorry, yeah, I have him at nine, right above him,
Jacoby Brissett at eight, Jared Goff at seven, brock Perty
at six.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Okay, so Jacoby Brissett over Dak Prescott and where are
your concerns?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Lie?
Speaker 1 (05:16):
After that? That last game matchup Chargers.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
Chargers have allowed the second fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks,
lowest opponent passer rating in the league. They've given up
twelve touchdown passes this season, fewest in the league, less
than one a game on average. They're only giving up
six point three yards per ten. So it's a really
tough matchup and maybe Dak can overcome it. I mean,
he's got two outstanding receivers in Ceedee Lamb and George Pickens,
(05:42):
and some other useful weapons like Jake Ferguson and the
surging Ryan Floornoy. But I do think it's reasonable to
lower expectations for Dak, even though he's been terrific. QB
three and Fantasy points per game only that since week ten,
coming out of the by like, he's been fantastic Since then,
only Josh Allen and Trevor Lawrence have scored more Fantasy
(06:04):
points per game at the QB position since Week eleven.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Eric, So this is a tough one because it's like
he has been great and then he had this great
matchup and it bombed and it was a big failure,
and then you're staring at a really bad matchup, and like,
how does he bounce back if you're still viable in
the playoffs? So what's your take? You've got him at eight.
You're lower than consensus on Dak. This is the season
as a whole, in the volume passer has been great
(06:32):
versus a bad week last week, put up against a
really horrific matchup this week.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah, I think with Dak, and again I'm lower versus consensus.
I don't really feel that way because I think if
people ask me, do I start Dak or Tyler Shuck,
I'm just gonna say I'm starring Dak press Wow.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Is that really a question?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Though?
Speaker 1 (06:50):
But what about Jared Goff versus Dak Prescott?
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Yes, that's a better question. So I have GoF ahead,
So we just look at some of the implied team totals,
like the Cowboys are behind the lines in the forty
nine right, so looking at okay, Rock Perdy not necessarily
a strict pocket passer, adds a little value with his legs,
but mostly getting his points through the arm. Jared Goff,
we know doesn't run, so he's getting his points through
his arm. I'd rather want to bet on the total
(07:14):
in that game. The Lions are playing at home in Detroit.
You know Jared Goff can score a ton of points
in that type of environment. But with Dak Prescott, they're
also playing at home. This has the highest total on
the slate, So when you look at the defensive match,
you're thinking, man like, he's facing the number one defense,
their number two defense in terms of fantasy points, a
lot of quarterbacks. But this game also has the highest
total on the slate. So I think the Cowboys just
(07:37):
kind of create this game environment where it kind of
doesn't matter who they're playing. I mean, he's played the Chiefs,
he was QB six, He's faced the Eagles, he was
QB three at home. So when you play in Jerry World,
you have a ceiling that I think a player like
Dak Prescott can definitely overcome that. Being said, I am
lower than ECR just because I do like Purdy Jared
Goff and I'm not gonna knock anyone. If you want
(07:57):
to start Jcoe Prisset, who will get into here as well.
I might even move you Coper Sett ahead of Dak
Prescott as well, just because I mean that guy's matchup
prove I mean, he's the reason why I finished one
hundred and fifty eight in quarterback rankings last week because
I buried Jacoby Brissette against the Houston Dexans, and I
mean what he was QB ten QUB elet on the
week because he just finds we had to get it done.
And I think that Jacoby is going to find a
(08:19):
way to again be another QB one. So if you
are kind of like concerned about the Dak matchup, I'm
not like overly concerned about it. I mean, you can't
go wrong with Jacoby Brissett. It's showing that you literally
cannot go wrong starting this guy basically over anybody.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yeah, you guys are flipped in your ranks on Brissette.
Where and where you are with Dak so ericson, You've
got Dak at eight, You've got Persett at nine. Currently,
Fitz he's got Brissett at eight where he had Dak
at nine. What about the Prissett versus like Lamar situation?
Because I think this is a it's a median matchup.
Brissette has got the Falcons, He's gonna slag the ball.
There's a questionable running game that's out there that could
(08:53):
get them throwing the ball a little bit more. It's
gonna be McBride and Wilson. We don't I don't at
this moment know the status of Marvin Harrison. But what
do you think about that Brissette versus Lamar Jackson thing? Ericson,
is it just easy Lamar versus the Patriots? Or do
you think this is a question with j Kobe.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
It's still Lamar for me. The thing with the Patriots
defense and this is one of their this is their
Achilles heel essentially and really hasn't been exposed against bad quarterbacks.
They have the worst red defense in the NFL. We
saw Lamar Jackson throw two touchdowns on eight completions last week.
He's going to throw for multiple touchdowns against the New
England Patriots, because they're going to score and be efficient
(09:30):
in the red zone, and that's all you need from Lamar. Like,
that's what he's traditionally been so great at, is being
uber efficient, and I don't think that's going to change
against the Patriots at home. So it's still going to
be Lamar for me.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
FITZI, what do you think you've got Jacoby one spot
higher than Dak. I'm gonna guess you probably got Lamar
right above. But how close do you think Brissett versus
Lamar is in your comfortability of starting Jacoby this week? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (09:54):
I mean I've got Lamar ranked fifth. I just yeah,
I want the rushing potential.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
But Brissette.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
In his nine games as a starter for the Cardinals,
Jacoby Brissett is avering forty two point eight pass attempts,
twenty eight point four completions, and three hundred point nine
passing yards a game, oh and two touchdown passes a game.
And Brissett has had at least forty pass attempts in
all but two of those nine starts for Arizona. He's
(10:22):
QB four and Fantasy points per game since taking over
as the starter in place at Kyler Murray, which is
just crazy. And last week against the Texans, toughest matchup
you can possibly get QB twelve, and now he gets
the Falcons a neutrol matchup at worst, and the Cardinals
with all their injuries at the running back position, they're
probably going to throw forty plus passes. Again, I just
(10:46):
think Brissett's a great start. I'm in one league where
I had Patrick Mahomes, I was lucky enough to have
Brissett as my backup, and I don't even feel like
it's a downgrade at quarterback.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Completely agree. Lots of spots are probably starting Brissette over
big question. I do think of the top twelve quarterbacks,
Dak maybe has like one of the bigger questions. But
I think the biggest question is sitting right at Matthew Stafford.
Matthew Stafford comes in at ten. He had been forming
at a top twelve. Two negatives for this week no
(11:17):
DeVante Adams and the Seattle Seahawks defense. Bad matchup, one
big impact wide receiver, and that puts serious questions into
the viability of him. Now might not have options. You know,
if it's Matthew Stafford and you know whoever, you know
Tyler Shuck even. I don't even know if you could
like shy away from Matthew Stafford, but I do think
(11:37):
there's some big questions around it, and your ranks both
exemplify that. So Vitty, you don't you don't have a
rank change. You are at ECR, so you're saying that
Matthew Stafford is still a QB one. But you did
sigh when I said his name, So I feel like
you do have some some overall concerns, like you're kind
of blind. They're closing your eyes with the rank of Stafford.
Because of how good that offense has been.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
It would be really hard to bench a guy who
has had multiple touchdown passes in eight straight games and
could still conceivably get to fifty for the season, and
those touchdown that streak of multiple touchdown games is what
gives me some hope here. And the last time he
(12:19):
played the Seahawks, Matthew Stafford had a season low one
hundred and thirty passing yards, but he did have multiple
touchdown passes. He threw two tds in that game. But yeah,
it's a tough matchup and he doesn't have DeVante Adams,
so I'm there's a chance. I'm going to be closer
to Ericson than ECR by the time we kick off
on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
And that's the giveaway. Ericson, you are seventeen on him,
So you are out on Matthew Stafford. Want to hear
why you're out, But also I'd love to hear like
the two quarterbacks that you have higher than Matthew Stafford
right now to give people perspective.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
So I have Caleb Williams ahead about the Stafford against
a Micah Parsons list Green Bay Packers defense. And I
had Baker Mayfield ahead of Matthew Stafford because he has
Mike Evans back, and I like the ceiling perspective. I
guess for me, does this scream like a Matthew Stafford's
ceiling performance. I don't think so. We saw him play
Seattle already this year. He's QB sixteen on the week
(13:15):
to fit to this point season low in passing yardage. Again,
he can throw two touchdowns in this game and make
Kobe Parkinson managers happy, make Kyra Williams your play CORR
managers happy if they catch a receiving touchdown. But because
he adds no value with his legs. Two passing touchdowns
doesn't guarantee that you're a fantasy quarterback stud. It just doesn't.
So without de Monte Adams, who has been a red
(13:36):
zone a monster all season long, we also might see them, Hey,
we're not going to force it here with Matthew Stafford
in the red zone. We are just going to hand
it off to Kyrien or to Blake corm And that
hurts Matthew Stafford too. So Matthew Stafford on the season
as a whole, Yes, he throws like two passing touchdowns
every single week. I remember seeing his prop last week
was over two and it was his passing touchdown was
but two and a half passing touchdowns.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
It's been like that for like ten weeks. It's feel
like that for ten weeks.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Which which you just don't usually see. It's usually one
and a half passing touchdout is like the standard for
a quarterback player prop. But Stafford's obviously kind of broken
that the norm there. But he's been outside the top
twelve quarterbacks in half of his games this season, so
half the games because he doesn't add any value as
a rusher, and of the games that he actually has
fallen outside that top twelve range. Four of them have
(14:21):
been outdoor road games. That's exactly what you're looking at.
Here is outdoor on the road against Seattle divisional matchup.
We've seen divisional underdogs just perform well above expectation on
Thursday nights without DeVante. I just don't think this is
a ceiling spot for Stafford. So yeah, I think that
he's someone that you can do better than in Week sixteen.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
All right, last one, we can kind of hit it quick.
One of the quarterbacks that you have decided you can
do better on is Jackson Dart. Jackson Dart is fifteen
on ECR and Ericson you've got him at twelve fitthy
you are lower quite a bit lower. So you guys
are on the opposite spectrum. Just a quick breakdown of
you have Jackson Dart over Stafford, So that is the direction.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
You would go, yes, because he is a mobile quarterback.
And I've basically been wrong boy Jackson Dart every single
week because I haven't valued his rushing enough. And even
though he keeps going into the blue ten to get
concussion protocol check, he continues to run. And even though
they took away the design runs, he just says, you
know what, whatever, I'll just scramble on my own anyway,
So that's really it. It's just the rushing equity with him,
(15:20):
and the Vikings do have a couple of injuries on
their defense, so I know that they shut down Dak
Prescott last week, but if you're a mobile quarterback sometimes
it just doesn't necessarily matter. So Dart, for me, I
think it could be a lowing QB one, which is
basically what he has been since he took over as
the Giant starting quarterback.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Fitz, you got him at nineteen, quite a bit lower
on Jackson, Dart, so where's your hesitation?
Speaker 4 (15:38):
A few minutes ago, I refer to the Texans as
the toughest possible matchup a quarterback could have. In recent weeks,
it's actually been the Vikings. They have been just a
hilacious matchup for quarterbacks. They have not given up a
touchdown pass since Lamar Jackson had one against them on
November ninth, five straight games without giving up a touchdown pass,
(15:59):
and up until last week when Dak Prescott broke the
streak against them, they'd held opposing quarterbacks under two hundred
passing yards in five straight games. Like Brian Flores has
been in his bag. Man, he is dialing up some
exotic stuff to shut down quarterbacks. It's working. I know
the Vikings do have some injuries on defense, but man,
I do not want to start a quarterback against the
(16:19):
Vikings right now.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
There you go, quarterbacks. Check out more fantasypros dot com
slash rankings if you want to dig a little bit deeper.
Obviously we got the Q and a's to help you out.
Let's go over to tight ends. We got a couple
big discussions to hit the top twelve tight end board.
You've got Trey McBride coming in at number one, George
Kittle at two, Kyle Pitts at three over Brock Powers,
who's at four, Dallas Goddard and Harold Fannon. That's your
top six, number seven, Kolby Parkinson over Travis Kelce, followed
(16:45):
by Dalton Schultz, Darren Waller, Tyler Warren all the way
down at eleven, and Dalton kin Kaid. Probably the going
to be top one to two of most asked questions
for this week should be about Kobe Parkinson because I mean,
he comes in at seven, He's over some huge names.
He's probably one of the top waiver wire guys. People
(17:05):
are gonna be asking to flex him out. He is
tight end seven and manned to both of you guys
co sign on it. Fitz he's at six Ericson's at seven. Fitsy.
Why don't you start us off here? I love Kobe
Parkinson in this spot. I think I would take him
over Fannin at this point. I don't know if you're
in that same range. But what do you think about
Parkinson for this week and just how much do you
(17:26):
want to co sign of him as a strong starter.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
The only reason I don't think he's going to be
one of the most asked about players this week, Walsh,
is because he plays on Thursday night and people are
gonna have two and a half last days to ask
questions about You.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Are correct about that, yes, but that was not registering
in my brain. Yes, you are correct. You know what,
He's not the most asked about player because it's over.
It's done, thig zag.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
He's a very vexing player. Is six touchdown catches though
over his last six games, and last week he had
a season high five catches for seventy five yards and
two touchdowns against the Lions. Parkinson could be heavily in
this week with DeVante Adams out for the Rams, and
as good as the Seattle pass defense has been, the
Seahawks are actually sneaky bad against tight ends. They have
(18:09):
a lot of the second most receptions and fourth most
receiving yards to the position. So I think Colby Parkinson
is going to be used pretty heavily unless what Ericson
hinted about in a different ranking show comes to fruition
and it's the Terrence Ferguson game that no one is expecting.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
I will say though, that Thursday livestream we have is
before Thursday Night Football. I guarantee you every question was
Bob that one the volume will be there. But yeah,
I wasn't even thinking about Thursday Night Football. Ericson same thing.
You can be quick if you want on it. You
got Parkinson at six, We're up on there. Everyone kind
of just is a big buy on the play.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Yeah, And to be honest, I kind of wanted to
come on here and pull cold water on Parkings because
when I first did my rankings, I did not have
him anywhere near this range. But then as I kind
of thought about it more going through Okay, what are
we expecting from this Rams offense, And like park Sid
as a player too, because when I think about him,
he kind of falls into the category of okay, catch
the ball, fall down type of tight end, but that
(19:07):
really hasn't been when he's done this year among tight ends,
fifth in yards per out run, seventh in yards out
to the catch per receptions. As a revenge game for
him against the Seattle Seahawks who used to play for
and when you look at what does this offense, what
do we expect from this offense without DeVante Adams. Again,
this is the first game that Adams is going to miss.
But we saw them play without puquin Deakua in that
(19:28):
game against the Jaguars in London, and what do they do?
They used thirteen personnel at one of the highest rates
in the NFL, so using all three tight ends. So
that suggests that Parkers is going to be heavily involved
along with the other tight ends. He led the team
in yards in that particular contest. He had three catches
for forty seven yards. He only had three targets, but
(19:49):
Tyler Higby was still active in that game. Higby actually
led the team with six targets in that particular contest,
so and he also he didn't score touchdown, but obviously
we know the touchdown upside is there with Kobe argets
and that's what he's been doing the last six games,
even with Devonte Adams healthy and in the lineup. So yeah,
I think I went in trying to really overanalyze and
(20:10):
try to figure out a way like is this just
is this not gonna work? But I couldn't really find
a reason for this not to work, where it's just like, dude,
they take out the guy that gets to all the
touchdowns and put in some other guy that catches the
second most touchdowns. Good matchup overall. I know that Julian
Love is gonna be back and healthy for this game
as well, so that's just one thing to kind of
note as one of the Seahawks' safeties. But yeah, I
(20:30):
really can't think for reasons, So I think to make
it simple as just like, hey, like start Koe Barkinson
on Thursday.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
I think maybe then one of the more popular questions
that has more legs to it is can I start
Tyler Warren? And a lot of people are down on
Tyler Warren and this isn't about actually Tyler Warren, but
this is a move that ericson. You are making over
him pretty dramatically. He is one spot higher than Warren
in the ECR. It's Darren Waller, and you've got Darren
Waller at tight end eighth this week. This is that,
(20:58):
you know, shame on for the Ravens tight ends. But
it's like you look at the Bengals matchup and you're
just like yep, You're like you just got to go
and it didn't work out last week in a big
embarrassing failure. It looks like you were kind of back
in on like you know, the quarterback change, you know,
the Wattle situation, Waller getting targets, horrifically bad defense against
(21:20):
tight end. I mean, did I just kind of like
lay out the Darren Waller side. You have him at
eight this week.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Yeah, I got to move him down though because it
was more when Tua was still the quarterback. And again
I'm not super high on Wattle. This week with quin
you were under center, and it's just again we want
to try to bet on things that we are confident in.
Obviously we're confident in the matchup for the Bengals, but
never seen Quen. You were again shouldce I never seen
He did play a little bit in that Browns game
for the Dolphins earlier this year, but haven't seen him
(21:47):
play with Darren Waller, so it feels more like a
leap of faith to like, oh, yeah, I'm going to
like roll the dice on Darren Waller against the Bengals
with the quarterback that we haven't really seen him play with,
So that's that's a concern. So he's going to move
down a little bit, probably behind some of these other
players that have also flashed a type of ceiling. He
could probably end up like in that fourteen to fifteen range,
where yeah, he's a streamable tight end, but rather go
(22:07):
with Parkinson, I don't think I would move him ahead
of like a guy like Harold Fannin. And to back
to the I mentioned this earlier, but I also would
do Parkinson over Harold Fannin. I'm brutally terrified of this
Bill's matchup, and again going back to try to like
dive into the lab, but like, oh well, Harold fann
can overcome this Bill's matchup because of X, Y, and Z,
(22:27):
and I could not find any reason why that would
be the case. He had fourteen targets last week and
was barely a tight end one. So even if is
seeing all this volume against Buffalo, odds are it's still
not going to be enough to warrant him as like
a smash start, given that he's probably going to have
a very low efficiency type of game because of how
good the Bills are defending tight ends.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Fitzer, you've got Waller at fourteen, looks like you may
have probably already built in the Quinn Yewers is starting situation.
What do you think on Waller?
Speaker 4 (22:55):
I did, and he has six touchdowns in seven games
this season, but that was all with and how does
this work with Quinn Ewers? And even with all those touchdowns,
Waller's average two point nine catches and thirty four point
seven receiving yards a game, So it's not like he's
getting a lot of volume. And I don't even know
if the Bengals tight end thing applies to Waller because
(23:16):
really he's not like a real tight end. He's really
more like an X receiver. So I just know, I mean,
do the Bengals maybe stick DJ Turner on him in
the red zone? I don't know, so like I would,
I'm not necessarily all in on Waller this week just
because of the matchup.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
All right, final one here, this is just a really
interesting one. He's not a top twelve tight end. He
comes in at thirteen. He has been a smash avoid
for quite some time. It's ARONDI Godsten. You're gonna understand
why the talk here is. But Fitzy, let's start with you,
because you've got him at easier. I goa be honest
with you. Even see him at thirteen seems kind of
a surprise. So talk to us about the ECR value
(23:58):
of Godsden and then we're gonna jump into ericson who
seems to be all in on Godsend this week.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Yeah, he burned brightly like a comet for a little while,
and then boy did that comet get extinguished in a hurry.
But you know, so it had been a really quiet
four game stretch for Ronde Gadsten, and then he's sort
of resurfaced last week with four catches for sixty one
yards against the Chiefs on five targets. It's just it
is hard to confidently start Gadsden when Justin Herbert has
(24:26):
thrown for two hundred and twenty or fewer yards in
five straight games and only has five touchdown passes over
that stretch, so just not a lot of yardage r
tds to go.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Around ericson tight end six for Gadsden, we haven't seen
that in god knows how long. Where is that blind
or analytical optimism putting you to get Godson at six?
Speaker 3 (24:51):
So I did adjust it slightly. He's at eight now.
I had to do some maneuvering with Parkinson and obviously
Travis Kelce too. I had to move him back up
because it doesn't seem like there's a chance that Rossie
Rice doesn't play based on him being in the concussion protocol.
But with Gadston, it's again it's been not good, but
(25:11):
we've seen him flash a really high ceiling at points
where he could win you your week based on a really
high end performance. And against Dallas man you gotta sometimes
throw out the past game logs out the window because
things can just get crazy in these types of environments
where the Chargers can have a plan that yeah, we're
gonna do X, Y and Z, and then the Dallas
Cowboys score a bunch of points on them and they
have to throw the football. So Gadston, I think that
(25:34):
it's not a coincidence that he had his best game
in a long time when Johnston wasn't active last week.
So if Johnston misses again, you're seeing Gadston deployed as Okay,
here's a guy that could potentially leave the team in
routes run because we know that's not going to be
Keenan Allen kind of to the similar point of why
I want to chase the upside with lad McConkie, even
though I know it's a scary floor, because there's a
(25:54):
chance that a Chargers player could win you your week
against the Dallas Cowboys this week, and I don't want
to miss that type of opportunity, especially at tight end
when you know that most Titans are gonna putting up
that four for forty stat line anyway, So why not
try to shoot for the moon. You're with a guy
like Gadston who has flashed it again it's been a while,
but the optics of this particular matchup could suggest, Hey,
he could have a big game here. So that's why
(26:16):
I want to be a little bit more aggressive on
him versus like the Jake Ferguson's or the Dalton Schultz's
Kinkaid's where they have a floor with them. I mean,
would you do Fannin over Gadston, like who has a
higher ceiling? This week? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Well, I mean you want to pretend that Gadsden does.
It's just been so bad. I mean, I don't know.
I gona be honest with the fourteen targets. It might
still be Fanning, But I know what you're saying. I
know what you're saying here. Yeah, your logic makes sense,
and that's a big thing. Upside versus the floor. You're
gonna have to make those decisions in the playoffs. Sometimes
that shines even brighter. And in the tight end position
this week, it seems like there's a little bit more
(26:50):
of a hyper focus on the upside than it is
some of those floor plays that are out there. You
guys know where to find us if there are more
tight end or quarterback questions. Lots of different outlets, and
we are here for you, and we'll be here for
you next week as well. A little bit earlier. There's
a Christmas obviously crazy schedule that's going on, but that
doesn't mean we aren't going to have all the great episodes,
and we'll be recording a little bit earlier, so we'll
(27:11):
get you set up for your championship a week. Good
luck this week, be here next A week can guide
you through the championship. For Pat Fitzmorris and Andrew Ericson,
I'm Chris Welsh. Good luck and we'll talk to you
next time right here on Fantasy Pros.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
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 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 Fantasypros.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Back up the bo
Hosts And Creators
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Joe Pisapia
Derek Brown
Thor Nystrom
Ryan Wormeli
Pat Fitzmaurice
Matthew Freedman
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