0:00Welcome into the Lineup Fantasy Football Show, I'm Mitch Anderson.
0:03I'm Justin Melo. And Mello, Week 7 is in the books.
0:06We are officially into Week 8, which means we have officially finished half of the Fantasy Football regular season.
0:11And if you're like us, you are figuring out who to buy, sell, and hold to give yourself the best chance to
0:17make a run in a championship for the Fantasy Football Playoffs.
0:20So today we are looking at some of the highest profile buys and sells based on their Fantasy Football Playoff schedule.
0:26Plus a couple of guys that we're just a little bit cautious about.
0:30We're not moving them, but we do want to point out our fiduciary duty that they've got a tough schedule down the stretch.
0:36But before we jump in, as always, the Lineup is presented by Dabble Fantasy.
0:40Download and sign for Dabble, then use the promo code LINEUP and get $20 in bonus cash when you play your first 10.
0:46Let's start it on a positive note though here.
0:49Let's identify a screaming value at quarterback who has a dream schedule for the Fantasy Playoffs.
0:53Let's talk about Caleb Williams. Let's do it. He's looked great since he's been back and down the stretch.
0:58Week 15 at Buffalo, Week 16 versus the Packers, and then Week 17 versus Detroit.
1:03You're right. Dream schedule here in the Fantasy Playoffs.
1:05Week 14, by the way, if you want to throw that in, they get Miami, another favorable matchup.
1:10Once it gets frosty outside, Mitch, the Iceman's going to show up, and he's got three really good matchups here.
1:16Bad defenses, potential shootout spots with a lot of points.
1:18And not only that, I think all of these teams that the Bears are playing, as well as the Bears, are teams
1:25that are going to be really competitive down the stretch.
1:27There's going to be playoff implications. You're going to see competitive games where nobody's putting their players on ice, nobody's taking their foot off the gas.
1:35That's good for points. Yeah, that's actually such a great point because that's not something that shows up in your strength of
1:41schedule documents or your spreadsheets or anything. It's just like taking a look at these teams and being like, these are going
1:47to be games that Chicago's going to have to be slinging it to keep in with.
1:51And I said it on my notes as well, like week 14, you look at Miami.
1:56If you're a team that's on the bubble trying to get into the fantasy football playoffs, that's a huge one.
2:01But we take a look at the schedule. Like you mentioned, week 15, you're at Buffalo.
2:06Buffalo has been home to shootout after shootout this season, just giving up points left and right.
2:10I'm circling that game as a massive blow up spot for Caleb.
2:14I think the Green Bay one in week 16 is a little bit more interesting because they had that pretty brutal start
2:20on defense, but they've actually looked a lot better over the past few weeks.
2:24And then the one we're both eyeing week 17 with Caleb Williams, you take on the Lions who they're allowing almost an
2:30inconceivable amount of points to quarterbacks, 26.2 a game.
2:32If you can get to week 17 with Caleb, you could be looking at a literal championship winning game at quarterback.
2:38Absolutely. Let's flip to the other side though. Time to be negative.
2:41And it sucks to be negative about our guy, Drake May, who's got this schedule coming up week 15.
2:47You take on the Kansas city chiefs in Kansas city week 16, you play the jets in New York, and then you
2:53finish off in week 17 with the Denver Broncos in new England.
2:56We just said it with Caleb Williams, but it's also kind of an inverse.
3:00I'd even tack on the week 14 game where may in the Patriots draw Minnesota, which we've just seen.
3:05Minnesota is putting opposing quarterbacks in hell right now.
3:08Look, we love Drake May. We told people to stick with him despite the tough first few weeks and that it was
3:14okay to bench him, but don't cut him or trade him.
3:17And that's paid off. And now as Patriots fans, we're sitting here talking about the guy who's been the quarterback one, one,
3:23four, and two over the last four weeks. And we're saying we're a little bit nervous that he might get nerfed down
3:29the stretch here, specifically for me, the Kansas city game.
3:32And obviously Minnesota too, if you start in week 14, but if you can get through those two games, you get to the jets in week 16.
3:39I don't think is horrible. They just played them in week six.
3:43Drake went for 23.8 points. The nightmare matchup for me is where most people are in their fantasy football championships taking on Denver in week 17.
3:50It's a tough sell, but actionably what I would say is if you can tear up to a Josh Allen, I would look into that.
3:57Even if you want it to tear down to a Brock Purdy, we just talked about yesterday.
4:01Some people might be overreacting in that game against Atlanta.
4:04I'd see if you could get away with that as well and try to get Brock plus for Drake.
4:09Yeah. Especially just given those last three games, it's a brutal stretch.
4:13Denver's defense, like you mentioned, like kind of a nightmare matchup.
4:16They've been great without Pat Sertain and you get Pat Sertain back and like that becomes really scary.
4:21And the other thing I thought about that's actually kept me up at night as a Patriots fan.
4:26I mean, first of all, two of these three games are on the road, but all three of them are in outdoor environments in the cold.
4:33That is where Drake may struggled immensely last year in the real life NFL playoffs.
4:37I don't know if I want to watch Drake may outside in the cold against good defenses in my fantasy playoffs.
4:43No, I'm, I'm totally with you. All right. Enough negativity.
4:46Let's get back to the positive. Let's talk about a really good running back.
4:50Melo, dare I say somebody we love somebody we Jeremiah love.
4:53We absolutely Jeremiah Love him and we Jeremiah Love this schedule as well.
4:56Week 15 against the Jets week 16 at New Orleans and week 17 against the Raiders.
5:01The Cardinals are so often in shootouts and not only do these three games lend themselves to Jeremiah love running the ball
5:07effectively and efficiently because the defenses are bad, but there are also spots where they could be potential competitive games for the
5:13Cardinals where they're running the ball more as opposed to their typical air raid offense.
5:17In the fourth quarter, you could see them running the ball through 60 minutes in this one, which I in all three of these games, which I like.
5:25He's going to get healthy. He's going to get all the work back where he becomes the primary back in this backfield
5:31and also sort of the inverse of what I was talking about with Caleb Williams.
5:35All three of these opponents, I don't anticipate really competing for a playoff spot by this point in the season.
5:41The Cardinals included in that. So that could be a little bit scary if they decide to put Jeremiah love on ice.
5:47But these other three teams, they could have some of their defensive stars and bubble wrap by this point.
5:52And then Jeremiah love could really gouge him. Yeah, this is this is a really juicy down the stretch type of situation.
5:58And look, we got the earlier reports. It looks like we're going to get Jeremiah love back here in week eight against
6:04Dallas, who we just saw Saquon gash them on literally one leg.
6:08It was literally the Greg Jennings put the team on my back video every time he was going down the sidelines.
6:13And it feels like sometimes you look at these rookie seasons and you're trying to project this end of the year breakout.
6:19And so you're like, I could buy them low relative to what I think they're going to be down the stretch.
6:25You can buy Jeremiah love low, just point blank, period.
6:28People are freaking out about the guy. And I understand it.
6:31We haven't seen it yet. He's been hurt most of the year, but we saw it at Notre Dame.
6:36We know this guy's capable of. You could even say we saw it a few weeks back against San Francisco when he
6:42exploded and he was a top six running back.
6:45Talent's undeniable. I cannot stand by while we pretend it's not completely over for Tyler Algier.
6:49And so this is one of those ones that we're looking at.
6:53And I'm calling this an absolute screaming by on Jeremiah love right now.
6:56All right, let's switch to a bad running back here, though.
6:59I'll let you introduce this guy a little bit.
7:02This is going to be one that we're not giving you any crazy actionable advice.
7:06We're just saying it's important to point out that Kenneth Walker's got a pretty tough schedule down the stretch.
7:11He does. Week 15 against the Patriots, week 16 against the 49ers, and then week 17 at the Chargers.
7:17He's still, like you said, like he's obviously a RB1 every week.
7:20We're not saying panic trade him. We're not saying bench him in your fantasy playoffs if you get there.
7:25He's a must start every week, regardless of matchup, as long as he's there.
7:29I just wouldn't be banking on a nuclear blow up performance for your fantasy playoffs.
7:33That's the right way to put it. I completely agree.
7:36I don't think we're going to see, like remember Jamal Charles for the Chiefs, however many years ago, like blew up in the fantasy playoffs.
7:43I don't think we're going to see that at the Ken Walker this year.
7:47They're not only good defenses they're playing, but they're also good teams, aside from the Chargers, who are obviously a dumpster fire.
7:53But the Chiefs might not have this positive game script where they're running the ball super late against the Patriots and the
7:5949ers, who have good run defenses, good teams overall.
8:01And the last thing I'll throw in, we've talked about this on the show.
8:05We've never seen Ken Walker with this kind of workload before.
8:08What will that look like in December when he might be a little bit more worn down and he might not be
8:14quite as explosive anymore against these really good defenses?
8:17Again, a must start in your fantasy playoffs if you have them.
8:20But just keep that in mind. Yeah, that's why this one's so tough is it's like we can't come out here and
8:26be like bench Ken Walker or trade Ken Walker.
8:29Like that's not good advice. But what I will say is like you're completely right that there's a chance we get to
8:35this point in the season and we're in, let's call it week 16 in this game against San Francisco.
8:40And like, yeah, Kansas City might be motivated to give Kenneth Walker a little less work, especially with how good Emmitt Johnson's looked.
8:47And I just think the ceiling, these explosive, massive performances we've talked about so far this year, like you said, I think
8:53the odds of seeing those are a little bit lower.
8:56So I just don't think he's going to be like this.
8:59Book it 24 point score week in, week out in your fantasy playoffs.
9:02And we just had Joe Pizopia on who said he'd be interested in moving Kenneth Walker for a King's ransom quite literally
9:08because he talked about having Derek Henry in the package, but I'm not sure if I would do it.
9:14But I think there's some merit to shopping it around and seeing if you could, I don't know, maybe go after this next guy.
9:20We just talked about plus as the single best wide receiver, in my opinion, to target down the stretch that, of course,
9:26let's transition into Malik neighbors taking on Cleveland in week 15.
9:29In week 16, he gets the creme de la creme matchup of playing Detroit in Detroit.
9:34And then week 17, as if it couldn't get any better, he gets to take on the Dallas Cowboys at home for the fancy football championships.
9:41I just those week 16, 17 Detroit Dallas, obviously extremely plus matchups Detroit specifically giving up a wild again, feels fake 31.6
9:47fancy points per game to wide receivers. We've seen them every week in shootout after shootout.
9:52Ironically, Green Bay was the only one who wasn't able to do a ton of damage with Christian Watson and Matthew Golden.
9:58But that's been the anomaly so far this year.
10:00Even Cleveland in week 15, they're ranking 12th in fancy points per game.
10:04I don't think I need to tell you that Malik neighbors has been awesome, but he could be a literal fantasy football cheat code down the stretch.
10:11I see that Dallas game and I literally cannot help but think about the explosion he had against Dallas week two of
10:17last year when he popped off for just under 38 points.
10:20I'd be paying a lot for Malik neighbors right now.
10:23I agree to me. He's like the best beneficiary of a positive schedule in the fantasy playoffs and one of my favorite league winners for that reason.
10:31In addition to just the volume and the talent and everything we already know about, you mentioned the Cleveland defense.
10:36I think people focus on how good their defense has been, or at least their run defense has been that they confuse
10:42it with their passing defense, which hasn't been that great.
10:45Like they've been exploitable in that secondary in Cleveland, Detroit and Dallas.
10:48I don't think you could script two better shootout spots with a lot of points.
10:52So incredible, incredible matchups. And then I keep bringing up the real life NFL implications because I think they do play a role.
10:59They're important. They're important for projecting how teams are going to play.
11:02You know, if they're going to be aggressive, if the starters are going to play the Giants right now lead the NFC East down the stretch here.
11:10They could be playing for a playoff berth, a divisional title.
11:13They're going to force feed Malik neighbors if they're in that situation.
11:16100%. All right, let's move on. Let's talk about the bad wide receiver though.
11:20And you kick us off talking about, I can't believe I'm putting you in the spot, talking about your guy, T-Mac, Teddero.
11:26I know. I love him so much and you're making me talk negatively about him.
11:30But look, the schedule is tough. Week 15 against the Bengals.
11:33Week 16 at Pittsburgh. Week 17 versus Seattle. We really have come a long way with this Cincinnati defense because when I
11:39see Bengals defense in a schedule, I no longer light up anymore with excitement for whoever my fantasy receiver or quarterback is,
11:45they've actually allowed, they're right in the middle of the pack, 16th fewest points per game to opposing wide receivers.
11:51They were eighth going into week seven. Zay Flowers had a little bit of a feel day.
11:56Yeah, Zay Flowers. The Zay Flowers effect was in full force.
11:59Yeah. Zay Flowers affected that. Pittsburgh secondary has been pretty good.
12:02Seattle has allowed the single fewest fantasy points to opposing wide receivers.
12:05They've just been incredible in the back end. So if you get to your fantasy championship, you got to have Teddero at McMillan against Seattle.
12:12That doesn't feel good. And we'll also see, we had Dynasty dad Mike on yesterday.
12:16Taylor Moten, probably it seems pretty likely he's done for the year with the Panthers.
12:20We'll see how that absence affects this offense going forward.
12:23Bryce Young could be under a ton of pressure against these really good defenses.
12:27I don't love it in the fantasy playoffs. I thought you were going to say pretty clear that that's going to cause
12:33problems for Bryce Young because he looked like your like six-year-old nephew at the Turkey Bowl getting chased by his drunk uncles
12:39every time he dropped back and just getting thrown into the ground.
12:43But yeah, dude, I'm with you. And I mean, I talked about like Jalen Coker is one of my favorite buys right
12:49now as I look at the rest of the season.
12:51And I think like, yeah, he's extremely undervalued. Seattle's the one I circle as the one that scares me.
12:57If you go out and you have T-Mac, you have Coker, you go out and make a move for one of them.
13:03Like I'm extremely excited about what we'll see rest of season.
13:06I'm not so thrown off by Cincy. Pittsburgh gives me some pause.
13:09Seattle's got my brain in a pretzel right now.
13:12We just saw what they did to Kansas City the other night.
13:15I think Seattle's defense again is no joke. They were number one in DVOA last year for a reason.
13:20This is a really phenomenal defense. I would, I would be having my concerns again.
13:24I would say don't go and sell T-Mac for like nothing.
13:27But if you're in a position right now where you're super confident that you are going to make it into the playoffs
13:34and the points between now and let's call it week 13 aren't as important as your points in weeks 15, 16, 17,
13:40I'd be looking for one of these guys that has a little bit lighter of a schedule, which here's one of those guys.
13:46Let's talk about one of the best tight end schedules.
13:49We're going to skip over Isaiah likely. He actually probably is the number one pick here, but we just talked through Lake neighbors.
13:55So just to have on your files, Isaiah likely a fantastic target, but mellow Dalton Kincaid taking on the Chicago bears in week 15 week 16.
14:02He gets the Denver Broncos in week 17. He gets the Miami dolphins.
14:06Both of those being away games. It has been really feast or famine for Dalton Kincaid managers, obviously a top five tight
14:12end both of the first two weeks, then totals 9.2 PPR points total over the next three weeks.
14:17We get a little bit of a glimmer of hope with seven catches off of eight targets.
14:22I'll be it for 38 yards back in week six before they're by.
14:25If you were looking for that little bit of hope that he was going to be okay.
14:30I think you did see it. I think you did see it in the eight targets he got.
14:35Now they come off that by, I think he could be a genuinely really good trade target.
14:40If you're talking with a manager who is just so frustrated with the lack of consistency.
14:44Meanwhile, you get him puts together a few good weeks and you get into the fancy football playoffs.
14:49Chicago just barely a positive matchup for tight ends.
14:52That one's not huge, but Denver, who we think of this incredible imposing defense ranking ninth in fancy points per game allowed to the tight end position.
14:59Miami ranking number two in the entire NFL with an insane 17.5 points per game.
15:03I'm buying Dalton Kincaid right now if I've been streaming tight end and I'm just looking for a guy that's too cheap for his upside.
15:10That is exactly who he profiles as. And even if you got to stash him for a little while, I would do it.
15:17I'd be targeting him because I think he's just too cheap.
15:20I agree. And he's somebody who I don't want to call matchup dependent in general, but like we saw what an elite
15:26defense like New England did to him, right? Where they've been great against the tight end.
15:30They held them to one catch when he played them.
15:33He doesn't have to worry about that in these fantasy playoffs.
15:36These are three really good matchups. The Bills, again, going to be aggressive down the stretch, potentially playing for the division or
15:42if not the division, maybe trying to get the one seed.
15:45So Dalton Kincaid is somebody I'm definitely excited about as well.
15:48And you actually mentioned it in yesterday's episode. It's like, unless you're a Brock Bowers or a Trey McBride, most of these
15:54guys are going to have dud weeks and they are going to be a little bit matchup dependent.
15:59And you actually even mentioned this guy in that group of McBride and Bowers potentially.
16:03But talk to me about George Kittle, who has potentially the worst tight end schedule in the fancy playoffs.
16:09Yeah, it's tough. Week 15 at the Charters and then week 16 at Kansas City, week 17 versus Philly.
16:14He is kind of in that weird tier of his own where like he's below Bowers and McBride rest of season, but
16:20above everyone else, I think relatively comfortably, you can maybe throw Isaiah Likely in there with him.
16:25But he just unfortunately seems like he could become a little bit of a TD gamble come the fantasy playoffs, which he's
16:31been great at scoring touchdowns, but he's also gotten pretty good volume this season, at least better than I think a lot of people projected.
16:38He's a must start if you add him, like similar to what we were talking about with Ken Walker.
16:43We're not benching George Kittle in your fantasy playoffs.
16:46We're not panic trading him, but it's maybe somebody to keep on your radar.
16:49If there's an option in the trade market, you want to tear down maybe to a guy like Isaiah Likely, who we
16:56talked about and get something else in that deal as well.
16:59These matchups aren't great. And also the 49ers are probably going to have a lot of their receivers back by this point,
17:05which also is an indication that maybe the volume won't be there.
17:08You stole all of my notes for this. I was going to say the same thing.
17:12I think we're going to see a lot more mouths to feed by this time.
17:17I mean, knowing San Francisco, who knows? Brock Perry's probably just going to get eaten by the electric substation.
17:22But I had the exact same thing. Look at a guy like Isaiah Likely, I just mentioned, has an incredible schedule down the stretch.
17:29People freaking out. Maybe he's not going to be the same with 918 J.J.
17:32McCarthy as he was with Jameis Winston. Could you tear down from Kittle to Isaiah Likely if you're in a comfortable spot
17:39and feel good about making the playoffs? I don't hate it.
17:42You look at that schedule and you look at the week 16 matchup against the Lions for Isaiah Likely.
17:47He said that's great for Malik Neighbors. How about the tight end position who they're giving up 25 points per game to?
17:53I would be looking at Isaiah Likely right now as a great pickup too.
17:57But Mello, those were some of the best and worst schedules across the NFL for the fantasy football playoffs.
18:02If we miss anybody, let us know down below and we'll give our analysis on their fantasy football playoff schedule as well as some actionable advice.
18:09And of course, if you have any questions about start, sits, trades, anything in between to help you win your week 8
18:15matchup and beyond, let us know and we'll answer every single thing we can.
18:19But before we get out of here, Mello, did we miss anything?
18:23I'm good. All right. We will catch you guys next episode.
18:26We'll catch you guys next episode. We'll catch you guys next episode.