Sit Patrick Mahomes or Justin Jefferson? Considering Bold Decisions in the Fantasy Football Playoffs
In today's Fantasy Life Newsletter, presented by Xfinity, be bold with fantasy playoff lineup decisions, Week 15 Smash starts and Scared Money bets.
In today's Fantasy Life Newsletter, presented by Xfinity:
I recently wrote an article for The Athletic that said Patrick Mahomes may be benchable during the fantasy football playoffs. It brought to mind something a reader told me years ago.
I had suggested to potentially bench a star player in the postseason. This reader said he didn’t want to do it. It wasn’t that he disagreed with my statistical premise, but rather that he figured if he benched this player and it didn’t work out, the other fantasy football managers would laugh at him and never let him live that down.
My response to that line of thinking is that the fantasy playoffs are like the classic Christmas movie Die Hard. The playoffs take place in Nakatomi Plaza. You are John McClane. Your opponents, the ones who want to keep you from the love of your life (your league’s fantasy championship) are Hans Gruber and company. They have, to quote McClane, “missiles, automatic weapons and enough plastic explosives to orbit Arnold Schwarzenegger.”
When it comes time to put in your fantasy lineup against powerhouse teams like this, you need to be like McClane when he’s throwing the chair down the elevator shaft to stop the terrorists from killing more policemen. McClane is putting detonator wires into the C4 explosives and has to decide how many to use. He’s got two in there and thinks for a second about adding a third before saying “F*** it” and putting the third one in.
That’s the mindset you must have! This is not the time to be meek or timid. It’s the time to channel Teddy Roosevelt’s famous Man In The Arena speech (keep in mind TR climbed The Matterhorn on his honeymoon because it happened to be close by). You want to be Terry Bradshaw airing out long passes to win Super Bowls. You want to live by the Bruce Arians motto “No risk it, no biscuit”.
This means considering unexpected players who can have an explosive impact on your lineup. My suggestions here this week include Dalton Schultz, Harold Fannin Jr., Isaiah Likely, Jameson Williams (it’s lining up to be a boom week for him), Tyrone Tracy Jr. and Devin Singletary (consider getting both into fantasy lineups) and Jaxson Dart.
True story: Last winter we worked around the clock to improve the beloved start/sit tool, with designs of putting it into our premium Tier 2 package. Then Xfinity asked if they could make it FREE for everyone. So now you can enjoy our excellent start/sit column AND the accompanying tool all at the low price of $0.00, thank you to Xfinity. Go now! Run some players through! Enjoy the tool! And get that win!!
Imagine all your football, all in one place. Easy. Xfinity. Imagine That.
With so much hand-wringing by fantasy managers who drafted him in the first round, did you realize that Saquon Barkley already has over 1,100 scrimmage yards and 7 TDs this season? We had to look it up, too, but he most certainly has. And after he popped for 122 rushing yards and a score on this past Monday night he opened more than a few eyes to the fact that he could actually help teams win their fantasy championships. A matchup with the Raiders top open the playoffs certainly helps:
“Considering Las Vegas has lost seven straight games with an eroding rush defense (25th in EPA/rush allowed since Week 9), there will be some situational factors at play that could help Barkley blow the top off his projections. The Eagles RB1 has the sixth-highest Xfinity-Best ceiling amongst running backs (23). I’m all in on Saquon as a SMASH-start.”
Mark Drumheller and John Laghezza pile up the players looking to smash the opposition for Week 15. It’s a mixture of fantasy stars in fantastic matchups and with one player who’s the last man standing on an injury-riddled, but still fun, offense.⤵️
In this week’s Scared Money, cooterdoodle puts the big bucks down on the Seahawks D making Rivers’ return an inauspicious one, and breaks down several other wagers, including a nine-leg chalk parlay that could keep her winning streak going. ⤵️
