It's Week 18 ... we made it! But wait, there's more football to be played. Yes, and it's the wildest week of the season. Speaking of wild, we thought it'd be a good idea to bring back our power trio of Pete Overzet, cooterdoodle and Jake Trowbridge to talk YOLO plays, dynasty QB rankings, their favorite New Year's Eve drinks and foods, and several more topics in this entertaining three-way chat. Enjoy!

Week 18 Fantasy Football Roundtable

1. Who is your YOLO play for Week 18?

Jake: First of all, if your league plays for the championship in Week 18 … get some help. Seriously. But for the purposes of DFS, I’m specifically honing in on NFL teams who made the playoffs but have nothing but pride to play for in Week 18. So I’m looking at you, Packers. After getting properly shellacked by the Ravens last week and thus locked into the No. 7 seed, Green Bay will probably roll out as much of their B-squad as they can on both sides of the ball. That could lead to a big game for the Vikings and big production from their backfield. If Aaron Jones is healthy, he could knock the socks off his former team. If he’s not, then maybe get weird and see what Ty Chandler can do to the broken and beleaguered Packers defense.

Cooterdoodle: I like a little fight in my dawgs. With so many teams eliminated or “safely” in the playoffs, I’m looking at the Panthers and Bucs, who are fighting for the NFC South title this week. For some reason, Baker Mayfield has been looking at Jalen McMillan more than Emeka Egbuka these last two weeks. If I need a crazy-deep WR play, McMillan, who just went 7-114-0 in Week 17, sounds fun in a rival matchup with the division on the line. But I also define “YOLO” plays as “who I’d love to see score.” That list includes: Isaac TeSlaa, Colston Loveland and Jacory Croskey-Merritt.

Cash Game King: Nice try. First of all, I will not be “YOLO’ing” anything. I’m here to play the best plays and the best plays only. Second, my favorite plays are confidential information in Week 18—the one week of the year where I exclusively focus on the greatest fantasy game known to man (DFS cash games). As the Cash Game King who is soliciting thousands of dollars in head-to-head invites on DraftKings, I can’t afford to let my competition know who will be in my lineup. The DOJ has already tried to release my shell team after mounting pressure from congress and I’m scrambling to cover my tracks.

2. In dynasty leagues, rank these QBs: Trey Lance, Quinn Ewers, Zach Wilson

Jake: This is like being asked to rank worms, dish soap and used condoms as appetizers … but, OK, I’ll bite—Sorry, Poor phrasing. Both Zach Wilson and Trey Lance are free agents this offseason, and there are plenty of teams that could be in the market for a reclamation project. Lance was a first-round pick who’s been in the league for four years and has somehow started only five games. So while he’s an unproven “project” QB, I think he also has the most untapped upside of the bunch. I’ll rank them Lance, Quinn Ewers (who should start a handful of games next year), then Wilson.

Cooterdoodle: Is my mom’s best friend playing in this dynasty league? If so, Wilson gets a bump. Otherwise, I’ll take a longshot on Lance getting an opportunity somewhere.

Pete: Dynasty is that game where you get to keep the players for their entire career, right? And you just rank the players by sorting them in ascending order from youngest to oldest. I’m pretty sure I have that correct, so let’s see …

1. Quinn Ewers (22)
2. Trey Lance (25)
3. Zach Wilson (26)

That was easy. Next question …

3. Why don’t more people embrace the crap out of Week 18 for the bizarre fun of it all and one last chance to play fantasy in-season?

Jake: Please see my answer to Question #1. But if you want to do something with the chaos of this week, I suggest having your entire league draft a new starting lineup. The team with the most points gets to choose the league punishment for the season’s loser.

Cooterdoodle: This question is rage bait and I’m trying my best not to fall for it. If you’ve ever made it to a Week 18 championship matchup only for your real-life players to be real-life benched after their real-life NFL team is eliminated from playoff contention … It will make you want to pull your real-life hair out. There’s nothing to embrace. There’s nothing bizarre or fun about it. We’ve already white knuckled our way through injuries, matchups and waivers for 17 long weeks. Isn’t that enough??

Pete: I’ve long said Week 18 is a “prove it week.” People get scared of the chaos because they don’t want to put in the work required to be great. The truth is that we live in a society where laziness abounds and no one wants to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty. I relish it, though. I thrive off it. In my utopia, every week of the NFL season is Week 18. Teams tanking, players resting, bad weather. What more could you ask for?

4. What’s your NYE must-have food?

Jake: My answer to this is the same as my answer to most holiday food questions: DIPS. If your New Year's Eve spread doesn’t include some kind of fatty, salty, booze-sponging dip, then you’ve dropped the ball before the ball has even dropped. Buffalo chicken dip is tops, but a hot spinach artichoke dip is a solid backup.

Cooterdoodle: I’m letting you in on a little Louisiana Cajun secret right now. There’s a guy called “Cajun Ninja.” He’s theatrical. He’s a little cheesy. But we have his cookbook and can attest that he’ll help you make some incredible food. For NYE, try his Black Eyed Peas. PIYAHHH! (That’s a reference you’ll understand later.)

Pete: You can’t go wrong with a big ass shrimp cocktail.

5. What’s your NYE must-have drink?

Jake: I’m not much of a champagne guy, but I make an exception for NYE just so I can toast “champagne for my real friends and real pain for my sham friends.” Besides that, I try to stick to beer.

Cooterdoodle: Call me old fashioned, because that’s what I’ll be drinking. That, or Buffalo Trace over a nice large rock. Sip responsibly.

Pete: I would never “imbibe” during Cash Game Week. I can’t let the Devil’s juice distract me from unearthing the best plays. But let’s just say, in a moment of weakness, I may or may not be tempted by  ̶4̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶5̶ Mai Tais.

6. What’s your best Week 18 fantasy-related story?

Jake: Nothing specific, but I always enjoy when a random player pops off in Week 18 and then my leaguemates spend the whole offseason trying to convince themselves said player is an ascending superstar instead of the result of pure attrition and/or studs resting for the playoffs. (But cheers to last year’s WR5 on the week, Greg Dortch.)

Cooterdoodle: Back in the early 2010s, I used to commission a league where I would send a leaguewide “Weekly Recap” email to everyone in an attempt to boost camaraderie and keep the league interested. Yes, email. This was before group texts. And everyone loved it. I would highlight the losers each week and create fun narratives about what failures had occurred (dropping players they shouldn’t have, setting terrible lineups, etc).

Well, there was this one leaguemate—we’ll call her Kelly—who was doing much worse than everyone else. It was so bad that Kelly made it into the “roasting” part of the e-mail every single week. But it didn’t stop there. The league would “reply all” and keep the Kelly trash talk going all week long. It was brutal (just like her team). Finally, after 17 long weeks of giving Kelly hell via Gmail … She responded! Sure, it was Week 18, but it was her first “reply all” to the group! We were so excited! Here’s what she had to say: “I don’t know how you guys got my email, but whoever you are… PLEASE stop with whatever this is. I don’t know who Jay Cutler is. I don’t know what waivers are. I don’t know you. Please just leave me alone! This is weird.” Turns out … We had the wrong e-mail address for the “bad at fantasy Kelly” by one digit. It was a different, more innocent Kelly with the same first and last name, receiving our weekly degrading emails all season long. Whoops!

Pete: Two years ago during Week 18 Cash Game Week, the man who had just won Underdog’s Best Ball Mania for $3,000,000 (Farid Shaheed) sent me a H2H invite for $1,000 where he intentionally built a bad lineup with a bunch of meme players. I won in a landslide. I’d like to normalize millionaires finding creative ways to donate money to me.

7. On a scale from 1-10 (10 being best season ever), how was your 2025 in terms of fantasy?

Jake: In a year where I often felt like the New York Jets and the world seemed like … well, any team playing against the New York Jets … fantasy football provided a little light and some needed distraction. And I’m sure I’m not alone there. As a result, I bonded with some of my leaguemates a little more this year. In the face of stupefyingly bad performances (see: Josh Jacobs, Week 17), I tilted a little less and laughed a little more. I enjoyed every stupid meme, every horrible team name pun, and every sad-but-admirable attempt at trash talk in my league chat. This year, fantasy brought me a couple of championships. It brought me fun new ways to contribute to Fantasy Life. It also brought me the realization that I’ll never—and I mean ever—win my home league. But most importantly, fantasy brought me perspective. So yeah … 10/10, would recommend.

Cooterdoodle: I lost two separate side bets, one resulting in me becoming an Atlanta Falcons fan for the season, which severely caused friction inside my Saints-loving household. So to my husband, I’m sorry. I made the playoffs in 100% of my redraft/dynasty leagues. So to the leaguemates who didn’t make it because of me, I’m sorry. I talked trash all season long like an annoying little gremlin, including pointed jabs hidden inside Fantasy Life’s newsletters, videos and articles. So to Justin, I’m sorry … that I didn’t talk more sh*t! SUCK IT, DUDE! I’LL NEVER APPOLOGIZE! And I won the Fantasy Life dynasty championship. So to Fantasy Life, I’m sorry. I’ll be gloating for a while. All of this to say: 10/10 BABY! LET’S DO IT AGAIN NEXT YEAR!

Cash Game King: How I will remember this year all comes down to this week. If I’m able to win 53.4% of my H2Hs it will be a 10/10. If I only win 46.5% it will be a 1/10. This is my Super Bowl. Everything is on the line. You can send me a H2H at revertzeetop on DraftKings if you are so inclined. Just remember … if you come at the king, you best not miss.

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