 Welcome to the fan duel hurry up. It's Maria Marino for fantasy sports network and number fires Jim Sonnis is on hand as we continue to anticipate this championship weekend in the NFL We're actually gonna talk about both the NFC championship and the AFC championship single slates We'll start with the NFC We're gonna give you a pair of studs a pair of mid-tier plays and a pair of value plays Hurt a see of Jim. Let's start with the first stud and it's at quarterback Drew Brees Yeah, I really think that when I'm looking at MVPs for this NFC championship game It's hard to it's hard to whittle it down because you have to your breeze Michael Thomas Alvin Kamara Jared Goff and Todd Gurley got a lot of good guys who you could Hypothetically put in your MVP slot and get that that bonus for them But I think I'm leaning towards Drew Brees right now because if we look at him in his home games this year Breezes had at least 16 Fandal points in every single game. He has played at the Superdome this year He has also had some upside to with at least 30 points in three separate games here Including the game he played against the Rams back in week number nine He has had 30 or more Fandal points in two of the six games that Ted Guin has played this year And one of those games is actually outdoors when he was facing the Giants he top 40 in that game as well So the upside is there. I love the safety that Drew Brees has. I love having this game indoors So Breeze pretty expensive at $16,000 But I think he's still worth that and I think that more often than not He will be the guy I wanted to plug into the MVP slot You mentioned the last time the Saints played the Rams and to be specific Drew Brees had 346 yards for touchdowns now this time around he's projected to reach over 21 fantasy points on Fandal Another stud for the NFC championship slate. It's at running back and another Saint Alvin Camara Yeah, I think that when you look at the composition of the value plays in this slate You're gonna be able to afford at least two of these studs You can get in if you want to go with the two quarterback lineup and go with Breeze and goff You can definitely do that But I also love a lot of what Kamara did in that divisional round game against the Eagles and I loved his uses there 16 carries for targets for Alvin Camara He played 69% of the snaps and yes That was a game script that set up for more Kamara than it did for Mark Ingram But I kind of think we could see the same thing again here at least based in the way the Saints use those running backs The first time they faced the Rams in that game against the Rams Kamara got 19 carries He had five targets and scored three touchdowns and all those touchdowns We're in the first half of that game to give the Saints a pretty big lead at the halftime Looking at Michael Thomas. I think that he is at least intriguing here But if you look at this from a matchup perspective Thomas is now facing a defense that does have a key to leave again Which makes the path for Thomas a little bit tougher than what he had last time So if I'm deciding between the Saints studs, I kind of think I lean towards Kamara over Michael Thomas for this single game slate. I know Thomas blew up last week He was phenomenal But Kamara had that long touchdown callback by a penalty and the usage that I would expect for him here It's pretty tasty. So I would lean Kamara over Michael Thomas But all these guys are really in play for this weekend and as are the guys in the Rams side as well Kamara also had a great performance when the Saints played the Rams last time around with over a hundred total yards Three touchdowns once again, he's projected to reach over a hundred yards and over 18 fantasy points on Fandall Let's move on to some mid-tier options for the NFC championship slate of DFS come Sunday The first one we're gonna talk about is Robert Woods Yeah, we've talked a lot about the first meeting between the Rams and the Saints and in that game if you'll remember It was Cooper cups first game back from injury and in that game He had this really long touchdown caught a pass ran down the sideline broke through a tackle And it made sense because Cooper cup had the best matchup on paper in that game But with Cooper cup being out Robert Woods is essentially Taking over the Cooper cup roll running a lot of Roth's routes from the slot And that's where you want to attack the Saints defense is via the slot We look at Robert Woods since Cooper cups injury He has 23% of the Rams total targets along with 27% of their deep targets a little bit of upside to go with him As well now when you're looking at him compared to Brandon cooks Brandon cooks in general is going to be the guy with higher upside because he gets these deep balls And he can convert on those and has a lot of yardage upside He did really well against the Saints in their first matchup also your revenge game for Brandon cooks but I think that the other the other part to consider here for this game specifically is that cooks is going to have I would Assume the full attention of Marshawn Lattimore and that is a super tough assignment The Lattimore is a super fast guy should be able to keep pace with Brandon cooks So I think that that's a pushes me more towards Robert Woods than towards Brandon cooks. They're both very close in salary Woods checks in 11,500 dollars and to me on this slate that is very affordable. So in this middle tier I do prefer woods over Robert or over Brandon cooks and I think that woods a pretty good play overall You definitely hope that Robert Woods doesn't have all the attention on him from the defense that should be reserved for Brandon cooks And woods is projected to reach over 12 fantasy points on Fandall He also gets plenty of targets and he's converted a lot of those into receptions Consistently week to week Another mid-tier option we want to talk about it's will lots a kicker I find it interesting that you're pointing out a kicker gym It's it's not usual for you. Yeah Fandall got rid of kickers for 2019 or 2018, but they're back as we talk about single-game slates Not it's Lee like using kickers has been a pretty good strategy throughout this year for the single-game slates because they have a really good floor And I think that's especially true for a guy like Will Lutz who is favored and playing at home He's kind of like Drew Brees where whenever he's favored him at home I want this guy on my roster and that is the case for Will Lutz for this weekend He has averaged 8.6 Fandall points per game when he has been at home and playing with Drew Brees this season So excluding week 17 and lots of said double digits twice So a little bit of upside in there as well I think the question that you have to have here is do you want to use Will Lutz or Mark Ingram? Greg Zerlan the other kicker in this game or CJ Anderson and all of them have At least some path upside because you can get a touchdown out of Mark Ingram or CJ Anderson and Get some field goals out of Greg Zerlan, but I think that of those four guys Lutz has the safest floor and that's what makes me like him more than those other players Now I think you could totally out for Ingram or for CJ Anderson and hope that they score a touchdown But I think the safety and Lutz is really attractive to me because it means all to do is hit on my other four players in the lineup And whereas with Ingram and CJ Anderson, I'm kind of banking on them performing as well So I'll take the fourth will Lutz plug him in there and just you know kickers and domes Maria I'm never gonna turn that down. Of course, you're not. I mean just the fact that it's a dome We know you're already salivating and I think what's good about will Lutz is even if Drew Brees and the Saints aren't marching down and scoring touchdowns all the time You know, you have to think that they're gonna be getting into field goal range So whether it's a shootout and he gets a lot of PAT opportunities or they're settling for field goals. It benefits will Lutz Let's move on now to some value plays for the NFC championship slate. How about Josh Reynolds of the Rams? Yeah, Josh Reynolds is $8,500 for the single-game slate on Fandome. I think that's a pretty good price for him Given the volume he has gotten since the Cooper Cup injury the production for Reynolds has not always been there But the volume has been he has 16% of the Rams total target since that injury 29% of their targets at least 16 yards down field and 23% of their red zone targets So what you go with Josh Reynolds is the possibility for him to catch a deep ball But also the possibility for him to get a touchdown because he is getting volume in the red zone His body is kind of built to feast in the red zone as well So it kind of makes sense that Reynolds would be a factor down there Reynolds in the divisional round win for the Rams played 87% of the snaps of the Rams went back to running The three wide receiver sets they've been running the entire season. That's encouraging for Josh Reynolds now I think that with Reynolds it's kind of a similar discussion we had with Will Lutz where The upside isn't huge, but he did have 19.5 points back in week 17 So there is a little bit of upside to Josh Reynolds He saves you a lot of salary $8,500 gives you a pretty decent floor and allows you to spend up for guys like Kamara in stacks with breeze So I think that that's the biggest value for me for Josh Reynolds He may not give you a lot upside himself, but he allows you to get upside elsewhere. So for me $8,500 I am totally willing to pay that for a guy with the floor of Josh Reynolds a relatively safe play Good chance. He'll get in the end zone, which would be fantastic but if not the price tag definitely makes it worthwhile and One more value play we want to discuss at the wide receiver position It's Ted Ginn and we talked about him before Jim as just another option for Drew Brees Absolutely It's a really good option to have as well because this offense just seems to work better When Ted Ginn is out there you can stretch the field and you know allow Michael Thomas to eat underneath But we also saw last week in that game where if Ted Ginn catches that first pass and converts into a touchdown It's a huge day for him So Reynolds doesn't have upside But I think that Ted Ginn really does and I think that the floor actually isn't as bad as you would think for Ted Ginn either and the in the games he has played so far this year for the Saints He has 16% of their total targets and 38% of their deep targets So a lot of work down the field for Ted Ginn exactly what you would expect for a guy of his skill set I think you could also consider Keith Kirkwood He is 700 or $7,000 for the single game slate So not a huge discount from Ted Ginn Which is why I do prefer Ted Ginn because Ginn is a guy more likely to work down the field But Kirkwood if you need those extra $500 did get an end zone target last week and turn that into a touchdown He also ran more routes than Ted Ginn So Kirkwood is in play but Ted Ginn still did run 28 routes out of 38 drop backs according to pro football focus That's a pretty good number seven targets in that game for Ted Ginn three of those were deep So when I look at the salary for Ted Ginn at $7,500 It says to me that it's not quite reflective of what his role is in this offense So I love the upside maybe not the best floor But I think there is still a floor there for Ted Ginn to at least be involved and be on the field So Ginn does come with volatility But if he does hit the top side of the volatility it could lead to really good things especially at this salary Seven and eight targets respectively since Ted Ginn returned from injury and he is a veteran You would hope with the ability to step up in a big game Okay, so there you have it all of the recommendations by Jim Sonnis for the NFC Championship single-game slate We still have to talk about the AFC championship So we'll take a quick break and then do that when we come back and we'll see you in a minute We're back on the fan duel hurry up Maria Marino once again from fantasy sports network and Jim Sonnis from number fire This time we are gonna break down the AFC championship single-game slate Taking place Sunday in the NFL We'll have two studs for you to mid-tier options for you and a couple of value plays for you Pretty much anything you could really ask for Jim. The first stud is at quarterback It's a guy named Patrick Mahomes. Yeah, I might have heard of him Yeah, pretty weird play to throw here Maria So it might be a tough sell to get Patrick Mahomes, but I think when you look at this game We talked in the NFC championship game about how there were a lot of guys you could you could say you want your MVP slot I don't think that discussion is nearly as broad for this game between the chiefs and the pagers guy I think kind of thing is just Patrick Mahomes. He has scored at least 17.82 Fandal points in every game he has played this year not just the home games That is every game he has played so the floor for Mahomes has been just insane this year And as you know the upside has been there too. He has had at least 30 Fandal points four times this year He's had at least 25 points ten times That is an insane hit rate and this Patriots defense just does not play as well on the road as it does at home They've allowed 24 points per game on the road this year compared to 17 per game at home And remember their sample of games on the road includes games against Josh McCown and Derek Anderson and Blake Bortles Patrick Mahomes might be a little bit better than those guys. I know it's again a pretty tough sell But he is $16,500 on Fandal But I think the safety he gives in that MVP slot is absurd You could you know always plug in a guy like Tyree kill or Damian Williams there as well because those guys have upside And they could outscore Patrick Mahomes, but from a probability distribution perspective It is most likely that Patrick Mahomes is the highest screen player in this game. So to me I'm not gonna overthink it. I'm just gonna put Patrick Mahomes in that MVP slot and then build from there Last time the Chiefs played the Patriots in a loss Mahomes still had 352 yards for touchdowns and this weekend. He's projected to reach 24 fantasy points on Fandal. I'd take it from Jim and just don't overthink this one All right another stud Going into the AFC championship at receiver. It's Julian Edelman. Jim. What do you like about him? Yeah, with Edelman the price tag is pretty lofty He is $14,500 and that is not a small small salary Especially when you got Tyree kill and Tom Brady all in that same tier and you could just use them Instead of Edelman, but I think What you get from Edelman is pretty attractive with all the volume He has been getting recently if we look since Josh Gordon let the team Edelman has 29 percent of the team's total targets He has 46 percent of their deep targets. And again, this is Julian Edelman. We're talking about He's getting a lot of deep targets and 15 percent of the red zone targets Overall Edelman this year has had a fantastic role in the red zone and that has still been true even with Josh Gordon being gone Now Tom Brady Looking at him ever since Gordon left the team He's not been throwing deep just 13 total deep attempts out of out of 100 Attempts for Brady in the three games since Josh Gordon left and that's a downside for Tom Brady But what it does is it feeds a ton of volume to Julian Edelman and also to James White So Edelman's floor is outrageous His ceiling is also good as he showed last week with 150 receiving yards in that wind over the chargers This chief defense can be vulnerable over the middle. So I think there are a lot of things that provide safety and upside To Julian Edelman to outweigh the concerns that he does carry with that salary at $14,500 So you could go elsewhere here, but I think that Edelman At least when you add in the volume and everything they're working in his favor. I still think he is worth his salary here He really does seem like Tom Brady's go-to and last week he had a season high in targets at 13 This week projected to reach over 13 fantasy points on fan duel Up next some mid-tier plays that you should consider for the afc championship single game slate How about Damian Williams of the chiefs? Yeah, I know it's kind of stretching it here by classifying Damian Williams as being mid-tier But he's 13,000 dollars And I think when you look at this slate There are enough value plays on both sides where you can totally get Patrick Mahomes get in a second stud and then still afford Damian Williams at 13,000 dollars And I really would love to do so given the usage he showed last week 75 percent of the snaps for Williams He had 25 carries and six targets. That's like the best workload We saw in the divisional round and I won on my rosters, especially with Williams being a home favorite for this weekend Now he could see spencer where be back But in practice on Wednesday spencer where was limited the same thing that he was last week before eventually Being inactive for that game. So to me, I'm not super concerned about spencer where even if where it does come back It seems like Williams has done enough to really be the bell cow back of this high powered offense as mentioned This Patriots defense can be exploitable on the road They've allowed 4.83 yards per carry to opposing backs and Williams true appeal I think is what he does in the passing game. We've seen Running backs in this chief's offense in games of sami walkins has been active They have 10 percent of the team's targets. That's not a bad number And a lot of that work has come in the red zone as well So to me Williams is just underpriced. He is 13 000 dollars kind of tough to afford But I think with all the salary saving wide receivers we have in this game I'm going to do whatever I can to prioritize getting Damian Williams in there and stacking it with his quarterback patrick mahomes Since week 14, he's found the end zone in every game This sunday Damian Williams is projected to reach over 16 fantasy points on fan duel Now another mid tier priced play. It's a kicker. Yay talking about kickers Because we need those to fill these lineups. Yeah, absolutely and Harrison bucker I think that he kind of fits the same formula as we discussed with will lutz where he is at home and favored And that is always a scenario in which I'm going to be pretty comfortable using a kicker in my single game lineup Now when you look at this game people will point to the weather and say, hey, it's harder to kick when it's cold out But bucker also was in these same conditions last week actually a bit worse because there was precipitation there as well Whereas this week it's just cold with no wins to worry about for either side In that game bucker was four for four on extra points and hit his lone field goal attempt So in the cold weather Harrison bucker was still able to come through If we look at the home games this year for Harrison bucker He has averaged 8.9 fan duel points per game He has had double digits in five of the separate games this year including 18 points on the road against the Patriots now if you're if you're looking at this from another perspective If you use Patrick Mahomes Damian Williams and Harrison bucker There is a pretty good chance that gets you access to every single point that the chiefs score this weekend And given the fact that they're implied total is somewhere near 30 That could be quite a bit of points before even discuss yardage And then the bonuses for a guy like bucker for a longer field goal So yes, it's a concern to use a kicker in colder temperatures But I don't think that concern is high enough to push me off of Harrison bucker Especially with the big floor he provides and the fact that he could give me exposure to every point this really good offense scores That's the key right there assuming this offense remains potent and just is scoring often You get Harrison bucker on top of that. He's cheaper Then the other kicking option on this slate and projected to reach nine fantasy points on fan duel Finally, we have some value plays to throw your way for the afc championship slate And the first one is surprising to me that he's actually considered a value play Considering how well he did last week at sammy walk-ins. Yeah, I think that that's kind of a big appeal here Maria is that he probably shouldn't be a value play because the role that sammy walk-ins has had for the cheese Has been really good in the games. He's played in these half the snaps He has 20 of the team's overall targets along with 20 of their red zone targets And to get a guy with those market shares at $8,000 for a single game slate to me is Really really attractive. So I love walk-ins from that perspective But also when you think about bill belichick, he always wants to take away the opposing teams top options And for the chiefs, it's pretty clear those guys are travis kelsie and tyrie kill. That's not going to be sammy walk-ins So I think that if bellichick devotes all of his resources to stopping those two guys That should allow my homes to pump some volume over towards sammy walk-ins and get him open against his defense and let him Do his thing last week sammy walk-ins played More than 90 of the snaps. He had eight targets to go for 62 yards And again, he's had that good workload the entire year when he's been healthy He was a full participant in practice on wednesday So no lingering health concerns here and walk-ins at $8,000 allows you to afford those high price studs Like patrick mahomes like damian williams. Yes, it's a bit concerning to not use guys Like travis kelsie and tyrie kill, but I think given the salary that walkins carries I'm totally okay with fading them. Uh, just because walk-ins is so cheap Bill bellichick can only put so much attention on certain chief's weapons when he's You know creating his defensive game plan that should benefit sammy walk-ins who has shown He can perform when he gets the opportunity One more value play we want to throw out there. It's chris hogan of the patriots Salary is 7500 bucks. Yeah, that's just that's really cheap And I'll absolutely take that for sure because with hogan the production has not been there since josh gordon left But the volume really has he has 16 of the patriots targets in the three games Since josh gordon left the team. He's been running routes the entire year, but just wasn't getting volume But now with josh gordon gone Tom brady's got to throw it somewhere and occasionally that has been in chris hogan's direction He has also gotten 31 of the deep targets with 25 of the red zone targets And what that does is it gives you two separate paths to upside for chris hogan He could hole in a long a long ball or he could catch a touchdown which gets you six points super easily So I think that's pretty much all you need for him to pay off at the salary at 7500 dollars I think that if i'm deciding between chris hogan and sammy walkins I would decide to go with walkins over hogan But honestly given all the high salary players in this game I'm on board with using both those guys in seeing the flexibility that they do give you on the top end So maybe you just start your lineup by plugging in these two value guys and then seeing what else you can afford because both Hogan and walkins are getting decent volume. They've got some skills in there as well Their salaries are super low. So i'm not opposed to using both But if force to choose I would likely go walkins here If you need the extra 500 dollars hogan's a pretty good play too Sounds logical to me jim. Although I must say our producers They're talking smack to you again. They've already called you a masochist in the past in recent memory and today Uh, they are ribbing you for apparently like liking to burn money or maybe you're just living In 2019. Um, hey, I'm with you. I get the reasoning chris hogan. He's value That's what it's about save a little money spend elsewhere Anyway, jim. Thanks so much for all of your insight for all of the recommendations. We appreciate it And we hope all you appreciate it as well And if you want more content, you can just go to fan duel.com slash the dual click on videos Or subscribe to our youtube channel at the fantasy sports network It's going to be such a fun sunday. It all gets underway At 3 o 5 p.m. Eastern with the rams visiting the saints and then in the afc at 640 eastern As the patriots visit the chiefs. Thanks for watching guys