 The final main slate of the regular season coming up, this Sunday over on FanDuel, which means this is our final snake draft of the 2021 season. We're gonna go through a snake draft for you over on FanDuel. All of the main slate, take your questions and get you said for Sunday's action. Welcome on into the FanDuel live Q&A. That's right here on the FanDuel YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, and Twitter channels. My name is Jim Sonnis. I am a senior writer and analyst for numberfire.com. I'm joined here as always by Brandon Gidula and JJ Zacharyson. JJ is the editor-in-chief of numberfire and FanDuel and JJ in his week 18. The snake draft is back on the air for two-week hiatus. How are you doing today? I'm good. I believe the last time we were together, I won the snake draft, I believe. And so I think that there's- Is it you have five, Brandon has five and I have four? Is that correct? No, I think it's five, four, four right now because I think there's gonna be either an ultimate loser or an ultimate winner. And I'm not just saying that, just say that. I believe it's five, four, four though. I have no idea that's right. I changed the ticker to be that, though we're gonna go with that. Because it was four, four, four one week and then I ended up winning. We already know who the ultimate loser is. It's this guy. I thought it was me. I was like, okay, I don't know. No, I would never say that. Would you lock on there and just find your back? Okay, so JJ, you have the non-ultimate loser locked up. Do you feel a sense of security in a chaotic slate now? No, so here's the thing. I have been not as in tune with everything this week because I am a season long analyst first and foremost. This is a very irrelevant week for season long fantasy football. And so as a result, I have not done my typical research and I took the week off with my show. So I haven't done the typical research. So I am not confident whatsoever in how this week is gonna go down for me personally. But I'm glad that I have that cushion because now I know I will not be the ultimate loser. So you at least have that. Brandon, you and I are battling for the title of not the ultimate loser. And honestly, I'm a little nervous because this slate makes me uncomfortable. So Brandon, you'll of course see managing editor of numberfire.com. How are you feeling heading into week 18? Oh, I'm good and bad. Some good enough teams. We talked about the playoffs in areas for relevant teams and like simple terms not getting into tie breakers. And it's basically just the teams that we know have something to play for. So between like the Colts, the 49ers, the Rams, Cardinals, Buccaneers, Bills, like we have enough key players to build good lineups. We don't have, and this is something JJ brought up before the show, like we don't really have a whole lot of spots where a team's just resting everybody and we're projecting huge workloads for certain players. But those aren't really as you pointed out on our show, the heat check yesterday on Thursday. That's not really how you get the big games in past final weeks of regular season. So again, we have enough good teams, good spots to target. But outside of that, I feel kind of constricted because there's not a whole lot of ways for me to feel good about differentiating. So again, I think there's good and bad coming into this weekend. Yeah, I think that's pretty fair. The research that we had from yesterday's show was that about 65% of players in perfect lineups over the past four years in the final week of the regular season have been from playoff teams. Whether they be locked in, highly motivated, et cetera, et cetera, that means 35% have been on teams knowing that the week 17 would have been their final game. So it did skew towards teams still alive for the postings whether fighting for something or not. And I think that's important to know as a guiding factor for this week. We're gonna do the snake trap here and just on second verse, a quick reminder to make sure you are subscribed to the Fandal YouTube, Twitch, Facebook and Twitter channels, despite the fact this is our final snake draft. We will still be back with you while we're still figuring out who all will be here. But we will be with you next week on Friday to break down the wild card round. We'll be with you throughout the playoffs on Fridays, taking your questions, talking some props, talking some smaller slate DFS as well. So make sure you are subscribed to the Fandal YouTube, Twitch, Facebook or Twitter pages wherever you are there. Also, if you've got questions about week 18, feel free to put them in YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, Twitter, put them in the comment section. We'll get them after the Q and A or after the snake draft and get you set for week number 18. So if you have questions about the main slate, feel free to put those questions in. And if we have any, we'll get to them after the snake draft. But with that said, shall we get this snake draft rolling? JJ, launch us up. Let's do it. All right, entering the contest now and I got the two spot, Jimbo got the one spot and Brandon got the three spot. And it's funny, you know, we were talking a little bit as we do. Although it says, mine says right now that the draft starts in zero seconds. So I'm hoping that my. My computer's tweaking. So we'll see. Okay, I'm still good. So mine says 40. Okay, I might have to try to jump in real quick. Yeah, it says you're in there. All right, I'm good. All right, yeah. Yeah, but we were talking, we were talking before the show how it seems like Jonathan Taylor is the 101 in this draft. But typically, you know, throughout the season, we've gone pretty running back heavy. But I feel like Cooper cup is like a pretty obvious number two pick in this draft. And part of that is because, you know, we've got a lot of decent running backs to choose from, whereas we don't necessarily have that at the wide receiver position. Yeah, I think that like, if you were to make a pitch for Cooper cup the 101, it would be that like, you're there on a ton of wide receivers, you love so you could fill that slot with Cooper cup and then not worry as much there cause it's deeper at running back. I'm not going to do that. I took Jonathan Taylor, but I think that would be the pitch for Cooper cup. And I think it's a legitimate pitch. So JJ goes Cooper cup to Brandon. I'm sorry, you got third. Where are you going here? Yeah, worst pick of the draft for sure, which isn't like a complaint, but it's because JT and copper so clearly to me the one and two. I do think that even though running back is deep, I'm going to go running back, running back here. Okay. I'm going to go with Dalvin Cook, even though Minnesota has nothing to play for they're starting Kirk cousins. It seems like they're, they're a cool playing hard playing out the end of the season. So, so I'm going to, I'm going to take Dalv there and then I'm going to go with another team. I'm going to switch it over to a team that has something to play for. Just go with Sony, Michelle, his workload has been really good. I know can makers might work in a little bit, but I can't imagine that it's going to be super relevant with that workload. So I'm going to go running back, running back here, see what happens to fall to me at receiver, but I feel like that was the right call. Michelle was the right call. I think you made the two right picks there. I'm going to get a little weird with it and I'm going to go Justin Jefferson next. Okay. I like that. Given the Vikings have basically said that they're going to play hard. So Alvin Camero would not make a ton of sense here. If we assume he keeps the same role because him with Mark Engram has not been a good fantasy asset. But if we assume that the Saints maybe use a bit more Camero this week as a result of the fact that they need to win to get in, I think that that makes Camero in play. For the second pick, honestly, I think you can go a lot of ways here. I could have go AJ Brown, honest. Whoopsies, why did I click that? Anyway, I could go AJ Brown. I'm going to go Najee for the volume. I don't feel great about it, but like I think the volume there is kind of hard to turn down given how far we are already in this draft. Yeah. I mean, I feel like a similar like player is David Montgomery, just in terms of like volume in the backfield and the way they utilize them. And I'm getting like a weird stat, not a game that you really want to like go hard with, but it's still stacked with Justin Jefferson. So I'm going to go David Montgomery for the next one. That's the best of the no incentive games, though. I guess there aren't a ton of those, but like, you know, it's better than Bengals Browns, I guess. Yeah, sure. Yeah. All right, Brandon, do you like the receivers who fell to you here? Yeah, enough. I'm going to go AJ Brown, Mike Evans. I'm going to make a pretty quick pick because I think it was down between Brown Evans and David Montgomery. I was thinking about if I had Montgomery, I just would have taken the workload and went with my three running backs. But if you want workload here, we should get it with Mike Evans and AJ Brown. So long as Tennessee has, you know, more than 20 pass attempts, AJ Brown should get the double digit targets because it's working shares. Oh, that's a bold assumption. You never know. They might not get there. If they do with his 50% target share, that should put them in double-digit target range. Exactly. That is the way things go. OK, JJ, you were on the clock here. You went Eli Mitchell. I think that was a good pick there, which means I'm picking between a couple of guys in weird situations to find digs in some bad weather in a spot where they may not throw a whole lot. Debo Samuel with some quarterback uncertainty. I'm going to go with digs, but my level of confidence and that is pretty low. I guess I can just go Debo for the second one, too. Like whatever, I don't know. That was interesting. What? I interesting is is a key word choice. I didn't pick that, like, accidentally. Well, that means you're guaranteed not to get Josh Allen or Kyler. I don't care. OK. Yeah, I'm trying to figure out. I think the fall off at receiver after digs and Debo is enough where I would be OK, taking the loss of quarterback and going with the whatever I wound up going with there. Yeah, I just I assumed I was going to have to make a decision because I assumed you might take Allen to stack with digs. JJ would probably see the same thing I saw and go Kyler. And then I was I was planning on taking somebody else. So I'm going to go with Kyler here in a game that that I like plenty. And then I'm just going to I want exposure to that game. I can go Tyler Lockett or Rashad Penny. I think I'm probably going to lean toward penny just because his workload has been good. So I'm going to penny here, fill out my flex to get that little game stack there. OK, so JJ took James Conner in the last round. I like that quite a bit when Josh Allen there. That means I had to pick somebody, honestly, like, I don't know. Who is the QB three this week? Probably Tom Brady. I'm going to take Tom Brady. I don't I know I have no bucks on my team, but I honestly do not care. I feel like Brady's right. Trace there. Yeah, it's a rough reaction. OK, it's not showing up. I think my my Eli Mitchell projection, I believe, is zero. That's true, because he's projected on Number Fire, but like there's a bug for some reason not pulling over. So with so with that, JJ would be projected for around 104. I'm at like an eighty nine and Jim's at like an eighty four. Liquid demons with a very strange avatar agree. The countdown clock also just gives me like a try try not only having the countdown clock here, but try having to draft while talking, clicking comments, bringing these liquid demons. You were invited to next year's Snake Draft. We're going to have you on and you and Oliver will be our two guests for next year for the Snake Draft. OK, so I'll talk about mine first. I think Taylor was the biggest no brainer there. A lot of the guys that took after that were just kind of like. Guys, I'm OK with who are going to get volume. And it happened to be all guys who I think are on teams motivated to win. Do I feel good about it? No. Do I think that like I made the right choice? I don't regret any of them too much. So I feel like it's OK. Let's go to JJ here. You did get Josh Allen. No stack with Josh Allen, but three, I would say, running backs probably in line for 20 ish carries. That's not too bad. What do you think about your team here? Yeah, I don't think it ended up being too bad. You obviously have the question mark with James Connors banged up. But I mean, if he ends up seeing his workload that he was seeing without Chase Edmonds earlier this season, then all of a sudden, like you noted, you see 20 plus touches and he's been very, very valuable. And then got to the two best wide receivers, I think, on the slate and Jefferson and Cup. So I think it ended up being OK. And I really went with a strategy of there seemed to be a bigger dip at wide receiver than there did at running back. And I just attacked the draft that way. And I think that that's evidenced in the the the running backs you got. You drafted them a bit later because you had Cup and Jefferson. But you still got three rock solid dudes who I would be very OK having in my team. So I think that was a good draft for you. Let's go over to Brandon. You got Dalvin Cook, Sony, Michelle, Rashad, Penny, Mike Evans, AJ Browns, you'll get probably aggregate like 75 percent target share. Out of your two wide receivers. That's not too bad. What do you think about your team? I like it. I do looking at JJ's team think maybe I should have taken Jefferson and just because there wasn't as much deviation between the running back. So I like JJ's team more than mine, although it wasn't totally fair because he's, you know, he had Cooper Cup, you know, fall to him at number two. But the lineup can fall. What do you say what you just keep making these little baby comments? Brandon, if you had the one on one, if you had the one on one, would you have taken Cooper Cup over JT? No, I'm saying this goes back to something that we were talking about. Howard. Yeah, no, it was a good spot. It was a good spot. Yeah, it was. I couldn't have done that as easily because Justin Jefferson is not on that same plane as Cooper Cup. So that's why I went to Alvin Cook, Sony, Michelle. But even looking at that, maybe I should have went Michelle Jefferson and then just saw what I got from there. But, you know, I have a little bit of a mini stack with Kyler and Penny in what is really the game of the week, everything else. You kind of have to, you know, back your way into liking. That's the one game that really stands out. So I feel good about my team. I feel good about the volume at receiver. Both of those guys have double or two like two touchdown upside. So I feel good. But looking at JJ's team back in Paris, and I think that was exactly the right way to go from the two spot. Yeah, I mean, I think we both benefited from the fact that we had we got JT and Cup, because JT and Cup relative to other people, I could pull the projections over here. No other skill players are projected for more than 17.2 points. Cup is a 19.5 JT at 22.6. Like we just got a pretty big advantage there. So Brandon closed up the year on a fun note by getting the third spot in a two player draft. So as always, as always, as he will be certain to remind us. Grim fan is asking, do the snake dress play for money at all? Yes, you can make them play. However you want, you can customize league size. You can customize whether it's public versus private. You can customize entry fee. Go to FanDuel.com. Click on the NFL tab and then you click Create Contest. Then scroll through snake draft to make sure you make it that way. Also, one thing I want to point out is that when JJ gets his Eli Mitchell projection, he'll be around a 104. Jim, for you, your Brady projection wasn't showing up. So you're at a 102 despite everything. I'm at an 89. So things are stacked against me this week. Well, I think that's just because like the that's mostly because of the JT Cup. Yeah, yeah, you did your best, but I try. Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat. Yeah. OK, let's slide on over to the FanDuel YouTube page and take some questions here and see what the people are talking about for today. Let's start things off with DJ, seeing if we see Antonio Brown signing anywhere next year after last week's blow up also this week's podcast appearances, which have been kind of weird. And to come out of retirement, take Brown spot. What? No. So I'm going to say no to both. JJ, do you disagree? Um, I would say that Antonio Brown is like, I mean, you have to think that he's done. Like, you have to think that this was I think he thinks he's done. Yeah. I mean, like, like you don't do that if you if you plan to play. I guess it's really crazy to me. I mean, it's not crazy because we've seen Antonio Brown do some insane things. But there was a point earlier this week where I think everyone was like, whoa, maybe Antonio Brown is actually like in the right here. Like maybe a B like like reacted in a way that a lot of people maybe not to the degree of like showmanship, but like like he reacted in a way that a lot of people might have reacted in terms of just like storming off the field, like not the like, you know, get everyone hyped up in the crowd and stuff like that. But just generally speaking, you know, if the tail that Rappaport had shared with us was completely true, then it looked pretty good for Antonio Brown. And then everything that he's done since then and to cap it all off this week, it was there, I guess, yeah, this week, it was the the podcast he did today where he's throwing Tom Brady under the bus, where he's saying he's the best wide receiver in the game, where he doesn't understand why he's not seeing more targets when he leads the NFL and targets per snap this year, he is the number one player, including running backs, including like past catching specialist running backs like a James White. He is the number one player in the league and targets per snaps. And he's complaining about not seeing enough looks. And he's complaining towards and to Tom Brady for that. And he was praising Ben Rothesberger for always targeting him. Let me tell you something. When Marcus Wheaton is your biggest competition, you're going to see more looks in your offense. So there's just a lot, a lot of bad stuff going on. I think eventually you're going to get to a point where teams are just not going to want to take this on. And then, honestly, we got to that point this past year. And then Tampa Bay decided, you know, we have Tom Brady. He's advocating for him, et cetera, et cetera. And so they went after him. I don't know how many teams are going to actually want to take this on at this point. Yeah, I can't imagine they would like NFL teams do a lot of dumb stuff in order to get like good players. But like at some point, I thought it's a step too far. OK, let's talk to you born to laugh. Any love for Kendrick Bourne? No, no, can anyone find a reason to disagree with me? He has not had more than eight targets at any point this year. He has not had more than 100 yards at any point this year. People like Kendrick Bourne a lot and I don't. So am I wrong, Brandon, in having no interest in Kendrick Bourne? Oh, I didn't even I didn't even look into anything because I figured that was a troll specifically designed for Jim based on. Yeah, I think people know that I don't like him at this point. You know, and if not, like, sincerely, there's just not enough upside in the offense. So if it's a sincere question, then no. But I honestly took that as a as a troll toward him. So OK, well, born to laugh is so well done. I'm proud of you. Good job. OK, Grim fan. We see Mason Rudolph this week or just Big Ben finish the year. They need to win. They can select the playoffs. It's a pretty slim chance. I think they've shown this year if they didn't bench Big Ben Monday, they're not going to bench him this week. So unless something happens, we're going to see a lot of Mason Rudolph still for this week. OK, let's go down here to Nick Collins. Spelled fun. Our players chasing records incentive a higher priority or are those narratives overblown, Anthony Amiko over on Establish the Run did a full write up of players who are chasing records and incentives. I would recommend you can Google that. It's not behind a paywall. Just Google Establish the Run, Anthony Amiko incentives. I don't know. Just Google all of it. Anyway, you can find over there to establish the run. It lists out incentives, lists out milestones, lists out contract lists out records and stuff like that. I'd recommend reading that because, like, honestly, they do matter. I remember David Johnson back in, like, 2017, they were trying to get a thousand yards rushing and a thousand yards receiving and he, like, hurt his knee. But, like, they were using that like an insane rate. So there are a lot of teams who will do that. So personally, I am OK bumping up players who are chasing incentives, you know, chasing milestones and stuff like that. I think it does play into account, maybe less so in games that matter a lot. Like, are the Rams going to give Cooper Cup 12 catches in a game they need to win? Maybe not, but I wouldn't be shocked if they try. So I think that, like, it matters to an extent. Brandon, how much do you emphasize situations like that? It depends on the situation. And if it goes along with the play, I already like, then I feel a lot better. You said, are they going to are the Rams going to get Cooper Cup 12 catches? Or they might not need to try. Yeah. Yeah. Are they going to go out of their way? Probably not. Could he get 12 catches on like 15 targets? Yeah, I wouldn't I wouldn't be surprised. Yeah. But Amika's article also talks about Robert and Kalsky being close to a lot of incentives. Are you there's already reasons to like Robert and Kalsky? Yeah. Another one is like Marvin Jones needs four catches for 500,000 in an incentive. I don't think that I'm going to play Marvin Jones as a result. If Urban Meyer were still there, he'd bench Marvin Jones when he got the third catch immediately. So I kind of use it as like a be rational about certain things. And like Rob Gronkowski needing, I think, 85 yards to hit an incentive like that seems reasonable. And that's another reason like wrong. So it just all kind of depends. Don't don't use that as the sole reason. Yeah, to make your justifications. But if it fits, then it actually kind of helps me feel better because there's a lot of uncertainty in week 18. I also think it's worth keeping in mind with like Jamar Chase. Jamar Chase is probably going to play on Sunday, but it's just to get the rookie receiving record. I think he'll be done after he gets 45 or whatever yards and cash out that born to last as it was not a troll. OK, so born to laugh in the YouTube comments. Sell me on Kendrick Bourne. If you can make a compelling case, I will put him in a very low dollar lineup on Sunday. There that's my promise. You make a compelling case for Kendrick Bourne. I'll do it. I will give you that chance since I thought you were a troll and you were not. Give me a pitch on Kendrick Bourne in the comments. And if you do it, I will screenshot it and send it on Twitter or whatever to verify that I used him for this week. OK, how much do we see Carson Wentz is playing? Do you like Gerald Everett? Wentz is going to play the entire game because they need to win. They need a way to get in. Brandon, you're the Gerald Everett guy. You doing it or no, you've used it. No, no, no, no, no. You tried to talk me into him the week after he got accused. He did not do this. I would never accuse him. People on Twitter were accusing him of point shaving. I would never. But like, you know, that was, you know, being floated around. Obviously, he wasn't doing that. He's an upstanding guy. But people were mad about his performance. You tried to sell me to use him. I said, no. So any Kendrick Bourne or he's infiltrated my brain. Any Gerald Everett this week? I think in game stacks, you could you could justify it because it's it's again one of the games of the week. And it's it's really the game of the week. And if you can get players who are just on the field in games like that, you could do worse. But honestly, with like Zach Orts being under salaried at 56, I don't really see the need to go too like strange at tight end. We also have some high upside tight ends that we want to make sure we're not avoiding. So I'd probably say no myself on Everett. But I do understand the case because it is just such a good game environment. Yeah, it stills like an 18 percent target sure in games with lock it since Russ came back, which is not bad for a tight end. But you know, that's that's the main main appeal here. For sure. OK, let's talk to Dark Tag 007. Talking to JJ, who is your favorite quarterback on the Saturday only slates? I'm glad he asked you, JJ, because I've not given a single second of thought yet to the Saturday slates. I've been so preoccupied with the main slate. So what is your feel for quarterback? We go in drew lock on Saturday. Yes. So this is the thing that the teams on Saturday because you have Philadelphia who could be playing for apps. I mean, he's playing for absolutely nothing. They could rest starters. He won't get Jalen Hertz. And then you have the team that's most motivated would be Kansas City playing against Denver. I mean, Denver is motivated, I guess. But you have Kansas City playing against Denver and you don't really want to go the drew lock route. So you have Patrick Mahomes, they are motivated because they could lock up the two seed in the AFC and they could also drop if they were to lose. And then with Dallas, Dallas, I think for their scenarios, they're more locked into where their seating is versus Kansas City. Kansas City is playing for a little bit more. And so, yeah, you can make the case for Dak, but I think the safest and best option, most optimal option is just to kind of eat chalk and just go with Patrick Mahomes and go that route. You know, it sucks to kind of do that on a four to two game slate, but I think it makes the most sense. It does help too, because like there are some like Darrell Williams and seven thousand, like that's not a bad salary. Like that kind of makes it easier to get to Mahomes. You can find some value on this slate. So I think that that that would help with that as well. Like there are there's no one else you can really feel good about on that slate. Yeah, not only that, you know, definitely pay attention to what they're going to say about like Philly too, because if you could just get like a cheap player or so out of that Philly lineup, then all of a sudden it opens up a lot, you know, with with a Kansas City type stack. Worth noting for Dak too, Tyron Smith is on the COVID list. I would not expect him to be back for Saturday. So that is a downgrade for that entire team as well. Let's talk to Jack over on YouTube. How scary are the Titans with the buy? They fresh Henry and the playoffs. I got to earn that buy first, but that is frightening. They are a fun team to watch when Derek Henry is there. They are not fun to watch when he's not there. So I'm excited for him to be back for the post season. OK, let's talk to Dylan Dylan. Talk to your league mates and get rid of week 18 on your schedule. That's the first thing here, Dylan, because you want to do a Devonte, you made it to the championship Dylan and now Devonte Magisit. That aside, Brandon, I'm going Christian Kirk over Michael Pittman in the situation. Do you agree? I haven't very, very close. It's an important game. It's a win and in for the Colts. Michael Pittman has like a 30 percent target share in relevant games recently. Kirk doesn't quite have that. He's trailing Zach Erz in target share. He's like he's at 22 percent in games with Erz playing more Deontre Hopkins. Jim, give me that look. I'm still going to side with with Christian Kirk, although I think it's it's it is closer than you made it seem. I mean, Christian Kirk's the one. What do you mean it's close? Like, I don't get what we're going for here. Anyway, that is all that we have here for today for the snake draft. And we appreciate all of you tuning in, not just for today, but for this entire season for the snake draft. It was a whole lot of fun. Still waiting for the Kendrick born pitch. So feel free to shoot me that on Twitter. I'm on Twitter at Jim Sonnis, J-I-M-S-A-N-N-E-S. Big thank you to my co-host throughout the entire year. Brandon Gadoula and JJ Zacharyson. Follow Brandon on Twitter at Gadoula 13. Check JJ out on Twitter at late round QB. Check out the late round podcast. Make sure you're subscribed wherever you get your podcast and also check out the heat check fantasy podcast. With me and Brandon by searching for the number fire daily fantasy podcast feed. Once again, thank you all for tuning in. Good luck to you in week 18. We'll talk to you once again next week to get you set for the wild card round of the playoffs. This has been the Fan Duel Live Q&A.