Leon's List - 2022 Week 14
Leon’s List is a weekly post about waiver wire players I’m keeping an eye on.
I followed the US Men’s National Team in the World Cup this past week. It’s been a wild ride of ups and downs. One interesting thing I noticed with the World Cup is the term knockout rounds. We don’t really use that term in American sports. We call it the playoffs or the postseason.
And we’re one week away from the fantasy football playoffs. Here’s where everyone stands:
Chilling
Alan, John O., and Kyle have punched their ticket into the playoffs. Kyle did it last week by winning with Lamar Jackson missing for three quarters of a game.
Alan and John O. are in a battle for regular season champion (and the cash that comes with it). John has the inside track with a 60 fantasy point lead over Alan.
Still Cool
I believe Dyrk and Kevin have also clinched with 7 wins each.
There are four teams with 6 wins. But two of those teams play each other next week. If everyone wins out that gives us 3 more teams with 7 wins. That makes a total of 8 teams max with 7 wins or more (3 of the managers already clinched, Dyrk and Kevin, and 3 from the next group). If my math and logic is correct, these two are safe and don’t have to worry about securing a playoff spot.
Win And In
Simon, Shawn, Mat, and I have 6 wins each. As teased above, I will be playing Simon next week. One of us will get to 7 wins. Shawn and Mat have tough matches next week against the top two teams. Shawn is taking on John O. and Mat is playing Alan.
Losing does not take the managers in this group out of the playoffs. They can get in through tiebreakers if the others in this group lose.
Chucking Up A Prayer
Vince and Tyler have 5 wins each and are not technically eliminated. If at least two of the managers above lose, they can slip in with a win and tiebreaker. However, Tyler and Vince have the lowest points scored. So the tiebreaker is not in their favor. But it’s not a zero percent chance of getting in.
Something To Play For
Jon C. is eliminated from the playoffs with 4 wins. But he still has something to play for. If he beats Tyler and Vince loses next week, he could get to 10th place based on tiebreakers. He would escape the extra dues owed by the bottom two players of the league.
Almost everyone has something to play for next week. This sets up an intense end to the regular season. It doesn’t help that six teams are on bye next week. But maybe Leon’s List will help fill in some of those spots.
FAAB Watch
Kyle beats out half the league for Zonovan “Bam” Knight with $21. I use the rest of my FAAB except for a dollar ($13) for Trevor Lawrence and Davis-Price. Tyler spends it all ($9) to secure Jordan Mason.
Leon’s List
Troy Jones Jr. (RB - SEA)
Kenneth Walker exited the game last week with an ankle injury. Pete Carroll says there’s a possibility that Walker can play this week. If he doesn’t play this week, I think Troy Jones Jr. is the man. Travis Homer is dealing with a knee injury and was inactive last week. DeeJay Dallas also suffered an ankle injury.
Corey Davis (WR - NYJ)
Mike White threw the ball 57 times last week. Corey Davis got 10 of those passes thrown his way. He was also in 82% of the Jets’ offensive snaps. Davis trailed only G. Wilson in both these stats. He’s the clear number two in this offense that needs to rely more on its passing attack with the recent running back injuries.
Michael Gallup (WR - DAL)
Speaking of valuable second receivers, Michael Gallup caught 2 touchdowns last week. His 7 targets was tied with CeeDee Lamb for the most in the game for Dallas. The Cowboys get another plus matchup this week against the Texans.
Terrace Marshall Jr (WR - CAR)
Sam Darnold and the Panthers come off their bye to face Seattle this week. The Seahawks just gave up 23 points to Wolford and the awful Rams. The Panthers are surprisingly still in the hunt in the NFC South. Darnold is also in a contract year and has a lot to prove.
Daniel Bellinger (TE - NYG)
Daniel Bellinger returned to action last week after suffering an eye injury in Week 7. He came back with 5 catches for 24 yards. He played 94% of the Giants’ offensive snaps. The Giants needs him to step up as their only legitimate passing threat at the moment is… Darius Slayton.
Chigoziem Okonkwo (TE - TEN)
Okonkwo caught 4 passes for 68 yards last week. He saw 5 targets in each of his last two games. Tannehill needs a big body receiver if Treylon Burks is unable to play because of his head injury. Okonkwo seems to be that guy.
Greg Dulcich (TE - DEN)
Greg Dulcich is one of Russ’ better pass catchers given all the injuries to the Broncos. He saw a team high 8 targets last week. He was able to catch 6 of those for 85 yards. Russ is going to cooking up a feast next week when the Broncos play the Chiefs. I don’t know if it’s going to edible but Dulcich is going to be there for the ride.
Best Thing I Saw
This week was NFL’s my cause my cleats campaign. I wanted to look at the cleats and share my favorite ones in this section. I thought the NFL website would be the best place to find the shoes. I was wrong. I couldn’t find a gallery with all the cleats on their website.
However, I did find that the highest bid for all shoes right now is $3,810 for Erin Andrews Custom Cleats. It would be easy for me to make jokes about thirsty fanboys with foot fetishes. But I want to give the internet the benefit of the doubt. The games were just played yesterday. Maybe the NFL hasn’t had the time to catalog and put up auctions for game worn cleats yet.
Tags: #football