Tag Archives: Tyler Shough

Predicting The 2026 NFL Season

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It’s that time of year again, where I try to predict all the division winners and the playoff outcomes. Let’s go! Here are my prior season predictions:

I don’t really have a whole lot to hang my hat on from last year. I had the Broncos winning the West, which was a little bit of an upset, but not huge. There’s lots of nuggets of sounding like I know what I’m talking about, but I also had the Ravens in the AFC Championship Game, and they didn’t even make the fucking playoffs.

2026 is a new year, though! So, let’s dance.

NFC East

  • Dallas Cowboys
  • Philadelphia Eagles
  • New York Giants
  • Washington Commanders

Yeah, I guess I’ll bite. This will probably look super dumb at this point next year, but Dallas is a very chic pick. The offense looks tremendous, and the defense appears to have taken strides towards improvement. I like them and the Eagles to be neck and neck; maybe a tiebreaker situaton gives Dallas the edge. Also, watch out for the Giants. Don’t ask me why; I don’t believe they’ll have what it takes to make the playoffs, but they could get close. I like Washington to be TERRIBLE.

NFC North

  • Green Bay Packers
  • Chicago Bears
  • Detroit Lions
  • Minnesota Vikings

This is the most difficult division to predict, because all of the teams have a chance to be good. Many are saying it’s going to be the best division in football, which usually feels like a death knell for said division. I have decided to just run back my prediction from last year. I’m choosing to drink the Jordan Love Kool Aid. I’m choosing to believe Ben Johnson will be a Top 6 head coach after this season. I’m also choosing to believe that the Lions keep getting massive amounts of injuries for a reason, and maybe Dan Campbell is kind of an idiot. Finally, I choose to believe Kyler Murray sucks, and no amount of KOC is going to fix that quarterback room.

NFC South

  • New Orleans Saints
  • Carolina Panthers
  • Tampa Bay Bucaneers
  • Atlanta Falcons

I’ll also gladly step onto the Saints bandwagon, as I think Tyler Shough is the real deal! And, in spite of losing a valued D-Lineman, I think the Saints have enough on defense to win this pathetic division. I was going to throw Tampa into the second spot, but they hired one of the worst OCs of recent memory in Zac Robinson (he was with the Falcons last year, and didn’t know what the FUCK he was doing), so they’re third. I legitimately believe Carolina has a good coaching staff, and will continue to hang around .500 in spite of Bryce Young. The Falcons are kind of a disaster, as much as it pains me. Tua has no business starting over Penix. You could chop any three limbs off of Penix’s body and he should still play over Tua!

NFC West

  • Los Angeles Rams
  • Seattle Seahawks
  • San Francisco 49ers
  • Arizona Cardinals

I’m taking all of my homerism out of the equation here. This brings me zero joy, and quite frankly, I hope to God I’m wrong! But, I got the Rams here. It’s not that I believe Seattle will be bad – indeed, they might be my highest-rated wild card team – but I just think the Rams have a chance to be a 2-loss team. I also think the 49ers will be mediocre, and the Cards will be one of the worst teams in football.

AFC East

  • Buffalo Bills
  • New England Patriots
  • Miami Dolphins
  • New York Jets

Maybe my biggest upset of this whole post is NOT having the Dolphins fourth. That just goes to show how little I believe in Geno Smith and Aaron Glenn. I like the Bills for a bounce-back, and I like the Patriots to lay a big, fat turd! Here’s a prediction for ya: the Pats will NOT be back in this year’s playoffs!

AFC North

  • Cincinnati Bengals
  • Baltimore Ravens
  • Cleveland Browns
  • Pittsburgh Steelers

Here’s what I’m thinking: I’m going to pick every single chic team from this offseason to win their respective divisions (Cowboys, Packers, Saints, Rams, Bills, Bengals) and just hope to hit on like 2/3 of them. I will say that this is very much a Heart pick, and not a Head pick. I want the Bengals back in the playoffs. I want Joe Burrow to stay healthy for the full season. And, I’m curious to see if the moves they made on defense can be just good enough. That being said, I don’t think any other team is an overwhelming favorite. I’ll believe the Ravens when I see it; moving on from John Harbaugh feels like a mistake. The Browns are obviously a joke. But, that being said, I think the Steelers will be worse. Aaron Rodgers is toast. McCarthy is kind of a loser. The defense is old and overrated. D.K. Metcalf is abysmal. I think the Steelers will finally bottom out and next year will have a real chance to draft their quarterback of the future.

AFC South

  • Houston Texans
  • Jacksonville Jaguars
  • Tennessee Titans
  • Indianapolis Colts

I like the Texans a lot. So much, in fact, I’m predicting they will get the #1 seed in the AFC. I still like the Jags to make the playoffs. I like the Titans to take a step forward, and I like the Colts to take a step back.

AFC West

  • Denver Broncos
  • Kansas City Chiefs
  • Los Angeles Chargers
  • Las Vegas Raiders

I just think the Broncos are good. Their defense is great, and the offense is fine. Here’s something for you: I like both the Chiefs and Chargers as wild card teams! And, I like the Raiders to be better than last year, but not good enough to make the playoffs.

NFC Playoffs

  1. Los Angeles Rams
  2. Green Bay Packers
  3. Dallas Cowboys
  4. New Orleans Saints
  5. Seattle Seahawks
  6. Philadelphia Eagles
  7. Chicago Bears

AFC Playoffs

  1. Houston Texans
  2. Buffalo Bills
  3. Denver Broncos
  4. Cincinnati Bengals
  5. Jacksonville Jaguars
  6. Kansas City Chiefs
  7. Los Angeles Chargers

Wild Card Round

  • Packers over Bears
  • Eagles over Cowboys
  • Seahawks over Saints
  • Bills over Chargers
  • Chiefs over Broncos
  • Jaguars over Bengals

Divisional Round

  • Rams over Eagles
  • Seahawks over Packers
  • Texans over Chiefs
  • Bills over Jaguars

Championship Round

  • Seahawks over Rams
  • Texans over Bills

Super Bowl LXI

  • Seahawks over Texans

Who Would The Seahawks Rather Have Over Sam Darnold Going Forward?

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I have very specific parameters for this thought experiment. First and foremost, salary DOES matter. What they’re making, what they’re under contract for, it affects the decision-making. Secondly, age and experience come into play. The idea is: who would you rather have as your quarterback from 2026 onward? Third, everything else remains the same. This is a Seahawks-centric blog and a Seahawks-centric question. You pick the quarterback, you put him on this team with the players we currently have locked in, with all the impending free agents potentially staying or going, and so on and so forth. Fourth, forget about what you might have to give up to get this hypothetical alternative quarterback. Let’s just say, in Imaginationland, it’s a one-for-one swap of quarterbacks; we take on the new guy’s deal, they take on Sam’s deal (forget about any dead-cap implications of guys being traded; for the sake of argument, we’re just getting their deal as it’s listed on Over The Cap or whatever, and throwing it onto the Seahawks as if we’ve had them all along). And, to make it easier on myself, I’m just going to go by their Average Yearly Salary, because I don’t have time to get into the weeds on this. Maybe if I were a millionaire and didn’t have to work anymore, and had all the free time in the world …

Taking a look at the list of quarterback salaries (by average per year), Darnold is 18th on the list, right in between Geno Smith (17th) and Baker Mayfield (19th). We can start chopping off guys making more money than Darnold who aren’t as good. Geno’s out; he stinks. I don’t believe for one second that we would’ve won the Super Bowl with Geno Smith behind center; he definitely would’ve blown the NFC Championship Game, and I don’t even think he gets us to the #1 seed in the first place!

I will also easily rule out Kirk Cousins, Deshaun Watson, Kyler Murray, and Tua Tagovailoa; I don’t need to explain myself, they are all definitively worse than Darnold and making more money.

Next on the chopping block are guys who are comparable (in talent) but making more money. That’s guys like Dak (#1 overall in average yearly salary), Jordan Love (#4), Trevor Lawrence (#5), Jared Goff (#7), Brock Purdy (#8), Justin Herbert (#9), and Jalen Hurts (#11). I don’t believe any of these players are dramatically better than Darnold. They’re also all around the same age or older, and feel at least close to being finished products; I don’t see any of these guys taking big leaps in development the rest of the way.

That leaves names you would expect to see ahead of Darnold: Joe Burrow (#2), Josh Allen (#3), Lamar Jackson (#10), Patrick Mahomes (#15), and Matthew Stafford (#16). I’m going to eliminate Stafford straight away, because he just turned 38 years old and 2025 might’ve been his last elite year. I feel like it’s downhill from there, sooner rather than later. I’m also going to chop off Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow due to injury concerns. I’m sorry, but they’ve both missed so many games in their respective careers, and they’re only getting older. That’s going to take its toll. Meanwhile, Darnold has been remarkably healthy in his career, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

That just leaves Allen and Mahomes of the 17 players ahead of Darnold in average yearly salary. Let’s pause here and take a look at the guys making less money than Darnold.

Non-starters for me include: Justin Fields, Daniel Jones, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, and Bryce Young. Too old, too bad, and in the case of Young, too short and inconsistent; I don’t see him doing anything of relevance in the NFL.

Recent draft picks on rookie deals include: Cam Ward, Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, C.J. Stroud, Michael Penix, J.J. McCarthy, Bo Nix, Jaxson Dart, and Tyler Shough. Apologies to anyone else drafted recently, but those are the big names. We’ll return to them in a moment.

Wild cards include the aforementioned Baker Mayfield and Malik Willis. Every other quarterback, I would consider to be NFL backups, and again not worth my time.

Baker is talented, and making slightly less money, but I’m ruling him out because while he’s a tough SOB, he’s also very much worse when he plays through injury, and he seems to get injured quite a bit. I can’t have it. As for Malik, I think he’s been terrific as a spot starter in Green Bay the last couple years, but I need to see him do it over a full season before I can even think about taking him over Darnold.

The young guys make this argument tough. I think I’m going to chop Ward; need to see him actually succeed on the field and lift his team up to respectability before I can roll with him over Darnold. I’m going to cut J.J. and Dart, because I don’t believe they are very good. It’s a close call, but I’m going to eliminate Penix and Daniels because of injury concerns. They’re very slight, and they’ve already had some pretty serious injuries.

That leaves Caleb, Maye, Stroud, Nix, and Shough. Stroud is intriguing, because I don’t think he is nearly as inept as he looked in the playoffs. I think he’s been cursed from the get-go with a terrible offensive line, and he’s had tons of receiver injuries throughout his career. He would be top notch on the Seahawks’ offense, with a proper dedication to the run and play-action game. But, he’s also going into the final year of his rookie deal. Granted, he’ll have the fifth-year option, but that man is going to want to be paid among the big dogs, at which point you’re not necessarily seeing the money savings. With that in mind, is he lots better than Darnold? I’d say not, so he’s out.

Nix is okay. Is he just good in the one (Sean Payton) offensive system? From a talent perspective, he’s not better than Darnold. He is more cost-effective, though. But, for whatever reason, I’m leaning towards him being a No for me, dawg. Maybe if he didn’t play ball at Oregon.

I think I would say yes to each of Caleb, Maye, and Shough. Shough is rock solid, plus has the added benefit of being a second round pick, so he’s even cheaper! Maye isn’t as bad as he looked in the playoffs; put him behind our O-Line, and I think he’d be just fine. And I loved what I saw from Caleb this year. Just rein him in half-a-crank with the wild throws, and you’ve got something. I mean, shit, it’s not like Darnold doesn’t have his share of wild throws!

Now, let’s go back to Allen and Mahomes. Mahomes might be one of the biggest bargains in the NFL at this point! His $45 million per year is only $11.5 million more than Darnold is making, and he’s under contract through 2031. That being said, there are a couple of void years tacked on, so I don’t know what that means. But, with the way the NFL salary cap keeps going up and up and up, I feel like we could withstand it. Plus, he’ll still only be 36 years old in the final season of his deal, which makes him primed for an extension, assuming he’s still playing at a hall of fame level. If we assume Allen and Mahomes play until they’re 40, I’m not worried about their respective ages being slightly older than Darnold.

You could make an injury case, but I think both guys are pretty smart and talented enough to have second careers as pocket passers. Allen is making $55 million, which is up near the top of the market, but he’s signed through 2030. He’s got three void years on his deal, with almost $22 million in dead money baked in. I’m not overly concerned, because I think he would also be primed for some sort of extension by that point, allowing us to spread the hit a little more evenly beyond that.

That, I think, would be my five quarterbacks I would rather have over Sam Darnold going forward: Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, and Tyler Shough. You might think I’m destined for Western State by adding Shough to that list, but he really impressed me this season! He seems to have a lot of traits that are needed to be a winner in this league, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s the biggest bargain in the NFL in 2026.

The Seahawks Are Lucky To Have Mike Macdonald

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I’m not going to sit here and tell you Mike Macdonald is the best coach in the NFL or anything. He still has a long way to go in his burgeoning career. But, in seeing what’s been going on this year with the coaching carousel – and what goes on EVERY year in the coaching carousel – it’s become more and more apparent that there very much AREN’T 32 qualified NFL head coaches in existence.

It feels particularly wild this time around. While Pete Carroll being One & Done with the Raiders isn’t totally shocking, he’s still a huge name and potential Hall of Famer. John Harbaugh, however, really took the world by surprise; who knew there were so many problems in Baltimore? I thought that was one of the most stable and together organizations in the league! Miami, Cleveland, Atlanta, Arizona, Tennessee, the Giants, they all round out a new 8-man class of incoming head coaches. Some will inevitably be retreads (probably one of the spots going to Harbaugh right away), some will be new guys most of us have never heard of. But, how many will stick?

Looking ahead, there are a number of teams on thin ice; it’s never a good sign when an organization has to give out a press release specifically noting someone isn’t going to be fired. I’m looking at Tampa, Cinci, probably the Jets again, maybe Indy, apparently the Packers and Eagles, and whoever ends up being One & Done from this class. Also, can’t count out old timers like Tomlin, Reid, and McDermott.

There’s lots of retreads besides Harbaugh in the mix. Stefanski is a big name. Brian Flores has done great things as a DC in Minnesota. Mike McCarthy after a year off is in high demand. Robert Saleh again for some reason. Kliff Kingsbury has already abdicated his OC job with Washington in hopes of being a head coach. Even guys like Matt Nagy, Steve Spagnuolo, and Vance Joseph are getting multiple interviews!

Do any of these guys inspire confidence? Harbaugh for sure. Maybe Stefanski. MAYBE Flores in the right situation, and if you can get him to call the defense. Same goes with Kingsbury and the offense. But, the rest of those guys?

Who are the new guys looking to get a shot? Chris Shula is a hot name, as DC of the Rams. Lou Anarumo as DC of the Colts (and previously with the Bengals). Jesse Minter, DC of the Chargers, is apparently a hot name. And even Klint Kubiak and Aden Durde with the Seahawks are taking interviews!

Of those names, Shula is interesting to me. That Rams defense turned around in a hurry, and unlike all of their offensive assistants who get OC jobs elsewhere, Shula actually has play-calling and scheming experience. Minter sounds promising; anyone who is a Harbaugh guy is immediately high in my book.

It just makes me feel incredibly lucky that we got Mike Macdonald, especially when he’s coming right on the heels of Pete Carroll, who was the best head coach we ever had.

I feel doubly lucky when I look at Macdonald’s head coaching class of 2024. There were 8 openings that year too; 4 of them have already been fired. That’s how crazy it’s been, how crazy it always is. You knew Brian Callahan, Raheem Morris, and Jerod Mayo wouldn’t work out. Shit, the Raiders are on their third coach in three years now! Of the guys still around, it’s Jim Harbaugh, Dan Quinn (two guys with proven track records), and Dave Canales (who, with Macdonald, appears to be one of the good up-and-coming head coaches in this league).

As for the 2025 class, Carroll is already gone; Aaron Glenn feels like a firing waiting to happen (because they’re the Jets, and because they somehow had zero interceptions as a defense?); Schotty is no great shakes, but Dallas is weirdly loyal, so he’ll probably stick around a few years; Kellen Moore is specifically tied to how well Tyler Shough develops (so far, so good); Vrabel has a great thing going in New England; and Ben Johnson and Liam Coen look like two of the good ones, who should be fixtures for a good, long time.

I’ll say this, I look around the NFL, and I don’t see very many – if any – I would rather have than Mike Macdonald, especially factoring in his defensive play-calling and scheming. It’s tough out there for some of these organizations. I don’t envy very many of them, that’s for damn sure.

All I know is, the Seahawks have the presumptive favorite for NFL Executive of the Year in John Schneider, and one of the top two or three NFL Head Coach of the Year candidates in Macdonald. Things are pretty damn good in Seattle right now; let’s hope it continues indefinitely!

Nobody Wants To Hear About My Fantasy Team 2025: Red Hot Consolation Bracket Action

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Previously, on Nobody Wants To Hear About My Fantasy Team:

We fought a helluva fight, but The Moops just weren’t meant to live in the playoffs.

It all boiled down to a Stafford to Nacua pointless late 3rd quarter touchdown in that stupid fucking Rams game to put them up a million to nothing. My opponent got double touchdowns for his trouble, and I got a dick in the ass. It also would’ve helped if I got literally anything from Kenneth Walker in a blowout Seahawks victory. Or more than 10.8 points from Trey McBride (when he’s been averaging 20+ every week). Or anything at all from Troy Franklin against a shitty Raiders defense. Or, for that matter, more than 3 fucking points from my Browns defense against the very best team for a fantasy defense to play against, the Tennessee Fucking Titans. Or, if CeeDee Lamb didn’t get hurt AGAIN in what was a points bonanza last Thursday night.

It’s a bitter pill to swallow, because I got 23 from my Dallas kicker, I had a nice 15.4-point game from Devin Neal with the Saints, I got a pretty good Love game (25.6), and I even scored big with J.J. McCarthy, who led my team with 28.05! But, it just wasn’t quite good enough. 158.45 to 134.05.

Even still, there was hope until there wasn’t. You may recall the three 5-8 teams below me, all playing in very lose-able games. The Fabled Fondo Boys were crushed. Stabby McButt Fumble improbably lost to the worst team in the league. And Sloane N Steady was all set to go down against a guy rolling out three guys in the Sunday Night Football game. But, alas, Patrick Mahomes waited until I needed him the most to play the very worst game of his career, finishing with 1.9 points. Sloane N Steady ended up winning by around 10 points, and with his healthy tiebreaker advantage in total overall points, he gets the 6th and final playoff spot.

The Moops finish the regular season 6-8. And, I’ll be kicking myself all offseason for not winning that one week where I could’ve picked up the Monday Night defenses.

Waiver Wire Jamboree:  When it was announced that McCarthy would start against the Commanders, I decided then and there to put him in my lineup over Tyrod Taylor. Look, this was the stretch of games I had eyeballed when I made the McCarthy trade in the first place (BTW, if I had just kept Tyler Shough, I might be in the playoffs right now, so there’s that). He’s got as good of a fantasy playoff schedule as you could hope for, for a rookie quarterback trying to make his name in this league. Also, I would’ve killed myself if I had started Tyrod (who stunk and got hurt early) over J.J. (who, again, was awesome). Without any need to roster Tyrod, I dropped him in favor of Jauan Jennings, who was on a BYE last week. Because now is the time to start thinking about keepers for next year, and also sticking it to teams who might need a playoff boost.

For my other move, I picked up Blake Corum, backup running back for the Rams. He’s been seeing the ball more and more as the season has gone along, to the point where the Rams are basically in a time-share. Having traded Kyren Williams earlier this year has been something of a mixed bag; Ladd McConkey has been good. But, he’s not the runaway freight train he was in 2024. I would argue Kyren has been the same (I have him in another league, so I know from experience). It’s interesting that there’s no drop off between Kyren and Corum. So, if the former happens to go down with injury, might be nice to have the latter to pick up those snaps …

Now, we’re on to the Consolation Bracket. I’m in 7th place, which means I’ll be facing off against 10th place Stabby McButtFumble in two weeks (for whatever reason, the Consolation Bracket gets a BYE this week). The Consolation Bracket is a real who’s who of crap, so The Moops should fit right in.

I’ll say this: the BYE week should be a big help. I’ll take the extra week to get some injured guys healthy. I also avoid some tough-looking matchups this week (Jordan Love against Denver’s defense, for one). So, let’s take this week off and reflect on what we did wrong, then come back stronger and hopefully win this fucking Consolation Bracket! A number one pick is on the line!

Nobody Wants To Hear About My Fantasy Team 2025: A Crushing Defeat

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Previously, on Nobody Wants To Hear About My Fantasy Team:

No matter what happens, I can never make the correct decision.

This one should’ve been a no-brainer, but as usual, I overthought it. I went into Monday night with a narrow lead (maybe like 5 points). I had newcomer Ricky Pearsall in my FLEX and Toot Cannons had no one. With all of his injuries and BYEs, his bench was depleted. But, he had a blank DEF spot. And, as chance would have it, both Carolina and San Francisco’s defenses were free agents. Before the game, he picked up the 49ers, they scored him 17 points, Pearsall got a dick in the ass, and The Moops lost 121.36 to 112.00, to drop to 6-6 on the year.

I could’ve – and should’ve – dropped Pearsall on Sunday night and picked up the 49ers’ defense. Then, I could’ve – and should’ve – dropped the 49ers and picked up the Panthers Monday morning. This would’ve – I believe – made both defenses unavailable to my opponent, securing my victory.

Here’s why I double-clutched: I thought Pearsall – in that 49ers offense – had a chance to be a big deal. He’s a first round pick! The 49ers’ offense is awesome! Why wouldn’t I give myself the opportunity to keep him for next year?

And then I learned what everyone else already knew: Pearsall sucks.

To make myself feel better, I will say that doing what I could’ve – and should’ve – done as outlined above is kind of a piece of shit move. If the only way I can win is to play games with the waiver wire, then maybe I don’t deserve to win. That being said, if this was a championship game, I might’ve felt differently. But, that’s neither here nor there.

Now, my back is to the wall. I am 6-6, and in 6th place in the league (top 6 go to the playoffs). I’m back to having the fewest points scored in the league, which means I will lose any and all tiebreakers. There are two games left in the regular season. There are two teams behind me who are 5-7. There’s also one other 6-6 team.

This week, I square off against The Lance Petemans, 7-5 and in 3rd place. The other 6-6 team is going up against the 2nd place team; one of the 5-7 teams is going up against a 7-5 team, and the other 5-7 team is going up aganist the last place team.

The road is clear: if I win my final two games, I make the playoffs. If I go 1-1, I need the 5-7 teams to go 1-1. The good news is that the 5-7 teams don’t face one another next week, so they could both conceivably go 1-1, or even 0-2.

Of course, if I go 0-2, there’s no way for me to make the playoffs, because that brings the 4-8 teams into the mix, and based on matchups, there would be at least one victory by a team below me to overtake me.

Waiver Wire Jamboree:  I put in two waiver claims. First, I put in a spite claim for Marvin Harrison Jr. Toot Cannons dropped him to pick up the 49ers, so I thought I would go after him. But, it looks like he’s very much up in the air on when he’ll be able to return from appendix surgery, so I quickly dropped him again. The other claim was for Tyrod Taylor; more on this in a moment.

I won both claims, but I found some alternatives in free agency I found more appealing. I dropped Harrison for Troy Franklin, the Broncos’ receiver. I’ve been on him in my other leagues for a while now; he’s their best wideout. Also, the Broncos are facing a terrible Washington defense, so I’m kinda going all in on both he and Courtland Sutton to have big weeks this week (I have both of them going in both of my other leagues). Someone put $7 towards picking up Sutton this week in this league, but everyone is sleeping on Franklin, which I hope to be my gain.

I also picked up Devin Neal, because hundreds of thousands of people all across this great land picked him up this week. He’s the Saints’ running back, who is taking over for an injured Alvin Kamara. I dropped Kimani Vidal, because it looks like Omarion Hampton will be back sooner rather than later. It was either him or Charbonnet, but I still like having both Seahawks running backs, if/when Walker gets hurt. I’m hoping the people of fantasy football know what they’re doing, because I could use a big week from Devin Neal.

Finally, I picked up Max Brosmer (which I choose to pronounce Brohs-mer, because dude is going to be my bro if he pans out) and re-dropped Tyrod Taylor.

So, get this: J.J. McCarthy “has a concussion”. It might be a case of The Vikings Don’t Want To Play Him Against This Seahawks Defense-itis. But, either way, it looks like he’s out and Brosmer is in. He also scored a whopping -2.65 points last week, because he might be the worst quarterback in NFL history. Nathan Peterman might have some competition, at the very least.

Brosman wasn’t even on my radar before yesterday afternoon. I listened to a radio interview with a Vikings beat writer, and he was talking about Brosman – an undrafted rookie – like he might be the next Brock Purdy. Someone who’s smart, who played a lot of college ball, who was slept on in the NFL Draft, but might be the perfect quarterback for the KOC offense. And again, I’m not betting against Tyrod Taylor, or Tyler Shough last week; rather, I’m betting ON the Vikings’ having a competent offensive system. They just need the right guy to run it.

Here’s the deal: the Vikings have a very easy close to the fantasy season, when it comes to opposing defenses. If Brosman comes to Seattle and puts up solid points – and somehow steals the starting quarterback job from J.J. – I won’t have a chance to get him next week. I either pick him up now, and hope he crushes, or I lose him forever.

So, I took a shot. Tyrod Taylor is a career backup; I can get him next week if I really want him. But Brosman? I’ll try that lottery ticket on for size.

I am, naturally, projected to lose this week. It would be helpful if I can have some non-quarterbacks step up and carry me to victory this week.

Nobody Wants To Hear About My Fantasy Team 2025: The Moops Are Over .500

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Previously, on Nobody Wants To Hear About My Fantasy Team:

For the first time all year, The Moops are a game over .500, thanks to a 147.75 to 97.35 victory over The Fabled Fondo Boys.

Pretty much everyone on his team had a bad week, except for the Steelers’ defense. I wouldn’t say my team was any great shakes, but the Browns’ defense also rose to the occasion, and I had a great week from Trey McBride.

However, I can’t get too excited, because calamity has struck my team once again. Michael Penix is out for the rest of the year with a knee injury (not the one he had surgically repaired in college), and Drake London is week-to-week with his own knee injury. For those keeping track at home, Penix and London were largely carrying my team (well, London was anyway). Now, I’m left scrambling.

What’s worse, Week 12 is my last BYE week of the season. Which means I’m missing Ladd McConkey (more critical than ever that I was able to trade for him right before he started blowing up) and Kimani Vidal. I have Parker Washington for the Jags, to at least fill up a WR spot. And, I’ll have to go back to the well of starting both Seahawks running backs again (thankfully, the Titans don’t project to be too much of a challenge). But, now I have a wide open FLEX spot, and a glaring hole at quarterback. Which brings us to …

Waiver Wire Jamboree:  I put in for two claims. First, Bryce Young was available, so I made him my top priority. Since I had no money to spend in my FAAB, though, he was long gone. Second, I went back to Kirk Cousins, who – shockingly (*sarcasm*) – nobody wanted. I ended up dropping Rachaad White (who I picked up for a one-week RB fill-in, after dropping both of the Washington RBs, one after another). I ended up having immediate buyer’s remorse though, so I re-dropped Cousins and picked up Tyler Shough. He seems to have a better matchup this week (Atlanta’s defense has been atrocious the last two weeks), but he’s also at least got a moderate amount of future upside. His last start two weeks ago (before the BYE) saw him generate 25.8 points, in just his third NFL appearance. Since, you know, the long-term viability of Penix might be in question, I’m gonna need to take another bite at that apple. The quarterback leftovers include Davis Mills, the aforementioned Cousins, Tyrod Taylor, Mason Rudolph, and Shedeur Sanders; none of them are worth a damn. So, fingers crossed for Shough!

UPDATE: Once I picked up Shough, I texted with someone else in the league who maybe jokingly/maybe seriously offered me J.J. McCarthy for him straight up, because he hates J.J. McCarthy. Rather than let it go, I decided to make the trade offer and give him something to really think about. He ended up taking the deal by the end of the day, so now I’ve got J.J.

I’ll say this: I don’t have a lot of hopes for this working out. There’s been talk of him being benched earlier this season; there’s been talk of him being benched again at some point in the near future. He doesn’t throw for many yards, he doesn’t seem to be accurate, and he turns the ball over way too fucking much. He’s got two 20+ games under his belt, and one of them came in Week 1. But, here’s the thing, if it’s going to work out for him, we’re going to find out in the next six weeks. The Vikings’ schedule really opens up, especially in an upcoming three-game stretch against Washington, Dallas, and the Giants. If he can’t get it done against those dogshit defenses, then probably all hope is lost.

I’ll also say this: I don’t think I’ve ever won a trade against the guy I just traded with. His was the infamous trade I made, giving up a young Tyreek Hill for an old Tom Brady (back when Brady was on the downside of his Patriots career, pre Tampa-resurgence). I’m sure there are other trades I’m forgetting, but that one really stuck out. So, put your money on J.J. continuing to suck, while Shough becomes a future MVP candidate.

In other waiver news, I still needed a receiver to fill out a full roster, so I picked up Darnell Mooney and finally dropped Matthew Golden. Based on the players getting added this week, there’s apparently some buzz behind Golden, for literally no reason, which has me concerned. But, I mean, I can’t start a guy who’s going to get me 3 points, and I need to at least TRY to win this week, to keep my playoff hopes alive.

My victory last week brings me to 6-5 on the season. More importantly, three of the erstwhile 5-5 teams lost, dropping to 5-6. Which means, you guessed it! I am currently sitting in a playoff spot! I’m not only in fifth place, but for the first time in a long time, I’m not last in total points scored! What a comeback!

Will this be my high-water mark on the season, though? Will it all be downhill from here?

Next up, I face the first place team, Toot Cannons. That’s not what you want right after losing your best quarterback and wide receiver. Fortunately, he’s got issues of his own. Jayden Daniels is on BYE, Kyler Murray is on IR, Cam Skattebo is on IR, Travis Hunter is on IR, the Broncos’ defense is on BYE, De’Von Achane is on BYE, and R.J. Harvey is on BYE. Then, he has the questionable Marvin Harrison Jr. and Bucky Irving.

Any way you slice it, these are two beat-up teams getting ready to play one another.