Fantasy Football Expert Roundtable: Title Game Shenanigans, Raiders Quagmires and More

Let's jump into a special holiday edition of this week's roundtable — Title week sneakiness, Raiders conundrums, and more!

1. What’s your biggest regret in fantasy football this season?

Cooter: First of all, I didn’t talk nearly enough sh*t to my friends. Second, I drafted way too many rookies. And third, I was constantly streaming kickers and defenses each week, which never ended well. There are many regrets. But I did beat my friend Justin by less than a point, stealing his spot in the playoffs from his cold, dead hands (SUCK IT, JUSTIN!). Not only does that make all of the mistakes worth it in the end, but it also kinda solves #1.

Jake: I regret that I didn’t spend four years getting a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology, another four years in med school, an additional four years in residency, and at least one year in a fellowship so I could practice sports medicine and dedicate my life to preventing that Malik Nabers injury. I drafted that dude EVERYWHERE. Ironically, I also stayed far away from CMC in all leagues. So I’ve got that goin’ for me, which is nice.

Pete: How long do you have? Actually, my biggest regret is more in the macro. I wish I played in a few more home leagues. I drafted hundreds of best ball teams, had a dozen or so high stakes teams, played in a handful of Guillotine leagues…but participated in only one “regular” home league. Over the past couple years, my long-time leagues with high school buddies and old friends both fizzled out when no one wanted to be commissioner. At the time, I didn’t care. One less team to manage, yaye. But now in hindsight, I’m realizing how much I miss that element of fantasy where you have a singular H2H matchup in the playoffs and agonize over every start/sit decision.

2. Ashton Jeanty had a huge game in a matchup that was supposed to crush him. Now what do we do?

Cooter: I drafted TreVeyon Henderson, started TreVeyon Henderson when Rhamondre Stevenson flourished(read: stole his carries), and traded TreVeyon Henderson away right before his breakout game. Nothing can hurt me anymore. Not even Ashton Jeanty. But when you have an explosive player like Jeanty, you gotta mentally prepare for the explosions my dude.

Jake: Relish the fact that he helped you lock down 5th place in your league? I’m firmly on the wait-and-see side of things with Jeanty in regards to next year. I’ll need to see big upgrades on the offensive line and/or quarterback and/or offensive coordinator before I trust him as the “generational talent” he’s supposed to be.

Pete: You turn on Google Alerts for the Raiders this offseason and pray they upgrade the QB position and the offensive line. No one has ever questioned Jeanty’s talent, but the situation has been abysmal. He’s good enough to overcome that situation a couple times a year on pure talent, but we’ll need the scenery to change around him to feel confident drafting him in 2026. If anything, that spike vs. the Texans was very bad because any discounts in both dynasty or redraft likely evaporated. I’ll be curious to see what the market does with him. If they are greedy, I’ll be fearful. If they are fearful, I’ll be greedy.

3. Now do Brock Bowers and Trey McBride!

Cooter: Tight ends hold a special place in my heart. Sam LaPorta got me through 2023. Brock Bowers got me through 2024. Down weeks or not, McBride got us through 2025. So yea, I’m going to be tainted by the feverishly sexy dopamine hits of these big fellas for years to come. Let me continue to draft them in peace.

Jake: I've spent a lot of years as the guy who refuses to draft a tight end in the first few rounds. I’ve played chicken with league mates until the choices were down to Tyler Eifert or Ricky Seals-Jones…and I didn’t flinch. So no, as much as I appreciate what McBride and Bowers bring to the buffet, I won’t be spending the dough to get them on my plate.

Pete: The Brock Bowers situation is the same as the Ashton Jeanty situation–elite talents in awful situations. Trey McBride was basically Juwan Johnson before Jacoby Brissett took over. QB play and offensive environment/scheme matter a ton when it comes to the TE position (remember Jonnu Smith last year? lmao). Elite TE will always be a controversial strategy because it yields as many flops as it does smashes, but I think the risk/reward proposition–specifically in Guillotine leagues where the entire goal is to turn a roster into a juggernaut as the season progresses–will always be in favor of chasing the outlier TE seasons. TLDR: I’ll be headed back to the Brock well in 2026.

4. Give us your favorite Christmas cookie recipe

Cooter: I’m in the camp of “the only cookie ingredients that matter come in the time spent making them”. Homemade or Pillsbury, put on some music and make a mess together, damnit. People won’t remember the taste of the cookies, but they’ll remember that one holiday when everyone’s hands were full of flour and sugar instead of their cell phones.

Jake: Damn. You’d have to be a real dick to list an actual recipe after that beautiful sentiment. So I’m just gonna link to one.

Pete: I won’t try to pretend like I have a proprietary recipe or that I make Christmas cookies myself. I’m like Geno Smith behind an offensive line in the baking department. Instead, I’ll give you the definitive power ranking of Christmas cookies:

1) Hershey Kiss cookie/Peanut butter blossoms - if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.

2) Classic sugar cookie - just miss me with the blue frosting. Grow up.

3) Snowball cookies - they had me at “sugar-dusted”

4) Snickerdoodles - with a side of egg nog, please

5. Do you engage in any title week tomfoolery (picking up six QBs to block your opponent, etc)?

Cooter: I’ll never yuck someone else’s yum, but you’ll never catch me getting my hands dirty like this. There’s a balance to the universe that cannot be curated or forced. And I don’t f*ck around with fantasy football karma. If you pick up six QBs, you can rest assured the 7th QB that you’ve forced your opponent to start will go off for 5 passing TDs.

Jake: I’m a fantasy purist and a tomfoolery minimalist. So no, I won’t participate in the types of shenanigans you described. But I will change my team name to something a little feisty, like say “Doodle Defacer” if the occasion calls for it. Hypothetically…

Pete: I did some shady stuff back in the day when I first started playing fantasy. I think it’s a right of passage to pick-up and “accidentally” drop a player or defense your opponent might need. Eventually, though, you realize that ruining life long friendships to marginally increase your chances of winning a $25 league is not actually an exchange you want to be making.

6. Jake and Amanda are facing off in our staff dynasty league final this week. What’s the most ridiculous rule our commissioner Matt Swing set in order to game the system so he could win? And do you have anything to say to each other? Pete — who are you rooting for?

Cooter: That all depends. If I win, I think Swing did a fabulous job and everything about this league is perfect. Commissioners are the backbone of our society and they deserve mad respect. And… If I lose.. It’s because Swing allowed you-know-who to join when we all clearly thought this was a No Jake League. (Jokes aside: I’m sure there are some terrible rules, but I refuse to read that long ass charter that he wrote.)

Jake: Commissioner Swing, curator of The Great Big League Charter That Everyone Definitely Read and No One Ever Complains About, has done nothing wrong. He is a gentleman and a saint. That said…ONLY ONE IR SPOT? In this ACL-barren economy?? And Cooter, you should know “Jake” was the most popular boys name for like 15 straight years. So good luck finding my replacement!

Pete: Interesting that this is the first I’m even hearing about this league. My invite must have gotten lost in the mail. I think the loser should have to record themselves singing a dynasty-themed Christmas carol and I would never pick a favorite between Jack and Amanda so I think they should both write/sing Christmas carols. It's only fair.