Fake Teams fantasy football mailbag: Who’s better moving forward, Dak Prescott or Marcus Mariota?

Welcome to the Fake Teams’ fantasy football mailbag. In the bag this week: Do you roll with two tight ends into the playoffs?, Is Julio Jones worth it? plus other fantasy playoff questions.

If you want to send in your questions for next week’s mailbag, here are the ways to join:

• tweet @petemrogers or @Faketeams using #FTFFmailbag
• email at ftffmailbag@gmail.com
• leave your question in the comments!

Onto the mailbag:

Q: I have Ertz and Olsen at TE. Would it be ok to drop Olsen for an Alex Collins, Marlon Mack, Josh Doctson and go with the 1 TE into playoffs? Thanks.

Also, what are my biggest weaknesses?

My current roster:
QB-Mariota, Prescott
RB-D Lewis, Perine, Ajayi, Zeke, Abdullah, Woodhead
WR-AB, Tate, Diggs, Sanu
TE-Ertz, Olsen
DST-Ravens
K-Lutz

Thanks!
— @whorleyt

First question, 100 PERCENT DROP GREG OLSEN FOR ANY OF THOSE GUYS BUT ESPECIALLY MAKE IT JOSH DOCTSON. You don’t need two tight ends since bye weeks are over and especially since you have Zach Ertz as your starting guy. Olsen is injured again anyways and having two tight ends makes no sense.

Honestly, and I can say this because you sent me your team, having two quarterbacks doesn’t make sense. In the playoffs, dedicate all the roster spots you can have to players who have chances of giving you all the points.

Now, second question, weaknesses. Right off the bat, quarterback. Mariota has struggled this whole season and Dak has been in the midst of an epic tailspin, which to the Dak critics at home, is not an example of “Oh look at me, I was right, Dak sucks” but far more an example of “Dak is in his second year of playing the hardest position in the game and was perfect his rookie year so there are bound to be growing pains”. Dak is still a very good quarterback, don’t freak out.

That being said, neither of these guys have been excellent fantasy quarterbacks recently and if I were you, I wouldn’t really feel too comfortable rolling into the playoffs with them. That being said, if you’re going to roll with one of these guys, Dak might be the man to chose. The Cowboys schedule is the 12th easiest for quarterbacks which could help get Dak out of his slide. That being said, if Tyrod Taylor is available in your league..... scrap the entire QB room and get him. His final five games are vs Patriots, vs Colts, vs Dolphins, vs Patriots, vs Dolphins. You won’t find an easier schedule for a quarterback.

Q: In a 12 man ppr startup dynasty im being offered Julio Jones for Cooper Kupp, my 1st round which is looking to be 8th in 2018 and two 2nd rounders 16th and 18th.

Am I losing too much in future value or should I pull the trigger? Roster is young for me and WR is sore spot. Rookies and Core players I have are; Deshaun Watson, Kareem Hunt, Christian McCaffrey, Brandin Cooks, Carson Wentz, Corey Davis plus many other Wr3/4 & rb 3/4
— John S.

Right of the bat, sorry if this is coming late and your trade deadline has already passed. I hope not because otherwise this is a useless answer. But maybe it hasn’t and you can take my wise wise words into consideration.

I’ve been spending a lot of time recently debating about Julio Jones and exactly how I feel about him as a fantasy player. He’s really really really good obviously—you kinda have to be to put up 30+ points in a game—however he’s gotten into the bad habit over the last few years of having one or two utterly amazing, mind blowing games, but then way too many non-existent games. For me, that’s not really what I want from a guy who I’m taking in the first round. Now, every receiver has non-existent games, that’s just part of football. But what makes Julio’s so apparent is his lack of touchdowns.

Antonio Brown (best fantasy receiver by total points) has had three games with four or less receptions but it helped that he caught a touchdown in one of those games. Julio also has had three games with four or less receptions but hasn’t been able to add a touchdown to any of those games. In fact, Julio didn’t score a touchdown until Week 6 and then didn’t score again till just this past week. DeAndre Hopkins (second best receiver by total points) is a whole nother beast, as he’s also had three four or less reception games but each of those he scored at least a touchdown. One of those included a four catch, three touchdown performance against the Chiefs. Man the Chiefs’ pass defense sucks.

Anyways, long story short, I think you might be giving up too much. That may sound crazy, but just remember, before Julio had his 38.8 point performance, he was 23rd among wide receivers in total points. Let that sink in.

Q: First week of a two week playoff match up. Should I get the dub?
— Wyatt M.

rolls up sleeves

Let’s do this.

QB: This will be a big test for Carson Wentz, but nothing stopped him this season so gotta go with the hot hand here 1/0

RB1: Fournette missed the last time the Jags played the Colts but T.J. Yeldon ate them up. Fournette has been struggling recently but maybe this will get him back on track. That being said, I think Howard is going to EAT against the Niners. 1/1

RB2: .............please 2/1

WR1: Keenan Allen has been a man possessed recently whereas Michael Thomas has been not as possessed. 2/2

WR2: Who’s throwing Devante Parker the football? Yea, easy pick here. 3/2

TE: It’s hard to put any faith in Geno Smith but I guess I’d put more faith in him than Deshone Kizer? Ugh what an ugly predicament. 4/2

FLEX: Browns have a good run defense but Melvin Gordon is a very good running back. McCaffé could have himself a big game but I’d trust Gordon more. 4/3

D/ST: Any team facing Cleveland has my vote. 5/3

K: Lambo. Colts give up a lot of points to kickers. 5/4

That’s a victory!

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Have fantasy football questions? You can email them into FTFFmailbag@gmail.com or tweet them at @petemrogers or @faketeams using the hashtag #FTFFmailbag.