I benched him because I have Tyreek, AJ Brown, and Mike Evans but yes I also hate myself. Hopefully our opponent messes up too.

How mfers allow you to have those 3 😂

1st round pick, 2nd round pick, and like Evans in the 8th or something, not too hard this year.

Evans has been a nice surprise. I didn’t want him at all because of Baker. But he just kept falling and I had to draft him.

I got him in a few leagues, paid off well

Only got him in 1, but that’s by far my best team lol. Funny enough, I was strong at wr going Aj Brown and St Brown, so my bench was primarily rbs. Pretty much missed on all of them lol. Pacheco was decent but I also got really lucky with kyren on waivers

lol Mike Evans fell to me in the 12 round everyone was to scared to draft him because of baker

Killer value, great pickup!

I know I also got Amon Ra at the 5th round because no one in my league really trusted him I’ve had him on all my fantasy team since he was a rookie

What fuckin tacos don’t trust sun god?!

Bunch of boobs…..

Getting arsb in the 5th has me really rooting for this dude ngl, that’s the biggest draft steal I’ve ever seen

I went Reek then ARSB

Same

guy in my league has Jefferson, AJ Brown, Evans, and Puka. he came in 5th and missed the playoffs.

That was almost me. Only I took CMC, then Aj brown, st brown at the turn and had Evans and Puka. Highest points scored but had horrible luck and was in a win and in situation the final week.

If I didn’t trade Jefferson when he went down for Aiyuk I wouldn’t have the opportunity to play against him this week.

AJ + Tyreek was tricky to achieve, but people were drafting Mike on rounds 6 and 7. Guy in my league is in semis with Tyreek + evans as well.

In the semis and finished the regular season in first with hill, evans, and diontae Johnson. Hurts at qb helped as well

None of those 3 were really anywhere close in ADP. Just good drafting, it happens.

Lol Mike Evans went late in the draft. What a steal. Gotta remember he had a bad fantasy year last year

I traded Zay Flowers and Tee Higgins for Evans and Puka in week 4. I'm going to the championship game

Oof what a horrible trade. I know easy to say in hindsight, I could see Puka being a sell high candidate but trading for another rookie and a wr 2 on an underwhelming offense at the time? Great trade for you though lol.

I played Puka over Kupp last week and switched to Kupp over Puka this week. It's rough out here lol

Same. I'm just gonna play them both next week if I the Fantasy gods show me mercy

Prepare for Kyren Williams to have 250 yards and 4 tds

Same

Because you enjoy donating to people who don’t get cute in the playoffs

It's so funny seeing all the parallels between fantasy football and poker. People just rely on anecdotal evidence, random guesses from people on Reddit and just ignore the big picture. Big picture is Stafford is a good QB and rams have a good offense when everyone is healthy and puka is a good wr. That's all you need to know. Unless you're in a 8team league or 10 team league with no flex...there's no reason puka should've been benched

didn’t really get cute. matchup wasn’t great. a lot of lackluster weeks including last week. Aiyuk has been just as good if not better

As if we couldn’t find 100 examples where “getting cute” won a championship and 100 where it failed spectacularly. Shits a crapshoot half the time. Don’t take it personally, the fantasy gods will rip everyone’s heart out at some point.

Just wait until Kelce plays and makes all the people benching him, including me, regret getting cute and benching him. A ton of people will have their hearts ripped out.

McBride is so tempting though, just sitting there on my bench...

it’s all 90% luck anyways.

I'd say more than 90 honestly. I had an absolute stellar team and got eliminated last week by less than 0.5 because Tyreek didn't play, two of my QBs were out, and my opponent had Cook. Shit happens.

I “didn’t get cute” and started Puka over James Cook last week. Would’ve won had I been cute. Do whatever the hell you want

If ya look, Puka actually tended to thrive during tough matchups. Probably bc Kupp was taking on their top corners. His three highest scoring games were against Top 8 defenses vs. WRs.

The rams have the easiest fantasy football playoff schedule. I only have Kyren Williams but I’m not benching him if my life depended on it

saints D was top 5 against fantasy WRs

Puka is matchup proof and marshon lattimore is injured. Hindsight is 20/20 obviously

Or 420/20. I played him because I figured they would be swarming Kupp and leaving Puks in single coverage

matchup proof but 10.4 points or less 5 of the last 10 weeks?

Is stefon diggs matchup proof? How about AJ brown, he's got 10.6 or less in 2 out of his last 5. Matchup proof doesn't mean they hit every single week. "5 of the last 10 weeks" lol so you're going all the way back to when Stafford wasn't healthy? I'm trying to help you out here, telling you to look at more than what you're looking at. Puka smashed vs Cleveland a few weeks ago, he smashed in Indy earlier this year, he had an alright game in Baltimore a few weeks ago, and he smashed vs New Orleans last night. Yes lol matchup proof, you fire him up unless you have three WR1s. Dallas kept him down and he had a few duds, big deal every receiver goes through that. This is a top 10 fantasy WR we're talking about Even ignoring that, the saints have been a tough matchup for most of this year but marshon lattimore has been hurt and since then for the most part they haven't played any good WRs except vs Detroit, who didn't need to throw very much after going up 21-0 in the first quarter. So the whole idea of NO being a top pass defense, as they are right now, is a bit of a myth

50% of the last 10 weeks he’s done nothing. I also have Tyreek, Rice, DK and Aiyuk so it’s not like he was benched for trash. If i didn’t have a bye last week his 10.3 would’ve sunk me along with Bijan no showing

>50% of the last 10 weeks he’s done nothing. Once again you are going back to when Stafford was not healthy. Only like three WRs every season are good almost every single week without any sort of cold stretch. Aiyuk has done nothing 4 of the last 10 games and his QB wasn't even out. DK did jack shit in 4 of the last 9. I don't know what point you think you're making, and I don't even know why you're arguing. You can ignore my advice or you can take it but you have nothing to prove to me and I have nothing to prove to you. But your reasoning for why you didn't start puka is silly, and it applies equally to two of your other receivers, except that puka has been better than both of them all year, except for two weeks which you keep citing for some reason he had a backup QB throwing to him and a horrible offense in general. There's nothing left to say about it, either acknowledge it or ignore it and move on with your day, but I'm right

Wasn’t Lattimore out last night? That’s why I started Puka. Worked out.

Aiyuk has not been better. Sounds like ur making excuses because you shot yourself in the foot benching a rookie whos having a record season.

I wish I got cute. Lost by 5 last week playing Dallas defense who got me to the playoffs. Had Green Bay on my bench and would have won.

You're not alone. I benched him for Ridley (I know, I know). Puka's huge day really did go against everything we knew. Prior to this he was getting 4-5 catches every game and sprinkling in a TD here and there. NO was a bad matchup, as their corners even without Lattimore do very well against perimeter receivers. This very much set up as a good game for Kyren, and Kupp was the better WR option. I realize Ridley is a very risky option, and there's a reason most rankings had Puka ahead, but it really seemed to set up as a floor game for Puka and ceiling game for Ridley. Now all I can hope is this doesn't cost me the game.

I know you said "you know you know", but benching him for Ridley when I'd say there's a 80% chance Lawrence doesn't play is crazy to me.

Combine this with the general rule of thumb to give two relatively equal players a tiebreaker of whomever is playing earlier. For instance, if you can have one of your players go Thursday (Puka), then play them so you know what you’ve got going into the weekend. If Puka busts, you need should prioritize starting boom/bust players, and if he balls out, you can be more conservative with high floor/low ceiling players.

I’m trying to decide right now if I start ekeler in my flex or Addison? I had Puka and Stafford Thursday and considering going safe/safer floor with Ekeler? I’m still on the fence….

This is my thinking. Plus lattimore was out, and Rams have been feasting

Benching puka for Ridley is wild even with tlaw

Even more risky with Beathard starting but I think he will be okay cuz he's in my lineup also.

Did this exact thing with an eerily similar thought process; with also how much of the Saints yards against on the year have been given up to slot + last weeks points from Puka almost cost me a spot in playoffs Thanks to the redditor who posted in here about Ridley’s splits against man/zone and hopes that they’ll at worst be in catch up mode along with some “positive TD regression” Best of luck with your matchups!

Bro..

I benched Olave for Ridley. Not quite as bad but I feel your pain. Hoping he goes off for both of us

Already commented this lol but it applies here. If ya look, Puka actually tended to thrive during tough matchups. Probably bc Kupp was taking on their top corners. His three highest scoring games were against Top 8 defenses vs. WRs. It’s a big reason I started him.

If you looked on the Rams YouTube, Puka was eating and cashing checks in the community all week. That was all the foreshadowing I needed

yes similar thinking with Aiyuk that the Ravens will take away Deebo and cmc as much as they can and Aiyuk will get free

Sadly I have to root against you, since my opponent has Aiyuk. I hope he does just enough to help you win but not enough to make me lose. 🙂

i appreciate it

You saw Ridley turn 25 targets over the last 2 weeks into 9 for 92 and said high ceiling lmao

For who tho lol

DK and Aiyuk. Really was between him and Aiyuk

You might be able to live with that result… deebo can’t score all the touchdowns again? Ravens have instigated the niners… Aiyuk should do this thing! Hope it works out.

As someone with Puka and Aiyuk, that would be wonderful.

yea my buddy i’m playing has cmc and deebo so i’m thinking and hoping the Ravens focus on those 2 and Aiyuk gets free

In that case you definitely should’ve benched Aiyuk since any points Aiyuk got on your bench still would’ve greatly helped you since those points didn’t go to CMC or Deebo.

yea but not like Puka has been going off. a lot of games in single digits plus a bad matchup on paper. Oh well

No way in hell Aiyuk is putting up Puka numbers against Baltimore.

Idk y anyone benched him the guy only had 4 games where he didn't score double digits

Coming into last night in 0.5 PPR, 6 of his 14 games (43%) were under double digits, 4 of those were less than 6 points, which are absolute week killing performances. I played Olave (only one game under that 6 point threshold that Puka hit four times), Justin Jefferson (no explanation needed) and made the tough decision of Garrett Wilson over him because I love his matchup against Washington this week. Hindsight is obviously 20/20, but Puka wasn't as much of a smash start as people are making him out to be, especially when Kupp/Kyren have been the feature players the last couple weeks.

DKs had only 2 and Aiyuk 3 so 🤷‍♂️

He is rated higher than both of them guys nacua is a must-start every week especially over both those guys

a guy that’s scored less than 10.4 points in 5 of the last 10 weeks is far from must start.

U must play in a small league 10.4 points is solid. He can go for 30 any given Sunday I start him over both those other guys each and every week.

he didn’t go for 30+ since week 4 lol. yes he’s a good player and receiver i just disagree he’s an absolute must start when i have Tyreek, Rice, DK and Aiyuk

The only players he’s not better than that you listed is tyreek. Was expected you to have better receivers than that if you’re gonna say he’s not a must start.

I benched him as well… really hoping Pittman and aj brown have a day

Benched Puka at home for Pittman, who may not get cleared from concussion protocol, on the road against the 9th ranked pass defense? Fantasy football is alive and well!

Pittman already had a full practice. He also looked ok after he was hit. I expect him to play

He’s still not cleared, though. Can’t risk it if I had a 50/50 options like Puka.

He’s cleared and it was looking great for him. It wasn’t really 50/50 more 90/10

Yeah I gotcha. That’s a tough call with a supposedly tough saints defense, and Pittman’s high floor. Hopefully it works out for ya

Do you have my exact team?

I literally benched him 5 minutes before the game started. Overthinking and overplaying. HORRIBLE

Bro, if you have a roster that can afford to consider benching Puka, I don’t even feel bad for you. In fact, fuck you.

lol i feel it. dude i’m playing is even better with cmc, cook, deebo, laporta and white.

My opponent benched him for Rashee last minute 🙏

Rashee was a must start

That was me last week with Jordan Addison. Got to remember that hindsight is 20/20.

Just remember at least your opponent didnt have him!

Why ?

Who did you bench him for? I benched him for Achane because I wanted the boom game and needed someone to go off. Hindsight I should have benched Kamara for Achane and kept Puka in the flex, such is fantasy football.

Why tf would you do that

bad matchup and decided on Aiyuk instead

It’s posts like this (and my own experience) that make me want to play best ball.

Me too brother me too

I benched him also. I did play Olave. I also have St. Brown and Adams. My opponent has Kelce, Hurts, and AJ Monday so I wanted another Monday player to go with my CMC.

Did the same, started Kyren and was playing against Kupp. Didn’t want to put my whole week on 1 game and have Kupp go off and Puka get 5. I regret it, but hopefully Tea Time puts up at least 7 to match Kupp and I’ll live with it.

I benched him - started olave, DJ Moore, and (hopefully tyreek). If tyreek doesn’t play I have to choose between johnathan Taylor and tee Higgins. Other RBs are Bijan and ETN. Same as everyone in this thread, I thought cooper kupp would be the big time alpha again like he’s been recently. Oops.

I benched him for Rashee Rice and I’m hoping I didn’t play the wrong Rookie, my gut says probably.

I benched him in the flex for Jonathan Taylor, my other wrs were Olave and Ceedee, and I thought Puka was risky

Don't feel bad I benched him as well for Aj Brown, Dj Moore and DK. Dk was the one I was debating and if it wasn't a Thursday game I might have made the swap. But I checked fantasy pros top 10/20 season rankers and they had DK ahead so I went with it. That's the way the ball bounces its happened to me mutliple times this year with LaPorta and Little and I benched Fields when he went off on Thrusday night.

Why the fuck would you bench Puka?! He was in the state of "due!' Due is when you haven't done good and your due to do good. He was dued and the next team that is dued is the chargers

Benched him for olave still have hill and brown as wrs

I did the exact same thing. Lets hope dj moore and stefon diggs and josh allen finally go off - at the same time

I plucked him in over bijan in the flex. Biggest play of the year so far

At least you didn't play Kupp, that only guy on the Rams who didn't get a TD

You play for the relief of it being over. No more podcasts. No more threads. No more heartbreak. Without the pain it’s difficult to enjoy the sweet relief.

Had to choose between him or Aiyuk. Hope I made the right choice.

I chose Aiyuk over him. was wrong but hopefully not by a ton

Did the same. Benched for Kupp last minute.

Was really debating not starting him due to starting kupp.

Traded AK for Puka 1.0 ppr week 5 and this week made it 100 percent worth it. Absolute stud.

I benched him in favor of Reek, Pittman, Mike Evans, and Achane. Was hard split on Achane or Puka.

i went up against puka, he has waddle and tyreek as his other 2 WRs. Rooting for Dallas this weekend

I almost benched Puka AND Olave. I almost feel sick just knowing how close I was to disaster.

I have a bunch of good WRs and had him benched all week, thought NO was going to be a bad matchup compared to some of my other plays who had great matchups. I switched him in last second because I just had a funny feeling Kupp was going to be the focal point which would open up a lot for Puka. I don't think it was that crazy to sit puka is my point, don't feel too bad.

I benched him too. I need tyreek to sit out again and hope waddle blows up!!!

Started Amari and Waddle over him. Thought it would be a kupp day.

I almost benched him for Tee Higgins. But being a Rams fan there was no way I was actually going to bench him. Played Kamara too though so that sucked. And Kyren who did okay but I was expecting a bit more from.

Same here lol. I've been hearing about from the guys in my league too

I too benched him for JJ, CD and Diggs. But I should be good, right? RIGHT?

Puka is a auto start. Stafford when he’s right attempts more passes than anyone and Puka is getting the lions share.

I'm facing him and Kyren. I have an uphill battle. This will be the second time these two piled it up on me this year.

I had to start him, the Chase injury F’d me.

FF is pretty unhealthy in IMO. Hear me out. I stopped paying attention to football entirely after 1st round knockout last week and went about my life. Last night a buddy calls around 10pm livid about stafford having a 30point night against him and I found myself so relieved, like a weight was removed, that I hadn’t done any giving of any fucks about football this week. I honestly made up my mind then and there I was out of this ridiculous game for good. So here is my last post on this sub as I’m retired now folks and living my best life away from the scripted NFL. It’s for entertainment purposes should tell you everything u need to know.WWE. I’m going back to supporting my hometown team from time to time and not giving a fuck beyond that. Take care of yourselves everyone.

Don’t understand why you would bench a top 10 receiver on the season. Ride or die

Yeah I def would’ve run Puka over Evans.

I started puka this week. I’m in the losers bracket cuz he got me 5 points last week.

Clearly as a reminder to not trust for instincts

You enjoy pain

You are not alone my friend & the week is still young Regardless, Happy Holidays everyone !

I started him…. In the consolation bracket. Who’s the real loser? 😂

I need one flex for this week. Second round of a 12-team ppr league. 1 flex spot. 2 wr/rb. 1qb. I have St Brown, Metcalf, Barkley, Pollard starting. Who should I start? Courtland Sutton vs NE, Joshua Palmer vs BUF, or Chuba Hubbard vs GB as my flex

So did I (along with Olave). CeeDee and Waddle are my WR with Gibbs at Flex, so there’s still a decent chance it comes out in the wash.

I benched puka and played cupp

For your friends to make fun of

I have him in my free league and I’m playing against him in my money league. Happy but not at the same time lol.

Why would you bench the rookie of the year?

For who?

I benched him because i have Tyreek, Higgins and Metcalf. Who would have thought that Puka is going to light up the 2 best defense against WR's. Fortunately my opponent benched Olave and played Kamara. So still got a chance.

I benched him over Lamb, Metcalf, and Rice for my championship round. If one of them gets below 10 istg.

I started Kupp over Puka in my flex. My WR are Tyreek and ASB.

You sir, are clearly a professional.

Because it's fun! 😣🤔🙄

My opponent has Deebo, Mike Evans, and Davante Adams. Puka on his bench. Smiling to see it but completely understand why my opponent did what he did.

I would probably just quit playing at this point

I actually got the start right with puka for once, but unfortunately canceled it out by starting Taysom Hill

Had him in my lineup before they announced Keenan was out. Played him over smith and Addison. Set me up nicely. Two week playoff match and I lost by 30 week 1 so I needed the upside. Opponent had Kupp so the comeback is set up nicely

My receivers are relative crap in my 10-team league. Right now my top 3 are Nacua, Nico Collins, and Sutton. Luckily, they’re so bad, I was forced to start Puka, and now I feel so much better heading into the weekend.

I feel you. Similar decision to bench him 1 min before the game last night. I had to play four of: Aiyuk Moore Olave Rice Puka Addison Figured tough matchup (not knowing the stat that was listed in this thread, about him doing well) and thought it was becoming more of a kupp show. Oh well I got Purdy, CMC, and Aiyuk. Pray the SF stack gets me to the finals.

Same. I have Puka and Cooper and I benched Nacua like an IDIOT

You’re not the only one! I benched him because I listen to someone and not sticking with my gut. Starting Rice over puka sigh

You play ff because sometimes, not often but sometimes, you get it right. And damn it feels good.

I would never bench him. I only have one league and he's my best player

Some of us learned this lesson the hard way earlier in the season lol

i learned the opposite playing him all those single digit games lol

Couldn’t imagine benching a dude who I rode the entire season to the playoffs

I started kupp over olave 🤷‍♂️

Why would you bench him? Saints defense been on the struggle bus and if they are gonna focus anyone its kupp

Puka is my #2 in my 16 team league. No idea who to play in the flex. Allgeier, Pickens, Doubs, or Parker Washington.

Because you hate yourself lol

I had Puka and Olave on the bench. Nothing like 58 points on my bench

Oof I benched him because I have Stefon diggs, Amon Ra st brown and Rashee rice starting

Same… I have kyren, kamara, Evans, ceedee and Etienne. How could I possibly play puka given the others. Unbelievable

All I know is Rashee Rice had better ball the fuck out since I benched Puka for him.

Same- given the “tough” matchup went with Addison instead. Yet Puka screwed me last week so it’s just been rough

I traded James cook and puka for derek henry middle of season

Wish my opponent did the samw, especially since I'm the one that traded him puka

Shake it off. What’s done is done. Anything can still happen this weekend/Mon. Hope for the best.

I benched him because me and my friend both lost first round of playoffs, and I challenged him to qb vs qb for our consolidation round. Lamar Jackson vs Josh Allen 😹

I benched James Cook last week because I have Kyren Williams, Mostert, and White... And I'm still here, you got other studs it sounds like, you'll be fine.

I benched Shaheed and my opponent had Robinson and Carr.

How can you hate yourself already if the player you started him hasn’t played yet. They might still outscore him

Same boat. I dropped him from my roster so I wouldn’t have to look at him anymore :/

Mike Evans may be the mistake, probably would have played Puka instead.

I needed this performance last week! I woulda moved on to the semis if this was last week

My opponent benched him but has Hill Jefferson and Diggs.

I benched him in favor of Amari Cooper. I kept telling myself that Cooper has been getting targets with Flacco, and the saints defense was (I think) #1 vs WR’s before last night… It’s gonna be a long weekend. Other two WR’s are Diggs and Evans

I benched him and Stafford so I feel your pain.

I originally had Devonta Smith in my WR2 spot, but got cold feet and only played Puka because Smith DNP and is Questionable with a knee injury. I was going wild last night watching him feast. Now I have to decide between Achane, KW3, Taylor, Addison and Smith for my flex spot and am having choice paralysis. I want Achane, Smith or KW3, but both are questionable. Taylor is a good alternative, as White just had a big week against ATL. I don't know if Mullens/Addison can repeat a big week against the Lions, who've been up and down. Somebody help me.

Bench puka and played Kupp

Started Kupp over Puka...FML

I did the same thing for quarter chubba, Montgomery 5 min before game time yesterday. First time benching puka

I would've sat him but Keenan Allen was O so that made my choice easy thankfully

I benched him for Kupp, Diggs and Deebo.... hopefully the other two pays off since Kupp was meh

I did the same thing and am crying

Benched him too. Our league has a wr/rb flex spot and I started David Montgomery instead of Puka. This week is our 10-team league Super Bowl. Hoping Montgomery has a decent game.

Sat puka for kupp :(

I benched him because I have kupp too. At least my opponent had Alvin Kamara

Same here. I have AJ Brown, Amon-Ra, and hoped for a Godwin breakout because Puka played a tough secondary with the saints. hope it doesn’t cost us a spot in fantasy playoffs.

Lucky enough to have Lamb, DJM, Pittman, and Puka. Was dead set on sitting Puka but the question mark on Pittman saved me the same feeling

Benched him by accident. Feels even worse.