Welcome into another edition of the Fantasy Bites Podcast. Brandon Kravitz here with the fantasy headlines you need to know. A deep dive into hit or strikeout rates in fantasy baseball. Info that you will only find at rotowire.com. It's Monday morning, February 5th. The Super Bowl is right around the corner. This is media week where basic storylines get covered to the point of nausea. And if you don't like the Taylor Swift angle, I suggest you turn the volume down on all of your devices. But at the end of it all, we have a game to play at the end of this week coming up on Sunday. And I'll give you my favorite prop plays, my side, my total as we continue on this week. But as of this recording, we're back to San Francisco as a point and a half favorite.
for the Chiefs, with the total sitting at 47.5. As for the injuries to follow, it's mostly on the Kansas City side, but George Kittle was a notable absence from 49ers practice, probably more of a veteran rest day than anything else as he tends to his toe issue. Big news for the Chiefs' backfield potentially, Jarek McKinnon, who's been dealing with a sports hernia injury, was designated to return from injured reserve on Saturday. Even if McKinnon demonstrates enough progress to be added back to the 53-man roster, he would likely be in store for more like light backup work behind Isaiah Pacheco, who's been running wild as of late, and has really been the three down back with Clyde Edwards-Hilaire playing that spell role, so if McKinnon does get slotted in there, and he's a big plague... guy, somebody that Mahomes can rely on on third downs. Clyde Edwards-O'Leary would be the guy that would likely lose snaps. Willie Gay, the Chiefs linebacker, appears to be on the mend after missing the AFC title game. He was a full participant in the last Chiefs practice, and we're still waiting word on a positive report for his teammate, offensive guard Joe Tooney, who was a DMP for Kansas City. But it's worth monitoring here because you figure the Chiefs are going to have some difficulty in terms of dealing with that San Francisco front. They could use all the reinforcements they could get. Big sigh of relief for Chiefs backers out there. Chris Jones is trending up after a surprise flare-up on the injury report. Jones, who's dealing with a quad injury, was listed as a limited participant on Thursday's practice report after being a
a non-participant last Wednesday. In the NBA, more news on Joel Embiid, but still no official timeline. Joel is going to undergo a procedure to address a left meniscus injury in the coming days. The team announced this yesterday, but the door isn't closed on a return for this season. Embiid is expected to miss an extended period of time, but a more precise timeline isn't going to be known until they complete this procedure. Embiid is definitely going to fall well short of the league's 65-game minimum to earn postseason awards stuck at 34 games now. This also makes Paul Reed an absolute must-add if he wasn't already in fantasy basketball. As for tonight, six games on tap across the association. Herb Jones and Zion Williamson are listed as questions.
for the Pelicans. Kyrie Irving expected back for Dallas tonight after missing the last six. However, Luka has popped up on the injury report. No D'Anthony Melton in that same game for the Philadelphia side. Sadiq Bey is at risk of missing a second consecutive game due to a left ankle injury. DeAndre Hunter also listed as questionable. LeBron and AD continue their run with dual questionable tags tonight and Ben Simmons is out again for the Nets. Want to get a bet in tonight? Use the BetMGM bonus code ROTOBONUS. Earn a first bet offer up to $1,000. My bet today takes us the way of Philadelphia. Joel Embiid still out for Philly as we've talked about and while many will point to that as a reason that we can't bet Philly, I'm not going to let that scare me away.
Maurice Maxey is a good enough star in his own right to carry this team, and Paul Reed has stepped up big in Embiid's absence. And let's not lose sight of the fact that Dallas has been downright bad recently. The Mavericks are 0-4 against the spread in their last four games and 1-3 straight up. I think Philly takes care of business tonight. Sixers at home plus 1.5. For everything fantasy sports, get yourself a free trial at rotowire.com slash pod. There's no commitment and no credit card needed. Again, that's rotowire.com slash pod.