It’s championship week! Congratulations if you’re here, or even if you’re playing for third place, the consolation bracket, or just to avoid last place. I appreciate all of you, every year… unless you’re playing kickers. Repeating last week’s format, I’ll be addressing the fringe starters with good and bad matchups for the Week 17 fantasy football rankings. Reminder! The 101 link (below) touches on all weather, hard start/sit calls and more, so read it first. Good luck in the last week (for most).
#CheckTheLink-age
Exemptions | SOS ranks of week 17
Fantasy Football 101 (weather, lineups, trade, more)
Everything in Soccer (video pod)
2022 Week 17 Fantasy Football Sleepers
🚨 ATTENTION 🚨 These are sleepers. They will not mimic my rankings 100%. This is chasing higher and often comes with more risk.
Just like last week, I’m going to mix it up a bit. You don’t need a paragraph per player at this point. So using APA (link above), I’ll give you some good and bad matches. for marginal entrants (alias, sleepers or possible bankable). This does NOT mean that the good ones are mandatory starts or that the bad ones should be benched everywhere. These are simply a look at potential upside plays and players you might think twice about with a quality replacement available.
ATTACK PLAYER
good matchups
- Aaron Rodgers, UK — Rodgers is a floor play this season, but at least the Vikings have given up double-digit fantasy points to every quarterback this year … well … after Rodgers’ 3.7 points in Week 1.
- Russell Wilson, DEN — Speaking of floor, Wilson has hit it hard with around eight points in three of the last four games, but the Chiefs allowed Wilson to have his second-highest point score of the season in Week 14.
- Jared Goff, DET — Goff not only played well outdoors, but also had one of the best games of Week 16 and now heads home to face the Bears.
- Brock Purdy, San Francisco — Mac Jones is the only quarterback not to reach double-digit points against the Raiders, and Purdy has scored between 14.3 and 21.7 points in each of his four starts.
bad matchups
- Taylor Heinicke/Carson Wentz, WSH — Yes, the Browns had the advantage of facing three of the worst quarterbacks in the last four games, but they also limited Joe Burrow and Josh Allen, plus teams can run on them without needing the pass.
- Deshaun Watson, CLE — Watson isn’t just still rusty, the Commanders have allowed only one quarterback to top Justin Fields’ 18.4 points since Week 3, and that was Jalen Hurts scoring 21.8.
- Derek Carr, L.V. — When it comes to limiting quarterbacks, few, if any, do better than the 49ers, allowing just two quarterbacks to go above 17.4 points and holding eight to 10.3 points or fewer.
- Geno Smith, MAR — Smith’s last two games were pretty poor with lines of 238-1-0 and 215-1-1 against the 49ers and Chiefs, respectively, and now Smith has to try to bounce back against the Jets. They’ve held eight quarterbacks to 14.1 or fewer points, with no quarterback throwing for more than one touchdown since Week 3.
RUNNING BACKWARDS
good matchups
- Zonovan Knight, NYJ — Knight gets the favorable matchup from the Seahawks, but more importantly, Mike White is back at quarterback, who understands using his running backs as receivers.
- Tyler Allgeier, ATL — Taking the lead in the backfield, he’s 20.1 and 13.7 over the past two games, and Allgeier faces the Cardinals by coming off allowing a 27-108-0 rushing line and 14-13-107-1 receiving line combined for Leonard Fournette. and Rachaad White.
- Brian Robinson, WSH — Antonio Gibson is injured, but even if he wasn’t, the Browns are a favorable matchup that teams can lean on in the run. Alvin Kamara had the volume in his favor against them last week at 20-76-1 on the ground.
- Zack Moss, Indiana — This feels dangerous given the state of the Colts’ offense, but Moss was the clear leader in Week 16 and saw some bell work, plus the Giants have struggled against the run all year.
bad matchups
- Jeff Wilson/Raheem Mostert, MIA – Wilson led again in Week 16, but it was still a split that could lead to frustrating use, plus we have a matchup against the Patriots defense and Teddy Bridgewater likely at quarterback.
- Ken Walker, MAR – It’s tough to bench Walker, anywhere, but the Jets defense is strong almost everywhere, allowing sub-4.0 YPC and no one other than Nick Chubb to top 18.7 points. Even with 25 touches (22 rushing), Travis Etienne had just 112 yards for 4.5 yards per touch.
- Gus Edwards, LL.B. — Edwards has been a reliable floor RB3, but could struggle against the Steelers. Edwards went 13-for-66 in Week 14 against them, but Josh Jacobs was suppressed a week after the Panthers did nothing against them, and multiple teams haven’t gotten a single player to rush for 70 years.
- Najee Harris, PIT — On the other hand, Harris has volume in his favor, but his Week 14 game against Baltimore was saved with a touchdown (12-of-33 rushing). In fact, the Ravens have allowed only three running backs to rush for 80-plus yards and no RB has reached 100 (Nick Chubb fell short on 21-of-99).
THE WIDE RECEIVER
good matchups
- Christian Watson, Allen Lazard, Romeo Doubs, GB — If Watson is out, Lazard and Doubs are close to starting. And if Watson plays, he’s a lock with Lazard and Doubs as worthy bullish plays. All three Giants receivers had 9.9-plus points last week against Minnesota, and as recently as Week 14, four Detroit receivers had 10.4-plus points against these Vikings.
- Brandin Cooks, Chris Moore, HOU – Cooks is a solid WR3 while playing, and while the Jaguars held off the Jets, that was Zach Wilson and the terrible weather conditions. The Jaguars have allowed two double-digit wide receivers in five games and two of them had three wide receivers reach that mark.
- Russell Gage, Mike Evans, tuberculosis — Gage has supplanted Evans as No. 2, at least in production. If he’s looking for a reason to risk Evans’ lead (I can’t believe I just said that), the Panthers are ripe for the taking after allowing Goff to turn them on … in the open.
- Rashid Shaheed, NO — This is only if Chris Olave is out, as he would only risk one Saints receiver per week. The Saints will have to come by to compete with the Eagles, and they have been more amenable in the second half of the season.
bad matchups
- Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson, Curtis Samuel, WSH — Going back to the Browns matchup, McLaurin and Dotson may be tough to bench, but no matter the quarterback, there’s more risk than usual.
- Amari Cooper, Donovan Peoples-Jones, CLE — The same goes for the Browns duo, as the Commanders have only allowed Justin Jefferson to surpass 13.1 points since Week 7.
- Van Jefferson, L.A.R. — Sure, the Rams lit up the Broncos, but that wasn’t due to any wide performances, and the Chargers have shut down opponents more often than not since they’ve all rallied.
- Corey Davis, Elijah Moore, NYJ — Even with White back, it’s risky to bet on Davis or Moore, as the Rams, 49ers and Chiefs had no top-31-yard WR against Seattle in the past three weeks. On top of that, only 13 receivers have reached 10 points against the Seahawks, none top 18.2, and five teams don’t have a double-digit scorer.
HARD ENDING
good matchups
- Cole Kmet, CHI — Good matchup, no weather concerns, and Kmet has 24 goals in his last four games.
- Dalton Schultz, DAL — Schultz has been quiet in the past two games, but he’s scored 10-plus points in four of the previous six games, and the Titans have given up some of the biggest tight end games this year (¿Evan Engram and Mo Alien? Cox, anyone?).
- Gerald Everett, ALC — Six double-digit tight end scores allowed since Week 8 by the Rams.
bad matchups
- Logan Thomas, W.S.H. — Only three double-digit scores from tight ends against the Browns (again, teams don’t need them), and one of them was Taysom Hill, running 9-56-1.
- Tyler Higbee, L.A.R. – Higbee has become relevant again with Baker Mayfield, but he may find it difficult this week, again, given the Chargers matchup. Like the Browns, they’ve only allowed three double-digit scores … although one of those was Kelce’s monster game.
- Hayden Hurst, CIN — Assuming he returns, it would be risky to use Hurst injured and against the Bills. Only Kelce, that guy must be good, huh, he has scored more than 8.0 points against them.
Week 17 Fantasy Football Screenings
🚨 WARNING 🚨 These may differ from my classifications, and my ranks are the order in which players would start outside of aggregate context, such as “You need the highest edge, even if it’s risky.” Also, based on 4-point TD for QB, 6-point rest and Half-PPR
projection download link
***These are NOT updated Sunday morning, FYI***
Week 17 Fantasy Football Standings
🚨 WARNING 🚨
- We may have found a solution to the rankings widget issue using Fantasy Nation (via Football Diehards). All three scores work and I can edit them (unlike before), and the widget will allow you to scroll in Android (browser) without using two fingers! HURRAH!
- Updated regularly so check back all the way to the lineup lock.
- DST ranges are in the standard scoring tab
(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
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