It’s championship week! Congrats 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 with kickers. Repeating the format from last week, I’ll touch on fringe starters with good and bad matchups for the Week 17 fantasy football rankings. Reminder! The 101 link (below) touches on all the weather, start/sit tough calls and more, so give it a read first. Good luck in the final week (for most).
#CheckTheLink-age
Waivers | Week 17 SOS Ranks
Fantasy Football 101 (weather, lineups, trading, more)
All in Football (video pod)
2022 Week 17 Fantasy Football Sleepers
🚨 HEADS UP 🚨 These are sleepers. They will not mimic my rankings 100%. This is chasing upside and often carries more risk.
As with 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 matchups for fringe starters (aka, sleepers or possible benchables). This does NOT mean the good are must-starts or the bad need to be benched everywhere. These are simply a look at potential upside plays and players you might think twice about with a quality replacement on hand.
QUARTERBACK
Good Matchups
- Aaron Rodgers, GB — 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 past four games, but the Chiefs let Wilson have his second-highest score of the season in Week 14.
- Jared Goff, DET — Goff not only played well outdoors, but he also had one of the best Week 16 games and now heads home to face the Bears.
- Brock Purdy, SF — Mac Jones is the only quarterback who didn’t 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 past four games, but they also limited Joe Burrow and Josh Allen, plus teams can run on them without needing the pass.
- Deshaun Watson, CLE — Not only is Watson still rusty, the Commanders have let only one quarterback top Justin Fields’ 18.4 points since Week 3, and that was Jalen Hurts scoring 21.8.
- Derek Carr, LV — When it comes to limiting quarterbacks, few — if any — do it better than the 49ers, allowing just two quarterbacks to top 17.4 points, and holding eight to 10.3 points or fewer.
- Geno Smith, SEA — Smith’s past two games were rather poor with lines of 238-1-0 and 215-1-1 against the 49ers and Chiefs, respectively, and now Smith has to try to rebound against the Jets. They have held eight quarterbacks to 14.1 points or fewer, with no quarterback throwing for more than one touchdown since Week 3.
RUNNING BACK
Good Matchups
- Zonovan Knight, NYJ — Knight gets the favorable Seahawks matchup, but more importantly, Mike White is back at quarterback, who understands using his running backs as receivers.
- Tyler Allgeier, ATL — Taking the backfield lead, he has 20.1 and 13.7 in the past two games, and Allgeier faces the Cardinals coming off allowing a rushing line of 27-108-0 and a receiving line of 14-13-107-1 combined for Leonard Fournette and Rachaad White.
- Brian Robinson, WSH — Antonio Gibson is banged up, but even if he wasn’t, the Browns are a favorable matchup where teams can lean on the run. Alvin Kamara had volume in his favor against them last week with 20-76-1 on the ground.
- Zack Moss, IND — This feels dangerous given the state of the Colts offense, but Moss was the clear lead in Week 16 and saw bellcow-like work, plus the Giants have struggled against the run all year.
Bad Matchups
- Jeff Wilson/Raheem Mostert, MIA — Wilson returned to lead 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, SEA — It’s hard to bench Walker, anywhere, but the Jets defense is strong nearly everywhere, allowing under 4.0 YPC and no one but 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, BAL — Edwards has been a reliable floor RB3, but he might find it tough against the Steelers. Edwards managed 13-for-66 in Week 14 against them, but Josh Jacobs was just bottled up a week after the Panthers did nothing against them, and several teams have failed to have even one player rush for 70 years.
- Najee Harris, PIT — On the other side, Harris has volume in his favor, but his Week 14 game against Baltimore was saved with a touchdown (12-for-33 rushing). In fact, the Ravens have allowed just three running backs to run for 80+ yards and no RB has hit 100 (Nick Chubb came just short at 21-for-99).
WIDE RECEIVER
Good Matchups
- Christian Watson, Allen Lazard, Romeo Doubs, GB — If Watson is out, Lazard and Doubs are near must-starts. And if Watson plays, he’s a lock with Lazard and Doubs as worthy upside plays. All three Giants receivers had 9.9+ points last week against Minnesota, and as recently as Week 14, four Detroit receivers had 10.4+ points against these Vikings.
- Brandin Cooks, Chris Moore, HOU — Cooks is a solid WR3 as long as he plays, and while the Jaguars stopped the Jets, that was Zach Wilson and awful weather conditions. The Jaguars have allowed two double-digit wideouts in five games and two of those had three wideouts hit that mark.
- Russell Gage, Mike Evans, TB — Gage has supplanted Evans as the No. 2, at least in production. If you’re looking for a reason to risk Evans’ upside (can’t believe I just said that), the Panthers are ripe for the picking after allowing Goff to light them up… outdoors.
- Rashid Shaheed, NO — This is only if Chris Olave is out, as I would only risk one Saints receiver a week. The Saints will have to pass to contend with the Eagles, and they’ve been more susceptible in the second half of the season.
Bad Matchups
- Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson, Curtis Samuel, WSH — Back to the Browns matchup, McLaurin and Dotson might be tough to bench, but no matter the quarterback, there is more risk than normal.
- Amari Cooper, Donovan Peoples-Jones, CLE — Same goes for the Browns duo, as the Commanders have only allowed Justin Jefferson to surpass 13.1 points since Week 7.
- Van Jefferson, LAR — Sure, the Rams lit up the Broncos, but that wasn’t due to any wideout performance, and the Chargers have locked down opponents more often than not since everyone got healthy.
- Corey Davis, Elijah Moore, NYJ — Even with White back, it’s risky to gamble on Davis or Moore, as the Rams, 49ers and Chiefs had no WR top 31 yards against Seattle the past three weeks. On top of that, only 13 receivers have reached 10 points against the Seahawks, with none topping 18.2 and five teams not having a double-digit scorer.
TIGHT END
Good Matchups
- Cole Kmet, CHI — Good matchup, no weather concerns, and Kmet has 24 targets in his past four games.
- Dalton Schultz, DAL — Schultz has been quiet the past two games but had 10+ points in four of six games prior, and the Titans have given up some of the biggest tight end games this year (Evan Engram and Mo Alie-Cox anyone?).
- Gerald Everett, LAC — Six double-digit tight end scores allowed since Week 8 by the Rams.
Bad Matchups
- Logan Thomas, WSH — Just three double-digit scores from tight ends against the Browns (again, teams don’t need them), and one of those was Taysom Hill, rushing for 9-56-1.
- Tyler Higbee, LAR — Higbee is back to relevancy with Baker Mayfield but can find it tough this week, again, given the Chargers matchup. Just like the Browns, they have only allowed three double-digit scores… though, one of those was Kelce’s monster game.
- Hayden Hurst, CIN — Assuming he returns, it would be risky to use Hurst off an injury and against the Bills. Only Kelce — that guy must be good, huh — has scored more than 8.0 points against them.
Week 17 Fantasy Football Projections
🚨 HEADS UP 🚨 These can differ from my rankings, and my ranks are the order I’d start players outside of added context, such as, “Need highest upside, even if risky.” Also, based on 4-point TDs for QB, 6-point rest, and Half-PPR
***These are NOT updated Sunday morning, FYI***
Week 17 Fantasy Football Rankings
🚨 HEADS UP 🚨
- We might have found a solution to the rankings widget issue by using Fantasy Nation (via Football Diehards). All three scorings work and are editable by me (unlike before), and the widget will let you scroll on Android (browser) without using two fingers! YAY!
- Updated regularly, so check all the way up to lineups locking.
- DST ranks are under the Standard Scoring tab
(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
