It’s championship week! Congratulations if you are here, or even if you are playing for third place, the consolation round or just for last place. I appreciate you all every year…unless you play foosball. Repeating last week’s format, I’ll be addressing fringe starters with good and bad matchups for the Week 17 Fantasy Football Ladder. Memory! The 101 link (below) touches on all the weather, starts/sits difficult calls, and more, so read it first. Good luck over the last week (for most).
#CheckTheLink age
Disclaimers | Week 17 SOS ranks
Fantasy Football 101 (Weather, Lineups, Trading, More)
Everything in Football (video pod)
2022 Week 17 Fantasy Football Sleepers
🚨 CHEESE UP 🚨 These are sleepers. They will not 100% mimic my rankings. This hunts upwards and often carries more risk.
Like last week, I’m going to mix it up a bit. At this point you don’t need a paragraph per player. Using APA (link above) I give you some good and bad matchups for edge beginners (aka sleepers or possible benchables). This does NOT mean that the good ones are mandatory starts or the bad ones have to be benched everywhere. This is just a glimpse of potential upside plays and players you might think twice about if you have a quality replacement on hand.
QUARTERBACK
Good pairings
- 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 ground, Wilson has hit it hard with around eight points in three of the last four games, but the Chiefs let Wilson post his second-highest point total of the season in Week 14.
- Jared Goff, DET – Goff not only played well outdoors but also one of the best games of week 16 and now heads home to face the Bears.
- Brock Purdy, SF — Mac Jones is the only quarterback not to have double-digits against the Raiders, and Purdy has averaged between 14.3 and 21.7 points in each of his four starts.
Bad pairings
- Taylor Heinicke/Carson Wentz, WSH — Yes, the Browns have had the advantage of going up against three of the worst quarterbacks in their last four games, but they’ve also restricted Joe Burrow and Josh Allen, and teams can run at them without needing the pass.
- Deshaun Watson, CLE – Not only is Watson still rusty, the Commanders have only had one quarterback surpassed by Justin Fields with 18.4 points since Week 3, and that was Jalen Hurts with 21.8 points.
- Derek Carr, L.V — When it comes to limiting quarterbacks, few — if any — do it better than the 49ers, who only allow two quarterbacks to surpass 17.4 points and hold eight to 10.3 points or fewer.
- Geno Smith, SEA — Smith’s last two games have been pretty poor with lines of 238-1-0 and 215-1-1 against the 49ers and Chiefs respectively, and now Smith needs to try to recover against the Jets. They have held eight quarterbacks to 14.1 points or fewer with no quarterback throwing more than a touchdown since Week 3.
RUN BACK
Good pairings
- Zonovan Knight, NYJ – Knight gets the cheap Seahawks matchup, but more importantly, Mike White is back at quarterback who knows how to use his running backs as receivers.
- Tyler Allgeier, ATL – He takes the lead in the backfield and has 20.1 and 13.7 in the last two games, and Allgeier faces the Cardinals, who have a 27-108-0 rushing line and a 14-13-receiving line Allow 107-1 for Leonard Fournette and Rachaad White.
- Brian Robinson, WSH — Antonio Gibson is devastated, but even if he weren’t, the Browns are a cheap matchup for teams to draw on on the run. Alvin Kamara had volume in his favor against them last week with 20-76-1 on the floor.
- 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 and the Giants have struggled against the run all year.
Bad pairings
- Jeff Wilson/Raheem Mostert, MIA — Wilson returned to the lead in Week 16, but it was still a split that could make for frustrating engagement, and we likely have a matchup against the Patriots defense and Teddy Bridgewater as quarterback.
- Ken Walker, SEA – It’s tough to bench Walker anywhere, but the Jets’ defense is strong almost 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 only had 112 yards for 4.5 yards per touch.
- Gus Edwards, BAL – Edwards was a reliable Floor RB3 but he might find it difficult against the Steelers. Edwards went 13-66 against them in Week 14, but Josh Jacobs was bottled just a week after the Panthers didn’t do anything about them, and several teams haven’t even had a player rush in 70 years.
- Najee Harris, pit – On the other hand, Harris has volume in his favor but his Week 14 game against Baltimore was saved by a touchdown (12-on-33 rushing). In fact, the Ravens have only allowed three running backs to rush for 80 yards and no RB has reached 100 (Nick Chubb came up just short with 21 for 99).
WIDE RECEIVER
Good pairings
- Christian Watson, Allen Lazard, Romeo Doubs, GB – With Watson out, Lazard and Doubs are close to mandatory starts. And when Watson plays, he’s a suspension with Lazard and Doubs as worthy upside players. All three Giants receivers had 9.9+ points against Minnesota last week, and as recently as Week 14, four Detroit receivers had 10.4+ points against those Vikings.
- Brandin Cooks, Chris Moore, HOU – Cooks is a solid WR3 while he’s playing and while the Jaguars stopped the Jets that was Zach Wilson and terrible weather conditions. The Jaguars have conceded two double-digit wideouts in five games, and two of those games have had three wideouts that reach that mark.
- Russell Gage, Mike Evans, TB — Gage ousted Evans as No. 2, at least in production. If you’re looking for a reason to risk Evans’ rise (can’t believe I just said that), the panthers are ready for harvest after you’ve allowed Goff to light them…out in the open.
- Rashid Shaheed, NO – This only applies if Chris Olave is out as I would only be risking one Saints receiver a week. The Saints have to pass to face the Eagles and they were more vulnerable in the second half of the season.
Bad pairings
- Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson, Curtis Samuel, WSH – Going back to the Browns’ matchup, McLaurin and Dotson might be tough to bench, but regardless of the quarterback, there’s a higher than normal risk.
- Amari Cooper, Donovan Peoples-Jones, CLE – Ditto for the Browns duo as commanders have only allowed Justin Jefferson to top 13.1 points since Week 7.
- Van Jefferson, LA – Sure, the Rams made the Broncos shine, but that wasn’t due to a broad performance, and the Chargers have mostly arrested opponents since everyone has come healthy.
- Corey Davis, Elijah Moore, NYJ — Even with White back, it’s risky to back Davis or Moore since the Rams, 49ers and Chiefs haven’t had WR top 31 yards against Seattle in the past three weeks. Additionally, only 13 receivers have 10 points against the Seahawks, with none surpassing 18.2 and five teams not having a double-digit scorer.
CLOSE END
Good pairings
- 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 last two games but had 10-plus points in four of six games previously, and the Titans have given up some of the biggest tight-end games this year (Evan Engram and Mo Alie-Cox anyone?).
- Gerald Everett, LA – Six double-digit tight end results allowed by the Rams since Week 8.
Bad pairings
- Logan Thomas, WSH – Only three double-digit results from tight ends against the Browns (again, teams don’t need them), and one of those was Taysom Hill, who rushed to 9-56-1.
- Tyler Higbee, LAR – Higbee is relevant again with Baker Mayfield but may find it difficult again this week given the Chargers’ matchup. Just like the Browns, they have only allowed three double-digit results… However, one of them was Kelce’s monster play.
- Hayden Hurst, CIN – Assuming he returns, using Hurst due to injury and against the Bills would be risky. Only Kelce – the guy must be good, huh – scored more than 8.0 against them.
Week 17 Fantasy Football Projections
🚨 HEADS UP 🚨 These may differ from my rankings and mine Ranks are the order I would start players in outside of the additional context, such as B. “Need the highest potential, even if it is risky.” Also based on 4-point TDs for QB, 6-point break and half PPR
Added download link Thursday
***These are NOT updated Sunday morning, FYI ***
Week 17 fantasy football rankings
🚨 HEADS UP 🚨
- We may have found a fix for the rankings widget issue by using Fantasy Nation (via Football Diehards). All three scorings work and can be edited by me (unlike before) and the widget lets you scroll on Android (browser) without using two fingers! YAY!
- Will be updated regularly so check all the way to the lockdown lineups.
- DST ranks are located under the Default Score tab
(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)