With the season winding down and some teams content to call it a year while the rest head for the postseason, waves of juicy matchups approach fantasy football owners over the next two weeks.
Anyone lining up against the Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, New Orleans Saints and many more will have huge holiday performances for owners still alive.
Of course, like the players themselves, the grind doesn’t halt for holidays. Below, let’s carve out a guide with projections for each position to make the task easier for owners.
Week 16 Schedule
Quarterbacks
There’s almost too many great matchups at quarterback this week.
It seems counter-intuitive to roll with a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars during playoff time, but that’s just what owners should do with Blake Bortles.
Bortles is fantasy’s fifth-highest scorer at the position, even above Aaron Rodgers. He’s been especially potent as of late, totaling 22 or more points in each of his past four outings.
There’s little doubt Bortles will make it five against the aforementioned Saints. New Orleans has allowed the most points to quarterbacks on average this year and only three sets of opposing quarterbacks have failed to throw for multiple touchdowns on the unit.
A tad riskier but in just as attractive of a matchup would be Teddy Bridgewater of the Minnesota Vikings. He’s exploded over the past two weeks, totaling 15 and 32 points after a somewhat disappointing fantasy campaign.
Now Bridgewater gets to line up against the New York Giants, the team ranked right behind the Saints. New York just coughed up five touchdown passes last week, so Bridgewater should be able to put on a solid performance.
Running Backs
It’s an odd week for running back with so many injuries and unfavorable matchups, but Doug Martin of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is around to save the day.
Martin sits third in scoring at running back this year with seven double-digit outings to his name, including two over his last three. Expect a fourth with a cupcake of a matchup against the Chicago Bears.
Those Bears allow the eighth-most points to backs, and every opposing backfield has reached double digits against the unit. The last two have managed 17 and 28 points.
A beneficiary of the late-season injury madness would be Karlos Williams of the Buffalo Bills.
Williams has five double-digit outings to his name this year and looked especially impressive when LeSean McCoy was out with an injury. Shady figures to miss more time now that he’s dealing with a torn MCL.
This leaves Williams the leader of a committee against the Dallas Cowboys, owners of a defense letting up the sixth-most points to running backs and two weeks removed from a 43-point allowance.
Wide Receivers
What, expecting something different at the top?
Look, maybe the projections would look different in another dimension, but the league’s top-flight receivers might have their easiest matchups of the season at hand.
Antonio Brown of the Pittsburgh Steelers gets the Ravens, the team coughing up the most points on average to wideouts. The Ravens have found a way to give up 25 touchdowns to wideouts this year.
Folks should know all about Brown, who has 29 or more points in two of his last three outings. An encounter with Baltimore back near the start of the season was one of his lowest outputs of the year, but this time he’ll have Ben Roethlisberger under center, not Mike Vick.
DeAndre Hopkins of the Houston Texans has a cupcake as well when he lines up against the Tennessee Titans.
Nuk figures to have Brandon Weeden under center with Brian Hoyer nursing a concussion, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, but it won’t matter much for a few reasons.
For one, Weeden led the Texans to a win last week. Two, Hopkins’ status as a target hog isn’t going away. Three, he terrorized the Titans in Week 8 on the way to 15 points. Fourth, and finally, the Titans allow the 12th-most points to wideouts and over their last four outings have allowed nine touchdowns.
Nothing else needs said, right?
Tight Ends
Stick with another member of the Jaguars when it matters most.
Remember Julius Thomas, the guy who caught a boatload of touchdown passes from Peyton Manning last year (though it feels like a decade ago given this year’s events)? He’s back and healthy and one of Bortles‘ favorite targets.
Thomas has 11 or more points in two of his last four games and over the span hasn’t seen his production dip below seven. It’s a superb floor that morphs into a wicked ceiling against the Saints, owners of a defense that also allows the most points to tight ends.
On the other side of the matchup, Saints tight end Benjamin Watson looks like a great play given that he’s hit seven or more points in three straight games with two touchdowns.
While owners won’t know if Drew Brees will play until Sunday, according to Nick Underhill of the New Orleans Advocate, it won’t matter much as having a backup under center means more targets for a reliable tight end.
The Jaguars allow the fifth-most points to tight ends, so the Thomas-Watson battle figures to be quite lucrative for owners.
Defense/Special Teams
Does this need a ton of explaining?
Kansas City sits as fantasy’s third-highest-scoring defense this year and has rattled off 13 or more points in three consecutive games while scoring three touchdowns in that span, giving the unit six on the season.
The Kansas City pass rush defines disruptive, which is terrible news for a Johnny Manziel-led offense on the road.
The Browns allow the second-most points to opposing defenses, a number sure to grow after a road trip to visit the Chiefs.
Kickers
All aboard the Steelers train.
Chris Boswell gets lost in the explosions put on by those around him, but he’s been to double digits seven times this year, including in four consecutive games.
The usage is simply there, with Boswell having attempted at least two field goals in eight of his last nine games.
So is the matchup, with the Ravens allowing the second-most points to kickers, including 12 last week. This makes Boswell one of the week’s top starts in a game sure to get ugly.
All scoring info courtesy of ESPN standard leagues, as are points-against info and ownership stats as of December 24.
Read more Fantasy Football news on NerdyFootball.com
