Who To Start And Sit In Week 16 Of The 2017 Fantasy Football Season

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Week 16 is always a fun week…at least if you’ve made it to the finals of your fantasy football season. (For those who are still in the semifinals or are in a two-week playoff, I guess you can’t get too excited yet. You’ll have to go it on your own next week or find me on Twitter for help.) You might even feel a few jitters right before kickoff on Sunday when most of the games take place. The fun even takes place for three days as we have at least 2 games on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. This sounds good on the surface, but what about your family priorities during the holidays? Will you be able to get out of mass on Christmas Eve in order to see Alvin Kamara abuse the Falcons? Will you be able to survive the tryptophan from the Christmas turkey to see which Pittsburgh wide receiver between JuJu Smith-Schuster and Martavis Bryant has a bigger game? Will you be too busy playing with the new remote controlled bumper cars you steal from your nephew to catch Nick Foles perform like Carson Wentz? There’s so much pressure here!

Below is a list of guys I’m focused on for one reason or another this week. They’re especially important in daily fantasy sports (DFS). I never highlight your stars because you’re obviously starting them unless I tell you otherwise. If you’re curious about guys you don’t see listed here or have specific lineup questions, you can always find me on Twitter (@MrT_BroBible) to ask questions, but remember to mention league specifics like PPR. You can always ask about trades as well.

You Know Who You Should Start?

 

Case Keenum (QB – Minnesota)
It’s hard to get more consistent than what Keenum has been this year. There’s a reason this is the record for passing yards in a college career. This weekend he’ll get to eat against a Packers defense that’s given up the seventh most fantasy points to quarterbacks this year including at least two passing touchdowns in the last four games since the injury to cornerback Kevin King got injured and was placed on IR.

 

Dion Lewis (RB – New England)
A lot of things are working in favor of Lewis this weekend. The injury to Rex Burkhead certainly doesn’t hurt. The Patriots being favored by double digits is also positive. The Bills allowing the most fantasy points to running backs really hammers it home.

 

Theo Riddick (RB – Detroit)
The Lions aren’t your traditional rushing offense, but going against the second-worst run defense in football should provide some opportunity. The Lions showed their not afraid to give the rock to Riddick near the goal line two weeks ago and conveniently Cincinnati has also given up the third most catches and most receiving yards to RBs this year. Since that’s where Riddick thrives, things should be good for him against the Bengals.

 

JuJu Smith-Schuster (WR – Pittsburgh)
When the receiver who has seen the most targets in the league is out that means the targets have to go somewhere, right? Martavis Bryant is the more explosive player, but JuJu seems to have the better rapport with Ben Roethlisberger and will be a much safer play than Bryant. He should see 8-10 targets in a matchup against a team giving up the fifth most fantasy points to wide receivers.

 

Mike Wallace (WR – Baltimore)
Joe Flacco looks less mediocre than he did earlier in the year, which makes sense now that he’s had more reps since returning from a back injury. Wallace has seen eight targets in at least three of the last four games and has been productive with those targets. Jeremy Maclin is banged up and Wallace gets to see those same targets against the Colts who give up the eighth most fantasy points to WRs.

 

Cameron Brate (TE – Tampa Bay)
O.J. Howard is on IR and Desean Jackson was on crutches as the end of last week’s game. Things aren’t looking great for Jameis Winston’s receiving options other than Mike Evans and Brate, which means Winston will funnel targets in those directions. The Panthers are generally ok against TEs, but will be missing Thomas Davis and have given up at least five catches, 48 yards, and a touchdown to tight ends in their last two games.

 

Other guys you should start: Matthew Stafford (QB – Detroit), Jameis Winston (QB – Tampa Bay), Alex Smith (QB – Kansas City), Blake Bortles (QB – Jacksonville), Joe Flacco (QB – Baltimore), Alex Collins (RB – Baltimore), Christian McCaffrey (QB – Carolina), Jordan Howard (RB – Chicago), Latavius Murray (RB – Minnesota), Jonathan Stewart (RB – Carolina), Wayne Gallman (RB – N.Y. Giants), Doug Baldwin (WR – Seattle), Robert Woods (WR – L.A. Rams), Sterling Shepard (WR – Arizona), Dede Westbrook (WR – Jacksonville), Kendall Wright (WR – Chicago), Kenny Golladay (WR – Detroit), Eric Ebron (TE – Detroit), Jack Doyle (TE – Indianapolis), Ben Watson (TE – Baltimore), Antonio Gates (TE – San Diego)

 

You Know Who You Should Sit?

Tom Brady (QB – New England)
You likely think I’m crazy for telling you to be bench Brady this week and maybe I am, but hear me out first. The Bills have only allowed 20 or more fantasy points to a quarterback once this year. That’s mostly because they’ve only given up multiple passing touchdowns in two games this year. It’s also due to the fact that Buffalo’s run defense has been awful. With the Patriots being heavy favorites, look for their approach to be run heavy, especially in the second half when they’re holding a lead. There are a lot of good options at QB this week and maybe Brady isn’t your best one.

 

Jamaal Williams (RB – Green Bay)
We saw last week what happened to Williams against a stout run defense and it wasn’t good. This week he goes against the best as the Vikings allow the fewest fantasy points to RBs. That’s a hard pass.

 

Carlos Hyde (RB – San Francisco)
It’s slightly weird that Hyde performed better with a worse QB, but that’s definitely the case. It’s because C.J. Beathard was checking down to Hyde all the time and Handsome Jimmy is not. The Jaguars are certainly not gonna allow Hyde to run the ball well, so that doesn’t leave much value for Hyde in this scenario.

 

Marquise Goodwin (WR – San Francisco)
As good as Goodwin’s been in recent weeks with Handsome Jimmy, you can’t start him against Jalen Ramsey. You just can’t. Don’t take the risk. He’s not gonna pull off some DeAndre Hopkins shit from last week with a solid drive to recover his day. It’s not worth trying.

Jamison Crowder (WR – Washington)
Crowder has had his strong games this year, but he rolls into Week 16 with a looming problem. Chris Harris should lock him down as he does with most opposing WRs. Kirk Cousins has no problem spreading the rock around so the targets and production will be down with Crowder, who wasn’t a home run to begin with.

 

Charles Clay (TE – Buffalo)
Bill Belichick has a good history of shutting down Charles Clay since he moved to Buffalo. Clay has only managed 6.12 PPR points a game against the Patriots in his five games as a Bill compared to 9.53 against all other teams. Those numbers stem from Clay producing half as many yards per game. TE is always a weird position, but hopefully, you can find something elsewhere for your playoffs.

 

Other guys you should sit: Matt Ryan (QB – Atlanta), Kirk Cousins (QB – Washington), Derek Carr (QB – Oakland), Jimmy Garappolo (QB – San Francisco), Marshawn Lynch (RB – Oakland), Isaiah Crowell (RB – Cleveland), Lamar Miller (RB – Houston), Robby Anderson (WR – N.Y. Jets), Mohamed Sanu (WR – Atlanta), T.Y. Hilton (WR – Indianapolis), Sammy Watkins (WR – L.A. Rams)