For those of you that are trying to cram in every morsel of fantasy football that the 2017 season must offer, playoff pools and DFS for postseason games are underway to fulfill our final fantasy needs. I’m going to take some space each week to rank the positions from the remaining teams as a guide to maximizing those final efforts.
The NFL is already an inherently volatile game weekly when we have 16 matchups to dissect, so when we cut the weekly player pool down to eight teams in four games, we’re inviting variance to run amuck. In DFS games, we can swerve into that variance to a degree by maximizing player exposure to cover as many angles as clairvoyantly possible. I typically avoid cash games for the NFL Playoffs, but want to run out as many different tournament lineups as possible in multi-entry fields over trying to hit a bullseye in single entry contests.
Quarterbacks
1. Tom Brady (vs TEN) - Brady averaged 238.3 passing yards per game over his final six games with six touchdowns to five interceptions over his final five games of the regular season, but he’s still easily the top option entering this weekend. In fact, he’s in a tier by himself given that Brees has a tough road assignment and the position is littered with floor plays. The Patriots have the highest implied team total of the week (30.3) against a Titans defense that has been a pass funnel all season long. Tennessee ranked fourth in the league in yards per carry allowed to opposing backfields (3.4 YPC), leading opposing teams to throw the ball 62.3 percent of their plays (third highest). That passing rate fed into Tennessee ranking 26th in passing yardage allowed per game (256.3 yards), and compounded matters for fantasy by ranking 22nd in touchdown rate allowed per completion (7.3 percent). Both of those totals rolled over into the postseason as Tennessee allowed 264 passing yards and two touchdowns on 24 completions to Alex Smith a week ago. The Patriots ranked 10th in passing rate while having a lead (51.5 percent) and fourth in passing rate with the game within one score (60.6 percent) while Brady averaged 24.1 completions per game, second in the league.
2. Drew Brees (@ MIN) – The Saints are much different offense than when these teams met back in Week 1, but their road bugaboos have begun to crop up again. The Saints scored two offensive touchdowns in each of the past three road games, all of which were losses. Brees hasn’t thrown more than two touchdowns in 14 straight games while the Vikings allowed a league-low 13 passing touchdowns on the season, with just five of those touchdown passes coming in Minnesota. Anticipating a ceiling-game anchored by touchdowns shouldn’t be the case here. Still, Brees has faced a Mike Zimmer-led defense seven times in his career, throwing 17 touchdowns to four interceptions in those games and has thrown for 290 or more yards in five of those games, including four in a row.
Editor’s Note: Here are 6 DFS plays for your Divisional Round lineups. Check out this FREE video and dominate this week!
3. Case Keenum (vs MIN) – Keenum was the QB5 for fantasy after the Vikings’ Week 9 bye, throwing 15 touchdowns to five interceptions over those eight games. The Saints have allowed 288 passing yards to Matt Ryan, 363 yards to Jameis Winston and 349 yards to Cam Newton over their past three games, but those all came in games in which the Saints led throughout, something that is a question mark here as road underdogs. If the Vikings control the game, that means that Keenum will continue to be a caretaker like he was to close the season. Keenum wasn’t pressed to throw more than 30 passes in five of the final six games of the regular season while he wasn’t doing much with those attempts, either, posting fewer than 7.0 yards per attempt in three of those games. That makes Keenum more of a floor play with upside.
4. Marcus Mariota (@ NE) – Mariota’s passing touchdown to himself and rushing output last week accounted for nearly half of his fantasy production in the Wild Card Round, but he had another lackluster passing day, throwing for just 205 yards and 6.6 yards per attempt. Mariota will have increased volume in terms of dropbacks, which will lead to a volume spike in passing and rushing output. Opposing passers averaged 36.9 pass attempts per game versus New England (third) while Mariota averaged 4.1 rushing points per game in the regular season. He was right at that mark a week ago, with 4.6 rushing points. Volume isn’t everything as the Titans have the second-lowest implied total of the weekend, but a couple of scores and a handful of rushing yards should have Mariota right in the position as a baseline.
5. Ben Roethlisberger (vs JAC) – Roethlisberger had the worst game of his career when these teams back in Week 5, throwing a career-high five interceptions without a touchdown on just 5.7 yards per attempt on 55 passes. Big Ben has been a much better quarterback over the back half of the season. Over his 10 games since that implosion, Roethlisberger threw 22 touchdowns to seven interceptions while ranking second in the league in passing yardage over that stretch. He threw multiple touchdowns in each of the final seven games he played on the season, the longest such streak for his career. Despite expectations being better for Ben in this rematch, the Jaguars are still not a fantasy target. They allowed multiple touchdown passes to just four passers on the season and just four passers to reach 15 passing points in a game versus them with a high of 16.8 passing points. Expect Ben to be better than Week 5, but still have limited ceiling potential through the air in a game where he shouldn’t have to throw the ball 50-plus times again.
6. Matt Ryan (@ PHI) – Ryan is the only road favorite this weekend, but it’s hard to get real excited for him from a fantasy stance. Ryan has yet to post a 20-point fantasy game on the season and he hasn’t thrown multiple touchdown passes in seven consecutive games. In terms of stacking yardage, he has thrown for at least 250 passing yards in just three of his past nine games. The Eagles allowed just one passer to pass for more than 227 yards in a game over their final nine games of the season, although their strength of competition was bottom of the barrel for most of that stretch.
7. Blake Bortles (@ PIT) – Bortles has been flat out dreadful over the past two weeks. In those games, he’s completed 27-of-57 passes (47.4 percent) for 245 yards (4.3 Y/A). When these teams played back in Week 5, Bortles threw a season-low 14 passes, something the Jaguars will be hard pressed to replicate here, so they are going to need to throw the ball more with him this weekend. The positive is that he still can add rushing output to his totals even if his poor efficiency spills into a third-straight week. While we can’t expect for him to match his career-high 88 yards rushing from last week, he was eighth in the league in rushing points scored at the quarterback position in the regular season. The Steelers aren’t impenetrable as a pass defense. As they’ve faced a tougher schedule and suffered some injuries, Pittsburgh ranked 20th in the league in passing yardage allowed per game (247.7 yards) since their Week 9 bye while allowing 14 passing touchdowns over that span -tied for the second most in the league- but with Jacksonville entering the game as a road dog with the lowest implied team total of the week, expectations are marginal at best for Bortles.
8. Nick Foles (vs ATL) – Foles’ strong first start in Week 15 was anchored by the heavy passing touchdown weight, throwing four scores in a game in which he threw for just 237 yards on 6.2 yards per attempt and followed that up with a dreadful Week 16 performance at home versus Oakland. Overall, Foles posted a pedestrian 5.3 yards per pass attempt on 101 attempts while just 8-of-24 passing with four first down conversions on third downs. Atlanta was a tough pass defense, ranking 11th in yardage allowed per game to opposing passers in the regular season while they are getting hot at the right time, holding Drew Brees (12.2 points), Cam Newton (14.1) and Jared Goff (14.4) to pedestrian totals over the past three weeks.
Running Backs
1. Le’Veon Bell (vs JAC) – The position starts with the league leader in touches per game (27.1) notched at least 97-yards from scrimmage in each of his final seven games of the regular season. It was over that stretch run of the season that his receiving ability burned the brightest. Over that span, Bell received 21.2 percent of the Pittsburgh targets with at least five receptions out of the backfield in all seven games. The Jaguars were the best defense in the league all season long, but when they do surrender yardage and fantasy output, it’s to the running back position. Opposing running backs have accounted for 41.4 percent of the fantasy scoring against the Jaguars, the highest share for the position in the league. Over the past three weeks, Jacksonville has allowed 144, 117 and 231 yards from scrimmage to opposing backfields.
2. Derrick Henry (@ NE) – With DeMarco Murray on the shelf, Henry has accumulated 29 and 25 touches over the past two weeks for 117 and 191 yards from scrimmage to go along with a pair of touchdowns. He has only tallied a pair of targets in each of those games, but still has shown his explosiveness when given the ball in space with 66 and 35 yards receiving on just three catches. Opposing teams are often forced to abandon the run – teams run 38.2 percent of the time- versus New England, but when they do run it, the Patriots allow immense efficiency per carry. The Pats rank 31st in backfield YPC (4.7 yards), 19th in rushing points per carry (.560) while ranking 24th in yards from scrimmage allowed (148.2) to backfields. The Titans are huge road dogs again, but they gave Henry 15 second half touches last week after trailing 21-3 at the break, leaving Henry with expectations to push 20 touches again regardless of game script.
3. Alvin Kamara (@ MIN) – After five consecutive games with over 100 yards from scrimmage Weeks 9-13, Kamara has hit the century mark in total yardage in just one of his past five games. A simple explanation is that his rushing effectiveness was overdue for regression. Over that span, he’s carried 45 times for 144 yards (3.3 YPC) after rushing for a ridiculous 7.0 yards per carry prior. His receiving work and touchdown output has remained intact, which is why he remains this high of an option among his position. Opposing teams throw 61.2 percent of the time versus Minnesota, which is the fourth-highest rate in the league. Minnesota defends backs well out of the backfield, ranking third in receiving points allowed to the position, but Kamara can stay afloat in rankings due to his explosiveness and scoring upside in all aspects of the offense -including special teams -despite an uninviting matchup.
4. Dion Lewis (vs TEN) – Lewis closed the season on fire, receiving 29 and 32 touches in each of the Patriots’ final two games for 153 and 133 yards from scrimmage. He also has a touchdown in five of his past eight games. With both Rex Burkhead and Mike Gillislee expected to be inactive, Lewis remains a hot option to see a ton of opportunity. The Titans are a complete pass funnel defense as highlighted when discussing Tom Brady, but the Patriots are such huge home favorites that it may not matter. The Titans can also be exploited in the passing game by running backs, allowing the most receiving points to opposing backfields on the season.
5. Latavius Murray (vs NO) – Murray has averaged 17.9 touches for 74.8 yards from scrimmage per game since Dalvin Cook was lost for the season back in Week 4. He only has one game in which he received more than two targets, so he’s tethered to finding the end zone on the ground, but over the final eight weeks of the season, Murray showed his nose for the end zone as he led the league in rushing attempts (10) and touchdowns (six) from inside of the 5-yard line. The Saints haven’t allowed a 100-yard rusher since Week 11 on just 3.7 YPC allowed with just four rushing scores over that span to the running back position. Murray gets the edge on Mark Ingram being attached to the home favorite, but has a lower receiving floor while being just as tied to scoring a touchdown to bear fantasy fruit.
6. Mark Ingram (@ MIN) – Ingram is averaging just 48.6 rushing yards per game over his past seven weeks while reaching 50-yards rushing just twice over that span. The Saints are capable of running on anyone, but it’s hard to anticipate Ingram finding tangible rushing output here as Minnesota ranks inside of the top-5 across the board in YPC (3.56), rushing points per attempt (.492) and attempts faced per game (19.3) to opposing backfields on the season. Ingram had three or more catches in 12 games this season and still carries scoring upside, with 13 touchdowns in his 12 games after the trade of Adrian Peterson, but he’s going to need to find the end zone this weekend to produce a high fantasy total.
7. Leonard Fournette (@ PIT) – Fournette set season-highs in attempts (28) and rushing yardage (181) while tacking on a pair of touchdowns when these teams met back in Week 5, but he and the Jaguars rushing game has been a shell of what they were earlier in the season. After rushing for 596 yards over his first six games of the year, Fournette has notched 501 yards on 159 carries (3.15 YPC) over his eight games since returning to the lineup in Week 10. That said, Fournette is still a safe bet for volume, receiving 23 or more touches in each of his past five games while the Steelers have struggled to defend the run after losing Ryan Shazier for the season. Pittsburgh has allowed 4.9 YPC to running backs since Shazier’s injury. Fournette has had so many good matchups that it’s hard to elevate him for any matchup, but you can pay for the usage as a starting point while he has as much touchdown upside as anyone listed higher here.
8. Devonta Freeman (@ PHI) – After a midseason lull, Freeman has picked things up a bit down the stretch. He has 19 or more touches in four of his past five games while finding the end zone in four games over that stretch. The lofty yardage still is elusive as Freeman Freeman’s receiving work has been all over the map week to week, but he’s still the Atlanta back to own. Over the past three games with Tevin Coleman returning to the lineup, Freeman has out-touched Coleman 52-40 with every running back touch inside of the 5-yard line over that span. Only four running backs have rushed for over 64 yards versus the Eagles on the season discarding Week 17, but three of those four backs came over the final six games prior to that Week 17 game in which they rested players.
9. Jay Ajayi (vs ATL) – After Freeman, there’s a clear tier break at the position. Ajayi is the front man for the Eagles’ backfield. Over the four final games of the regular season with everyone active, Ajayi totaled 58 touches while the next-highest back in the backfield (LeGarrette Blount) managed 30. The downside is that he still doesn’t have more than 16 touches in any game. On top of that, Atlanta has allowed just three running backs to rush for touchdowns over their past 15 games.
10. Jerick McKinnon (vs NO) – McKinnon managed double-digit PPR points in just four of his final 10 games on the season while finding the end zone just twice over that span. As we touched on with Latavius Murray, the Saints run defense has been sound over the past eight weeks, but as Christian McCaffrey showed last week, their linebackers can still be a vulnerability in coverage to athletic backs. Along with allowing 6-101-1 receiving to McCaffrey a week ago, the Saints have allowed five backs to catch a touchdown pass over their past eight games.
11. Tevin Coleman (@ PHI) – Coleman is the cheapest player on this list of usable options on FanDuel if you want to save as much as you can, and he has double-digit rushing attempts in back to back games for the first time this season when both he and Devonta Freeman are in the lineup, but he’s still on the shorter end of split in this backfield as mentioned earlier while Freeman is garnering all the goal line looks.
12. James White (vs TEN) - White missed the final two weeks of the regular season with a knee injury, but is expected to the active Saturday night along with Lewis while Burkhead and Gillislee remain out. That makes White a low-level option in PPR formats. Prior tyo the Patriots Week 8 bye and their backfield becoming one based on Lewis and Burkhead, White averaged 12.2 PPR points per game and was second among all running backs in receptions. Opportunity will be there as the Titans are 30th in the league in receptions allowed per game to opposing backfields.
Wide Receivers
1. Julio Jones (@ PHI) – Jones has yet to practice this week with an ankle injury, but we’ve seen Jones miss a ton of practice time during the week and go out and play on many instances. Regardless of the varying levels of disappointment owners had with Jones during the regular season, with nine catches for 94 yards and a touchdown last week, Jones now has at least 87 receiving yards or a touchdown in five straight postseason appearances. Also, despite the notion that Steve Sarkisian and the Falcons are inept at getting Jones the ball, he’s averaging 5.3 receptions for 82.8 yards per game over his past nine games without including his monster Week 12 game. The Eagles have been more vulnerable to interior receivers than boundary options, but Jones is a safe bet to post top yardage at the position this weekend.
2. Antonio Brown (vs JAC) – Brown practiced early in the week and then sat out Friday as he is officially listed as questionable. The last time that he was questionable for a game was Week 13 and he caught 8-of-15 targets for 101 yards and a touchdown. Earlier in that week, Brown sent out a picture on social media of his injured toe. This week he sent out a video of him running around with Ocho Cinco, so we’d expect him to play. He had 10 catches for 157 yards on a massive 19 targets when he faced the Jaguars back in Week 5, catching 4-of-7 targets for 91 yards in Jalen Ramsey’s coverage. We shouldn’t expect those kinds of numbers in the rematch as Ben Roethlisberger is unlikely to come close to the 55 pass attempts in that game and the Steelers involving more options in their passing game as the season has moved on, but Brown is not someone we need to be overly concerned with in regards to having a tough individual assignment. That said, the return from a longer layoff, not fully knowing if he’s 100 percent and the tough matchup are still plenty enough to make Julio the top option at the position, however.
3. Adam Thielen (vs NO) – Thielen was hurt down the stretch by the Vikings playing from the front often. He had seven or fewer targets in four of the final five games of the regular season after having fewer than seven in just one of his first 11 games. He still should be the focal point for the Minnesota game in this one as Thielen runs 51 percent of his routes from the slot, where he can avoid Marshon Lattimore and Ken Crawley on the perimeter and get the most work against P.J. Williams who has struggled the past two weeks in coverage, allowing 10-of-15 targets in his coverage to be completed in those games.
4. Brandin Cooks (vs TEN) – Cooks slowed down to the end the season, posting just 213 receiving yards over the final five weeks, but it still the best big-play option on the board for receivers this week. No player relied on the deep ball more than Cooks this season as 69.8 percent of his receiving yardage came on receptions that were 15 yards or further downfield. The Titans defended the deep pass well this season, allowing just five touchdown passes on those deep targets this year, but Cooks remains a splash play threat that can tilt a small slate in an instant.
5. Stefon Diggs (vs NO) - Diggs has shown some life after a midseason drought, catching at least five passes in each of his past four games. He’s a better bet than Thielen for a touchdown as he has a touchdown in three straight, but the yardage edge still goes to Thielen. Diggs has hit 70-yards receiving just once over his past 10 games. He does move into the slot for 24 percent of his routes, but will get the tougher assignment of the Minnesota receivers on Sunday.
6. Michael Thomas (@ MIN) – Thomas has shown vertical playmaking juice recently to go along with his steady floor. He has at least one 30-yard reception in four of his past six games to go along with five or more receptions in 15-of-17 games on the season. He gets a tough draw though this week, locking up with Xavier Rhodes all afternoon. Thomas caught five passes for 45 yards when these two teams last met, catching just two passes in Rhodes’ coverage on the day. Thomas is also a low bet for a touchdown as just four lead wideouts found the end zone versus Minnesota all season.
7. Mohamed Sanu (@ ATL) – Sanu has had 11 and eight targets the past two weeks, the first time this season that he’s received eight or more targets in back to back games. He’s turned those targets into a functional 11 receptions for 146 yards. This week, he gets an advantageous draw against an Eagles defense that has given up some big games to primary slot options all season, despite the strong play from Patrick Robinson. Sterling Shepard (11-139-1), Cooper Kupp (5-118-1), Doug Baldwin (5-84-0), and Keenan Allen (11-138-0) all found success against the Eagles and Sanu leads the Falcons with five receiving touchdowns inside of the 10-yard line on the season.
8. Nelson Agholor (vs ATL) – Agholor has been Nick Foles’ preferred wide receiver target, receiving 22.4 percent of his targets, second behind Zach Ertz on the team. He’ll get the best individual matchup of the Philadelphia wideouts in the slot. No player in the league scored more fantasy points from the slot this season (177.2) than Agholor, where he finished third in receiving yardage (752 yards) with a league-high eight receiving touchdowns.
9. JuJu Smith-Schuster (vs JAC) – Over his final seven games. Smith-Schuster averaged 5.9 receptions for 98 yards on 7.6 targets per game with five touchdown receptions. Those totals weren’t solely inflated by his past two weeks, either as he has 75-yards or more in five of those seven contests. He’s also not your run of the mill slot man. Smith-Schuster has a reception of 44-yards or longer in five of those games. The Jaguars don’t allow teams to sustain many long drives, so when teams do score on them, it’s usually from distance. Jacksonville was third in passing touchdowns allowed (17), but tied for allowing the most receiving touchdowns from outside of the red zone (12) on the season. You’ll need a splash play as the Jaguars have allowed just 75-yards or more to five receivers all season.
10. Alshon Jeffery (vs ATL) – No top-scoring wide receiver at his position was more touchdown dependent than Jeffery. 27.7 percent of his fantasy output came from touchdowns alone, the highest rate for all receivers inside of the top-30 scorers for the season. In an admitted small sample, Jeffery also had a target dip with Foles under center, seeing just 16 targets (16.3 percent of the team total). His matchup against Desmond Trufant is tough on paper overall, but Trufant has been roasted over the past month, allowing 15-of-21 targets to be completed in his coverage over that span for 292 yards and two touchdowns. The low volume potential and attachment to Foles still give Jeffery a low floor that needs a touchdown to keep his scoring alive, however.
11. Dede Westbrook (@ NE) – If you’re going to play a Jacksonville receiver, Westbrook is the one since his volume is the most predictable. He’s averaging 7.4 targets per game over his eight games played since being activated in Week 11 with at least six targets in all those games except for one. With the Jaguars at full strength last week, Westbrook had eight targets while the rest of the wide receivers combined for just three. The downside is that he’s reeled in just 27 of his 51 targets (52.9 percent) has posted fewer than 50-yards receiving in five of those games. Still if taking a swing on his upside, the Steelers have allowed a league-high eight touchdown passes of 30 or more yards since their Week 9 bye and 12 touchdowns total to opposing receivers over that span.
12. Chris Hogan (vs TEN) – The Patriots have slow played Hogan’s shoulder injury and he still has only been a limited participant in practice at this point in the week. If he does play, he’s likely a touchdown or bust or option, but isn’t in a terrible option to take a shot on finding the paint. Hogan was third in the league in targets inside of the 10-yard line prior to his Week 8 injury and the Titans have allowed 18 touchdowns to wide receivers on the season, the third-most in the league.
13. Ted Ginn (@ MIN) – If you’re playing Ginn, you’re aware for why you’re doing it. You’re after a long touchdown. Ginn had more than four catches just three times all season and all five of his receiving touchdowns on the year have come from 20-yards out or further. Minnesota is a tough team to chase downfield receptions from as they allowed the fewest receptions of 20 or more yards during the regular season.
Final Tier: Marqise Lee, Rishard Matthews, Martavis Bryant, Keelan Cole, Corey Davis, Allen Hurns, Danny Amendola, Torrey Smith, Eric Decker, Allen Hurns, Tommylee Lewis
With Lee returning to the lineup last week, he played 35 snaps while Cole played 32 and Hurns played 30. It’s hard to latch onto any of the Jaguars’ receivers, but if going away from Westbrook, Lee is still the favorite to lead the team in output… The Titans are another team that had a hard time covering interior receivers, putting Amendola in play for those looking to pay down, but with Gronk in a favorable spot, it’s tough to expect a lot from Amendola as all his best games this season came with Gronk either out of the lineup or with Gronk receiving five or fewer targets… It’s easy to diagnose what the Patriots are going to do defensively against the Tennessee wideouts with Stephon Gilmore locking up with Davis, Malcolm Butler across from Matthews and Eric Rowe matchup up with Decker. Butler has been beatable at times this year, but it has come from smaller, faster wideouts and Gilmore is best left avoided. Getting the late touchdown from Decker last week felt like cheating death and we should leave it where it lies and just focus on Delanie Walker if targeting a pass catcher here, but if you want to go back to him, he has 37 targets over his past six games and the best individual draw on paper… Bryant reached 60-yards receiving or had more than four catches in just one game played with Antonio Brown active, but as mention with Smith-Schuster, if the Jaguars give up passing touchdowns, they are typically of the longer variety... With Brandon Coleman out, Willie Snead and Tommylee Lewis find there way onto the radar. Coleman reached double-digit percent of the team targets in just five games all season long, but with Micahel Thomas drawing a tough asignment, targets in the Saints offense should be spread all over the field Sunday.
Tight Ends
1. Rob Gronkowski (vs TEN) – Gronk is head and shoulders the best tight end play on the board and arguably the best receiving option overall for the Divisional Round in terms of ceiling potential. Gronk had six games with 20 or more PPR points on the season, which trailed only Antonio Brown (eight) among all receivers and tight ends on the year. Tennessee ranked 21st in receptions and 23rd in yardage allowed to opposing tight ends in the regular season and followed that up by allowing 4-66-1 to Travis Kelce in the first half of last weekend’s game before Kelce was forced from the game.
2. Zach Ertz (vs ATL) – Ertz’s 7.9 targets per game ranked second at the position during the regular season and he has been the target on 26.5 percent of the throws by Nick Foles, the highest rate on the team for the small sample of snaps. Atlanta was middle of the road defending the tight end this season, ranking 16th in receptions allowed and 17th in yardage, but ranked eighth in yards per targets allowed to the position (6.6) while allowing just four touchdowns to the position. Ertz will have a tough draw versus an elite coverage linebacker in Deion Jones while given the pricing tiers, Ertz is in no man’s land as you can pay up for Gronk or just go down to Walker or lower in DFS circles, but his usage is as good as you can pay for at the position.
3. Delanie Walker (@ NE) –New England allowed just four tight ends to reach 50-yards receiving on the season and just four to catch at least five passes in a game, but no remaining tight end receives a higher rate of his team’s targets than Walker does. He’s the most dependable Tennessee pass catcher as his 22.6 percent share of the targets is the reason to keep using him in a game in which the Titans will have to throw and score points.
4. Kyle Rudolph (vs NO) – Rudolph isn’t strictly an option for solely pursuing a touchdown, but it’s still the primary reason you’re going to use him. His eight touchdowns were tied for the team lead and 25.5 percent of his receptions on the season came from inside of the red zone, the second-highest rate in the league behind Jimmy Graham (26.9 percent). The Saints just were gashed by Greg Olsen (8-107-1), but prior to that point, were the best team in the league versus opposing tight ends while Rudolph is unlikely to see a target share near the rate Olsen did.
Final Tier: Jesse James, Vance McDonald, Austin Hooper, Marcedes Lewis, Trey Burton, Josh Hill, Dwayne Allen, David Morgan, Jonnu Smith
The group that you’re hoping finds the end zone. McDonald is a sneaky punt in PPR formats since James is primarily a blocking tight end, but doesn’t offer a ton of upside. In the four games that they’ve played together since the Week 9 bye, McDonald has 15 targets to 17 for James with 12 of James’ targets coming in one game, but James remains the highest odds at chasing a touchdown as he totaled 12 red zone targets on the season compared to three for McDonald…Hill found the end zone last week as a reminder that you can always attach yourself to Drew Brees while punting at the position, but he matched or set season-highs in targets, catches and yards with his 3-49-1 line… Hooper has three or fewer catches in eight straight games.
Kickers
1. Stephen Gostkowski (vs TEN)
2. Kai Forbath (vs NO)
3. Chris Boswell (vs JAC)
4. Matt Bryant (@ PHI)
5. Wil Lutz (@ MIN)
6. Jake Elliott (vs ATL)
7. Josh Lambo (@ PIT)
8. Ryan Succop (@ NE)
Notes: It didn’t work out last week, but I’m going back to the well on targeting the Titans. No team allowed more field goals (37) than Tennessee and the Patriots carry the highest team total of the weekend (30.3 points) … Boswell had wild home splits this year, scoring 94 fantasy points at home compared to just 56 on the road with 22 or his 35 field goals coming at Heinz Field… Forbath and Lutz have the benefit of being the only game indoors this weekend. The Saints have allowed multiple field goals in four of their past five games… Matt Bryant is on a tear, averaging 11 fantasy points over his past 11 games with double-digit points in seven of those games with just a low of seven points.
DST
1. Pittsburgh (vs JAC)
2. New England (vs TEN)
3. Atlanta (@ PHI)
4. Jacksonville (vs PIT)
5. Minnesota (vs NO)
6. New Orleans (@ MIN)
7. Philadelphia (vs ATL)
8. Tennessee (@ NE)
Notes: A lot of good defenses face good offenses this week, so DST is a mixed bag with not much separating the field. Playing defensive units against New Orleans, New England, Minnesota, Pittsburgh and Atlanta have produced little to no fantasy output all season long… The Jacksonville DST put up 28 points on Pittsburgh when these teams met back in Week 5, the only time in which a DST scored more than eight fantasy points versus the Steelers all season…The Jaguars have the lowest implied team total (16.3 points) of the week as a road dog, followed by the Titans (16.8) and Eagles (19.3) as the three teams with implied totals under 20 points. Opposing defenses facing the Jaguars have scored eight or more fantasy points eight times this season, the most of any offense left in the playoffs while Pittsburgh led the league in sack rate (10.1 percent of dropbacks) on the season, just ahead of Jacksonville (9.4 percent) …We prefer our defenses to be at home, but given the DFS salaries this weekend, Atlanta will be a popular choice. The Eagles have a small sample size with Foles under center with polarizing results in each of his two full games, but they were dreadful in Week 16 at home versus a soft Oakland defense while Atlanta is playing their best football defensively down the stretch, allowing 16.3 points per game over their past six games.
