Transcription
Well, congratulations. I'm assuming if you're watching this video, you are in the finals of your fantasy championship. You deserve a little bit of a celebration. Okay, congratulations for getting there. I'm in the finals in my two home leagues. I'm right there with you trying to set the right lineups.
In today's video, we are looking at start sits for wide receivers. Okay, go through all 16 matchups, 32 teams in total. And you can actually jump to a specific matchup uh if you'd like to. There are time codes and I'm going to rank every single wide receiver to help you set the best possible lineup here in week number 17.
Merry Christmas uh to you and yours from myself. There will be three games on Christmas Day. So, I hope you're with family, surrounded by family, and you know, having an incredible time celebrating the holidays.
The first game on Christmas is going to be Cowboys at Commanders. Now, CD Lamb and George Pickkins unquestioned must starts in this matchup. I found it a little bit surprising honestly last week how many people were commenting saying, "Zack, are you really going to label George Pickins a must start?" I mean, how many games this year has George Pickkins been a weak winner uh based off of some huge game that he's put he's put up? But last week he ends up leading the team in targets had 26 fantasy points, 130 yards, and a touchdown. They are both unquestioned must starts in your lineup. This is tied for the second highest overunder of the week. It's in Washington. The Cowboys are favored by five and a half points. I think they should probably be heavier favorites than that.
On the opposite side, I'll be honest with you, I don't really want to start Terry McLaren or Debo Samuel. My current rankings are as if Marcus Mariota was playing. However, there is very good evidence to suggest that he might not. For example, he didn't practice on Monday with a hand in a quad injury. Then the team went out there and signed Jeff Driscoll off the Cardinals practice squad. So, it could be Josh Johnson. And let me be clear, if Josh Johnson is out there, I don't trust him to sustain long drives. I don't trust him to target the Tara McLarens, you know, the the Debo Samuels. So, I would probably move Terry and Debo about seven to 10 spots down in my rankings if that ended up being the case. So, proceed with caution. It is a good matchup against the Cowboys, but I just don't trust that quarterback room.
Okay, second game on Christmas, we got the Lions at the Vikings 44 and a half point overunder. And in this game, Amandra St. Brown and Jameson Williams are going to be labeled must starts for me. There's no question about it. You got to put these guys into your lineup. The wide receiver four and the wide receiver 10 this week. As we said before, any wide receiver can bust in any matchup. You saw that with George Piggin last last couple weeks. You saw that with Aman Ra St. Brown last week. The week before that he won you your week. That's just the reality of fantasy football. Okay? All the stats and analytics and data that we have on this is all on paper. But the game is not played on paper. Okay? It's a game that is actually played uh on the field. Okay, so we have to keep that in mind. But you are going to start those guys.
For Justin Jefferson, you know, I will just say shout out to him. He finally had a decent day in fantasy football. He ended up with eight targets. He turned those eight targets into 14 and a half fantasy points, 85 receiving yards. The ceiling is still very low and the floor is still very low. Here's what is going for him, though. It's a high overunder. Okay. You also have the Lions who are the third best matchup for your fantasy wide receivers. So Jefferson and Addison. I would not be surprised if either of these guys end up having big days in fantasy football. However, the concern is there may be no JJ McCarthy. It might be Max Bromer. So you might have an even worse, you know, quarterback that you're relying on uh for these wide receivers. So there's a ton of risk with these guys. Uh, I'm I want to give Justin Jefferson the respect as a spot start purely because of the player that he is. He is my spot start, you know, high-end wide receiver three. Jordan is more of a risky play because he's not shown as much uh ceiling.
Okay, let's jump to the third game on Christmas, which is the Broncos at the Chiefs. This is the second lowest over under of the week. It's also tied for the largest spread of the week in favor of Denver. Uh, now Courtland Sutton is the only name that I really want to trust in this matchup. Um, you could get cute and play with Troy Franklin if you want to. Pat Bryant had a pretty serious incident on Sunday, but he ends up with a concussion. He's not going to play this week. I would be shocked if he did. So, Troy Franklin, maybe he gets it done in the first half. Again, there's a reason the Broncos are 12 and a half point favorites in this game. Sutton is the only guy that I trust. Even he has bust potential in this game.
On the opposite side, there's not a chance I'm playing a Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver if Rice is is not healthy again. Uh, there's just not a single chance I'm doing that. Not only is there no Patrick Mahomes, there's no Gardenner Mchu and now they might be playing Shane Buché or some other practice squad squad quarterback. You can't trust Worthy. You can't trust Brown. If Rasheed Rice is active out of respect for the engine that he is to this offense, I will label him a wide receiver 24, a lowend wide receiver 2, highend wide receiver three, but your expectations need to be very, very low in a game where it's not even a good matchup against the Denver Broncos anyway. So, we need to have low expectations. There's a a greater chance that all of these Chiefs receivers bust than there is that all of them end up having a decent game.
Okay, let's jump to Saturday. That's right. Not only do we have games on Christmas, you also have Saturday games. So, make sure you're setting those lineups and you're ready to go. By the way, I will be doing one more live stream for this entire year. This is the last video of the year I will be recording. I will not be here in week 18. I will be with my family. So again, if you want to get these questions in for my last start sit live stream, make sure you go to the comment section and you submit those question questions with Fantasyland on the flock site.
We got the Texans at the Chargers 39 and a half point overunder, a very low overunder. Nico Collins is the only one that I really trust in this matchup. You actually have two defenses that defend the passing attack really well. Uh, the Chargers are bottom third. You know, when you look at uh wide receiver matchups you would be targeting. They're certainly not a good matchup, but I'm starting Nico Collins because he is the alpha on this team.
Now, on the opposite side, I have far less confidence in the Lamakonis and the Keenan Allens and the Quinton Johnston's. While Lakoni was my start of the week last week, there still was plenty of concern that this was going to be um a team that was going to spread the ball around and they did. McConi ended up with six targets, but then you had five for Johnson, five for Allen, five for uh Trey Harris, you had three for Will Dizzley. Uh, now thankfully Lab Makoni got into the end zone, but the concern here now is that this is the second worst match up for your fancy wide receivers. There is no clear alpha. So if I can I prefer to steer away from this wide receiver room. But if you're going to start one of them, that name for me would be Lad Mani who has been mo most consistent over the course of the year.
Okay, second game on Saturday is the Ravens at the Packers. 41 12 point overunder. The Packers are favored by two and a half points. Unfortunately for Zay Flowers, I don't think we'll see Lamar Jackson this week. That is a concern for me. I'm not going to lie to you guys. At least we saw Zay Flowers become kind of the engine of this offense on Sunday Night Football. Out of respect, I'm labeling him a spot start, you know, low in wide receiver 2, flexible option.
As far as the Packers go, I don't think Jordan Love is going to be out there. He had a nasty concussion on Sunday. I don't expect him to be out there playing in this game. If it's not Jordan Love, then it might be Malik Willis. But the issue with Malik Willis is he has a shoulder injury himself. So, I'm ranking these receivers as if Malik Willis is playing. Not only do you have to worry about quarterback play in this game, which you do because Malik Willis is a really good, you know, backup quarterback, but he's not going to sustain, you know, multiple receivers having huge days in fantasy football. So, not only do you have to worry about that, you also have to worry about the fact that this offense is spreading the ball out. Everybody gets some. All right, it's an Oprah show. You get a car, you get a car, you get a car, you get a piece of candy, you get a piece of candy. Right. Last week, Jane Reed, three targets. Watson with six. Dos with six. Wix got involved. Some tight ends got involved. Some running backs got involved. So, I think there's a ton of risk starting all these names. Yes, Watson has been the most consistent, but ultimately there's just way too much risk for all of these guys to have any confidence in starting them. Shoot, I mean, Matthew Golden could have a touchdown, right? Dante Whis could have a touchdown. Emanuel Wilson could have two receiving touchdowns. I you have no idea with this um receiving attack.
Okay, that brings us finally to the start of the Sunday slate of games where we have a 42 and a half point overunder. The Seahawks are favored by seven and a half points. Now, let me play a little good cop, bad cop. Okay, bad cop for Tetto McMillan. Well, this is the worst match in f in fantasy football for your wide receiver. Like, it's genuinely not even close. This is by far the worst matchup that you can possibly have. Okay, that is bad cop. The good cop is the Panthers need, and I mean need to win this game. And they are heavy underdogs because the Seahawks are a better better team. They need to win this game because if the Bucks win on week 17, then week 18 will determine the divisional winner between the Panthers and the Buccaneers. So, they absolutely need to win this game. They will be probably playing from behind. That is why I think Tetto McMillan is a mustart coming off a 10-t target game where he scored a touchdown. And then, of course, JSN. you know, you're going to start Jason. Okay, I don't need to tell you that. However, Shahed. Shahed is an interesting desperation play. I think it's a difficult name to really rely on just simply because he kind of is a guy that can have three targets and three fantasy points. There's a ton of bust potential there. So, I would prefer if I could to just not even look at that situation entirely.
Okay, let's jump to the Cardinals at the Bengals. Here's the good news. Highest overunder of the week at 52 and a half points. The bad news is with Marvin Harrison back, there is just a lot of confusion right now in this Cardinals wide receiver room. I don't know why they don't just feature Michael Wilson. Even with Marvin Harrison back, he looks like a really good player. But in the first game back with Marvin Harrison on a limited snap count, I might say, by the way, with Marvin, they both had three targets. That's it. They both had three targets. I mean, weeks and weeks and weeks where Michael Wilson is averaging over 12, 13, 14, 15 targets per game in this matchup, unfortunately, they both barely have any involvement. So, it's difficult to trust them moving forward. I am going to say Michael Wilson's a spot start just out of respect. He did score the touchdown, the 52- yard touchdown uh or the 50-yard touchdown on Sunday. Although, the fact that the Bengals are seven and a seven-point favorites does tell me that the Cardinals will probably need to throw the ball from behind. That's why I have some sort of confidence uh in Michael Wilson.
On the opposite side, Chase and Higgins both must starts no matter what matchup they're in. As far as T Higgins goes, he was on a snap count here on Sunday and he still scored a touchdown. So, he should be much more involved here in his second game removed from that concussion.
Okay, let's look at the Steelers at the Browns. Lowest overunder of the week by far, just 34 and a half points. And it makes sense because there are so many things going against offense playing a big part in this game. No DK Metaf. The entire Browns offense is terrible. Quinn Sean Judkins is out for the year. I mean, there is so much going against these two offensive units now. DK Metaf is not going to be out there. You know, I don't get it. You're making hundreds of millions of dollars. Why even go into the stands and have a conversation with someone? I I don't really understand it. But he's going to be suspended for two games. He's going to miss out over $500,000. By the way, that's difficult. But I am not messing around with an Adam Thelen or a Calvin Austin. I think you're going to see a heavy dose of Kenneth Gainwell. Those tight ends. I just don't see these wide receivers going off. And there's not a chance I am trusting Shador Sanders and starting one of these Browns wide receivers. That is just not happening.
Okay, let's jump to the Jags at the Colts. 46 and 12 point overunder. Healthy overunder there. The Jags are favored by about six and a half points. Jacobe Meyers is the only name that I have a ton of trust in uh here. I'm not even saying that I have trust that he will win you your matchup. He is just the safest floor on the Jags. He's the most consistent scorer on the Jags. Now, two weeks ago, Brian Thomas had a touchdown. This last week, we saw Jacobe Myers have a touchdown. There's a little bit of a ring around the Rosie feel to this wide receiver room in Jacksonville right now. Last week, like we said, nine targets for Parker Washington. He ends up with the touchdown. almost 27 fantasy points. Brian Thomas doesn't really do much. But again, just a week ago, we saw Brian Thomas have a big game. So, I only trust Jacobe Myers. But the reason all three of these guys could have a decent day is number one, Trevor Lawrence is on fire. Number two, the Colts are the sixth best match up for your wide receiver. And number three, it is a decent overunder.
On the opposite side, well, previously we told you there's just no way that you can go out there and start Alec Pierce because Philip Rivers doesn't have a deep ball. Then on Monday Night Football in the first half, Rivers throws two deep ball touchdowns to Alec Pierce. And it's kind of like the Green Bay Packers wide receiver room where it's all spread out and everybody has an opportunity to, you know, uh, catch the football. So, it's a little bit difficult to wrap your head around. I would say Pitman, Pierce, and Downs can all have a decent fantasy day because they're going up against the Jags. The Jags are favored, and ultimately you can pass on the Jags, but either of them can bust as well. I don't think there's many guys that you can really hang your hat on this week just because of the uncertainty and and the amount of times they're sharing the ball with all these different names.
Okay, that takes us to the Bucs at the Dolphins. It's a 45 and a half point overunder. The Bucs are favored by five and a half points. We did get a lot more clarity on the Bucs wide receiver room in this second game where all these guys are healthy. Finally, Mike Evans gets the full aotment of snaps. He leads the way there. He leads the way in targets. However, what we saw here was Chris Gawwin led the uh second group uh second wide receiver here in snaps, routes run, and targets. And then you saw saw Eggbuka and McMillan pretty much split opportunities in and out of that slot, in and out of the Z alignment. They only got five targets combined. So, it's getting very difficult to trust Ibuka. I would say nine out of 10 people watching this, you should not play a Mecha Ibuka. Just going to be for real with you guys at this point. Uh, Mike Evans is the only must start for me. It seems like they're going to funnel the passing attack through him.
Now on the opposite side there with the Dolphins, I was very hesitant to start Jaylen Wadd last week because we did know that Quinn ers was going to be starting for this team. However, he did give us a safe floor. He had nine targets. He turned those nine targets into 12.3 fantasy points, 73 receiving yards. So he gives you a safe floor. The Bucks are favored. The Dolphins should need to throw. He is a floor play more than a ceiling. He's a low and wide receiver two, flex, high and wide receiver three type of name here in week number 17.
Okay, that takes us to the Patriots at the Jets. 42 and a half point overunder. The Patriots are favored by 12 and a half points. Tied for the largest favorites of the week. Stefan Diggs I am labeling a spot a spot start. I do wish there was more consistency to his game. It feels like every week we are not really 100% sure who's going to get the majority of the touches here in New England. Uh, with Booty healthy and Douglas healthy, it seems like they spread the ball around to all of these guys. Now, here's what I will say. Stfan Diggs ends up with 10 targets. He turns those 10 targets into 137 yards over 22 fantasy points. But the floor is just the floor is so low for a Stfan Diggs. I mean, he can really cost you your week. My concern is that against the Jets, they might let their running backs be featured more because they're probably going to dominate this game. I mean, there's a reason that they are 12 and a half point favorites. It's a little bit concerning that there might not be the need to throw the ball. There is major bust potential for Diggs in week 17, but I want to respect the season that he's had so far. Now, the good news is Booty is not going to be out there with an injury and Douglas looks like he has an injury as well, so that should help Stefon Diggs get volume. I will say M. Holland is not the worst. Hail Mary start out there because of all those guys going down with injuries. There are definitely worse players out there that you could put into your lineup.
On the opposite side, Adai Mitchell, it's going to be Brady Cook again. That's unfortunately uh the case here. We saw a lot of Adai's good games with Trod Taylor. So, I would say proceed with caution. You know, it's a game that they're going to be down in. They're not projected to score many points. You have Brady Cook uh starting at quarterback. I would just be very very hesitant to start a you know Jets wide receiver with your life on the line in this matchup.
Okay, that brings us to the Titans and the Saints. 38 and a half point overunder, the third lowest of the entire week. Chris Ave is a mustart coming off a two touchdown game. Now he gets to face the Titans who were the fourth best match up for your wide receivers. There's no Devon. All of the targets are getting funneled through Chris Ave. You love to see that type of usage. What a league winner he has turned into.
Now, as far as Chamir DK on the opposite side, first off, it's not a good matchup for these Titan wide receivers, the Saints are the sixth worst match up for your fantasy wide receivers. Also, when you look at this game, it's a low overunder. You don't expect many fantasy points in it. Uh, Chamir DK is not a name that I would prefer to mess around with in this matchup. I prefer to look at other options.
Okay, let's jump to the Giants at the Raiders. Now, in this game, 42 and a half point overunder. I am not starting any Raiders. I'm just not going to mess around with it. Not with my life on the line. Sure, I could tell you, well, it's a one and a half point spread and you know, both of these teams are bad and they should be competitive. Sure, I could tell you all those things, but ultimately Trey Tucker has given us no reason to trust him in the second half of the NFL season. Now, Wanda Robinson, however, despite coming off a bus game, has given us plenty of safe floor opportunities. So, I would go ahead and put him into the lineup as a low-end wide receiver to flexible option. Sllayton is not a bad Hail Mary simply because he's got that big play threat to his game, but I would be hesitant starting anyone else out of Wanddale in this matchup.
Okay, let's go to the Eagles at the Bills. 45 point overunder. It's in Buffalo. I'm not sure about the weather, so we'll have to monitor that throughout the week. But AJ Brown has just been the definition of, you know, a league winner. I mean, second half of the season, there's been this huge renaissance to his game. He has absolutely dominated. He's my wide receiver, 12 this week. A mustart, got to be in your lineups. Dvont Smith is really right on the edge of a mustart and a spot start. He's my wide receiver 19 in this game. So, definitely a guy that's going to be in your lineups. And have to keep in mind, it's in Buffalo. The Eagles are likely to be down needing to throw the ball. So, that's why I have some confidence in these Eagles receivers.
Now, on the opposite side, there's good news and there's bad news. The good news is, according to Shawn McDermott, he said yes, as far as I'm aware of, Josh Allen will be ready to go in this game. The bad news is Cleos Shakir has just been so unreliable. There's not a single receiver in this entire Bills wide receiver room that you can trust. In this game, they made Keon Coleman and Gabe Davis inactives. They played around with Tyrone Shavers and Josh Palmer. I just don't think you can mess around with this matchup. I would definitely suggest to look towards alternate options.
Okay, that takes us to Sunday Night Football where we've got the Bears at the 49ers. This is tied for the second highest overunder of the week. It is a very close spread, so it could go either way. It's in San Francisco. DJ Moore, I am ranking him as if both Roma Dunes and Luther Burton are not available to play this week. In that scenario, he would be my wide receiver 18. He would be a mustart in these lineups. However, if Burton and the Dunes are out there, I have much less confidence. They would all be spot starts. It's a good match up against the 49ers. You can attack them through the air, but ultimately, you know, one of these guys are going to be the odd man out, if not multiple, if not all of them. All of them could end up busting. So, you really, if you're a DJ Moore owner, you really want to see DJ Moore out there on his own.
On the opposite side, Jawan Jennings is an absolute mustart. He plays against the Bears, which are the second best matchup for your fancy wide receiver. Not only that, but Ricky Pearaw is dealing with an injury. Outside of Ricky Pearl, we also have George KD dealing with an injury. Brandon Aayuk is not coming back. So, Joan Jennings should be a very good play and the second highest overunder of the entire week. So, definitely a name that I have confidence in here in week 17 with your life on the line.
Last matchup we'll look at, Rams at Falcons. This is Monday Night Football. The last matchup we'll look at of the entire year. The entire year, guys. 49 and a half point overunder, the fourth highest overunder of the week. Puka, not only is he my wide receiver one, he's also going up against the best matchup in fantasy football. So, he's my wide receiver one, he has the best matchup in fantasy football. I mean, Puka could be the reason that you are crowning yourself fantasy champion here in 2025. He has a great end of his uh fantasy playoff schedule. I don't expect Devonte Adams to be out there. Now, they are saying that they're monitoring it throughout the week, but the way he injured that hamstring, I would be shocked if he's out there and ready to go.
Now, with the Falcons, I know Drake London did not have a good game coming back from his injury. I can totally understand where you guys are coming from if you're concerned. However, there's a lot of good peripherals there. Okay, first off, he had eight targets, which was tied uh with Kyle Pittz for the highest of any receiving threat outside of like Fjon, for example. And while he didn't connect on them, he played a high percentage of the snaps, ran a high percentage of the routes. So, he is prepared in this game. Another week getting healthy. The Rams are eight and a half point favorites. They're underdogs. The Falcons are in this game. They should need to throw the ball for the majority of the game. So, Drake London has serious like 12 target potential in this game here on Monday Night Football. I would be putting him into your lineups.
Guys, I appreciate you watching the video. Do me a favor, hit the like button to show some love. Subscribe if you like the content. The running back video is already out on the channel. And again, this is the last video of the year for us here. We appreciate y'all being along for the ride. I just want to say as well that, you know, if you want to get a question answered through the live streams, I will only be live streaming one time this week with it being Christmas and Christmas Eve and all the holidays. So, make sure you get those questions in early so I can help you set those lineups. Appreciate you watching and we'll see you next year. Love.
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