And so, we come to the end.
After months of study, speculation and soothsaying we've reached Week 17, aka Championship Week. This is what separates the ultimate winners from the rest. The week that you'll talk about with your friends and rivals for years to come.
Sure, we can tell ourselves a story about playing for the social aspect of fantasy football. We can pretend it's all about camaraderie -- maintaining old relationships and fostering new ones. But we know the deal. It's about winning. You didn't pay that league fee for charity purposes. Unless you play in a charity league. In which case, ignore that last sentence.
But it might not all be sunshine and roses. To make it this far, you've had to avoid the pitfalls of injury and underperformance. You've had to make some tough calls on who to start and sit. If you're still playing this week, it means you got more right than wrong.
Nonetheless, if you're here, it means you have one more week of hard choices. The Sleepers column will not abandon you now. Even in an unusual week, we're here to offer you some options to help you win the supreme prize. Giving you a pathway toward fantasy football immortality. Time to make the difficult call. The road to glory is paved with unorthodox flex options.
Here are some names. Go get your wins.
QUARTERBACK
The game we hoped for from Young in Week 15 showed up in Week 16. So, we weren’t wrong. Just early. Young posted his best fantasy line of the season with more than 27 points against the Cardinals. It was just the second time all season that he threw multiple touchdown passes. A sneaky number in Young’s recent success has been the rushing touchdowns. The Panthers quarterback has a rushing score in three of his last four games.
That could come into play this week against Tampa Bay. The Bucs have allowed six rushing touchdowns to quarterbacks this year, third-most in the NFL. It’s a large contributor to the 21 fantasy points per game Tampa is allowing to quarterbacks. Well, that and the 4,021 passing yards it has surrendered -- including nearly 300 to Cooper Rush last week. The Bryce Young Awakening could continue in Week 17.
Week 16 reminded us why we became Bo-lievers. After a pair of lackluster outings, Nix rebounded with a strong outing against a previously stout Chargers defense. Jayden Daniels may have locked up both the NFL and fantasy Offensive Rookie of the Year Awards, but Nix has been nearly equal to the task in the back half of the season. Denver’s first-year quarterback has multiple touchdown tosses in eight games this year.
That’s noteworthy going into this week’s contest against Cincinnati. The Bengals have allowed multiple touchdown passes nine times this season, including a string of five straight that was broken in Week 16 by Dorian Thompson-Robinson and the Browns. Nix is more capable than Thompson-Robinson. In the likely event of a scorefest, Nix will have plenty of chances to rack up yards and touchdowns against an underwhelming Bengals secondary.
RUNNING BACK
Yep, we’re fully on board the Ameer Abdullah train. Selfishly, we deserve a little goodness from the Raiders backfield after our hopes for Zamir White were extinguished rather quickly. Few trusted Alexander Mattison, and Sincere McCormick (ankle) was taken from us far too soon. While Abdullah’s numbers haven’t been eye-popping, he’s given fantasy managers desperate for running back production something to believe in. He’s scored more than 19 fantasy points in consecutive games, with touchdowns in Weeks 15 and 16.
Now he gets to face a Saints run defense that has been bad all year but has gotten markedly worse in recent weeks. It has allowed more than 110 rushing yards in five of its last six games. That includes Monday night’s debacle against the Packers. Green Bay ran for 188 yards -- a number that could have been worse had Matt LaFleur not decided to pull Josh Jacobs early.
Over the past couple of weeks, it appears a stronger timeshare has emerged in the Titans backfield. Some of it was planned. Tennessee’s coaches expressed concern of overworking Pollard. Some of it had to do with Pollard’s nagging ankle injury. A lot of it was due to game scripts and situational personnel. Tyjae Spears has claimed the team's passing game work, seeing most of his snaps in long down and distances and hurry-up scenarios.
The latter issue shouldn’t come into play this week. The Jaguars have lost seven of their last eight games and have one of the worst point differentials in the league. Unless the Titans defense has a meltdown akin to last week’s first half against the Colts, the game script should remain neutral at worst. With the Jaguars fielding a run defense in the bottom half of the NFL, Pollard should have a sizable role in the offense this week.
WIDE RECEIVER
When we’ve talked about the Panthers’ recent offensive awakening, we’ve focused mostly on Bryce Young and Chuba Hubbard with a little bit of Adam Thielen thrown in. One player who hasn’t gotten enough love has been Coker. Some of it might be his inconsistency. After posting 110 yards and a touchdown versus Dallas in Week 15, he followed up with just two catches and eight yards against the Cardinals in Week 16.
This week’s outlook is more promising against the Bucs. Tampa continues to be a favorable matchup for wide receivers. Last week, Cooper Rush had one of his better passing games. Unsurprisingly, CeeDee Lamb did most of the damage, but Brandin Cooks and Jalen Tolbert also made notable contributions. With Coker looking like the second option for Young and the Panthers, the undrafted rookie has a chance to be a deeper league flex option.
TIGHT END
There’s a fine line between predicting production and straight up point chasing. In the case of Okonkwo, signs point toward the former. On multiple occasions over the past two seasons, Okonkwo has had moments of fantasy-relevant production. It took 12 weeks to get there in 2024, but better late than never, right?
Over the past two weeks, the Titans tight end has earned 21 targets and turned them into 17 catches for 140 yards. He’s turned himself into the second option on a team lacking consistent pass catchers. Okonkwo also looks like a stylistic fit for Mason Rudolph, who’s never been known as an aggressive downfield thrower. With a matchup against the tight end-friendly Jaguars, Okonkwo has solid streaming appeal in Championship Week.
DEFENSE
Statistically, the Dolphins aren’t a bad defense. They rank in the top 12 in scoring defense, pass defense and rushing defense. The Dolphins, however, are a bad fantasy defense. They rank 27th in fantasy points in large part because they don’t log a lot of sacks (31) or force a lot of turnovers (13). The Fins have finished as a top 12 fantasy defense just four times this season.
That number could bump up to five this week against the Browns. Cleveland rolled with Dorian Thompson-Robinson last week to little effect. But with Thompson-Robinson nursing a calf injury, the Browns could either return to Jameis Winston or turn to Bailey Zappe if DTR can't go. Both come with the promise of giveaways. And since neither is as mobile as DTR, a few sacks could be in the cards as well. Either way, Miami looks like a good streaming option in Week 17.
Marcas Grant is a fantasy analyst for NFL.com and a man who wishes you and yours all the best in the holiday season and beyond. Send him your glad tidings or fantasy football questions on Twitter @MarcasG or Bluesky @marcasg.bsky.social.
