Welcome to the final edition of Lucid Streams – Fantasy Football Sleepers. If you’ve been following along for most or all of the season, thank you for taking the time to read this article each week, and I hope you found it worthwhile. Hopefully you found some good streamers along the way, or at least a few good laughs.
Our goal here for the final week of the playoffs remains the same. We are entirely focused upon finding underappreciated players that might be better options than some of the players you’d normally start, as well as steering you away from any players that might let you down and force an early playoff exit.
Last week, two of our three WR starts were nice hits (Xavier Worthy and Jalen McMillan), and we hope you benched Jerry Jeudy and Marvin Harrison Jr., as recommended. At TE, we hit with Chigoziem Okonkwo while Brenton Strange let us down. On to Week 17 and good luck in your championship games!
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Wide Receivers to Start
Jayden Reed
Trying to pick the right Green Bay WRs to start each week is sort of like playing Whack-A-Mole, but there’s a few factors in play that make it worth taking a whack this week. The Packers are always motivated to play well against their Vikings rivals, but perhaps even more than usual this week as wildcard seeding is still very much up for grabs.
The Vikings are one of the juiciest matchups available for opposing WRs, and they will play indoors in Minnesota this week. This game has the fourth highest Vegas total for the week, making it a rich game to mine for points. Expect the Jack-of-all-trades Reed to get the ball on jet sweeps, WR screens, and downfield passes as the Packers try to mix it up to keep the Vikings defense off-balance.
Rashod Bateman
Bateman benefits from flying under the radar in the Ravens offense. With Derrick Henry, Mark Andrews, Zay Flowers, and of course Lamar Jackson himself to worry about, defenses can easily forget about Bateman, who’s actually a pretty good WR when healthy. The Ravens face off against the Texans this week in a dome game, so weather won’t be an issue as the Ravens strive to overtake the Steelers for the AFC North crown. The Texans are another team struggling weekly to limit opposing WRs, so we’re dialing up Bateman if we are stuck for good WR options as one of the better fantasy football sleepers out there.
Adam Thielen
We’ve made a lot of good predictions in this column this year picking on bad pass defenses and regularly targeting the Buccaneers continues to be a winning formula. Bryce Young actually looks like a solid NFL starter more often than not these days, and Thielen is his favorite target. The Panthers are a frisky, pesky bunch that are looking to stack some wins and ruin their opponents’ season if possible. If they can do it within their own division, so much the better. Thielen turned 10 targets into an 8-99-1 stat line when he last faced the Buccaneers, and there’s no reason to think he’ll do any worse this time around.
Wide Receivers to Sit
Cooper Kupp
For three of the last four games, starting Kupp has been like tying a 25 lb weight to your ankles and jumping out of a boat. He’s topped 20 PPR points once but has otherwise topped out at 5.4 points.
That sinking feeling probably isn’t going away this week either as the Cardinals have been playing some pretty respectable pass defense over the last half of the season. He’s hard to sit if you don’t have a good alternative, but don’t just automatically insert him without thinking through your options.
Darnell Mooney
I’m not recommending that you sit Mooney because the Falcons are now starting Michael Penix. Penix might not have looked like a world-beater to the box-score scouts but anyone who watched last week’s game against the Giants could see that Penix was a definite upgrade over Kirk Cousins. The problem with playing Mooney this week is that the Commanders sport one of the league’s better pass defenses while being beatable on the ground. I’m expecting a healthy dose of Bijan Robinson this week, and I’m steering away from ancillary options in the pass game.
Tight Ends to Start
Chigoziem Okonkwo
We’re going back to the well after a week in which Chig slaked our thirst for points from a TE-streamer and one of the better fantasy football sleepers with nine catches for 81 yards and a 2-point conversion for good measure. This week he faces off against a Jaguars defense that’s been the No. 3 worst at defending TEs. Let’s hope Mason Rudolph gets another week at the helm, but even if the Titans go back to Levis, I’m still starting Chig if I’m lacking for options.
Jake Ferguson
The Cowboys are another team that finally started to get frisky once their hopes for the playoffs had all but vanished. You can bet they won’t just roll over and play dead for the Eagles. This game will be at Philadelphia, and the Eagles are by far the league’s best team at defending WRs. Dallas won’t be able to just grind out a win on the ground, so look for them to take the path of least resistance through the air with passes to the RBs and TEs. Ferguson should have a sneaky-good game.
Tight Ends to Bench
Mike Gesicki
Gesicki is one of those options that many fantasy squads are tempted to start if they don’t have an elite option, but this might not be his week. He’s not one of the fantasy football sleepers I’m considering starting during championship week.
Facing off against the Broncos, who are among the league’s best at defending the TE, Gesicki is a risky bet to put a pile of points in your lineup.
Travis Kelce
I don’t think Kelce is going to be a complete flop this week, but if you’re on the fence between starting him or another quality option, fading Kelce isn’t the worst plan. The Chiefs have slowly been adding weapons to their arsenal over the course of the season, with Isiah Pacheco and Hollywood Brown returning from injury, Noah Gray emerging, and Xavier Worthy and Patrick Mahomes finally getting on the same page. Additionally, the Steelers defend opposing TEs pretty well. We always want to skate to where the puck is going, and that’s rarely Kelce anymore.
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