By J.D. Bagley (@jdbagley5)
Week 16 Sleeper Picks: It’s championship week! If you’ve made it this far, it’s likely that you’ve been riding a few stars to this final weekend of fantasy football. Those guys you are obviously starting. Here is a list of guys with good matchups you can start if you are worried about a bad matchup, have a key injury to deal with or a player’s decline in production lately.
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Quarterback
Nick Foles (PHI) vs OAK: Last week it looked like the Eagles hadn’t skipped a beat on offense when Nick Foles threw for four TD’s leading Philly to their 12th win of the season. Foles has the opportunity for another big game against the Raiders leaky pass defense on Monday night. Note: Last time Foles faced the Raiders he threw for 406 yards 7 TD’s and 0 INT’s. Again, I’m not expecting him to repeat that but it’s a great matchup with some history to it. Fire up Foles this week given you don’t have an elite QB for the championship.
Blake Bortles (JAX) @ SF: The era of bashing Blake Bortles is over! He is competent now behind that incredible defense and run game of theirs. Bortles has scored the 2nd most fantasy points of quarterbacks over the last 4 weeks and gets a matchup against the 49ers who give up the 3rd most points to opposing quarterbacks. Warm weather is another factor here, which is sometimes hard to come by in the fantasy playoffs.
Running Back
Theo Riddick (DET) @ CIN: Over the last couple weeks Ameer Abdullah has been almost non-existent in the Detroit offense, giving a huge opportunity for Theo Riddick to do some damage to a Bengals defense that allows the most receiving yards to running backs per game. Jerick McKinnon gashed this defense last week with 7 receptions for 114 yards. Riddick should do the same with the Bengals injuries in the middle of their defense, making it even harder to contain him than it already is.
Alex Collins (BAL) vs IND: Collins was disappointing last week against the Browns, rushing only 12 times for 19 yards. But like I said, the Browns run defense is actually pretty good! This week he should get back on track with a good matchup vs the Colts who give up the 6th most points to opposing running backs. Collins faces them just one week after they were ripped apart by CJ Anderson who ran 30 times for 158 yards.
Wide Receiver
Devin Funchess (CAR) vs TB: The Bucs have given up the most fantasy points to receivers this season and Funchess is the only WR on the team who is going to get a real share of targets. After a surprising down game last week and Cam Newton getting hot, I expect Funchess to bounce back in a nice way against Tampa this weekend.
Martavis Bryant (PIT) @ HOU: There are a lot of targets up for grabs this week as Antonio Brown is done for the regular season. JuJu Smith-Schuster is going to see top coverage so I like Martavis Bryant as a sneaky play against a depleted Houston defense. Bryant should see an increase in target share and a favorable matchup against the Texans who have given up the 5th most points to opposing receivers this season.
Tight End
Jesse James (PIT) @ HOU: As stated earlier, there are more targets to go around in Pittsburgh with Antonio Brown being absent. Houston’s defense has really hit the injury bug hard this season making this a possible huge game for the Steelers offense. The Texans give up the 6th most fantasy points to opposing TE’s, look for Jesse James to be a factor in the red zone this week.
