Dominate Week 16 with Sal Vetri’s keys to a fantasy football victory.
Pick up and play: Brenton Strange @ LV
Evan Engram was ruled out for the season before Week 15. This opened up a starting spot for Strange, who has been solid this season when given more opportunities. In four games earlier this season when Engram was out, Strange was a top 10 TE in three of those four starts.
Strange is a big, athletic TE out of Penn State who was drafted in the second round by the Jaguars last year but was buried behind Evan Engram on the depth chart as a rookie. Jacksonville has been working him more on offense this season, especially since Christian Kirk went down with a season-ending injury in Week 8. In Week 15, in his first start with Mac Jones under center, Strange caught a career-high 11 passes. 12 goals. He totaled 12.8 fantasy points and finished as a top-five TE this week. He has now finished in the top 10 in weekly TE in four of his five starts without Engram this year.
Additionally, Jacksonville’s starting TEs are averaging 8.4 goals per game with Mac Jones this season. Now Strange will face the Raiders in Week 16 who allow the fourth-most yards and third-most fantasy points to TEs. You can pick up the Jaguars second-year TE and play this week, barring something serious with his shoulder injury, though head coach Doug Pederson said the tight end will be fine.
Best spot of the week: James Conner @ CAR
Don’t look now, but Conner is on pace to play all 17 games for the first time in his career. He is still one of the Cardinals’ best players this season and is in danger of finishing in the top twelve at the position again. Despite being almost 30 years old, Conner ranks first in number of tackles broken and fifth in breakaway runs, according to Player Profiler. You might think that as an older defender he would slow down to close out the season, but the opposite is happening. Conner is coming off his two best fantasy days of the season, and in Week 15 he finished as the RB1 overall, totaling 138 yards and two touchdowns against the Patriots.
This week Conner gets another strong matchup. He will face the Panthers who allow the most rushing yards per game and the second-most rushing touchdowns this season. Carolina just allowed a career-high 149 rushing yards to Rico Dowdle in Week 15 and 124 yards to Saquon Barkley in Week 14. In fact, starting RBs have averaged 125 rushing yards against the Panthers over the last six weeks. Conner is in the top five in this great matchup.
Sketchy spot of the week: Najee Harris @ BAL
Harris is coming off a worrying performance. In Week 15 against the Eagles, he produced just 21 yards on seven touches. We knew this game would be difficult, but it turned out to be the worst-case scenario. Harris had a bad fumble in the third quarter and didn’t play again after that. He has now played 50% or fewer snaps in four straight games and has lost carries to not only Jaylen Warren, but Cordarrelle Patterson in every game during this span.
This week’s matchup goes from bad to worse as Harris takes on the Ravens with a six-point Steelers underdog. Baltimore allows just 3.5 rushing yards per game, the fewest in the NFL. Other than Saquon Barkley, no running back has gained more than 65 rushing yards against the Ravens this season and only three backs have gained more than 50 rushing yards against Baltimore. Harris will be in action this week if you have a viable replacement.
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Sleeper of the Week: Alexander Mattison vs. JAX
Mattison returned from injury in Week 15, playing 32% of the Raiders snaps and earning 11 chances. He converted those opportunities into just nine touches for 24 yards in a game where Las Vegas totaled just 249 yards on offense. This isn’t the most attractive offense to target, but Mattison has a few things working in his favor.
First, Sincere McCormick was placed on IR on Wednesday and will miss the remainder of the season. McCormick had taken over the Raiders backfield in recent weeks and even started taking over for Mattison in Week 15. But with McCormick out, Mattison is establishing himself as the team’s early back. Another positive in Mattison’s favor is that QB Aidan O’Connell is popular to play this week. This is important because Desmond Ridder started in week 15 and wasn’t great. Ridder averaged just 5.3 yards per attempt over his 39 passes, including two interceptions.
Mattison will start for Las Vegas this week and it’s a good matchup. The Raiders are home favorites against the Jaguars. Jacksonville is allowing the ninth-most rushing yards per game and the fifth-most explosive runs of 10-plus yards this season. If you’re in a pinch this week, Mattison could be a FLEX option worth considering.
Must start of the week: Bucky Irving @ DAL
Irving had a strong performance in Week 15 despite multiple injuries. Irving missed practice on Wednesday and Thursday before Week 15 with a back injury, but was able to adjust and earn 17 strong chances. Irving cleared 100 rushing yards for the second time this season and remained efficient, averaging 7.8 yards per touch. The Bucs rookie now ranks fifth in the NFL in yards per touch and sixth in tackles broken. He is already one of the most dynamic backs in the league.
This week, Irving finds himself in a strong matchup as the favorite against the Cowboys. Since taking on an expanded role in Week 6, Irving has played four games as the favorite and in those contests he is averaging 95 yards on 16.8 touches per game according to the RotoViz game splits tool. This production has translated to 17.5 fantasy points per game during this stretch, which would rank sixth among all RBs since Week 6. His matchup this week is great as Dallas has the fifth most rushing yards per game and the most allowing rushing touchdowns this season. Continue with Irving this week.
Review of the week: Chuba Hubbard vs. CAR
In Week 15, Hubbard played his first game of the season without Miles Sanders or Jonathon Brooks. The lack of reliable RB depth led to the Panthers leaning on Hubbard more than usual. Hubbard played 94% of the team’s snaps and handled 15 of 17 RB opportunities (88%). This was one of the strongest utility plays Hubbard has seen this season, but it went under the radar as the Panthers lost by 16 points and trailed the Cowboys for most of the game. Hubbard could only reach 49 yards on his 14 touches. But he’s ready for a bounce-back performance in a solid game this week.
Hubbard and the Panthers face the Cardinals in Week 16. The Panthers are four-point favorites at home. This game seems close, which should help Hubbard earn more carries in the second half. Arizona ranks in the bottom half of the league in rushing yards per game and explosive runs of 10+ yards allowed this season. Expect Hubbard to see elite usage again and threaten toward a top-12 finish this week, something he has done in seven of his 14 starts this year.
Trending: Tennessee Titans RB Tyjae Spears
At first glance, the Titans’ backfield might have seemed status quo in Week 15. Tony Pollard earned 17 carries, compared to just four for Tyjae Spears. But we have to take a closer look because Spears played eight more snaps than Pollard and he ran 27 routes to just seven for Pollard. Pollard left this game with an ankle injury, but was able to return. However, it is unclear to what extent this injury has affected his efficiency. Spears took over later in the game when the Titans trailed by several scores and found particular success as a pass catcher, catching six balls for 87 yards and totaling two touchdowns.
Spears has been in trouble for most of this season. He has been on the injured list for six weeks and missed four games this year due to a concussion and a hamstring injury. This, along with a poor offense and o-line, has reduced Spears’ efficiency to 4.7 yards per touch, compared to his impressive rookie season of 5.5 yards per touch last season.
Heading into Week 16, we’ll need to keep a close eye on this Pollard injury. In the past we have seen boys return to action with ankle injuries and miss games in the following weeks. A big example of this was Joe Mixon earlier this season. He suffered an ankle injury in week 2, but was able to return to the game. However, after the game the injury swelled and he missed the next three games for Houston.
For now, Spears is climbing the RB Stash rankings, especially in a week where Zach Charbonnet was added all over the place and Trey Benson stubbed his ankle for the Cardinals. Spears now becomes a top-five stash in the final two weeks of the fantasy season, with even more upside if Pollard were to miss time.
