Which teams are you fading-targeting with no motivation in their Week 17 matchup?
- Bengals-Browns
- Bills-Jets
- Buccaneers-Falcons
- Rams-Cardinals
Phil Alexander
- Buccaneers-Falcons - This one is low-hanging fruit. It has the highest over/under on the slate (49 points) and features two teams who have long since been eliminated from playoff contention, so their respective game plans are unlikely to change. Jameis Winston, Breshad Perriman, Justin Watson, O.J. Howard, Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, and Austin Hooper are all priority plays this week.
- Bengals-Browns - Look for Nick Chubb to pad his league-leading rushing yardage total in this one. The Bengals have allowed about 20% more fantasy points to enemy running backs than league average over the last three weeks, including a 15-106-0 rushing line to Chubb in Week 14.
Dan Hindery
While there are no playoff implications, the Bengals-Browns matchup should still feature two motivated teams. There has been a bit of a cloud hovering over the Bengals for the last month with so much of the focus from the fanbase on draft positioning and the home crowd has often been quietly rooting for losses. With the top pick locked up, the team will have the fanbase behind them wholeheartedly against the instate rival Browns. This will also very likely be the last game in a Bengals uniform for Andy Dalton and he will be looking to go out on as high a note as possible. He is well-liked in the locker room and his teammates are likely to go the extra mile to send him out with a win. On the other side, the Browns are facing a long offseason. The hype fizzled and everyone, from the coaching staff, to the star players, to the backups are going to face criticism and questions for the next eight months. Those questions will only intensify if they end up being one of just two teams to take a loss to the Bengals.
Jason Wood
Bills-Jets
Sean McDermott has already said Matt Barkley will play, even though Josh Allen may get the notional start. Barkley is an epic train wreck and if he plays, you cannot possibly trust anyone on the Bills. The Jets don't have anything to play for per se, but you get the sense they would like to have a good game to leave a positive taste in ownership's mouth. I'm not averse to Darnold or the Jets defense, but they're not priorities unless you're building a diverse set of GPP lineups.
Rams-Cardinals
I'm fading this game hard because I have no idea what to make of the team's mindsets. Neither are in playoff contention, so other than pride and evaluation for 2020, what's the point in putting players at risk? Kyler Murray is banged up and if he doesn't play, I have zero faith in the rest of the offense. Sean McVay has already hinted at resting his key players, including Jared Goff and Todd Gurley. It's a mess. The one exception I'm willing to make is Tyler Higbee if you're looking for a value tight end.
Justin Howe
ATL-TB is the crown jewel of a fairly solid Week 17 slate. Not only are they projected to score like crazy... not only do they snap a ton of plays... not only do they both throw with consistent volume... they have so many cheap DFS buy-ins! Justin Watson and Russell Gage have as much upside as just about any receivers in their price range, and a Cameron Brate punt makes a lot of stuff fit. Even Breshad Perriman is a bit too cheap for his ceiling as the Buccaneers' WR1.
Like Jason, I'm effectively scared off of LAR-ARI. There's nothing to be gained from Kyler Murray suiting up, and he hasn't been very productive through the air anyway. And playing this game heavily would depend upon both teams keeping game flow up; I'd have no interest in anyone here in a 19-13 slugfest, which is very viable. Unless I'm mass-entering lineups, I won't have any pieces from here.
