Our own Pat Fitzmaurice has been among the most accurate fantasy football experts in the industry over the last several years. Fitz was THE most accurate in-season ranker in 2020. What better way to prepare for your fantasy football start/sit lineup decisions than by reviewing his fantasy football rankings? You can do just that below.
You can also find our expert consensus fantasy football rankings for the week here. And you can sync your fantasy football league for free using our My Playbook tool for custom advice, rankings, and analysis.
Fantasy Football Rankings: Week 16
Fitz’s Fantasy Football Takes
Aaron Rodgers is getting hot down the stretch. Better late than never? Maybe not for Jets fans, but for fantasy managers rostering Rodgers, heck yeah. Rodgers is QB5 in fantasy scoring the last two weeks. He’s thrown multiple TD passes in three of his last four games, including a season-high three TD passes last week against the Jaguars. And this Rams-Jets matchup could be a shootout. The Vegas total for this game is 46.5 points. It’s the highest total we’ve seen for a Jets game in a while. Rodgers has been clicking with his old friend Davante Adams lately, and Rodgers has another terrific receiver in Garrett Wilson. The Rams have allowed the ninth-most fantasy points to quarterbacks this season. I’m ran king Rodgers as a high-end QB2 this week and think he’s the best streaming candidate among the QBs rostered in less than half of Yahoo leagues.
Rhamondre Stevenson missed Week 6 with a foot injury. Since coming back, he’s averaged 48 rushing yards per game and 3.3 yards per carry. He hasn’t run for more than 74 yards in any of those eight games. His matchup this week against the Bills isn’t terrible — Buffalo has given up the second-most fantasy points to RBs — but with the Patriots two-touchdown underdogs on the road, the game script might not be run-friendly. Consider Stevenson a high-end RB3.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba is close to an auto-start this week, but I’m ranking him as a low-end WR2, so I suppose I don’t necessarily see him as an auto-start in shallow leagues. Geno Smith is expected to play this week against Minnesota despite a knee injury that knocked him out of last Sunday night’s loss to Green Bay. I don’t hate Smith-Njigba’s matchup with the Vikings, who have given up the most fantasy points to WRs this season. My colleague Derek Brown pointed in last week’s Primer that the Vikings had allowed the second-most receptions to slot receivers since Week 9, and then Bears slot receiver Keenan Allen had six catches for 82 yards and a touchdown against Minnesota on Monday night. So maybe the floor is sturdy for JSN if Geno makes it through the game. But Geno clearly isn’t going to be 100% on that knee, and Seattle’s passing attack hasn’t been wildly productive of late. Over his last five Games, Geno has thrown just three TD passes, and he’s averaged 212.6 passing yards a game over that stretch.
Travis Kelce hasn’t scored a touchdown since Week 10, and he’s scored two touchdowns all season. Over the last five weeks, Kelce is TE20 in half-point PPR fantasy points per game with 6.6. Teammate Noah Gray has averaged 11.7 fantasy points per game over that stretch. This week, Kelce faces the Texans, who have allowed the fourth-fewest receiving yards and eighth-fewest fantasy points to TEs. It’s unlikely the Chiefs are going to have a pass-happy game plan with QB Patrick Mahomes is playing on a high-ankle sprain. I have Kelce ran ked as a low-end TE1 this week and wouldn’t be opposed to benching him if you have another viable option at the position.
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