4 MUST-START players in Week 14! 🚨

Clarification from yesterday’s newsletter: Austin Ekeler was placed on IR on November 30 with his concussion and will miss at least the next four games. Our newsletter guy (not naming any names – Zach) missed that development and wrote about a potential return for Ekeler that is, in fact, not in the range of outcomes this fantasy season, as the earliest he’d be able to return (even if he did) would be in Week 18 when the fantasy season is over. Apologies for any confusion yesterday’s newsletter caused.

With that addressed, the beginning of the final week of the fantasy regular season is already here! Get yourself primed with yesterdays QBs and RBs episode of the Upper Hand Fantasy Podcast, and stay tuned later today for the WRs and TEs episode!

• Jets RB Breece Hall misses practice Wednesday with knee injury after being limited in Sunday’s Week 13 game vs Seahawks

  • Hall missing the first practice of the week parallels what we saw from him in terms of his participation last week, as he also missed Wednesday’s practice ahead of Week 13 before getting two limited sessions in on Thursday and Friday. Despite suiting up for the game this past weekend, though, he handled his lightest workload of the season while battling through some obvious discomfort. At this moment in time, there’s no reason to panic about his availability in Week 14 just yet. However, it would be fair to temper expectations given that he could see a similarly limited workload this weekend against the Dolphins, and as a result of the Jets’ season swirling further and further down the toilet. Interim HC Jeff Ulbrich said that Hall’s status is up in the air at this point, so there’s at the very least a possibility we see some more of Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis in this game like we saw last week. If Hall would ultimately start, he’d rank among the fringe RB1s for the week; if he would miss, Braelon Allen would likely fit as a mid-low RB2 with upside while Isaiah Davis would likely only be relevant in the event of an injury to Allen.

• Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield practices in full Wednesday while WR Mike Evans is held out

  • Mayfield briefly exited last week’s game against the Panthers with a leg injury, but a full practice on Wednesday would suggest that he’ll be good to go for this weekend’s matchup against the Raiders. The piece of information most of note here, though, is the status of WR Mike Evans. He didn’t practice Wednesday and was listed with a hamstring injury and a new calf injury, as well. It’s early in the week and we’ll likely (hopefully) receive more clarification ahead of this Sunday, but Evans’ will be a situation worth monitoring going into the final weekend of the regular season. Evans is still in hot pursuit of keeping his 1000-yard receiving streak alive, and he’ll need to clear the first hurdle – simply being on the field – if he has any hope of doing so. He’ll rank as a solid WR1 if he plays this week, but we could be looking at upgrades to TE Cade Otton and even RB Rachaad White in the event that he’s ultimately held out.

• Eagles WR Devonta Smith (hamstring) practices Wednesday; Browns WR Cedric Tillman (concussion) misses practice

  • We’ve seen this story before from Smith, who practiced last week and was deemed questionable before ultimately being ruled out for Week 13. The fact that he’s opening the week on the practice field is at the very least encouraging for fantasy managers who have been missing Smitty for the past two games; however, as we know with hamstring injuries, the timetables for return are hardly ever black and white. This is the earliest Smith has taken the practice field in any of the three weeks he’s missed, though, so there does seem to be hope for him to return in Week 14 in a good matchup against the Panthers. Meanwhile in Cleveland: Cedric Tillman started his week on the wrong foot by missing practice on Wednesday. He’s still working through the league’s concussion protocol at this time with one he suffered in Week 12 against the Steelers, though it looks like missing the second matchup against Pittsburgh over the past three weeks is an outcome that’s in the cards. Should Tillman miss, fantasy managers can expect Jameis Winston to continue slinging it to his top guys in the receiving game in a top-heavy distribution of targets. Jerry Jeudy would be firmly entrenched in the WR2 conversation, while Elijah Moore would be a worthy flex and Njoku a solid fantasy TE1.

RB Tony Pollard vs JAX

• Jacksonville is allowing the second-most fantasy points per game, fifth-most rush touchdowns per game, and 8th-highest yards per carry in the league this year. The Jaguars also one of the defenses most susceptible to running backs in the receiving game, allowing the fourth-most receptions and third-most receiving yards per game to running backs. 

• Tyjae Spears hardly has a role alongside Pollard, and it’s a clear RB1 and RB2 situation in Tennessee at the moment. Pollard handled 75% of the carries and had an 18% target share in the Titans offense last week, and the game script should be much more favorable against Jacksonville. Ideally, the Titans aren’t down 28-0 in the first quarter this week, which could lead to another high-volume game for Pollard. He’s a fringe RB1 this week.

QB Joe Burrow vs DAL

• Still allowing the fifth most fantasy points per game over the course of the season and the fourth-most points per game over the last four. Bengals also have the third-highest implied total of the week at 27.5.

• Burrow is obviously having a fantastic season – 30 touchdowns to just five interceptions, and he’s scored at least 29 fantasy points in three of his last four games and at least 20 in all of his past four. 15:2 TD:INT ratio never hurts, either… and the Bengals defense being complete ass also gives him arguably the best game script of any player in fantasy. He’s a high-end QB1.

Baker Mayfield vs LV

• Mayfield didn’t come through as well as we hoped he would last week, but gets another solid matchup against the Raiders – allowing the third-most pass touchdowns per game this year, along with the 7th-most fantasy points per game and the 6th-most over the past four weeks. The Bucs also have the 5th-highest implied total on the week.

• The Bucs offense has run through the running backs as of late (see Bucky Irving’s breakout), but Mike Evans isn’t going to get to 1000 yards on the season on his own. Mayfield is still attempting over 30 passes per game and is a strong QB1 start.

Chase Brown vs DAL

• The second-best matchup for the week besides Saquon Bakrley. Dallas is allowing the 2nd-most rushing touchdowns and 6th-most fantasy points per game to running backs this year, and the Bengals have a 27.5 point implied total. Again, everyone is going to be scoring in this one if this follows the same script as other Bengals games this season – Dallas has also been horrific on defense at home.

• Chase Brown has also ripped off four straight top-10 finishes at the position thanks to one of the league’s best RB roles for fantasy. He’s averaging 25 touches per game since Zack Moss went down with injury, including just under 7 targets per game in that span.