Evan Engram is on 🔥 right now...

That has to be the first time in fantasy football history where a player scores 50+ fantasy points one week and is inactive the next… right?

What’s in store:

• Quentin Johnston WR1 szn might be upon us in Week 17. Not necessarily by choice, but more so necessity. 😬

• Jaylen Waddle is OUT, but Michael Pittman Jr. is trending in the right direction. The two AFC star receivers are moving on opposite trajectories.

• Zach’s top WR matchups for championship weekend. We can’t guarantee that we’ll help you start the next Amari Cooper, but we can point you in the right direction.

• Evan Engram is officially on fire - and at a good time. He’s had his three best performances of the season over the past four weeks.

• Chargers WRs Keenan Allen, Josh Palmer both miss practice on Thursday, statuses remain uncertain ahead of Week 17

  • Allen has missed the past two weeks with a heel issue and has yet to take the practice field since initially picking up the injury back in Week 14. Meanwhile, teammate Josh Palmer – who was expected to earn the lion’s share of the targets in Allen’s absence – entered the league’s concussion protocol earlier this week following the Chargers’ Week 16 game against the Bills, hanging a cloud over his availability this week against the Broncos. At this point, the Chargers offense is severely undermanned and lacks the firepower under center to support two fantasy relevant wide receivers, so even if either are ultimately able to take the field on Sunday, their upsides will be limited with Easton Stick at the controls. For Keenan Allen, it looks like he’s trending towards missing his third-straight game – just in time for the fantasy playoffs. And who could blame him? With the Chargers out of the playoff race and the team looking like the world’s hottest mess anytime they take the field, a veteran receiver like Allen was always a threat to take the back three games of the schedule off and not rush back from injury in the interest of self preservation.

• Dolphins WR Jaylen Waddle expected to miss Week 17 vs Ravens with high ankle sprain after missing practice Wednesday & Thursday

  • It’ll be Waddle’s second game missed this season after he was on and off the field all day last Sunday in Miami’s win over the Cowboys. During that game, Waddle hit the sideline first for an apparent eye injury, and then shortly after returning to the field he left once again due to an ankle injury. That ankle injury ended up being a high-ankle sprain, and Waddle will now miss the championship round of the fantasy playoffs for managers who were able to survive his one-catch performance last week. Even with Waddle out, not a whole lot changes for Tyreek Hill or Tua Tagovailoa, who were already going to have to be on their A game regardless against a stout Ravens defense to come through for their fantasy managers when it matters most. Last week, it was Cedrick Wilson who earned a larger role with Waddle in and out of the game, but you’d have to be pretty desperate for options to plug him into your lineup in a matchup as tough as the one Miami is walking into in Week 17.

• Colts WR Michael Pittman Jr. practices in full on Thursday, close to clearing concussion protocol

  • Fantasy managers might have nightmares about last week’s last-minute deactivation, especially if they weren’t able to overcome the hole Pittman left in their rosters in the semifinals – but for those who survived his absence last week, there’s a chance that you could get him back this week. Pittman Jr. has reportedly been making good progress in the NFL’s concussion protocol, going as far as practicing in full yesterday ahead of Indy’s Week 17 matchup against the Raiders. Assuming he doesn’t suffer a setback late this weekend like he did last weekend, fantasy managers can likely count on Pittman making his return from the concussion in time for the fantasy football championship. He’ll rejoin a wide receiver room that struggled mightily last week to get anything going without him, and his return will also help QB Gardner Minshew vault back into streaming consideration. If Pittman Jr. goes, fire him up as a surefire WR1 with a safe WR2 floor against Las Vegas.

Chris Olave vs TB

• Chris Olave has a fantastic matchup this week against the Buccaneers, who just got gashed in Week 16 by Mike Evans and Baker Mayfield for 2 touchdowns. Olave’s earned at least eight targets in all of the games he’s played but three this season, and he’s got an excellent opportunity in a great matchup to build on what was his best performance last week against the Rams. The Bucs are allowing the 2nd-most fantasy points to wide receivers that line up on Olave’s right side and the fourth most over the past four weeks to perimeter wide receivers in general. Derek Carr has also been as hot as he’s ever been this season over the past three weeks (8 TDs in three games), so fantasy managers can fire up Olave with confidence as a WR1 in Week 17.

Nico Collins vs TEN

• Nico Collins is in a fantastic spot coming off a game where he didn’t do a whole lot outside of his garbage time touchdown, but luckily for his managers, the nightmare is over - Stroud is expected to be back this week and with him, the weekly WR1 upside we’ve seen him hit earlier in the year. When Tank Dell went down in Week 12, Collins rattled off WR8 and WR4 finishes the next two weeks before Stroud was forced to miss time, racking up 9 and 12 targets in those games - and those were in similarly strong matchups to the one Collins faces this week against Tennessee. If Noah Brown can carve up the Titans defense like he did two weeks ago with Case Keenum at quarterback, then Collins can absolutely do the same with Stroud back under center. He absolutely qualifies as a WR1 play in the championship round.

Deebo Samuel vs WAS

• Deebo Samuel’s production has become much more sustainable since the first few weeks after the Niners came off their bye - from weeks 10-13, Deebo was averaging just 8 opportunities per game, with about a third of them coming in the form of rushing attempts. Over the past three weeks, though, Deebo’s utilization has improved significantly - since Week 14, he’s averaging over 9 targets and a touchdown per game. Granted, this past week didn’t shake out optimally - his 5.4 PPR points were the third-fewest he’s scored in a game this year - but if he can carry those 12 targets into his matchup this week against the Commanders, all will be forgiven in fantasy land for Deebo. Washington is getting absolutely torched week in and week out on defense, allowing the second most points overall to WRs this season and the most overall to perimeter pass catchers. Deebo is a smash start in lineups this week in a matchup that has ‘get right’ plastered on it.

If anyone asked you who you would say the hottest fantasy football tight end over the past four weeks has been, you’d probably immediately think of David Njoku. After all, he’s been absolutely dominant since Joe Flacco was installed under center as Cleveland’s starter – but would you be surprised to find out that in that four week span, Njoku is actually the TE2 in fantasy points per game and not the overall TE1? That honor belongs to none other than Jaguars TE Evan Engram, who with the help of some injuries to key weapons around him, has ascended to a level of dominance rarely seen at the tight end position.

Since Week 13, Engram is averaging a whopping 20 PPR fantasy points per game – for reference, the overall TE12 in fantasy points per game, Chig Okonkwo, is averaging just 11 PPR points per game. In that four week span, Engram has managed to rack up three top-3 weekly fantasy finishes, all in which he scored at least 17 PPR points. The significance of that stat? Prior to Week 13, Engram hadn’t eclipsed the 17 point threshold in any of his other 11 games all season – and he also hadn’t scored a touchdown in that time span, either.

That all changed on a dime the second that Christian Kirk went down with injury for the Jaguars in Week 13. Since Kirk’s departure from the starting lineup, Evan Engram ranks second among all tight ends in target share at 23% behind only Arizona’s Trey McBride, while also leading the pack in total targets and receptions in those four games sans Kirk. He’s score three touchdowns in the past four weeks after scoring none in the first 11 games of the season, and caught at least nine balls in three of his last four games. While Trevor Lawrence’s status being up in the air definitely complicates things a bit for the dynamic TE, he should continue to be a target vacuum for whoever lines up under center for Jacksonville against the Panthers this week.