Hockenson is done for 2023 🤕

The final waivers of the fantasy season have cleared – did you get the players you needed to make that final push?

What’s in store:

• T.J. Hockenson is out for the rest of the season – and potentially part of 2024. He suffered a torn ACL and MCL this past weekend. 🤕

• The Commanders QB situation is up in the air. As has been the case in the Ron Rivera era, nobody really knows what’s happening.

• Can we trust DeAndre Hopkins is Tannehill is under center? It’s a one game sample size, but things didn’t look good for Nuk in Week 16.

• The Patriots are feeding Zeke full servings in the passing game. 🍽️ As you could imagine, that’s working out pretty well for him.

• Vikings TE T.J. Hockenson suffers torn ACL and MCL, out for season; Minnesota could start any of their QBs in Week 17

  • While there was an understanding shortly after he sustained the injury that Hockenson would be unlikely to suit up again in 2023, this certainly qualifies as the worst possible scenario being realized. This year’s overall TE1 in total points scored, Hockenson will leave a large hole in the Vikings offense to be filled by the likes of K.J. Osborn and Jordan Addison once he is healthy. In the short term (i.e. the fantasy championship in Week 17), Osborn becomes usable in lineups with Addison still questionable to suit up this weekend. The long-term implications of the injury for Hockenson, however, loom large, with the timing of the injury presumably slating the star TE to miss some significant time to before seeing his first action in the 2024 season. While it’s unlikely that the injury is career ending, it’s going to be a significant hurdle for him to clear – and especially one that will skew his draft stock over the offseason and into the summer.

• Commanders remain uncertain on starting quarterback for Week 17 vs 49ers, per HC Ron Rivera

  • Make it two weeks in a row where the Commanders bench Sam Howell after an awful majority of the game, only to have Jacoby Brissett come in and give the team a fighting chance to win the game on the back of stable, if not very good quarterback play. They’ve ended up losing both of the past two games, but it’s pretty clear to anyone with working eyes that Brissett is outplaying Howell at this current juncture and that Howell’s poor play is costing fantasy managers valuable points. The good news for fantasy managers: it sounds like a potential change is, at the very least, on the table and being discussed within the Commanders organization. However, given that Washington has nothing to lose by playing Sam Howell in these last two games to see what they have in him, there’s a solid chance that we end up seeing the second-yard QB out of UNC taking the reins once again for the team against the 49ers in Week 17. Players like Terry McLaurin and Curtis Samuel would be in line for upgrades if Brissett was named starter, but until then, it’s going to be difficult to swallow having any Commanders in your fantasy lineup against an angry 49ers team coming off a loss.

• Jets QB Zach Wilson officially ruled out for Thursday Night game vs Browns with concussion

  • It’ll officially be the Trevor Siemian show once again in New York on Thursday night as they take on the swarming Browns defense. The matchup this week for the Jets offense is the anti-Commander, with the Jets ranking as one of the top defenses against the pass in the NFL. Siemian is likely to have a much rougher go of it this week, which could mean an increased number of looks on the ground and out of the backfield through the air for running back Breece Hall. As for Garrett Wilson, he’ll likely profile as a desperation fringe WR2 with limited upside in a game that probably won’t be all that high-scoring. With the curse of Zach Wilson being the only QB that can guide Wilson and Breece Hall to fantasy relevance officially lifted as of last week, fantasy managers can remain optimistically confident in starting both Wilson and Hall this week.

• Lock D’Andre Swift into your lineup

  • For the second straight week, Swift had a stranglehold on the RB carries in Philly’s offense and has out-touched Kenneth Gainwell on the ground 38-12 since Week 15. Granted, those two games have come in good matchups against Seattle and New York, but now Swift draws a Cardinals defense in Week 17 allowing the most rush attempts and 2nd-most rushing yards this season.

• Rudolph delivers to Pickens on X-mas weekend

  • Christmas came early for George Pickens’ fantasy managers courtesy of (Mason) Rudolph, who was able to hit George Pickens for 195 yards and two TDs. The problem? Nothing about Pickens’ utilization changed to suggest that this type of production is sustainable. You get this kind of game sometimes with QB switches, but Pickens still shouldn’t be trusted in lineups on six targets/game.

• Amari Cooper crushes hopes and dreams

  • Nothing crushes a Christmas Eve like going up against 265 yards and two touchdowns from one player. Amari Cooper has been on an absolute tear with Joe Flacco under center - he’s earned a 25% target share and 38% air yards share since Week 13. The numbers have been gaudy, but things will be much more difficult against the Jets backend on Thursday night in Week 17.

• The Vikings are banged up at receiver

  • T.J. Hockenson is officially out for the rest of the season with an ACL tear, and Jordan Addison has serious questions regarding his availability in Week 17. With Hockenson out and Addison potentially missing, K.J. Osborn would be in line to assume a fantasy-relevant role as a WR3/flex play after garnering a very usable 21% target share from Nick Mullens going into Week 17 vs Green Bay.

• Tannehill isn’t interested in D-Hop

  • After earning a 29% target share in eight games with rookie QB Will Levis under center, Hopkins was relegated to just a 17% target share in Ryan Tannehill’s return to action. His four targets were the fewest he’s had in a game all season, and Tennessee is now slated to take on Houston for the second time in three weeks in Week 17. He’ll be a much stronger start if Levis is able to return next week.

• Travis Etienne goes one-dimensional

  • Etienne’s route participation (38%), attempts (6), and rush yards (12) cratered to their lowest marks this season against the Buccaneers in a completely negative game script, which isn’t a good sign for his utilization moving forward. A matchup against the Panthers could remedy what’s ailing Etienne, but his usage since the bye is much more indicative of an RB2 start than anything close to an RB1 in Week 17.

When Rhamondre Stevenson went down in Week 13, it was a foregone conclusion that RB Ezekiel Elliott would take over the Patriots backfield as a volume-based RB2 on a bad offense. After all, the Patriots offense was fresh off a 6-0 loss to the Chargers at home to extend their losing streak to 5, and New England had tough matchups against the Steelers, Chiefs, and Broncos on tap in the next three weeks. But it turns out Zeke had other plans, turning back the clock to become one of the league’s foremost receiving backs since Week 14.

Since Zeke took over the lead role in the Patriots backfield in Week 14, he’s led all running backs in the NFL in target share at 27.2% and targets per route run at 0.36. That’s ahead of Breece Hall, who ranks second in the NFL in that span at 0.35, and Zeke ranks fourth in the NFL in route participation at 67%. That volume in the receiving game has proven to be the difference maker in Zeke’s game, and it’s kept him afloat in an offense that has been quarterbacked by Bailey Zappe for the past month.

But that work in the receiving game has done much more than the bare minimum for Elliott and his fantasy managers – since Week 14, Elliott is averaging 19.2 PPR points per game, good for 7th in the league in that span ahead of running backs like Kyren Williams and Raheem Mostert. Zeke also eclipsed double-digit targets for the first time since 2020 in Week 16, and he’s been a focal point of the Patriots offense since Rhamondre Stevenson went down. He’ll continue to serve honorably in starting lineups until Stevenson returns, if at all this fantasy season.