Russell Wilson and Denver are breaking up...💔

Good luck to everyone who is being forced to start a Jets offensive player tonight - the Browns are a very good defense and lets just say I don’t know how much I trust Trevor Siemian against anyone besides the Commanders.

What’s in store:

• The Broncos buck Russell Wilson for the rest of the year. He was honestly one of the more difficult QBs to rank, anyway…

• QB changes for both non-playoff NFC East teams! The youth movement is over for Sam Howell and Tommy Cutlets. It was fun while it lasted.

• Faraz’s favorite QB/RB matchups. Don’t get caught in the wash - let Faraz show you the way to your trophy.

• Chris Olave has turned things up a notch lately. Without Michael Thomas, he’s been one of the most productive fantasy WRs since Week 10.

• Broncos QB Russell Wilson to miss remainder of the regular season after being benched for contractual reasons

  • With a trip to the playoffs looking like a longshot and the Rusell Wilson experience having been all kinds of sour for Denver since the team mortgaged their future for him back in 2022, the Broncos are opting to sit Russell Wilson for the final two games of the 2023 season - a la the Raiders with Derek Carr at the end of 2022. The move comes as Denver attempts to avoid triggering a $37M clause in Wilson’s contract that would make that money guaranteed if he were unable to pass a physical over the offseason due to injury. Ironically, the player to step in the last time we saw this happen in Las Vegas is the player that’s stepping in this weekend - Jarrett Stidham. Stidham was able to have two very fantasy-relevant performances at the end of the year last year with a similarly-talented supporting cast, and a date with the porous Chargers defense gives Stidham some intriguing appeal as a potential starter in the championship round in Week 17.

• Bears TE Cole Kmet misses practice Wednesday with knee injury ahead of Week 17 matchup vs Falcons

  • Kmet has been one of the more reliable fantasy tight ends over the past month, scoring double-digit PPR fantasy points and finishing inside the top-10 at the position in four straight games. Kmet was on his way to his best performance of the season against the Cardinals last week, racking up over 100 yards receiving before exiting with a knee injury that ultimately held him out for the rest of the game. He’s now beginning the week on the wrong foot by missing practice on Wednesday. It’s early, so fantasy managers don’t need to start panic shopping on the waiver wire just yet – but with little on the line for the Bears or Kmet himself as the 2023 regular season comes to a close, there’s little incentive for the tight end to hurry back into the starting lineup. Continue to monitor this situation throughout the week, but it would be an ill-advised decision to roll with all of your eggs in Kmet’s basket going into the fantasy football championship round this weekend.

• NFC East QBs Tommy Devito (NYG) and Sam Howell (WAS) benched for veteran passers Tyrod Taylor and Jacoby Brissett, respectively

  • Both quarterbacks showed moments of real promise as starting fantasy quarterbacks before fizzling out over the past few weeks. Tommy Devito’s fuse was, expectedly, much shorter and mush less bright than Sam Howell’s, who ranked among the top-10 fantasy quarterbacks in the NFL before seemingly losing all of his mojo over the Commanders’ Week 14 bye. In Howell’s place, veteran Jacoby Brissett is expected to take command of Washington’s offense for the final two weeks of the season and will have little fantasy appeal in matchups against the 49ers and Cowboys to close out the year. Meanwhile, Tommy Devito’s replacement - Tyrod Taylor - rolls into a favorable matchup on paper against the Rams in what could quickly become a negative game script for big blue. He’ll have starting appeal in 2QB and superflex leagues, but shouldn’t be considered int he championship round in formats where only one QB is started.

Stroud can revive Houston’s offense

• CJ Stroud is likely back this week, and he’s my QB6 for the championship round of the fantasy playoffs - both Nico Collins and Noah Brown have amazing matchups on the perimeter, and he has Dalton Schultz healthy. And by the way, I know Tennessee has given up the fewest fantasy points to TEs this season, but I don’t think it’s the worst matchup in the world for Dalton Schultz this week specifically. He has done pretty well against 2-high safety coverage this year - 8th among qualifying TEs in yards/route run against 2-high - and the Titans run it at the 10th highest rate. Plus, Schultz gets targeted on 25% of his routes against that type of coverage, so I think Stroud is going to be able to get it done this week in a big way. He’ll be back in my lineup assuming he clears the protocol… which seems like will happen given that he’s already begun practicing. And I also wouldn’t overthink Dalton Schultz this week because of that big red matchup indicator next to his name.

The fantasy gods giveth and taketh away from Cook

• It’s interesting because we talked about James Cook and his utilization being pretty low and not matching up with the production, and the fantasy points came to a screeching halt this past week… but the reason why it’s interesting is because his utilization actually got a bump. Looking at fantasylife.com, Cook played on a whopping 73% of snaps in Week 16 - easily his highest rate of the season. He was also able to take a claim for 69% of the rushing attempts, which also registered as his highest of the season, plus a 61% route participation that - you guessed it - was his highest of the season. But he ended up with no targets. Dude was being targeted at a rate of no other RB in the league since Joe Brady took over before this past week… he’s a RB1 play even in a tough matchup against the Patriots.

Kenneth Walker maintains control of Seahawks backfield for second straight week

• Kenneth Walker’s role is back to where we want to see it - finally. We didn’t see the fantasy points this past week, but 79% of the rushing attempts two weeks in a row is a nice little trend, and now they get Pittsburgh at home. Pittsburgh is top-10 in most rushing attempts allowed to RBs/game, rushing yards to RBs/game, and yards/carry to RBs/game, and with the Seahawks favored in this one at home - I think he’s in a pretty good spot this week. I have him pretty high - he’s my RB11 on the week.

The general consensus on Saints WR Chris Olave is that his 2023 season has left a lot of meat still on the bone, especially when compared to the expectations that he entered this season with based on his historic rookie year. While his sophomore campaign hasn’t exactly unfolded the way fantasy managers hoped it would after spending, at times, high second round picks for his services in their drafts, he’s come on as of late thanks to his running mate, Michael Thomas, exiting the lineup due to injury.

The difference in Chris Olave’s production from Weeks 1-9 with Thomas in the lineup vs in Weeks 10-16 without him in the lineup is eye-opening: when Michael Thomas was active through the first nine weeks of the season, Olave averaged just 1.69 yards per route run and 13.1 fantasy points per game - good for 28th and 29th in the league, respectively. Olave had just two finishes inside the top-10 in that span and scored just two touchdowns, as well, through Week 9. But once Thomas was off the field, Olave flipped the switch.

From Week 10 up until now (5 games), Olave has averaged the second-most yards per route run of any NFL receiver to run at least 50 routes, along with 18.6 PPR fantasy points per game – good for the WR8 in ppg in that span. He’s also had at least 90 yards receiving in four of his last five games, and hasn’t scored fewer than 12 PPR points in a single game since Week 9. Thomas’s departure has made Olave into a fantasy star, and one you can trust in your lineup week in and week out.