FanDuel NFL: Week 17 lineup
It’s the final week of the regular season, which means it is the last time all 32 NFL teams are in play in daily fantasy football. Who should be in your Week 17 lineup?
Week 17 is a difficult time of the year, especially for fantasy football. Will Drew Brees play after the Saints clinched home-field advantage throughout the playoffs? What teams will sneak into the Wild Card position?
All of these questions and more will be answered, but these questions will also impact who you have in your Week 17 lineup. Before looking ahead, let’s take a look at least week’s lineup.
Even though the Houston Texans lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, 32-30. Deshaun Watson had his best fantasy performance of the year. For the fifth consecutive game, Watson completed at least 70 percent of his passes. He threw for 339 yards and two touchdowns. He punched in two more touchdowns on the ground, while rushing for 49 yards.
Watson finished the afternoon with 36.5 fantasy points, second best amongst quarterbacks.
Meanwhile, the running backs should have put up better numbers. Ezekiel Elliot rushed for 85 yards and caught five passes for 24 yards, but was held out of the end zone for the third straight game. Nick Chubb rushed for at least 100 yards for the second week in a row, but couldn’t score. A touchdown for both backs would have boosted their final numbers.
Tevin Coleman occupied the FLEX position and scored the least amount of points, with only 5.1.
The wide receiver position struggled. Adam Thielen, Alshon Jeffery and Robert Foster combined for 27.7 fantasy points. Jeffery led the way with 83 yards, but only had three receptions. Thielen snagged five receptions for 80 yards and Foster finished with four receptions for 52 yards.
David Njoku has the Bengals’ number. The tight end caught three passes for 73 yards and a touchdown. Before this game, Njoku’s last touchdown was in Week 12. Against who? The Cincinnati Bengals. He finished the afternoon with 14.8 fantasy points.
Finally, Dallas’ defense secured 14 fantasy points in their win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, third most amongst defensive units.
My Week 17 lineup will only include players that are playing on Sunday, minus the Sunday night football game. All fantasy points discussed are based on FanDuel’s scoring system.
Week 16’s top performers at each position:
Quarterback: Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers- 42.88
Running back: Jamaal Williams, Green Bay Packers- 24.6 & Alvin Kamara, New Orleans Saints- 24.5
Wide receiver: Antonio Brown, Pittsburgh Steelers- 37.5; Robert Woods, Los Angeles Rams- 25.4 & Robby Anderson, New York Jets- 24.5
Tight end: Zach Ertz, Philadelphia Eagles- 29
FLEX: Christian McCaffrey, Carolina Panthers- 23.8 & Michael Thomas, New Orleans Saints- 22.4
Defense: Jacksonville Jaguars- 17
Quarterback: Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers – $8,700
The Pittsburgh Steelers fell to 8-6-1 after their loss to the New Orleans Saints in Week 16. If the season ended today, the Steelers would miss the postseason. But, there is still hope.
If the Baltimore Ravens trip up against the Browns and the Steelers win, they will clinch the AFC North. They could also sneak in if the Titans and Colts tie. With all that being said, the Steelers need to win and their success leans on the shoulders of Roethlisberger.
Last week, Roethlisberger threw for 330 yards and three touchdowns. He finished with 29.6 fantasy points, fourth most amongst quarterbacks last week. Roethlisberger has thrown at least two touchdowns in four straight games.
This week he takes on a terrible Bengals defense. Cincinnati has allowed quarterbacks to throw for 4,237 yards and 31 touchdowns. On average, the position group is scoring 21.9 fantasy points per game, second most in the league.
In their first meeting Roethlisberger threw for 369 yards and one score. At that point of the season, the Bengals had a better record than the Steelers. Spend big money on Roethlisberger because it will be worth it.