5 breakout fantasy football stars to pick up for Week 18

3. Top Fantasy Football Pickups For Week 18 – Carolina Panthers QB Sam Darnold

We talked about Darnold in this space last week and he delivered a performance that may have helped some streamers win their titles. Darnold put together a solid fantasy performance in the Panthers’ loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, throwing for 341 yards and three touchdowns, albeit with a side dish of three turnovers.

Week 18 is a critical one for Darnold, who figures to start Carolina’s season finale against the New Orleans Saints as the Panthers look to finish the year on a winning note. Darnold is a pending free agent at the end of the season, meaning he will want to put some more good tape together to appeal to teams in need of help at quarterback.

There is also plenty of reason for Carolina to go hard in this game to see what Darnold can offer them in 2023. The Panthers are likely out of range to draft a top quarterback in the draft, meaning they could view Darnold as a bridge candidate to get them to their next franchise passer.

Fantasy owners didn’t race to grab Darnold, who is available in 93 percent of Yahoo! leagues, after his solid Week 16 performance. The Saints’ pass defense did just allow Gardner Minshew to throw for 274 yards against them so it wouldn’t be shocking to see Darnold put up good fantasy numbers in Week 18.