Thursday night's game was a wild one, wasn't it? Honestly, Thursday night games have been pretty good lately, a big change from how they've been the red-headed stepchild of the NFL schedule for the last decade.
There really is something about starting your football week off with a good game that just reenergizes you. I'm often getting football fatigue this time of year, but watching games like Lions/Packers on a Thursday just keeps the football spirit alive, you know?
Anyway, let's talk fantasy football. In a lot of leagues, this week is it — your last shot to make the playoffs. You've got to nail your lineup decisions. Every point counts.
Below are five sleeper picks for Week 14. To count as a sleeper, quarterbacks and tight ends need to be ranked outside the top 15 at their position on FantasyPros’ weekly rankings, while running backs and wide receivers are ranked outside the top 25.
Aidan O'Connell, QB, Las Vegas Raiders
Week 14 ranking: QB19
I really wanted to write about Will Levis for the second week in a row, but his ranking has risen over the course of the week, so when I went to start the article this morning he'd made it up to the QB15 mark, which is my arbitrary cut-off for sleepers. And look, I ain't above breaking my own rules, but I also figure that everyone already knows why Levis is on the rise against the Jaguars, so let's just talk about someone else.
That someone is Aidan O'Connell, who takes on a porous Tampa Bay Buccaneers pass defense this week. Tampa allows the second-most fantasy points per game to the quarterback position, behind only the Jaguars — the team Levis is lucky enough to play.
Alright, sorry, sidetracked again by Will Levis. I'll stop.
O'Connell took back over as the Raiders starting quarterback last week against the Chiefs and delivered a strong result, finishing as the overall QB13 for the week after going 23-for-35 for 340 yards and two touchdowns.
One note: O'Connell didn't practice Thursday due to an illness. If he's too sick to play against Tampa, Desmond Ridder would start, and I'm not sure I'd play Ridder even with the great matchup. In that case I might pivot my sleeper quarterback pick over to Cooper Rush against the Bengals, though that's a risky call as well.
Tank Bigsby, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars
Week 14 ranking: RB29
There was a point earlier this season where it looked like Tank Bigsby might be the next big thing in the NFL. Over a four week span, he had at least 90 rushing yards three times and had two top-10 fantasy finishes in that span.
But his past three games have been pretty rough, as he hasn't finished as a top 50 running back in any of them. He also missed a game in the middle.
But Bigsby, who played 46% of the team's snaps last week, has a chance to deliver his best numbers since Week 8 as he faces the Tennessee Titans. Not necessarily because the Titans are a great matchup, but because Mac Jones and the Jaguars passing attack looked shockingly solid last week after Trevor Lawrence was knocked from the game. If that continues in Week 14, it should open up space for Bigsby to make some explosive plays on the ground.
Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, WR, Tennessee Titans
Week 14 ranking: WR37
There's going to come a point where Nick Westbrook-Ikhine will stop doing all this.
What do I mean by this? Scoring touchdowns, something he does every single week. In the past eight games, NWI has found the end zone eight times, though he did fail to score in Week 10 against the Chargers.
Just once in this whole run has Westbrook-Ikhine caught more than three passes though, showcasing how reliant he is on touchdowns.
Good thing he plays the Jaguars this week, then. The Jaguars have allowed 24 passing touchdowns this season, second-most in the league behind the Texans. Houston's played one extra game, so factoring that in we get a tie of 2.0 passing touchdowns allowed per game from both teams.
What did Westbrook-Ikhine do against the Texans two weeks ago? Caught a touchdown! What is he going to do against the Jags this week? IDK, probably catch another touchdown.
Xavier Worthy, WR, Kansas City Chiefs
Week 14 ranking: WR43
Chiefs rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy hasn't had the kind of explosive rookie season that many expected, largely because his usage has been all over the place. But the former Texas Longhorn enters Week 14 on a decent run.
Worthy has at least four catches for 46 yards in three consecutive games. Maybe that doesn't sound like much, which is fair. But over his first nine NFL games, he had four or more receptions just once and surpasses 4 yards just twice, so there's something brewing here.
His best receiving game of 2024 came in the first meeting with the Chargers, where he caught three passes for 73 yards and a score. This is a matchup where Worthy's speed can really come in handy. I'd expect at least one long deep target from Patrick Mahomes; Worthy just has to catch it.
Grant Calcaterra, TE, Philadelphia Eagles
Week 14 ranking: TE22
The Eagles look like they'll be without Dallas Goedert this week due to a knee injury, which will propel Grant Calcaterra into a larger role.
The SMU product was the team's No. 1 tight end from Week 7 to Week 9 when Goedert was last sidelined and the results were...meh. In Week 6, the game Goedert was injured in, he finished as the overall TE11, but his finishes the next three weeks were TE48, TE19 and TE20. Two top 20 finishes are solid, but not quite what fantasy managers were hoping for.
We get another chance this week though against the Carolina Panthers, a defense that has hemorrhaged points to opposing tight ends in 2024. The team gives up 14.5 fantasy points per game to the position, the most in the NFL. If you want a matchup-based streaming play at tight end for Week 14, Calcaterra seems like your guy