Week 16. For most of you out there, it's fantasy football semifinals time. Win this week, and you're playing for all the marbles in Week 17. Unfortunately, we're at that point in the year where injuries become an issue. This season, things have also been complicated by teams shutting non-injured players down.
Like... you weren't necessarily happy about starting Tua Tagovailoa at quarterback most weeks, but now you don't have that option, and you aren't starting Quinn Ewers in fantasy this week with so much on the line, right? (Right. This isn't a trick question. Don't let a rookie making his first NFL start even sniff your lineup unless you're in a 14-team league that mandates you start two quarterbacks.) Here are four sleepers who can help you win your fantasy football semifinal matchup this week.
QB J.J. McCarthy, Minnesota Vikings
Overall, J.J. McCarthy's redshirt rookie season hasn't been very good, but the tide might be turning, as he's thrown five touchdowns in the past two games and has completed over 60 percent of his passes in three straight contests. It seems like McCarthy is figuring out how to be an NFL quarterback.
This week's matchup against the Giants offers McCarthy plenty of upside. New York has allowed the second-most fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks, and is tied with Minnesota for the second-fewest interceptions in the league.
RB Jawhar Jordan, Houston Texans
Houston is banged up at running back. Joe Mixon never played this season. Nick Chubb missed last week's game with a rib injury. Woody Marks missed multiple practices this week with an ankle issue, but he did log a limited practice on Friday.
If Marks is good to go, then you can ignore this section, but if Houston opts to rest Marks up against Vegas, we could see a lot of Jawhar Jordan, who rushed for 101 yards on just 15 carries in his NFL debut last week. The sixth-round pick in 2024 has been a preseason favorite of Texans fans, but never found a way on to the active roster until injuries brought him there last week. He's appealing against a Vegas defense that allows the seventh-most fantasy points per game to running backs, and the game script should be in his favor as well.
WR Jalen Coker, Carolina Panthers
Jalen Coker was supposed to break out in 2025, but he was injured to start the season, then was buried in the pecking order for a bit.
That's changed. Heading into Week 16 against Tampa, Coker has scored touchdowns in two straight games. Against New Orleans, he was on the field for 68 percent of Carolina's snaps, which only ranked third among Panthers receivers. However, the team basically didn't sub any other wideouts into the game, with No. 4 in snap rate being Brycen Tremayne at 14 percent.
This week, Coker gets a juicy matchup with a Tampa team that's struggled with pass defense since the bye. Last week, Kirk Cousins dropped 373 passing yards on this team.
TE Darren Waller, Miami Dolphins
In the intro, I mentioned steering clear of Ewers because he's a rookie making his first NFL start and has thrown a total of eight passes. However, I do think one of his pass-catchers has upside.
That player is tight end Darren Waller, who is coming off of a huge game last week against the Steelers, catching seven passes for 66 yards and two touchdowns. Waller is a reliable safety option for Ewers to get the ball to and he has the advantage of facing the Cincinnati Bengals this week, a defense that's been really, really bad against tight ends this season.
And when I say "really, really bad," I mean it. Opposing tight ends have scored 15 touchdowns against Cincy this season. Only one other team has allowed double-digit touchdowns to the position, and that's Pittsburgh, which is only over that mark because of Waller's two touchdowns last week.