Happy Holidays and congratulations on moving on in your fantasy football league! In most leagues, this is a semifinal round, which means you have to string together two more wins to take home your championship. This is the time of the season where you need to nail your lineup decisions, and for that, you have come to the right place.
This article is not here for the obvious plays, so if you have Cooper Kupp, Davante Adams or Justin Jefferson, you know what to do. Instead, we will look at fantasy football WRs on the fringe of WR2/Flex status to help you make the tough choices to win your matchups. Let’s get to it!
QB Fantasy Football Start/Sit
RB Fantasy Football Start/Sit
Fantasy Football Start or Sit: Week 16 WRs
Start: Amon-Ra St. Brown at Falcons
Team Name: Lawrence of Amon-Rabia
Assuming that Jared Goff is able to clear COVID protocols this week, Amon-Ra St. Brown makes for a solid WR2 play with the target volume he has seen over the last three weeks — 12, 12 and 11. He has turned this into 25, 15 and 24 fantasy points, good for WR6, WR28 and WR6, respectively. This week he gets a matchup with the Falcons, who are allowing 38.5 fantasy points per game (fppg) to opposing WRs. They have also given up 17 receiving touchdowns to opposing receivers. If Goff plays, lock him in. But if Goff has to sit, you will have to look elsewhere.
Start: Michael Pittman Jr. at Cardinals
Team Name: Bottomless Pitt
Last week, Michael Pittman Jr. was featured here on the sit side and lived up to, or down to as it were, expectations, catching one of five targets for seven yards. The matchup against the Patriots was tough and Pittman has predictably struggled in tough matchups this season. This is no tough matchup, however, as the Cardinals secondary, which just got worked over by Jared Goff, has given up 36.7 fppg to opposing WRs on the season. Over the last four weeks, that has risen to 47.9 fppg, and they have given up a league-high 19 touchdowns to WRs on the year. Get him back in your lineup this week.
Sit: Darnell Mooney at Seahawks
Team Name: Show Me The Mooney
After going on a tear throughout the month of November, Darnell Mooney has now gone four straight weeks without a touchdown, although he nearly came down with two of them last week. This week, he draws a matchup against the Seahawks, who have held opposing WRs to 33.8 fppg on the season and only nine touchdowns. They actually had not given up a WR touchdown in five games prior to Cooper Kupp getting two of them last week. This defense could make things tough on Justin Fields and Mooney. If you have a comparable option, consider starting them instead and temper expectations if you do have to start Mooney.
RELATED | Week 16 Fantasy Football Rankings for PPR and Half PPR
Sit: Chase Claypool at Chiefs
Team Name: Keep Chasing The Dream
Over his last seven games, Chase Claypool has finished as a WR2 one time. Last week, he failed to register a catch on two targets, but he did end up with 12 receiving yards. This was due to a double reverse, and he did have another carry for seven yards. He has exactly one touchdown on the season, which came back in Week 5. Claypool also has seen his snaps decrease over the last three weeks to no more than 63% after being in the 80-90% range for the four weeks prior. At this time of year, with a berth in the fantasy football championship on the line, that just won’t cut it. He has a matchup with the Chiefs defense that has improved over the last few weeks, so you can simply can’t trust him this week.
