2017 Fantasy Football Week 14 Rankings

In Week 13, I struggled with my FLEX decision for the second week in a row.  This time it was Robby Anderson vs Kareem Hunt, and ultimately I just couldn't bring myself to bench Hunt.  It turns out that was the wrong choice, but it didn't really matter in my matchup.  I still won on the heels of Le'Veon Bell's big game on Monday night, and I finished third in my league (with the most season points scored).  This week, Robby Anderson travels to Denver to faceoff against Aqib Talib, which is a matchup that could end his hot streak.  Meanwhile, Kareem Hunt and Jordan Howard are both playing like hot garbage lately, so it's going to be a tough decision yet again.  It's playoff time too, and this is no time for indecision!  These choices are taking on a bit more importance now, so I hope I make the right one...or rather, I hope all of those guys play well and it just doesn't matter!

But enough about my team, let's get into my pick recap from last week versus the ESPN experts.  We'll start with my QB pick, which was Ben Roethlisberger on MNF (ESPN #11, ME #6).  The guy had been the #1 fantasy QB over the previous three weeks (10 touchdowns in those games), so I said to ride the hot streak because he was a lock for multiple touchdowns.  I was right and he finished in the top-10.  I wasn't down on any QBs versus the experts, so on to the running backs...

I was high on Austin Ekeler (ESPN #49, ME #34) and down on Danny Woodhead (ESPN #30, ME #46), but actually neither produced.  Ekeler had been a top-12 RB in a small sample size of his previous 3 games, but he had his lowest yardage total since Week 8 and finished outside of the top-50 RBs.  As for Woodhead, he continued his poor performance since returning from injury and shouldn't be ranked as a top-30 RB until he becomes a bigger part of the offense.  He finished even worse than Ekeler in Week 13, and I'll continue to rank Ekeler higher than Woodhead here in Week 14.

My WR picks versus the ESPN experts were rough.  I was down on Josh Gordon (ESPN #39, ME NOT RANKED) who hadn't played a game in the NFL in nearly 3 years.  I just couldn't imagine starting him in Week 13 when he'd been out of football for that long.  Well, I was wrong.  He led the Browns in targets and finished as a top-25 WR against a tough Charger secondary.  I was high on a rookie who virtually no experts ranked: Josh Reynolds (ESPN NOT RANKED, ME #40).  It turns out the experts were right because Reynolds had just 2 catches for 6 yards.  He did see 6 targets from Goff for the second week in a row though, so don't let him completely fall off your radar while Robert Woods is out.

I did better with my tight end picks though because I was high on Julius Thomas in a revenge game (ESPN #18, ME #12).  He found the endzone for the 3rd time in his last 5 games and finished as the #12 TE right where I ranked him!  I didn't rank him this week though because I'm not sure the Dolphins even make it to the Red Zone against the Patriots.  I was down on Greg Olsen for the second week in a row (ESPN #9, ME NOT RANKED), and he ended up being inactive.  I'm not sure why the experts thought he'd be a top-10 TE after re-injuring his foot and being highly questionable to even play against the Saints.  He's not in my rankings this week either (more on that later).  I just don't see how you could trust him in the fantasy playoffs.  I wasn't really high/low on many defenses versus the ESPN experts last week, so no comparisons there. 

Let's get to the rankings for Week 14!

QBs 1.Tom Brady 2.Carson Wentz   3.Alex Smith 4.Russell Wilson    5.Philip Rivers  6.Jared Goff  7.Drew Brees   8.Ben Roethlisberger    9.Matt Ryan     10.Kirk Cousins     11.Jameis Winston    12.Derek Carr  13.Case Keenum   14.Dak Prescott   15.Cam Newton 16.Matthew Stafford  17.Andy Dalton    18.Josh McCown   19.Marcus Mariota  20.Jimmy Garoppolo I'm high on: Ben Roethlisberger...again! (ESPN #15, ME #8) So last week I guess the experts faded Big Ben because he was on the road, but he still finished as a top-10 fantasy QB (as I mentioned above).  He has now thrown 12 touchdowns in his last 4 games, and no one has been better over that last month.  Not Tom Brady.  Not Russell Wilson.  No one!  Remember last week when I said to ride the hot streak?  Well it's still going.  The Steelers are back home this week and face a tough Ravens defense, but it's a defense that just lost their best corner to a season-ending injury (Jimmy Smith).  I say Ben throws for multiple touchdowns for the fifth game in a row and finishes in the top-10...AGAIN! I'm down on: Matthew Stafford (ESPN #3, ME #16) Stafford got his throwing hand stepped on in Baltimore last week, and according to his head coach he's "not out of the woods yet".  That doesn't sound too good for his chances of even playing on Sunday, and if he does then how effective will he even be?  In the first week of the fantasy playoffs, I'm a bit shocked the ESPN experts ranked Stafford so highly.  He hasn't finished in the top-10 in any of the last 3 weeks, and I don't think he'll finish as a top-10 QB this week if he plays, even with the tasty matchup. RBs 1.Le'Veon Bell  2.Alvin Kamara 3.LeSean McCoy 4.Todd Gurley  5.Melvin Gordon   6.Leonard Fournette   7.Lamar Miller   8.Devonta Freeman   9.Mark Ingram  10.Samaje Perine 11.Rex Burkhead  12.Jamaal Williams   13.Dion Lewis  14.Marshawn Lynch    15.Carlos Hyde 16.Kenyan Drake 17.Alfred Morris   18.Kareem Hunt   19.Giovani Bernard 20.Alex Collins  21.Jordan Howard   22.Latavius Murray    23.Frank Gore 24.Orleans Darkwa   25.Jerick McKinnon  26.Christian McCaffery    27.DeMarco Murray 28.Mike Davis   29.Isaiah Crowell   30.C.J. Anderson    31.Duke Johnson  32.Derrick Henry  33.Kerwynn Williams    34.Tevin Coleman  35.Bilal Powell     36.Doug Martin  37.Theo Riddick  38.Jonathan Stewart  39.Peyton Barber  40.Matt Forte   41.Jay Ajayi  42.Tarik Cohen  43.Tion Green 44.J.D. McKissic  45.LeGarrette Blount  46.Austin Ekeler   47.Rod Smith     48.Marlon Mack   49.Aaron Jones  50.Danny Woodhead  I'm high on: Jamaal Williams (ESPN #27, ME #12) Jamaal Williams has been on fire since taking over the starting running back job for Green Bay in Week 10.  Here's the list of RBs with more fantasy points than him over those 4 weeks: Alvin Kamara, Mark Ingram, and Le'Veon Bell.  That's IT!  The guy is getting 20 carries/game, so the volume is there to go along with the, you know, results.  I think he'll have 100+ total yards and a score against the Browns. I'm down on: Christian McCaffery (ESPN #11, ME #26) While McCaffery is averaging double-digit fantasy points in his last 4 games, this week he faces a stingy Viking run defense that has me backing off his ranking a bit.  The ESPN experts aren't scared though, keeping him as an RB1.  But I'm scared of a defense that gives up the FEWEST fantasy points to opposing RBs this year. WRs 1.Antonio Brown  2.DeAndre Hopkins   3.Julio Jones   4.Keenan Allen 5.A.J. Green   6.Michael Thomas  7.Larry Fitzgerald      8.Tyreek Hill   9.Adam Thielen    10.Brandin Cooks   11.Alshon Jeffery  12.Michael Crabtree 13.Sterling Shepard      14.Jarvis Landry   15.Dez Bryant    16.Mike Evans 17.Marvin Jones, Jr.  18.T.Y. Hilton  19.Robby Anderson   20.Davante Adams   21.Josh Gordon  22.Golden Tate  23.Demaryius Thomas  24.Jamison Crowder  25.Marquise Goodwin   26.Doug Baldwin  27.Chris Hogan   28.Devin Funchess      29.Stefon Diggs 30.Cooper Kupp     31.Marqise Lee  32.Sammy Watkins      33.Mohamed Sanu   34.Martavis Bryant   35.Jermaine Kearse    36.Danny Amendola   37.Ted Ginn, Jr.   38.Nelson Agholor  39.DeSean Jackson   40.Emmanuel Sanders  41.Mike Wallace   42.Josh Doctson    43.Dontrelle Inman   44.Kenny Stills 45.Jeremy Maclin   46.Paul Richardson  47.DeVante Parker  48.Dede Westbrook   49.Corey Coleman  50.Josh Reynolds I'm high on: Marquise Goodwin (ESPN #38, ME #25) Goodwin is averaging 10 fantasy points per game in his last four contests, and he hauled in 8 of 8 targets for 99 yards in Jimmy G's first start last week in Chicago.  This week the Niners are travelling to Houston, where they just love to give up fantasy points to opposing QBs and WRs.  Goodwin very well could be on your waiver wire, but you might want to pick him up and plug him into your FLEX spot. I'm down on: Doug Baldwin (ESPN #15, ME #26) Jalen Ramsey and the Jags just don't give up a ton of fantasy points to WRs, and that's who Doug Baldwin is facing this week.  He also hasn't been anywhere near a WR1 since Week 9, so I don't think this is a good week to pick him to be in that territory.  I like for Jimmy Graham to have a good game, but not so much the Seahawk WRs. TEs 1.Travis Kelce 2.Jimmy Graham  3.Evan Engram 4.Zach Ertz  5.Delanie Walker 6.Hunter Henry   7.Kyle Rudolph 8.Jack Doyle 9.Cameron Brate  10.Austin Sefarian-Jenkins   11.Stephen Anderson 12.Jason Witten    13.Jared Cook 14.Ricky Seals-Jones  15.Vernon Davis I'm high on: Stephen Anderson (ESPN #22, ME #11) Bruce Ellington and C.J. Fiedorowicz were both sent to the injured reserve after suffering injuries last week, and Braxton Miller got banged up too.  Miller isn't a sure thing to play against San Fran on Sunday, and Houston is hurting for receiving options.  Of course DeAndre Hopkins will get his 12-20 targets, but Tom Savage has averaged nearly 40 pass attempts in his 5 starts since Deshaun Watson got injured.  He has to throw to someone else, and last week he threw to Stephen Anderson 12 times.  Anderson had 79 yards and a TD against the Titans, and this week he could keep the good times rolling against the 49ers at home.   I'm down on: Greg Olsen (ESPN #10, ME NOT RANKED) It's the third week in a row I've mentioned Olsen in this spot, so I don't have much new to say about him.  The guy is injured and at best will be playing through the injury against one of the best defenses in the league.  At worst, he'll be inactive again.  Why does ESPN continue to rank him in their top-10?  Ask them, not ME! DEF 1.Chargers   2.Jaguars 3.Patriots  4.Bengals 5.Packers     6.Seahawks  7.Steelers  8.Titans  9.Bills  10.Vikings 11.Ravens 12.Jets  I'm high on: Green Bay Packers (ESPN #14, ME #5) The schedule didn't change, did it?  The Packers are still playing the Browns this week, right?  I thought so...Fire em up!!! EDIT: The ESPN expert consensus ranking was originally 14th on Green Bay, but at the time of this post it's actually 8th.  Nothing really changed in that time period as far as injuries/news, so I don't know what caused so many of the experts to update their ranking of the Packer defense.  Either way, ESPN had no business ranking the Packers that low to begin with, so I'm sticking with my pick!   I'm down on: Philadelphia Eagles (ESPN #9, ME NOT RANKED) Philly has been solid on defense this year, giving up 17 or fewer points in half of their games.  But most of those games have come in the last 6 weeks against QBs like C.J. Beathard, Brock Osweiler, and Mitchell Trubisky.  They also took advantage of a Dallas team without Ezekiel Elliott and Tyron Smith in Week 11.  Did you notice they struggled last week against the Seahawks?  They've also struggled against other teams with better QBs and O-lines.  The Rams have a very good O-line, and Jared Goff is coming into his own this year.  I think the Eagles will have a hard time stopping LA, and I don't think they'll be anywhere near the top-12 this week. Good luck to everyone in Week 14! (Except you, David...) Cheers, Bart