We have played all season to get here. It’s been a heck of a grind, but we are finally here. It’s championship week! Congratulations to those of you still alive in your leagues. For those fighting for a toilet bowl title, an extra draft pick, or maybe even the number one selection in next year’s rookie draft, keep fighting and finish strong.
We will try to make the best possible lineup decisions with everything on the line. Make sure to look at your players’ individual matchups and notice who has been hot and who has not of late.
Check out our Fantasy In Frames IDP waiver-wire article every week to fill in your open roster spots or replace injured players.
Below are my educated guesses of players to Play and others to Fade for Week 17 of the NFL season.
As always, I will give you some players I think could have a better week than expected or a worse game than predicted.
Here we go!
Defensive Linemen:
Plays
- Alex Highsmith, DE/LB Steelers vs Chiefs
- After suffering various injuries throughout the season, causing him to miss six games, but Highsmith is turning it on down the stretch. He has sacks in three straight games. According to FantasyPros, he is averaging 15.8 points per game, scoring in the last three contests.
- Usually, the Chiefs are a difficult matchup for opposing pass rushers, but that hasn’t been the case this season. Defenses have been able to get to Mahomes, who is also dealing with an ankle injury.
2. Kwity Paye, DE Colts at Giants
- Paye has 5.5 sacks in the last six games. He has also added 22 tackles in that span. Paye has seven sacks on the season, but his play has been much more consistent in the last part of the season.
- The Giants offensive line has struggled to protect whoever is playing quarterback. New York has been sacked 48 times this season, fifth most in the NFL in 2024.
3. Chop Robinson, DE Dolphins at Browns
- The rookie out of Penn State got off to a slow start this season, but since Week 9, Robinson has had six sacks in eight games. Robinson was able to get his second sack of the season and also added six tackles against the Eagles in Week 16.
- The Browns have been sacked more than any team in the league this year with 63. Dorian Thompson-Robinson was sacked five times by the Bengals in Week 16. It really doesn’t matter who Cleveland has under center, the results have been pretty much the same all season. Robinson and the entire Dolphins defensive front should be licking their chops this weekend.
Fades
- Josh Hines-Allen, DE Jaguars at Titans
- Just when IDP managers needed Hines-Allen to have a big game in a decent matchup against the Raiders in Week 16, we got almost nothing. He had two assisted tackles for 1.5 points. The week before he only scored 2.3 points against the Jets.
- The last time the Jaguars took on the Titans, Hines-Allen had 16 points in FantasyPros scoring with two tackles, a sack, and a forced fumble. Quarterback Mason Rudolph has done a nice job of avoiding sacks in his starts this season. He has been sacked seven times in six games and has only been sacked more than once in a game one time this year. I am going to be thinking long and hard about whether I trust Hines-Allen again this week.
- Montez Sweat, DE Bears vs Seahawks
- After going on a streak of five straight games with at least half a sack earlier this season, Sweat hasn’t had a sack in three weeks with just eight total tackles.
- Seattle has been inconsistent in protecting quarterback Geno Smith this season, but the Bears have been a middle-of-the-pack team this season when it comes to sacking the opposing QB.
- Will McDonald IV, DE Jets at Bills
- McDonald has been really good this season. He is 10th in the league with 10 sacks this season. So, why would I consider sitting him?
- McDonald hasn’t had a sack in three straight weeks. Now he goes up against a Bills offensive line that has given up just one sack in the past five games. Buffalo might be playing better than any team in the league right now. I don’t want to take the chance of getting a fat zero from McDonald this week.
Linebackers:
Plays
- Blake Cashman, LB Vikings vs Packers
- Cashman has 12 tackles, nine solo, and a pass defended in a Week 16 win against the Seahawks. Since coming back from injury in Week 10, Cashman has scored double-digit points in six of seven games, according to FantasyPros scoring. He is averaging 13.8 points per game in that span.
- Cashman has been about as consistent as it gets over the back half of the season. Against a run-first Packers team in Week 17, Cashman is a must-start. While the Packers are a terrible matchup for pass rushers, this is a prime spot for linebackers to clean up on tackles.
- Christian Harris, LB Texans vs Ravens
- After spending the entire season on injured reserve, Harris saw his first game action in Week 15. He was able to record eight tackles against the Dolphins. He followed up that performance with seven tackles and a sack against the Chiefs in Week 16.
- Now the Texans face a run-heavy Ravens offense with running back Derrick Henry leading the way. Henry is second in the league with 1,636 yards rushing this season. Add in quarterback Lamar Jackson’s 765 yards, which ranked 25th in the league, and Harris should see a lot of opportunities to stuff the stat sheet.
- Terrell Bernard, LB Bills vs Jets
- Bernard has three straight games with double-digit tackles. He has eight or more tackles in his last eight games, while playing nearly 100 percent of snaps when he has been healthy this season.
- The Jets are out of the playoff race, but they would love to upset the Bills. Bernard and company are still fighting for playoff seeding and technically aren’t eliminated from still getting the AFC’s top seed. If they can win the final two weeks of the season and the Chiefs lose the last two games, the Bills have the tiebreaker.
Fades
- Terrell Edmunds, LB Bears vs Seahawks
- With Detroit running back David Montgomery out for last week’s game, dual-threat RB Jamyr Gibbs took a majority of the carries. Edmonds wasn’t able to get very involved with five tackles, only one solo, and a pass break-up. Edmunds has not been a terrible play most of the season, but he has struggled to consistently get solo stops and make impact plays.
- Going against a Seahawks team that is 30th in league rushing the football, but fourth in passing yards, I’m not counting on big games from the Bears linebackers.
- Jahlani Tavai, LB Patriots vs Chargers
- I have played Tavai in a lot of deep IDP leagues this season. He has been a decent play, but not great. I will have Tavai in a few of my lineups this weekend, but I’m looking for other linebackers with a higher upside in the championship game.
- Tavai six tackles, three solo, in Week 16 against the Patriots. For the season, Tavai is LB40 in FantasyPros scoring but averaging less than 10 points per game.
- Devin Bush JR, LB Browns vs Dolphins
- The Browns have had injury issues at linebacker most of the season. This has given some players a chance to grab some more playing time. But Bush hasn’t got a consistent snap share. He has played anywhere between 39%-57% of snaps over the past five games. He doesn’t have a single-double digit performance over that time span.
- Bush only has three double-digit scoring games this season, and he played between 72%-93% of the snaps in those games. He can’t be trusted in your lineup in the most important game of the season.
Defensive Backs:
Plays
- Brian Branch, S Lions at 49ers
- Branch was my top play last week, and he is again this week. You have to play the hot hand. IDP managers were frustrated with Branch’s production early in the season, but Branch broke out in Week 15 with a team-leading 15 total tackles, two for a loss, and he added a pass breakup against the Bills. He followed that up with 12 tackles, 10 solo, and a pass break-up against the Bears in Week 16.
- Detroit gets San Francisco on Monday night. With all the injuries to the running back group, the 49ers will rely on quarterback Brock Purdy in this one. He threw the ball 40 times in Week 16 against the Dolphins.
- Darius Slay JR, CB Eagles vs Cowboys
- Against the Commanders in Week 16, Slay had a big day for the Eagles with seven tackles and three pass break-ups for 16 fantasy points according to FantasyPros scoring.
- Slay has been seeing more targets against him this season with stud rookie Quinyon Mitchell on the other side of the field shutting down opposing wide receivers. Slay should have a chance for some more pass break-ups if your league scorers heavy for that. He will also be looking to record his first interception of the season.
- Devon Witherspoon, CB Seahawks at Bears
- As far as fantasy goes, Witherspoon has been a bit of a disappointment this season. He hasn’t put up the big numbers most managers were expecting. Witherspoon has been a decent floor play, especially in start CB leagues. The numbers are similar to his rookie season, he just doesn’t have as many high impact plays.
- Now he gets the Bears, who have been targeting their slot receivers quite a bit over the past month of the season. This could be a good spot for Witherspoon to have a high tackle day, but also get his first sack of the season, against Chicago which has given up 60 sacks this season, the second most in the league.
Fades
- New York Giants defensive backs vs Colts
- I figured I would include the entire group here, because I’m not sure who I would trust to play this week. I would much prefer to play the Giants linebackers this week if I had to play anyone. The best way to score points against the Colts would be picking off Richardson, who has 12 INTs this year, but the Giants only have three interceptions as a team this season.
- The Colts are coming off a game in which they scored 38 points, while only throwing the ball 11 times. Quarterback Anthony Richardson is not putting up the ball very often, which lowers the upside for all the DBs. Jonathan Taylor just ran for 218 yards and three touchdowns, while Richardson added 70 yards and a score. My guess is the Colts try to repeat that performance again in Week 17
- Kyle Hamilton, S Ravens at Texans
- While there is a good chance you are plugging in Hamilton in your starting lineup this week, if you have other good options you might want to consider it. Hamilton’s only double-digit scoring outings in the past six games both came against a run-heavy Steelers team that allowed Hamilton to live in the box.
- Without those Steelers performances, Hamilton is averaging only 6.7 points per game, according to FantasyPros, scoring in the other four games since Week 10. Hamilton has an ok floor this week, but I’m not sure his ceiling is all that high.
- Daryl Worley, CB Titans at Jaguars
- A couple of weeks ago, Worley had a crazy game against the Commanders, where he recorded 17 tackles. That was the high-point of the season for Worley. He has come back to Earth since then, and is coming off a 5.3 point performance against the Colts in Week 16.
- I don’t expect a lot of offense in this game outside of what Brian Thomas has been doing for Jacksonville at wide receiver. I want to look somewhere else for a high-upside performance this week.
