December 30, 2017

Chris Moore looks to identify PPR sleepers based on targets and receptions risers from Week 16 of fantasy football. Add these WRs, TEs and RBs if possible.

Week 17 of the NFL season is always tricky for fantasy purposes. For this reason, most leagues wrap up fantasy action in Week 16. For a lot of us, the relevant games are over, championships having been awarded to Todd Gurley owners, and a handful of others I'm sure.

Still, the somewhat chaotic and imbalanced NFL slate in the season's final week can bring some strange names to the forefront, and can reward the forward thinking, creative fantasy owner who takes the time to sift through all the games and recognize some of the unconventional opportunities that are unique to Week 17.

This week's targets column will go back and look at some of the biggest and/or most surprising target totals from Week 16 and attempt to identify some sleepers who will see more opportunity during the final week of the NFL regular season.

Rising Target Grabbers

WIDE RECEIVERS

Larry Fitzgerald (WR, ARZ) - 15 Targets

With nine catches for 119 yards and a touchdown in Week 16's win over the Giants, Larry Fitzgerald now has over 100 catches for the third year in a row. All told, Fitz has logged 100-catch seasons in his second, fourth, twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth NFL campaigns. Furthermore, as of this writing, he's currently the WR4 in PPR formats. I won't even begin to try to explain how Larry Fitzgerald is playing some of his best football in his twilight years, but those who bet against father time catching up to him obviously reaped huge rewards once again in 2017.

Josh Doctson (WR, WAS) - 13 Targets

It was a comically inefficient day for Doctson, who caught just two balls including a 48-yard touchdown, but also dropped another easy one in the end zone. Josh Doctson had been a popular sleeper for the Redskins heading into 2017, but has been a pretty significant disappointment in his first full season. Still, he has shown a nose for the endzone in catching six touchdowns on just 31 receptions. So much of what we think of Doctson going forward will hinge on whether quarterback Kirk Cousins remains in Washington, but he's not a horrible dart throw against the Giants in Week 17.

Keelan Cole (WR, JAX) - 13 Targets

It took injuries to each of presumptive top three wide receivers for the Jaguars in 2017 for Cole to get a real opportunity, but he has delivered in a big way in averaging 20.3 PPR fantasy points over his last four games played, including three straight contests with 99 or more yards receiving. At this point, we'd expect Cole to play a huge role in the Jags passing game in 2018 and he's a premium stash as a late-season keeper/dynasty find. Bortles has looked his way 22 times in the past two weeks and head coach Doug Marrone has publicly stated that the Jaguars have no plans to rest any starters for a matchup with the Tennessee Titans in Week 17.

RUNNING BACKS

Todd Gurley (RB, LAR) - 13 Targets

As I alluded to in the opening, Todd Gurley's explosion in Week's 15 and 16 no doubt have him as the most represented player on 2017 championship rosters. This week, he actually did more damage in the passing game than on the ground, catching 10 balls for 158 yards and a pair of touchdowns to go with 22 carries for 118 yards rushing. If there's any cold water to pour on Gurley, it's simply to mention that Sean McVay has suggested that the Rams may rest their starters in Week 17. If you have Todd Gurley on your team and you're still playing fantasy football, he's still a must-start unless he is actually declared inactive, as he has demonstrated that he's capable of putting up RB1 numbers in just a half of football by scoring five TDs before halftime in the last two weeks.

TJ Yeldon (RB, JAX) - 10 Targets

In a rare setback for the Jacksonville Jaguars defense, we saw the Jags offense spend a good deal of Week 16's loss at San Francisco in negative game script. The result was an expanded workload for Yeldon in the passing game on Sunday, as he caught seven of ten targets for 64 yards, also chipping in a touchdown on the ground. Yeldon could see heavier than usual volume against the Titans in Week 17 with the Jags locked into the number three seed in the AFC, but as I mentioned before, Doug Marrone has been adamant that his starters will not rest, so Yeldon could still take a backseat to Leonard Fournette per usual.

CJ Anderson (RB, DEN) - 9 Targets

CJ Anderson was one of the surprise fantasy heroes of Week 16 as he logged his best fantasy game since Week 2, with 16 carries for 88 yards and a touchdown, and catching seven of nine targets for another 45 yards, chipping in a two point conversion for good measure. Anderson's monster game came in a negative game script in a blowout loss on the road at Washington as he took on a bigger role in the passing game than usual, recording only his second game of the season with over four targets. Anderson had seen his workload eaten into by backfield-mate Devontae Booker through the middle part of the season, but wrestled back control of the running back workload in logging 286 yards from scrimmage over the last two weeks. He'll be a borderline RB1 in a home date with the Pat Mahomes-led Chiefs in Week 17.

TIGHT ENDS

Zach Ertz (TE, PHI) - 14 Targets

Although Nick Foles took a significant step back from his dynamite Week 15 in putting up a dud against the Raiders, Zach Ertz was one of the few weapons on the Eagles offense that delivered. Ertz caught nine of fourteen Nick Foles targets for 81 yards in Week 16 and continues to put the finishing touches on his first ever genuinely studly fantasy campaign, as he now trails only Rob Gronkowski and Travis Kelce in fantasy points for the year. Ertz doesn't seem to have missed a beat in downgrading from Carson Wentz to Nick Foles, but his Week 17 workload could be somewhat in question now that the Eagles have clinched the NFC's overall seed.

Potential Week 17 Breakouts

Wayne Gallman (RB, NYG)

Over the last three weeks, Wayne Gallman has taken command of the New York Giants backfield, and has recorded 43 fantasy points over that span. For Week 17, he'll take on a Redskins defense that just surrendered a huge game to CJ Anderson, both on the ground and through the air. As he continues to distance himself from teammate Orleans Darkwa as the running back of the future for the Giants, he should be in the RB2 conversation for the season finale against Washington, and is available in 90% of Yahoo leagues.

Malcolm Brown (RB, LAR)

As I mentioned before, Rams head coach Sean McVay has suggested that he could rest his key starters for the final game of the Rams regular season. Malcolm Brown could be in for a rare heavy workload for a home game against a San Francisco 49ers defense allowing the fifth most fantasy points to opposing RBs. Brown is a volume play that is sure to draw a lot of DFS attention, but is also available in over 99% of Yahoo leagues.

Geronimo Allison (WR, GB)

There was absolutely nothing pretty about the Packers offense during their shutout loss to the Vikings in the Saturday night contest. Aside from not putting any points on the board with Brett Hundley back under center, the Pack also suffered further injuries to their WR and RB corps, as Jordy Nelson and Aaron Jones both went down, joining Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams, and Ty Montgomery among the hobbled. As of now, Geronimo Allison is expected to see a starter's workload alongside Randall Cobb for Week 17's contest at Detroit. He'll have Hundley at QB once again, but we've seen Allison turn in useful fantasy lines when given opportunity, and that's exactly what he'll have against a potentially deflated division rival, fresh off a playoff-hopes ending loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

More Week 17 Lineup Prep