Fantasy Football Week 16 Rankings

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Fantasy Football Week 16 Rankings 

Post#1 » by RealGM Articles » Wed Dec 17, 2014 6:41 pm

Stars of Week 15

QB:      Drew Brees, NO: 29-36, 375 yards, 3 TDs

RB:      Jeremy Hill, CIN: 25 carries, 148 yards, 2 TDs

WR:     Odell Beckham, NYG: 12 catches, 143 yards, 3 TDs

TE:      Rob Gronkowski, NE: 3 catches, 96 yards, 1 TD

Drew Brees edged out Tony Romo for top QB honors this week. Brees has had a strong second half of the season, notwithstanding last week’s unfortunately timed lemon. Running back Jeremy Hill has been making his case as the top Bengals’ RB option – and fantasy owners would be wise to listen. Let’s see how the final few weeks shape up, but you should look at Hill as option 1 and Bernard as option 2 for the Bengals going forward. Speaking of emerging talents, Beckham has made his case as a top 5 overall WR for next season, and he edged out Dez Bryant as the top WR this week. He’s fantasy gold for the playoffs. And Gronk remains who he is – the top TE in the league when healthy. 

Week 15 Takeaways – A Closer Look

Each week we’ve taken a closer look at a handful of performances from the week and sorted out what such performances meant going forward. At this point we’ve reviewed most notable players, so we’ll mix in some looks at how players look for 2015 in addition to how they look for this coming week. 

- Carlos Hyde, RB – SF: 6 carries, 55 yards, 0 TDs 

Analysis:         Carlos Hyde suffered an ugly looking injury against the Seahawks, but hopefully it falls into the category of “looked worse than it is”. Over the past few weeks, Hyde has looked better while Frank Gore (also injured against the Seahawks) has looked worse. With the 49ers now eliminated from playoff contention, look for the team to give the bulk of the carries to Hyde (it appears that he should be fine for week 16). For those looking to next season (that’s most teams now), Hyde could be a great value pick in the draft. He’s got RB1 potential, and you may be able to get him at an RB2 draft slot. Obviously we’ve got a long way to go until next year’s draft, but Hyde looks like he could be a special player in the inevitable post-Harbaugh era. 

- Latavius Murray, RB – OAK: 12 carries, 59 yards, 0 TDs

Analysis:         Latavius Murray didn’t post special numbers against the Chiefs, but he continued to show considerable promise for the future. Murray has played well in each of his last three games (note that he missed the week 13 matchup). Against the Chiefs he averaged nearly 5 yards a carry, and for the season he’s been safely above that number. Murray should be viewed as a lower end RB2/flex, depending upon matchup. With a very tough matchup next week against the Bills, Murray slides into flex territory. But don’t be afraid to start him – he’ll be given every chance to continue to show his talent for the next two weeks. 

- Harry Douglas, WR - ATL: 10 catches, 131 yards, 0 TDs             

Analysis:         Many of the questions I received this past week were about Harry Douglas. His status is closely intertwined with that of Julio Jones, as evidenced this past Sunday. With Jones out, Douglas starred for the Falcons as you can see from his line above. With the Falcons in the hunt for the NFC South division, you can bet that Jones will do whatever possible to play this coming week against the Saints. So how do things shake out with Douglas? If Jones doesn’t play, then view Douglas as a WR2, and with Jones in the lineup, Douglas drops to WR3/flex status. So still a useful player in that scenario. 

- Calvin Johnson, WR – DET: 5 catches, 72 yards, 0 TDs

Analysis:         There’s no way around it – Megatron has been one of the biggest first round busts this year. He was injured for a large part of the season (including two games in which he played as a decoy), and except for four “Megatron-like” games scattered throughout the season, he has disappointed. Obviously he remains a weekly must-start, but looking to the future, where does Megatron rank among WRs for next year? I think you can make a logical case that he falls to the bottom half of the top ten WRs. This would most likely make him a second round pick. Megatron will turn 30 years old during the 2015 season, so his best is behind him. Again, this doesn’t mean that he won’t be a hugely impactful player. But, his days as the top WR and automatic first round pick are over. 

Rapid Fire Pickups

Each week we’ll throw out potential free agent pickups from each position for deeper leagues, in each case 1) someone who has NOT been referenced above, and 2) a player available in most leagues.

QB:                  Robert Griffin III, WAS (not for the weak of heart, but nice matchup against the Eagles and likely available in your league)

RB:                  Joseph Randle, DAL (will start if DeMarco Murray is out)

RB:                  Pierre Thomas, NO               

WR:                 Marquess Wilson, CHI

WR:                 Robert Woods, BUF

TE:                  Scott Chandler, BUF 

Last Writeup of the Season

As most leagues end in week 16, this will be the last writeup for the 2014 season. However, we will have rankings next week for those of you whose seasons run through week 17. I want to thank each of you for reading my weekly column and for all the questions that you sent through via email and twitter. Best of luck in your matchups, and look for more content during the offseason.

Week 16 Rankings

Quarterbacks

1. Drew Brees

2. Aaron Rodgers

3. Tom Brady

4. Andrew Luck

5. Matt Ryan

6. Matthew Stafford

7. Ben Roethlisberger

8. Peyton Manning

9. Tony Romo

10. Russell Wilson

11. Mark Sanchez

12. Jay Cutler

13. Philip Rivers

14. Ryan Tannehill

15. Joe Flacco

16. Cam Newton

17. Robert Griffin III

18. Kyle Orton

19. Colin Kaepernick

20. Andy Dalton

Running Backs

1. Le\'Veon Bell

2. Eddie Lacy

3. Jamaal Charles

4. DeMarco Murray

5. C.J. Anderson

6. Arian Foster

7. Marshawn Lynch

8. Joique Bell

9. Mark Ingram

10. Jeremy Hill

11. Matt Forte

12. Justin Forsett

13. LeSean McCoy

14. Lamar Miller

15. Alfred Morris

16. Latavius Murray

17. Daniel Herron

18. Tre Mason

19. Fred Jackson

20. Steven Jackson

21. Isaiah Crowell

22. Andre Williams

23. Giovani Bernard

24. Chris Ivory

25. LeGarrette Blount

26. Joseph Randle

27. Toby Gerhart

28. Carlos Hyde

29. Doug Martin

30. Kerwynn Williams

31. Terrence West

32. Darren Sproles

33. Ryan Mathews

34. Pierre Thomas

35. Matt Asiata

Wide Receivers

1. Antonio Brown

2. Demaryius Thomas

3. Jordy Nelson

4. Dez Bryant

5. Calvin Johnson

6. Odell Beckham Jr.

7. Alshon Jeffery

8. T.Y. Hilton

9. A.J. Green

10. Jeremy Maclin

11. Randall Cobb

12. Julian Edelman

13. Emmanuel Sanders

14. Mike Evans

15. DeAndre Hopkins

16. Julio Jones

17. Kelvin Benjamin

18. DeSean Jackson

19. Golden Tate

20. Josh Gordon

21. Mike Wallace

22. Brandon LaFell

23. Roddy White

24. Jordan Matthews

25. Vincent Jakson

26. Kenny Stills

27. Steve Smith

28. Sammy Watkins

29. Marques Colston

30. Torrey Smith

31. Jarvis Landry

32. Andre Johnson

33. Eric Decker

34. Anquan Boldin

35. Pierre Garcon

Tight Ends

1. Rob Gronkowski

2. Jimmy Graham

3. Julius Thomas

4. Greg Olsen

5. Antonio Gates

6. Martellus Bennett

7. Travis Kelce

8. Jason Witten

9. Delanie Walker

10. Coby Fleener

11. Larry Donnell

12. Dwayne Allen

13. Heath Miller

14. Kyle Rudolph

15. Jordan Reed

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