10 Things to Know For Week 14: Darren Waller Optimism, An Adonai Mitchell Deep Dive and More

Week 14 is upon us. Reminder: Friends and family come and go, but fantasy football championship banners hang forever.

This brings us to today's goal: 10 mostly fantasy-relevant things to know ahead of Week 14 that ideally will help make you both a better fantasy manager and overall person.

Who benefits from the week's biggest injuries?
How have the early returns been for Tyler Shough?
Is Adonai Mitchell actually a thing now?
Who boasts the best fantasy playoff schedules by position?
What man-coverage splits can we take advantage of for Week 14?
Week 13 RB Usage Report: Ruh roh, TreVeyon Henderson's three-down role is gone
The DST corner: In the Bucs we trust
Two key Week 14 ranking questions and answer
One cool fact from every game that I find interesting for one reason or another
Three bold calls for Week 14

As always: It's a great day to be great.

1. Who benefits from the week's biggest injuries?

As always, new issues can and will arise between now and Sunday (and we have an injury column specifically dedicated to this every Friday and Saturday), but these are five of the week's biggest injuries at the moment:

1. Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown (ankle): Absence ahead of Thursday night's smash spot against the Cowboys' league-worst defense in PPR points per game allowed to WRs would push Jameson Williams into legit top-10 territory, while Isaac TeSlaa would be a FLEX-worthy WR3 at worst. The latter was a top-three highlight of THE Fantasy Life Show's Monday waiver wire episode.

2. Commanders QB Jayden Daniels (left elbow): It remains to be seen if Daniels will be cleared for contact ahead of Sunday. If out, Marcus Mariota becomes the top streaming option of the week ahead of guys like CJ Stroud and Tyrod Taylor.

3. Bengals WR Tee Higgins (concussion): Continued absence would again boost Mitchell Tinsley into the starting lineup. On the one hand, Tinsley earned nine targets from Joe Burrow last week and has flashed on a few occasions this year. On the other hand, he dropped two of them and left quite a bit of meat on the bone last Thursday night. Tinsley would be in the WR4 conversation with guys like John Metchie and Dontayvion Wicks should Higgins ultimately be sidelined, while Mike Gesicki and Andrei Iosivas would also receive boosts up the ranks.

4. Saints RB Alvin Kamara (knee): We saw Devin Neal keep his near full-time role even with a full week for head coach Kellen Moore to prepare for life without Kamara. That said: Neal has struggled to get much going on the ground this season and carries most of his upside through the passing game, which is a tough sell in fantasy land considering we've seen Kamara struggle to get adequate volume through the air for … the entire season. It's tough to stick our nose up too high at any RB looking at 15-plus touches and a snap rate north of 80%; just realize this week's matchup against Vita Vea and company (3rd best defense in EPA allowed per rush) doesn't figure to bring out the best from the NFL's 30th-ranked rushing attack in terms of overall yards per carry.

5. Chargers QB Justin Herbert (left hand): Considered day to day after undergoing surgery on Monday. Herbert's absence would result in a decent downgrade for all pass-catchers involved, but don't sleep on Trey Lance working as a halfway decent streamer in his place. After all, Lance plays football in the most fantasy-friendly manner possible AKA he runs the ball a LOT. Overall, the 2021 NFL Draft's third overall pick has posted 16-89-0, 8-31-0, 13-54-0, and 6-26-0 rushing lines in his only four full career starts over the years. He'd be a low-end QB2 for Monday night's matchup with the Eagles.

2. How have the early returns been for Tyler Shough?

Not too shabby! The Saints haven't been overly competitive with the 2025 second-round pick under center, but that was also generally the case with Spencer Rattler. The good news for Shough is he doesn't look out of place as a professional QB thanks to his big arm and sneaky athleticism:

Shough among 41 QBs with 150+ dropbacks:

EPA per dropback: -0.128 (38th)
Completion percentage over expected: +0.1% (22nd)
Yards per attempt: 6.5 (28th)
Passer rating: 83.6 (33rd)
PFF Pass Grade: 68.4 (tied for 19th)

The biggest problem in recent weeks has been sacks. Shough has taken nine over the last two weeks, and his 23.3% pressure-to-sack rate is tied for the seventh-worst mark in the league through 13 weeks of action.

Of course, Shough hasn't exactly been surrounded by the world's best supporting cast. The following list denotes the NFL's bottom-five teams in my "Supporting Cast Rating" which takes every team's average PFF grade in rushing, receiving, run blocking, and pass blocking (everything except passing).

Worst supporting cast ratings in 2025:

28. Bengals (63.3)
29. Saints (62.7)
30. Raiders (61.1)
31. Titans (61)
32. Browns (56.3)

Chris Olave is a stud … when he isn't dropping potential game-winning TDs from Shough … but otherwise, the rookie is being forced to rely on Juwan Johnson and Devaughn Vele as top pass-game options, and he's actually kind of made it work! Again, don't start sizing Shough for his gold jacket just yet, but he's shown enough mobility and arm talent to generally force defenses to account for most areas of the football field.

Further helping matters is a quality end-of-season stretch that could help Shough earn something close to definitive offseason QB1 status. Don't be surprised if he manages to boom in at least one of these smashable matchups the rest of the way.

Saints remaining schedule:

Week 14 (Bucs): 15th in EPA allowed per dropback
Week 15 (Panthers): 23rd
Week 16 (Jets): 27th
Week 17 (Titans): 30th

3. Is Adonai Mitchell actually a thing now?

It's looking that way!

Sure, the much-maligned former Colts WR has troubles with the whole "catching the football" part of his job description, but we're seeing him demand targets at an elite level as the Jets' undisputed No. 1 option. Overall, Mitchell is one of just nine WRs to boast a target share of at least 30% over the last three weeks, while *nobody* has a higher percentage of their offense's air yards (60%).

That said: Let's pump the breaks on true breakout talk for a second. It was fun seeing Mitchell score his first career TD (his joy at re-watching the celebration is feel-good content), but we did see the corner basically just fall down on that play, and the rest of his Week 13 receptions were fairly ho-hum out routes or curls against off coverage. There's nothing wrong with picking up easy yards–style points don't count for anything extra in fantasy land–although it's fair to not exactly *best Dennis Green impression* crown his ass after the performance.

The good news for AD Mitchell truthers such as myself: Garrett Wilson (knee, IR) is sidelined for at least another week, and this end-of-season schedule is more good than bad.

Jets rest of season schedule:

Week 14 (Dolphins): +0.2 EPA allowed per dropback (29th)
Week 15 (Jaguars): -0.02 (8th)
Week 16 (Saints): +0.1 (22nd)
Week 17 (Patriots): -0.01 (9th)

Mitchell comes in as my WR36 this week (full rankings here) ahead of guys like Isaac TeSlaa, Troy Franklin, Khalil Shakir, and Jordan Addison, although I would still start the likes of Brian Thomas, Michael Wilson, Deebo Samuel, and Chris Godwin ahead of the second-year talent. It seems unlikely Mitchell's good times keep rolling if/when Wilson returns to the lineup, but he's a prime WR3/FLEX option for this week at least.

Speaking of fantasy-friendly stretch-runs…

4. Who boasts the best fantasy playoff schedules by position?

Fantasy rosters are more or less set ahead of the playoff run, but that doesn't mean we can't attempt to uncover a hidden gem or two on the waiver wire streets with a fantasy-friendly schedule to close out the season. Accordingly, let's go over one big takeaway from every position's remaining schedule!

The below grid denotes every position's remaining strength of schedule in the fantasy playoffs in terms of their opponent's fantasy points (PPR) per game allowed to the position. Blue represents an easy on-paper matchup, while red is tougher. Example: The Vikings boast the easiest QB schedule for the fantasy playoffs, and the Commanders have the best RB stretch, while Cardinals WRs and Raiders TEs have the toughest stretches in Weeks 15-17.

Pete wrote about this in Wednesday's newsletter, too.

QB: Washington ends this season with two smash matchups. We're highlighting this for QB, but it really applies to every offensive position: Week 15 spots against the Giants (31st in EPA allowed per play) and the Cowboys (29th) are pretty awesome, especially with Washington's own defense being bad enough to promote fantasy-friendly shootout game environments. This stretch could help Jayden Daniels (left elbow) provide some fireworks in his return to action, but it's also soft enough for Marcus Mariota to get this suddenly healthy passing game cooking as well.

RB: Saints RB Devin Neal has a chance to do some big things late. It's certainly possible Alvin Kamara (knee) returns to his starting role sooner rather than later, but if not? Wheels up for Neal, who didn't even have to deal with Taysom Hill's vulture-esque ways in Week 14 (2 touches). While the Saints don't deserve the benefit of the doubt when it comes to taking advantage of soft on-paper matchups, getting the Panthers, Jets, and Titans in the fantasy season's final three weeks is objectively a nice stretch.

WR: Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall could boom down the stretch. It sure doesn't seem like Brandon Aiyuk (knee, IR) is poised to return to action anytime soon, meaning the 49ers' passing game should continue to be a four-pronged approach between its top-two receivers, George Kittle, and Christian McCaffrey. Each could be rewarded down the stretch with winnable spots against the Titans, potentially Sauce Gardner-less Colts, and Bears (in San Fran). Here's to hoping the team's Week 14 bye is just what Brock Purdy needs to get fully healthy–this offense has weekly boom potential thanks to its own individual talent and their accompanying bad defense (due to injuries).

TE: Brenton Strange and Darren Waller profile as the two best waiver wire pickups at the position. The Jaguars and Dolphins boast the position's sixth and second best schedules from Weeks 15-17, respectively. Both talents have largely made the most out of their opportunities this season and profile as legit top-three pass-game options inside their banged-up passing attacks. I'm a bit more bullish on Waller thanks to the Dolphins' ongoing willingness to feed him the rock in the red zone, but Strange also deserves plenty of credit for working as Trevor Lawrence's top option in passer rating when targeted this season.

DST: Tampa Bay and Kansas City have the best combination of factors going their way down the stretch. With those factors being:

Having at least a decent real life defense.
Plenty to play for when it comes to fighting for a playoff spot.
A capable offense that won't consistently put its defense in bad positions.
Fantasy-friendly schedules.

The rest of the DSTs with great schedules down the stretch mostly don't pass the first two criteria, while others that do like the Texans aren't readily available in more fantasy leagues than not. This latter point doesn't apply to the Chiefs (21.2% rostered on ESPN) or Buccaneers (23%). That said: I do prefer Tampa Bay's next four games (Saints, Falcons, Panthers, Dolphins) over Kansas City (Texans, Chargers, Titans, Broncos).

5. What man-coverage splits can we take advantage of for Week 14?

Last week this section highlighted Dontayvion Wicks (yay!), Romeo Doubs (he scored!), Stefon Diggs (ugh), and Kyle Pitts (TE5 on the week!).

Win some, lose some: Either way, the goal of this section is to try to find WRs who have fairly extreme man/zone splits and are facing bad defenses that happen to run a lot of man coverage. Cool? Cool.

Overall, there are just nine defenses that have run man coverage on more than 30% of their opponent's pass plays this season. Each defense's rank in EPA allowed per dropback is also listed in parenthesis.

Lions (43% man coverage, 20th in EPA allowed per dropback)
Browns (39%, 5th)
Broncos (39%, 6th)
Jets (36%, 27th)
Ravens (36%, 21st)
Giants (36%, 25th)
Steelers (35%, 14th)
Bears (31%, 18th)
Eagles (30.5%, 11th)

It doesn't take an alleged fantasy expert to figure out the Cowboys' stud WRs are in a good spot against the Lions on Thursday night, and I'd like to refrain from trusting the *checks notes* Titans and Raiders WRs going up against the Browns and Broncos. Still, there are four actionable situations to perhaps sink our teeth into:

1. Chargers WR Ladd McConkey and Keenan Allen: McConkey and Allen have easily worked as the team's top-two options in target share vs. man (30% and 27%). Of course, this probably won't really matter if we get Trey Lance under center in place of Justin Herbert (left hand). Note that ace Eagles CB Quinyon Mitchell has spent just five total snaps in the slot all season, so both Ladd (62% slot rate) and Keenan (36%) should have plenty of opportunities to attack Philly's other corners.

2. Dolphins TE Darren Waller: Similar to Pitts from last week: Waller is a rare TE who actually sees more targets against man than zone. Overall, the veteran has posted an elite 29% targets per route run rate vs. man compared to just 10% vs. zone. This makes more sense when you consider Waller spends most of his snaps lined up in the slot or out wide (79%). He's my TE9 on the week–highest of any Fantasy Life ranker.

3. Packers WR Dontayvion Wicks: Boasts a team-high 29% targets per route run rate vs. man coverage this season. Also leads the way with 2.1 yards per route run vs. man. Romeo Doubs is still first in overall target share vs. man (24%), but Wicks is the No. 2 (17%). Of course, Wicks needs to actually be on the field to take advantage of the Bears–he won't be a recommended FLEX option if Matthew Golden (wrist) and/or Jayden Reed (shoulder) are back in action.

4. Ravens WR Rashod Bateman: While Zay Flowers leads the way in overall target share vs. man (30%), Bateman does have +7% and +5% marks in targets per route run and overall target share against man coverage compared to zone. His 79% route rate last week easily cleared DeAndre Hopkins (45%) and DeVontez Walker (24%)–I like Bateman's chances of hitting a deep shot against a Steelers defense that ranks 31st in PPR points per game allowed to WRs.

6. Week 13 RB Usage Report: Ruh roh, TreVeyon Henderson's three-down role is gone

The below chart breaks down every team's Week 13 RB usage in terms of their RB's snap rate, carries, and targets.

Workhorse alert: 11 teams featured one single RB on at least 70% of their offense's snaps in Week 13: Jonathan Taylor (98%), Ashton Jeanty (96%), Saquon Barkley (94%), Breece Hall (89%), Bijan Robinson (87%), Devin Neal (81%), Christian McCaffrey (80%), Javonte Williams (77%), Kimani Vidal (76%), De'Von Achane (75%), and Jahmyr Gibbs (73%). All should be auto starts in pretty much fantasy lineups of all shapes and sizes with the only two real exceptions being Neal (small sample in a bad offense) and Vidal (Omarion Hampton could return). Even then, I typically let a workhorse RB's volume win as the tiebreaker over WR3 types in close start/sit decisions.

Is Mr. Ride-or-die back this week?: It looks like it! This brings us to our next question: How big of a workload will Omarion Hampton (ankle, IR) see once he returns to action? Well, last week OC Greg Roman said he planned on using both backs in a "1-2 punch" shared backfield. While it'd make sense if Hampton is the 1 in that equation, we shouldn't necessarily assume the rookie is poised to see 20-plus touches the second he's ready to return. I'd rank Hampton in that RB17-RB19 range if active this Monday night against the Eagles, and Vidal as more of an RB3 alongside guys like Jordan Mason and Kenneth Gainwell.

Still a bell-cow, wouldn't sweat it: RBs who didn't quite rack up a near every-down role in terms of snaps, but continued to dominate their backfield's overall touches and should be continued to be relied on in fantasy lineups of all shapes and sizes include:

James Cook (RB6 in PPR points per game)
Bucky Irving (RB7)
Josh Jacobs (RB8)
Kyren Williams (RB11)
Derrick Henry (RB14)
Kareem Hunt (RB17 since taking over as the starter in Week 8)
Travis Etienne (RB19)
Chase Brown (RB20)
Quinshon Judkins (RB22)

It would be a lot cooler if these two-back committees could pick someone: Unfortunately, the Cardinals, Panthers, Bears, Steelers, Seahawks, and Patriots largely continue to insist on splitting things up enough to render all parties involved as meh fantasy options. None of the involved backs crack my top 18; they shouldn't be relied on with any sort of high-end confidence as long as these rotations persist.

What the hell, Patriots!: Just when it seemed like we had a good thing going with TreVeyon Henderson RB1 szn, head coach Mike Vrabel said f*ck all that. Kinda. I mean, Henderson still getting 15 combined carries and targets on Monday night wasn't terrible usage, but Rhamondre Stevenson got the start and also handled 15 total opportunities. Contrary to popular belief: I am NOT a doctor or professional football coach, but it's tough to find a meaningful stat that says Stevenson has been better with his opportunities on the ground than Henderson this season.

Patriots RBs in 2025:

Yards per carry: Henderson (4.8), Stevenson (3.2)
Yards over expected per carry: Henderson (+0.63), Stevenson (+0.25)
Yards after contact per carry: Henderson (3.8), Stevenson (2.8)
Explosive run rate: Henderson (7.8%), Stevenson (4%)

Injuries suck, man: And Aaron Jones (shoulder) is hurt, dog. Relatively good news: Jones' injury isn't believed to be serious, but Jordan Mason would leap into the mid-tier RB2 range with guys like Ashton Jeanty and Quinshon Judkins should A-aron ultimately be unable to suit up.

The workload is there, but the efficiency and/or scoring upside is not: Guys who you generally will probably still start in fantasy, but maybe you don't NEED to if you can help it feature Woody Marks, RJ Harvey, and everyone involved with the Commanders/Titans backfields. To be fair, Marks (18 touches per game since Week 10) and Harvey (15 touches per game in last two starts) are seeing solid usage, and Chris Rodriguez (4 straight top-36 finishes) has at least been usable in recent weeks but you shouldn't exactly be excited at this point to start anyone involved.

Low-ish rostered handcuffs to stash if possible: The following dudes were under 50% rostered on ESPN and/or Yahoo at the beginning of the week and are seemingly *one* injury away from being AT LEAST a top-20 weekly option at the position:

Packers RB Emanuel Wilson (52% available on Yahoo)
Jaguars RB Bhayshul Tuten (57%)
Falcons RB Tyler Allgeier (58%)
Titans RB Tyjae Spears (69%)
49ers RB Brian Robinson (75%)
Eagles RB Tank Bigsby (81%)
Rams RB Blake Corum (84%)
Dolphins RB Ollie Gordon (91%)
Bengals RB Samaje Perine (97%)
Ravens RB Keaton Mitchell (97%)
Cowboys RB Malik Davis (99%)

My favorite four to roster due to a mix of potential volume and offensive upside: Corum, Robinson, Tuten, and Allgeier.

7. The DST corner: In the Bucs we trust

We broke down some DST schedule goodness earlier, but one more reminder that the Tampa Bay DST (23.1% rostered on ESPN) has the best end-of-season combination of …

Being good at football in real life
Having a good enough offense to not screw them over
Maintaining competitiveness down the stretch
Facing a smashable schedule

With the Saints (28th in DST points per game against), Falcons (16th), Panthers (24th), and Dolphins (25th) the rest of the way: I'm very much fine with sticking with the Bucs the rest of the way.

Of course, not everyone can be so lucky, so I'd prioritize these mostly-available streamers if you're in more of a "just help me this week and we'll worry about the rest later" situation. In order:

Chiefs DST (21.3% rostered on ESPN) vs. HOU
Dolphins DST (13.7%) at NYJ
Commanders DST (2.7%) at MIN
Titans DST (1%) at CLE

8. Two key Week 14 ranking questions and answers

I'll be publishing an early rankings column midday Monday throughout the season that gives my top-12 QB/TE and top-24 RB//WR alongside some honorable mention picks while also answering a handful of questions regarding some of the week's biggest storylines. You can read the full Week 14 piece here, but I also wanted to highlight the two biggest questions and answers I had.

*Law and Order Music*

These are their stories.

How concerned should Lamar Jackson fantasy managers be?

Things certainly haven't been great. 2025 started off normal enough with Jackson ripping off three top-four finishes to start the season, but the going has been ROUGH ever since the two-time MVP returned from a hamstring injury in Week 9.

Week 9: 25.6 fantasy points (QB9)
Week 10: 16.6 (QB14)
Week 11: 4.7 (QB29)
Week 12: 7.2 (QB25)
Week 13: 6.5 (QB25)

Not great! In fact, Jackson hasn't accounted for a single TD during the last three weeks despite back-to-back smash-worthy matchups against the Jets and Bengals … although the latter game did feature multiple near-miss BIG moments from his pass-catchers.

While Lamar and the Ravens insist he's healthy, the injury report would suggest otherwise. Jackson has missed the team's opening practice in each of the last three weeks due to knee, ankle, and most-recently toe injuries. The result has been easily the lowest rushing output of his professional career.

Jackson fantasy points per game from rushing:

2019: 10.8
2020: 9.5
2021: 7.4
2022: 7.9
2023: 7
2024: 6.87
2025: 3.6

So what should we expect moving forward? Well, the first-place Ravens (obviously) still have plenty to play for, and upcoming matchups against the Steelers (28th in fantasy points per game allowed to QBs) and Bengals again (27th) don't exactly profile as terrifying spots. As much as Jackson's rushing output is less than ideal, his average of 8.1 yards per pass attempt is still good for the second-highest rate of his career–and third-best mark in the NFL.

Ultimately, Lamar is my QB7 behind strict pocket passers like Mathew Stafford and Joe Burrow, but there was enough wonkiness involved with his Week 13 dud to believe better days should be ahead–don't completely lose faith in the guy that, you know, is one of the best fantasy QBs we've literally ever seen at his best.

Is Darren Waller the TE position's skeleton key for the fantasy playoffs?

Something like that! The 33-year-old veteran returned from IR to a very nice 69% route rate and tentatively profiles as a top-three option in this passing game the rest of the way. Combining Waller's still solid on-field ability with good-to-great volume might just be a recipe for all sorts of fantasy points given how friendly this schedule is down the stretch.

Dolphins remaining schedule:

Week 14 (Jets): 27th in EPA allowed per dropback
Week 15 (Steelers): 14th
Week 16 (Bengals): 31st
Week 17 (Buccaneers): 15th

Unfortunately, the TE position is basically only five guys deep in Week 14, making Waller a legit top-10 option against the same Jets defense he scored twice on back in Week 4.

9. One cool fact from every game that I find interesting for one reason or another

… yeah! Home team listed first:

Thursday night football: Lions (-3) vs. Cowboys. Boring veteran RBs surely set to lose their jobs to day three rookies have wound up having some pretty great seasons in fantasy land this year:

Javonte Williams (RB9 in PPR points per game, RB43 ADP)
D'Andre Swift (RB15, RB25 ADP)
Travis Etienne (RB18, RB37 ADP)

Browns (-4) vs. Titans. As much as the Titans seem like a smash spot for RBs, they've actually only given up three performances of 20+ PPR points this season (Jonathan Taylor x2 and Woody Marks). This is thanks in large part to the run-stuffing ability of defensive tackles Jeffery Simmons and T'Vondre Sweat–PFF's 19th and eighth highest-graded interior defenders against the run this season.

Falcons vs. Seahawks (-7). The NFL's leader in total tackles avoided is … Bijan Robinson (73)! Ashton Jeanty (62), Jonathan Taylor (60), Jahmyr Gibbs (60), and Christian McCaffrey (59) round out the top five.

Jaguars vs. Colts (-1.5). Daniel Jones was playing some truly impressive football to start the season, but unfortunately the clock may have struck midnight on his Cinderella story (playing through a broken leg also surely isn't helping).

Vikings (-2) vs. Commanders. The Commanders have given up the third-most PPR points per game to opposing WRs. They rank dead last in EPA allowed per dropback. Washington has been without starting corners Marshon Lattimore (knee, IR) and Trey Amos (fibula, IR) for the last few weeks. If there was ever a time for Justin Jefferson to look like, you know, Justin Jefferson–it's this week.

Bills (-5.5) vs. Bengals. This Buffalo offense remains awesome, and most of the blame should probably be placed on the WRs involved, but either way: Josh Allen has unfortunately become a dink-and-dunk QB.

Buccaneers (-8.5) vs. Saints. You know who is tough to tackle? Bucky Irving. In fact, Irving leads the NFL in tackles avoided per touch (30.3%) among 42 RBs with triple-digit touches this season.

Ravens (-6) vs. Steelers. Question: Does your team have a QB who has thrown for 250-plus passing yards in at least one game this season?

31 NFL teams: Well yeah, it's December, duh.
The Steelers: No.

Jets vs. Dolphins (-3). Three tight ends have produced a passer rating north of 150 when targeted this season (min. 15 targets):

Tucker Kraft (157.2)
Dalton Kincaid (155.6)
Darren Waller (151.8)

Raiders vs. Broncos (-7.5). RJ Harvey produced a nice game last Sunday night on the back of two short TD runs, but otherwise he's generally struggled to get much going on the ground.

Harvey among 50 RBs with 70+ carries this season:

Yards per rush: 3.8 (38th)
Yards after contact per rush: 2.7 (40th)
Tackles avoided per rush: 12.2% (46th)
Explosive rush rate: 2.7% (47th)
Success rate: 41.4% (41st)
PFF rush grade: 64.4 (45th)

Cardinals vs. Rams (-8). Davante Adams has an unreal 14 receiving TDs after 13 weeks of action. The only men to also accomplish this since 2000: Randy Moss (2007), Terrell Owens (2004, 2007), and … Dwayne Bowe (2010). Of course, Dwayne Bowe!

Packers (-6.5) vs. Bears. Shoutout to Front Office NFL for this one: Caleb Williams would be the first QB to rank last in the NFL in completion rate and have his team earn the No. 1 seed since seeding began in 1975. The last QB to rank in the bottom five and still earn the No. 1 seed was … former Bears QB Rex Grossman back in 2006!

Sunday night football: Chiefs (-3.5) vs. Texans. Did someone pull a Green Day and wake Nico Collins up once September ended?

Weeks 1-7: 12.8 PPR points per game (WR30)
Weeks 8-13: 17.9 (WR9)

Monday night football: Chargers vs. Eagles (-3). On November 12th AJ Brown said, "If you got me on fantasy, get rid of me." Since then all Brown has done is … score more PPR points than anyone at the position. Gotta love fantasy football!

10. Three Bold Calls for Week 14

And I'm talking BOLD. No predicting Bijan Robinson to have a big game, or Davante Adams to score two goal line TDs: We're dumpster diving here in the pursuit of glory, but I swear there's legit reasoning to the madness (usually in the form of my weekly mismatch manifesto charts):

1. D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai BOTH turn in top-15 fantasy finishes. The Bears have split the usage here almost directly down the middle in recent weeks, and the results have been pretty great! In fact, both Swift (RB13 in PPR points per game) and Monangai (RB24) have worked as rather awesome fantasy assets since the team returned from its Week 6 bye. While Micah Parsons and company are hardly a great matchup, we have seen guys like Rico Dowdle (25-130-2) and the Giants (142 rush yards) find success against this group.

2. Isaac TeSlaa becomes the latest WR to shred the Cowboys, goes 7-95-1 on Thursday night football. No passing game has a better overall matchup than the Lions, and the potential absences of both Amon-Ra St. Brown and Kalif Raymond promote TeSlaa to No. 2 status in this passing attack. While the Cowboys run defense has improved with some of their trade deadline additions, the secondary hardly looked amazing against Patrick Mahomes (261-4-0) and Jalen Hurts (289-1-0).

3. Breece Hall BOOMS against the Dolphins, turns in an overall RB1 finish. The Jets run game actually profiles as one of the week's better units when it comes to creating explosive plays against a Dolphins defense that has hardly earned the benefit of the doubt. While Hall understandably doesn't have a ton of weekly TD upside, his explosive pass-catching skill-set has still helped him work as the RB19 in PPR points per game this season. I'm expecting his biggest and best performance yet against a Dolphins defense that has allowed the sixth-most rushing yards to opposing RBs this season.

Last week: Stefon Diggs (3-26-0) failed to boom in a meaningful way even with Drake Maye going off on Monday night. … I wouldn't say RJ Harvey (62 yards, 2 TD) truly broke out, but 21.2 PPR points was still a nice evening at the office. … Why did I trust Tua Tagovailoa (157-0-1) to do anything in the year 2025? Repressed childhood trauma? Some sort of sick, twisted act of self sabotage? Why? WHY FOOTBALL GODS WHY?

Thank you all for reading and best of luck in Week 14 and beyond!