Week 14 Early Fantasy Football Rankings: Better Days Ahead for Lamar Jackson?
Ian Hartitz has prepared his early fantasy football rankings for Week 14, including deep looks at Lamar Jackson, Jonathan Taylor and more.
Hide your kids, hide your wife: Week 14 is here. It's time to win another fantasy matchup and clinch that playoff spot, people!
What follows are my abbreviated early PPR ranks along with some key questions and answers ahead of this week's slate of action. Check out our Fantasy Life Rankings for full ranks from our squad of alleged expert rankers (code "IAN" for 20% off!).
As always: It's a great day to be great.
Week 14 Early Fantasy Football Rankings
Quarterback
How concerned should Lamar Jackson fantasy managers be?
Things certainly haven't been great. 2025 started off normal enough with Lamar Jackson ripping off three top-4 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 Matthew 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.
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Who are the best Week 14 QB streaming options?
An annoying Week 14 bye has the likes of Drake "Drake Maye" Maye, Brock Purdy, Jaxson Dart and Bryce Young out of the picture. This means that many will be forced to dive into the waiver wire waters for a QB streamer—potentially with a fantasy playoff berth on the line.
Good news: There are several QBs available in 50%+ of ESPN/Yahoo leagues who look capable of supplying a decent enough week. In order or preference:
1. Commanders QB Marcus Mariota (9.3% rostered on ESPN, 10% Yahoo): Has multiple top-8 finishes in place of Jayden Daniels (elbow) this season, who remains uncertain for Week 14's matchup against the Vikings. Ultimately, it's Mariota's rushing upside that is most enticing: He's been one of the position's most active rushers in both the scramble and designed run departments. Mariota is my QB13 on the week, just behind living legend Toyotathon Jordan Love.
2. Texans QB C.J. Stroud (45% ESPN, 39% Yahoo): Didn't find the end zone in his first game back from a concussion, but Stroud's 276 yards and 7.9 yards per attempt reflected the reality that he didn't look any worse for the wear. While the rushing floor here will never be too high, this passing game is fully healthy at the moment and capable of putting up some numbers against a Chiefs defense that just surrendered 320 yards and a pair of scores to Dak Prescott on Thanksgiving. Stroud is my QB19 on the week, ahead of guys like Tua Tagovailoa and Tyler Shough.
3. Jets QB Tyrod Taylor (5% ESPN, 4% Yahoo): Has proven to still be capable of supplying some dual-threat goodness with 8-44-1 and 8-48-0 rushing lines to his name this season. Of course, having any sort of high-end expectations for this Jets passing game is wishful thinking, but 200 passing yards is at least a weekly possibility—something that unfortunately couldn't be said for the Justin Fields experience. Throw in a winnable matchup against the Dolphins, and the artist known as TyGod is my QB20 on the week, ahead of guys like Tua, Shough and Shedeur Sanders.
Quick hits
QB9 Jacoby Brissett: Has averaged a ridiculous 312.6 passing yards per game since taking over as the Cardinals starter in Week 6. For reference, the only QBs to top that mark in a single season with at least eight starts since 2020 are … Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady. That's it. Decent company, although it won't be easy to stay hot in consecutive TOUGH matchups against the Rams and Texans AKA, the league's top two defenses in EPA allowed per play. Even then, Brissett should be capable of still providing borderline QB1 goodness in fantasy land thanks to the Cardinals' league-high +6% dropback rate over expected since Week 6.
QB12 Jordan Love: Toyotathon typically starts in late November and runs through early January. For our purposes we'll say Weeks 13-18. Why is this important? Because something about sales on Japanese-made cars simply brings out the best in Jordan Love.
Love fantasy points per game in 2023-2025:
- Weeks 1-12 (no Toyotathon): +0.11 EPA per dropback, 63.3% completion rate, 7.5 yards per attempt, 93.7 passer rating
- Weeks 13-18 (yes Toyotathon): +0.23 EPA per dropback, 68.1% completion rate, 7.7 yards per attempt, 110.7 passer rating
As we know: Correlation always implies causation, so fire up Love as a rock-solid top-12 option at the position this week … and also because the Bears have been the league's seventh-worst defense in fantasy points per game allowed to opposing QBs and the pickings are relatively slim with four teams on bye. But yeah, mostly the Toyotathon thing.
QB16 Daniel Jones: The artist known as Indiana Jones unfortunately is playing through a fractured fibula at the moment. He was originally added to the injury report with the issue midway through Week 12 following the team's bye, so it's unclear exactly when the issue occurred. Ultimately, Jones has put forward 3-16-0 and 1-1-0 rushing lines over the last two games since this injury while notably seeing big-time dropoffs in his average time to throw (2.64 seconds vs. 2.45) and average target depth (8.4 vs. 6.3). The result has been a much more average QB than what we saw during the first two months of the season, which makes sense considering, you know, he's playing through a f*cking broken leg!
QB28 Cam Ward: I maintain the 2025 NFL Draft's No. 1 overall pick has a bright future in the NFL. Some of the throws Ward has put on tape are legit b-e-a-utiful. Of course, the offensive environment in Tennessee is an absolute dumpster fire to not be nice, and accordingly Ward has rarely been set up for much success. Consider: The Titans have needed an average of 7.7 yards for a first down on third downs this season—only the Eagles (7.8) and Browns (7.9) are worse. Not great!
Running Back
What RBs have racked up the most fantasy points from receiving this season?
On a per-game basis…
RB most PPR points per game from receiving:
- Christian McCaffrey (15)
- Bucky Irving (10.9)
- Bijan Robinson (10.5)
- De'Von Achane (9.6)
- Jahmyr Gibbs (9.1)
- Ashton Jeanty (7.7)
- Cam Skattebo (7.1)
- Chase Brown (6.9)
- Kenneth Gainwell (6.8)
- Omarion Hampton (6.7)
The CMC number is quite ridiculous: He'd be the overall RB7 this season without a single rush attempt! … It was great to see Bucky back in action. Turns out the second-year talent is still quite good at football; he's right back in the RB1 mix after racking up 19 touches on reportedly limited usage … Bijan, Achane and Gibbs are all top-5 RBs in PPR points per game this season. Hell yeah! … Jeanty's pass-down role has actually grown considerably in recent weeks: He's caught at least 5 passes in four of his last five games after totaling 15 receptions in Weeks 1-7 combined … Brown continues to make the most out of his opportunities as of late, although the return of Samaje Perine unfortunately caps the overall ceiling here … Kenneth Gainwell remains one of the better handcuffs in all of fantasy, even if Jaylen Warren is the clear RB1 in Pittsburgh … Please be healthy soon, Mr. Ride-or-die.
Who was *this* close to having a much bigger Week 13?
The following players were tackled at the 1-yard line and did NOT score a TD on the same drive last week (pre-MNF):
Tackled at the 1-yard line and did NOT score a TD on the same drive:
- Packers RB Josh Jacobs
- Bills RB James Cook
- Falcons RB Bijan Robinson
- Buccaneers RB Bucky Irving
- Chargers RB Kimani Vidal
- Ravens TE Isaiah Likely (lost a fumble)
Vidal in particular deserves some big-time love for his Week 13 performance: 124 of his 126 rushing yards came after contact, and he was credited with forcing a week-high 11 missed tackles. That really is a high number: Vidal now joins Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, Ashton Jeanty, Travis Etienne and De'Von Achane as the only RBs to rack up double-digit tackles avoided in a single game this season.
This begs the 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 as soon as 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 Gainwell.
Quick hits
RB2 Jonathan Taylor: Hasn't scored a TD in three of the last four weeks! After Week 10 he had scored *three* touchdowns … in three of the last four weeks! I wonder if a fantasy analyst will unironically do the "take away JT's three-TD games and he's actually been quite mid" schtick soon. Anyway, should you be concerned about his recent relative "cold" stretch? Not really, the man is still a superb talent with 30-touch upside in any given week. That said: The Jaguars do deserve credit for allowing 63.7 rushing yards per game to RBs this season, the second-lowest mark in the league.
RB18 RJ Harvey: Kudos to the rookie for finding his way into the end zone twice on Sunday night, but unfortunately Harvey simply hasn't been able to get much going on the ground this season. In fact, he's been quite awful by pretty much any metric.
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)
Reminder: J.K. Dobbins averaged five yards per pop behind this very same offensive line. The good news is that Harvey has seen 14 and 17 combined carries and targets in his two games as the team's starter; he's a mid-tier RB2 ahead of this week's date with Maxx Crosby and company.
RB20 D'Andre Swift, RB21 Kyle Monangai: Both Bears RBs managed to turn in top-8 PPR finishes in Week 13, although we probably shouldn't count on Da (No. 1 seed!) Bears running 85 plays per week. Still, this has clearly been a near 50-50 committee since Swift returned from injury in Week 10.
Don't expect the sledding to be easy against a Packers defense that ranks sixth in EPA allowed per rush, but then again Ben Johnson's offense ranks fourth in EPA per rush! I'm cool with answering most close start/sit calls with whatever Bears RB is in question this week.
RB22 Kareem Hunt: Nominal starting Chiefs RB Isiah Pacheco returned to the lineup last week … and worked as a clear backup to Hunt, who has turned in PPR RB11, RB17, RB20, RB6 and RB36 finishes since taking over as the starter in Week 8. Unfortunately, we shouldn't expect massive runways against the Texans' league-best scoring defense; just realize the 30-year-old veteran will continue to warrant weekly RB2 consideration should last week's 15 touches and 64% snap rate persist.
RB24 Woody Marks: Woody unfortunately is similar to Harvey in that, yes, we like the usage going on here (16, 19, 17 and 20 touches in his last four games), but also yes, Marks has worked as one of the position's least efficient rushers of the football. Borderline RB2 treatment is warranted for pretty much any RB looking at 15-20 touches per game; just realize it'd be a lot cooler if Marks could get anything going with his opportunities.
RB27 Devin Neal: Wound up keeping his near full-time role even with a full week for head coach Kellen Moore to prepare for life without Alvin Kamara (knee). 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.
RB42 Blake Corum: Weekly reminder that Corum joins guys like Brian Robinson, Tyler Allgeier and Bhayshul Tuten as the best (mostly available) handcuffs that fantasy football has to offer. Check out Kendall Valenzuela's full Week 14 waiver wire report for more quality bench stashes ahead of the playoffs.
Wide Receiver
What pass defenses have fallen off the most in recent weeks?
The below chart denotes every defense's rank in EPA per dropback allowed from: Weeks 1-6, Weeks 7-13, and overall.
Some notes:
- The Texans, Rams, Seahawks and Browns are pretty damn good.
- Schedules certainly play a role, but Broncos CB Pat Surtain and Patriots CB Christian Gonzalez both deserve a lot of credit for how much better their respective defenses have been with them on the field.
- The Vikings have fallen off a cliff over the second half of the season.
- Credit to the Bears, Ravens and Saints for improving quite a bit.
- The Cowboys have gone from horrendous to just bad.
- The Lions, Packers, Chiefs and Colts aren't exactly units to overly fear in fantasy land.
Who left some serious meat on the bone in Week 13?
"Unrealized air yards" measure the total amount of air yards on incomplete targets. This helps identify players who had all sorts of fantasy-friendly downfield opportunities, but they simply couldn't come up with completions for one reason or another.
Anyways, eight players had at least 80 unrealized air yards in Week 13 (pre-MNF):
- Commanders WR Terry McLaurin (133)
- Texans WR Nico Collins (123)
- Packers WR Christian Watson (113)
- Bengals WR Mitchell Tinsley (112)
- Ravens WR Zay Flowers (106)
- Cowboys WR George Pickens (86)
- Ravens WR Devontez Walker (83)
- Vikings WR Jordan Addison (80)
Shoutout to Christian Watson for still managing to turn in a quality day at the office despite the missed opportunities. In fact, he's the WR27 in PPR points per game this season, ahead of guys like Marvin Harrison Jr., Stefon Diggs and Rome Odunze among others thanks in large part to his ability to regularly win downfield.
WR most yards per target in 2024-2025 (min. 85 targets):
- Alec Pierce (11.8)
- Christian Watson (11.3)
- Jameson Williams (11.1)
- Kayshon Boutte (10.2)
- Jaxon Smith-Njigba (9.9)
Quick hits
WR1 Rashee Rice, WR31 Xavier Worthy: Rice is THE WR1 in fantasy with 21.8 PPR points per game this season, while Worthy … ranks 54th. That number is a bit skewed from his injury-induced Week 1 goose-egg, but still: We've seen the second-year speedster average a mere 42.7 receiving yards per game since Rice returned to action in Week 7. That's not great!
WR5 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). That's it!
WR6 CeeDee Lamb, WR7 George Pickens: Currently the WR9 and WR4, respectively, in PPR points per game. Both the Cowboys and Rams are pacing to have *two* top-12 WRs in the same offense—something that has only been done 13 times over the past decade. But OK, you already knew both Cowboys WRs are balling, so how about a fun fact? The NFL's top two leaders in defensive pass interference yards drawn this season are … Pickens (120) and Lamb (114).
WR9 Jameson Williams, WR37 Isaac TeSlaa: These ranks are acting as if Amon-Ra St. Brown (ankle) will be out for Thursday night's matchup against the Cowboys. This makes Jamo a must-start, something that he's honestly pretty much already been for the better part of the last two months. After all, Williams has averaged 15.1 PPR points per game since Week 6—and that's including a pair of goose-eggs!
And then there's TeSlaa, who has managed to turn 11 targets into 6 receptions for 100 yards and 3 TDs this season. That's good for a 125 passer rating when targeted—the best mark among all Lions WRs. This ranking honestly feels a bit low going up against the NFL's single-worst defense in PPR points per game allowed to opposing WRs—perhaps I'll bump the rookie up into mid-tier WR3 range alongside guys like Romeo Doubs and Terry McLaurin after downing a few Mike's Hard Lemonades.
WR12 A.J. Brown: On Nov. 12, AJB 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.
WR18 Justin Jefferson: I REALLY debated ranking Jefferson behind Courtland Sutton, but just couldn't do it. Not on a Monday. That's simply no way to start a week. Anyway, this passing game finally gets a bit of a reprieve with a matchup against the Commanders, who were bad against opposing WRs even before losing CBs Marshon Lattimore (knee, IR) and Trey Amos (fibula, IR). Given the ridiculous individual talent and great matchup, I'm going to give Jefferson *one more* chance as a legit top-20 option in honor of the great Chet Steadman.
WR22 Alec Pierce: Pierce's 68.9 receiving yards per game rank 10th at the position this season. While Week 12's 1-26-0 effort against the Chiefs reflects the reality that there's still a boom-or-bust nature here, Pierce is my top-ranked Colts WR of Week 13 against a Jaguars defense just one week removed from giving up a 10-118-0 receiving line to Michael Wilson.
WR25 Rome Odunze: The Odunze victory laps were flying around the fantasy industry after the first month of the season. For some reason those same people have been awfully quiet since the Bears returned from their Week 5 bye:
Odunze PPR points per game:
- Weeks 1-4: 19.9 WR3)
- Weeks 6-13: 8.3 (WR56)
The presence of four byes and reality that Odunze has still averaged 7.8 targets per game during his last four contests keeps him from falling too low in the ranks, but man, it's been disappointing to see the Bears fail to enable even one consistent high-end pass catcher this season.
WR27 Jakobi Meyers, WR33 Brian Thomas: Meyers has rather inexplicably worked as Trevor Lawrence's most-efficient target this season.
Jaguars WR passer rating when targeted:
- Meyers (107.4)
- Tim Patrick (84.4)
- Parker Washington (81.9)
- Thomas (72.7)
- Travis Hunter (70.4)
- Dyami Brown (69.1)
Fantasy Life Director of Analytics Dwain McFarland asked me on the Sunday night edition of THE Fantasy Life Show who I thought would score more fantasy points the rest of the season between Meyers and BTJ … and I went with Jakobi! A large part of this is Thomas still dealing with the after-effects of a high-ankle sprain, but either way: Credit to the former Patriot/Raider for so quickly integrating himself in Jacksonville.
WR36 Adonai Mitchell: I'm just going to repeat what I said here last week. Does Mitchell have some problems at the catch point? Yes. Was that time he fumbled the football before the goal line pretty f*cked up? Also yes. Has he commanded all sorts of targets and emerged as a clear-cut top-2 pass-game option alongside John Metchie inside this Garrett Wilson-less Jets passing game? Also, yes!
WR55 Devaughn Vele: The 27-year-old second-year receiver caught all eight of his targets for 93 yards and a score last Sunday, even recovering an onside kick for good measure. Don't get too carried away here—Vele totaled 91 yards across his first 10 games of the season—but he has played a full-time role in three consecutive weeks with Brandin Cooks and Rashid Shaheed out of the picture. I wouldn't expect consistent WR1-worthy performances, but there is potential here for some FLEX-goodness down the stretch.
Saints remaining schedule:
- Week 14 (Bucs): 15th in EPA allowed per dropback
- Week 15 (Panthers): 23rd
- Week 16 (Jets): 27th
- Week 17 (Titans): 30th
Tight End
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-3 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.
Quick hits
TE1 Trey McBride: Here's a full list of WRs with more PPR points per game than McBride this season: Rashee Rice, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Puka Nacua, George Pickens, Drake London and Ja'Marr Chase. That's it. Oh, and the list if we only do since Jacoby Brissett took over in Week 6: London … that's it. Not too shabby!
TE7 Harold Fannin: The Browns have said eff it during the last two weeks and handed Fannin a legit every-down role. The counting numbers haven't been spectacular—4-40-0 and 3-43-1 receiving lines—but that doesn't mean bigger and better things won't be on the way. After all, Fannin has simply looked different with the ball in his hands all season long: This is the sort of talent worth betting on even if it'd be a lot cooler if his offense had a bit more general scoring upside.
TE8 Brenton Strange: Has displayed pretty awesome chemistry with Trevor Lawrence on his way to working as one of the position's more efficient targets on a per-route basis.
Wheels up this week against a Colts defense that has allowed the third-most PPR points per game to opposing TEs this season.
TE22 Cade Otton: The NFL's "leaderboard" in most targets without a receiving TD this season:
- Cade Otton (62)
- Chig Okonkwo (51)
- Kendrick Bourne (43)
- Alvin Kamara (39)
- Ricky Pearsall (38)
Sad! But yeah: Otton isn't someone who needs to be rostered in leagues of most shapes and sizes when this Buccaneers offense is mostly healthy at WR.
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