Week 17 Wide Receiver & Tight End Starts & Sits: What To Do With Drake London & Taysom Hill In Championship Week
This is it, my friends. The last Start & Sit column for the 2022 fantasy football season. I appreciate you all sticking with us all year, and I hope this column has helped you make it to your fantasy football championship. Now it's time to win it!
In case you’re new to the column, here’s a quick explainer of what we’re trying to do here (skip down if you’ve been here before). We’re here to wrestle with the decisions that are keeping us up at night. Do you bench a struggling player you took in the second round? Do you take a chance on the guy who has seemingly been playing over his head? Do you sit the high-floor/low-ceiling player for the low-floor/high-ceiling player? We won’t know the “correct” answers until the games are over. But we’re going to do our best to talk through it.
With quarterbacks and running backs done, let’s dive into the Week 17 wide receiver and tight end start/sit decisions that are keeping us up at night.
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Wide Receiver
Start ‘Em
START OF THE WEEK: Drake London, Atlanta Falcons
Love the Drake? Hate the Drake? I love the Drake right now. He’s seen 32 targets over his last three games and, while he hasn’t found the end zone, that provides us some upside if he does. He’s put up no less than 70 receiving yards in any of those three games (in addition to 95 and 96 yards in the other two), so the rookie has firmly established himself as a safe WR2 heading into Week 17 against a horrendous Cardinals defense.
Jahan Dotson, Washington Commanders
Both Dotson and London were on my list last week and they’re both here again this week. We already covered what London has been doing, but Dotson has been equally as impressive. He’s scored in each of his last three games and has seen at least six targets in all three of those games (with two of those games including nine targets each). While Carson Wentz starting this week is a bit of a curveball that adds a degree of uncertainty, I feel good about starting Dotson against a bad Browns defense.
Isaiah Hodgins, New York Giants
I’ll admit I don’t feel great about this one, but allow me to make my case. Hodgins is playing in an offense that has no real viable receiving options, and he’s caught at least four balls in each of his last four games. Furthermore, he’s seen at least six targets in three of those four games (including 12 last week!) and he’s scored in three of those four games as well. While he’s a bit of a dice roll, I think Hodgins can be a viable flex play against a Colts secondary that has given up fantasy points to opposing receivers this year.
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Sit ‘Em
SIT OF THE WEEK: Courtland Sutton, Denver Broncos
Here's the question to ask yourself about Sutton this week: do you think the firing of Nathaniel Hackett totally changes things? And if your answer is yes, is that a risk you want to take in your fantasy championship? Sutton caught five balls on seven targets for 64 yards last week. That's not bad, but it's not great either. And keep in mind, we're talking about a guy who has scored ONE touchdown all season and is currently nursing a hamstring injury. I love Sutton's upside too, but I think we need to wait for 2023 to talk about that.
Marquise Brown, Arizona Cardinals
I’m not sure I’d recommend Brown with Kyler Murray at this point, but we’re way beyond that point as Trace McSorley will be throwing him the ball this week. While Brown is still seeing a decent amount of targets, he hasn’t put up more than 9 PPR points in any of his last three games and hasn’t finished above WR42 in any of his last four games. That’s just not good enough for the fantasy playoffs. Look elsewhere besides Hollywood this week.
Joshua Palmer, Los Angeles Chargers
Palmer was an absolute stud while Keenan Allen and Mike Williams were out. However, both of those players are healthy and Palmer’s days of fantasy usefulness seem to be done. He’s only seen eight total targets over the last two games and hasn’t scored since Week 12 (he only has three touchdowns on the year). Palmer’s game is predicated on volume and the volume just isn’t there right now. Keep Palmer on your bench for such an important week.
Tight End
Start ‘Em
START OF THE WEEK: Cole Kmet, Chicago Bears
Kmet hasn’t exactly been lighting the world on fire, but not many tight ends have so this is what we’re stuck with. He’s seen at least five targets in each of his last four games and, while he’s not putting up huge yardage numbers, that type of usage is good enough for me considering the current tight-end landscape. With a nice indoor matchup against a mediocre Lions defense, I’m more than happy to roll the dice on Kmet continuing to see usage in a Bears offense that is completely devoid of viable receiving options.
Taysom Hill, New Orleans Saints
Do I trust Taysom Hill? Not really. But the Saints seemingly do, and that’s all that really matters here. The guy has finished two of his last three weeks as a top-10 tight end and the one outlier there was when he was TE12. While he may not catch passes like a traditional tight end, and he may be touchdown-dependent (which I admittedly always say we shouldn’t chase), it’s hard to argue with results. Start the man.
Sit ‘Em
SIT OF THE WEEK: Gerald Everett, Los Angeles Chargers
While Everett sits at TE14 on the year, I just can’t bring myself to start a guy coming off a zero-target game. His usage against the Colts was a little weird in that he’d been consistently seeing 6-8 targets in each of the three games prior. But we also have to deal with reality. Can Everett be useful this week? Maybe. Is he a huge risk? Potentially. Should you be looking for other options at tight end? Definitely.
Daniel Bellinger, New York Giants
I wanted Bellinger to come back and be viable, but I think we’re going to have to wait until 2023 for that. While the rookie had some nice midseason production, he’s only put up 18 total PPR points combined in his four games since returning from injury. That’s just not enough production heading into a matchup against a Colts defense that has been tough against tight ends. Pass on Bellinger this week.
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