Week 16 Saturday Fantasy Football Outlook for the Commanders: Terry McLaurin, Deebo Samuel, Chris Rodriguez and More

Week 16 of the NFL regular season continues with two Saturday games, so let's break down fantasy football players from all those teams today.

We'll start with Washington players. The Commanders take on the Eagles in the first game of the day, before the Packers and Bears meet in the night clash.

Much like in the case for the Seahawks yesterday, there's not many players from the Commanders in trending start/sit decisions, so we are just going to break down the top fantasy players from Washington instead.

Keep checking the start/sit tool to see if any Washington players eventually are in trending decisions.

Having trouble deciding who to start? Let the FantasySP start/sit tool help you make a decision.

Marcus Mariota Fantasy Outlook

Mariota will make another start for the Commanders on Saturday.

It will be his eighth start of the season, meaning he passes Jayden Daniels for starts this season. Each QB is 2-5 in their seven starts to this point of the season.

Mariota has had some decent fantasy showings this season, and has looked pretty solid of late. He's still not a super trustworthy fantasy starting option though.

His matchup on Saturday will be a below-average one, so that knocks him down a peg as well. I have him ranked 25th among the starting quarterbacks for week 16 (because Quinn Ewers replaced Tua Tagovailoa). That only makes Mariota a starting option in the deepest of leagues, and I'd still try to avoid him if I could.

Running Back Fantasy Outlooks

Jacory Croskey-Merritt and Jeremy McNichols led the Washington backfield last week with Chris Rodriguez out of the picture. Rodriguez is back this week, so the backfield is likely to be a fantasy mess.

It's a shame, because the Eagles are a team that fantasy backs have had some decent success against. Philly is a slightly above-average fantasy matchup.

Knowing the backfield could be a mess, I decided to skip all of the options in my top-30 rankings for week 16. With no idea on how things might shake out, I'd rather skip them all in standard leagues, even in a decent matchup.

I'd guess that Croskey-Merritt or Rodriguez led the way this week, with McNichols falling down to RB3 and not getting a ton of touches. If I had to rank them, I'd take Rodriguez first, Croskey-Merritt second and McNichols third.

I'd only consider all three backs for deep-league fantasy starting spots, and probably would try to avoid McNichols this week. Croskey-Merritt and Rodriguez are more flex-level options because of the uncertainty in the Washington backfield, but because of the matchup, I'm guessing both guys will get plenty of deep-league starts in week 16.

Wide Receiver Fantasy Outlooks

The Eagles are a tougher test for the Commanders' wide receivers.

Terry McLaurin and Deebo Samuel Sr. are the leaders in the wide receiver room for Washington. Treylon Burks, Jaylin Lane and Noah Brown were some other wideouts who played a week ago.

Brown was placed on the injured reserve list, and Chris Moore was promoted from the practice squad to the active roster, so that's one change we'll see this week.

McLaurin and Samuel are the only two viable fantasy options though. McLaurin has 14, six and four targets over the past three games, while Samuel has seven, six and five targets over that span.

McLaurin has two good fantasy showings in that span, but touchdowns in each outing helped his cause. Samuel only has one double-digit performance in that three-game stretch, so McLaurin is who I like as the top Washington fantasy wideout.

In the tougher test, I only included McLaurin in my top-30 wide receiver rankings for week 16. I have him at No. 27, so he's more of the flex-level type again.

Samuel is also on that flex line, but in the tougher test, and with his recent results, I'd only truly want to start him in deeper leagues for week 16.

As for the others, they are just desperation plays in the deepest of fantasy leagues. I'd take them in this order: Burks, Lane and Moore.

Tight End Fantasy Outlooks

Zach Ertz was lost for the season a couple weeks ago, so it's been John Bates, Ben Sinnott and Colson Yankoff covering the tight end snaps.

Yankoff is out this week, so we could see Lawrence Cager or Gee Scott Jr. be called up from the practice squad. Don't expect the third tight end to be a fantasy asset though.

Ertz last played in week 14, so week 15 is really all we have to go off of for the Washington tight ends. Bates played 42 snaps, but had just one target, which he caught for 19 yards. Sinnott played 35 snaps and caught a 36-yard pass on his lone target.

It's a tossup between the two as to who might be the better fantasy finisher in week 16. A brutal fantasy test against the Eagles means you can safely stay away from both of them though.

Neither made my week 16 tight end rankings, or came all that close.

I think I'd take Bates over Sinnott if I was forced to choose one Washington tight end, and that's just because Bates played more snaps a week ago. Really though, either could lead the way, but I don't expect much in this tough fantasy test.

Kicker Fantasy Outlook

Jake Moody has been the Washington kicker of late.

In three games with the team, he has been perfect on his five field goal attempts and has made four of his five extra points.

He is projected for seven fantasy points in Saturday's game against the Eagles. Starting in less than 1% of fantasy leagues, he's really not a very good fantasy asset.

Washington's offense is capable of putting up some points behind Mariota, but they also could put up a goose egg. For that reason, Moody should only be considered in the deepest of fantasy leagues out there, and as close to a last resort.

There has to be better fantasy kickers available to you.

DST Fantasy Outlook

The Commanders DST has a tough test against the Eagles' offense.

Philly has been inconsistent offensively this season, but are more than capable of putting up points and yards. The Washington DST has a bottom-three fantasy projection for week 16.

The DST is being started in just 10% of fantasy leagues.

The defense has allowed 26.8 points per game so far this season. That ranks 26th in the NFL.

The defense only has eight takeaways so far. It also has 31 sacks.

I'm really not high on the Commanders DST for week 16. Again, there has to be better fantasy options out there to try instead. Only consider Washington's DST in the deepest of leagues and as a last resort.

Trending Decisions

The only trending decision that a Commander is in right now is McLaurin against Tampa Bay's Emeka Egbuka.

Fantasy owners are starting Egbuka over McLaurin, but the receivers are almost being started the exact same number of times. Both wideouts are being started together 33% of the time.

I have Egbuka ranked 30th this week, so I actually like McLaurin over him if I needed to make that call. Egbuka has a bit tougher matchup against the Panthers, and probably isn't WR1 in Tampa Bay anymore with Mike Evans back.

McLaurin could be WR1 for Washington a lot easier, and he has a better matchup, so both those things played into him ranking slightly higher than Egbuka in week 16.