The 14th week of fantasy football action was a doozy. It set the tone for many franchises entering the postseason or confirmed the championship-free fate of others. We lost Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert (finger) indefinitely, wide receiver Justin Jefferson (back) exited briefly after returning from a hamstring injury, and the Minnesota Vikings also watched starting running back Alexander Mattison (ankle) prematurely leave. Those injuries, among others, directly impacted broader utilization figures.
Let’s take a peek at a few notable performances that really don’t deserve their own standalone attention.
The Jacksonville Jaguars needed to pass the ball like crazy with an injured Trevor Lawrence heaving it 50 times in attempt to keep pace with the *checks notes* Joe Flacco-led Cleveland Browns. This resulted in three Jags with at least a dozen targets: WR Zay Jones (14), WR Calvin Ridley (13) and TE Evan Engram (12). Mind you, Christian Kirk (abdomen) was sacrificed to the football gods last week, so a larger percentage of the target share was available.
As mentioned, Mattison was lost to injury, which put Ty Chandler in the lead role for the Vikes’ barn-burning win over the Las Vegas Raiders. He didn’t do much of anything with his 12 carries and three targets (42 total yards), but there’s an opportunity here should Mattison be forced to miss Week 15 vs. Cincinnati, a defense that entered Sunday as the 12th-weakest unit over the prior five weeks.
Jamaal Williams … remember him? The former Detroit Lion who rushed for 17 touchdowns last year made an appearance for the New Orleans Saints, rushing for 43 yards on 11 carries (one missed target). He rushed 11 total times in the prior three games combined, so there could be a late-season uptick. The remaining matchups aren’t particularly favorable, and it’s tough to see Williams mattering in non-DFS fantasy.
Last week, Carolina Panthers wideout Jonathan Mingo was targeted 10 times and earned a spot in this article series with the warning that even an increased role probably wouldn’t translate to a matching result in fantasy production. It held true in Week 14 with nine targets generating a laughable 22 yards on two grabs. Download the rookie’s increased late-season role as a possible glimpse into what may come in 2024.
As we work through the home stretch of the fantasy season, most pecking orders have stabilized, although we’ll see a handful of transitions toward the youth movement as teams fall out of the playoff race. That means fewer notable situations arise, and some of the inclusions will be a rehashing of developing roles.
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Seattle Seahawks running backs
Both Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet entered Week 14 as questionable on the injury report but still played, and their share was much closer than usual. Walker missed Week 13 with an oblique injury, which may have played a role. Both players are universally owned, so the rookie garnering 37.9% of the backfield share isn’t applicable to waiver plans as much as it comes as foreshadowing of whether Walker owners should feel comfortable relying on him in Week 15 lineups. Seattle faces the Philadelphia Eagles in the upcoming slate, and the matchup is poor enough where anyone who made the playoffs in spite of a substandard season by Walker should send him to the fake pine. Charbonnet’s role only amplifies the downside. On the other side of this split, Charbonnet needs to score a touchdown to justify a lineup spot, and Philly has permitted just two of those since Week 6.
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RB Ezekiel Elliott, New England Patriots
Rhamondre Stevenson‘s ankle injury from Week 13 opened the door for Ezekiel Elliott to put the offense on his back for 30 utilizations, with eight coming as targets, and he posted 27 PPR points for his best fantasy day since Week 1 of 2020. Zeke rushed for only 68 yards on his 22 attempts, which leaves much to be desired, and no one should expect that to drastically improve. Elliott’s versatility and ability to weather 25-plus touches week after week makes him an intriguing flex in Week 15. He faces a Kansas City defense that has allowed two RBs (James Cook and Josh Jacobs) to top 22 PPR points in the last three games, and they combined for nine catches in those outings.
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TE Isaiah Likely, Baltimore Ravens
Before Baltimore’s Week 13 bye week, Likely secured four of eight targets for 40 yards in his first bid to replace Mark Andrews (leg). The Ravens returned from the break to see the Los Angeles Rams give them everything they could handle. Gamers were rewarded with a 5-83-1 line, largely on the back of Likely catching a wide-open TD that spanned 54 yards. Owned in the vast majority of leagues — thanks an offensive design that makes tight ends a fixture in the game plan — Likely will be tough to sit going forward. His seven Week 14 targets and 15 since taking over lends to him being a must-start, even with a poor upcoming schedule.
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RB Chase Brown, Cincinnati Bengals
Available in 65% of leagues polled, Joe Mixon‘s backup has an explosive profile and can exploit defenses with a limited workload. And that’s exactly what anyone should expect form Brown as long as Mixon is healthy — a marginal share of the available touches. In some sense, he’s showcasing for the future RB1 gig, but for anyone concerned with the rest of the season, Brown is coming off an 11-utilization game and now has 20 total plays directed his way in the last two weeks. He has averaged 8.3 yards per touch in that span and scored in Week 14. There are components of each matchup over the next three weeks that point to Brown being useful for gamers in a bind. Scoop him up!
