Lesser names carried many teams in Week 16’s Christmas-themed extravaganza, which brought a lump of coal for fantasy football gamers who suffered through low utilization by prominent running backs in Joe Mixon, Alvin Kamara, Kenneth Walker III, Travis Etienne, Tony Pollard, De’Von Achane, and Ty Chandler.
At receiver, several top names also went over as well as a child opening giftwrapped socks. A dozen targets for Cooper Kupp generated just 52 scoreless yards on a 50% reception rate. Stefon Diggs‘ struggles marched on with a 29-yard day on eight targets. Diontae Johnson had been heating up before fizzling out in Week 16, and low production by DeAndre Hopkins also put trusting fantasy managers in a hole. Davante Adams couldn’t have been much worse given that his quarterback threw for 62 total yards
Tight end once again gave us several players who saw at least six targets but did nothing of fantasy value with the opportunities. Guys like Tyler Conklin, Jonnu Smith, Jake Ferguson, Trey McBride all failed to break into double figures in point-per-reception scoring. Detroit’s Sam LaPorta was a major disappointment — a week after catching three touchdowns — by corralling as many catches in total on a trio of targets. Cole Kmet (knee) left early, and the same happened with T.J. Hockenson (knee). Travis Kelce tried his best to steal Christmas.
