That’s a wrap on the 2023 fantasy football regular season!
It’s been a wild ride the past 14 weeks, but now it’s time to look ahead. Let’s look ahead to what really matters, what everyone one of us is striving for…
It’s time to go ring chasing. It’s playoff time.
This week, we look in on the performances of three must-starts in fantasy: James Cook, Zay Flowers and Evan Engram. But first, the Quick Takes.
Quick Takes Starting Lineup
QB: Joe Flacco continues to get the job done! How did the Jets not bring him back!?
RB: Is Zeke a league winner?
RB: Breece Hall is going to be so good when he gets an actual QB.
WR: Is Drake London the best WR from last year’s draft class?
WR: Deebo Samuel has three straight games with 20-plus PPR fantasy points!
TE: David Njoku, Theo Gremminger was right!
The down game from David Njoku yesterday has reopened the David Njoku Buy Window!💰
Find out why @TheOGfantasy says he's the Best TE to Buy in Dynasy!⤵️
📺https://t.co/xjniCViQZu
🎧https://t.co/SMArvQ4OHR pic.twitter.com/ndZr2f25FI— PlayerProfiler (@rotounderworld) December 4, 2023
FLEX: Evan Engram might be a league winner at tight end.
SFLEX: Lamar Jackson. Have a day.
Takeaway #1: James Cook has to be in your lineups during the fantasy playoffs
It feels underreported, but James Cook has been awesome in fantasy since Joe Brady took over as play caller. That’s the same Joe Brady who was the play caller in Carolina when Christian McCaffrey was there.
It’s also worth noting that all of these outstanding performances have come against outstanding defenses.
Week 11 vs NYJ: 102 total yards, three catches , a TD and a defense that has always had the Bills’ number.
Week 12 @ PHI: 100 total yards, six catches and the least fantasy points allowed to RBs.
Week 13 @ KC: 141 total yards, five catches, and the 12th least fantasy points allowed to RBs.
Looking ahead, I don’t see how Cook’s role changes too much and considering what we have seen him do against good defenses, his upcoming schedule isn’t anything to shy away from.
The Bills have: Dallas at home in Week 15, away vs the Chargers in Week 16 and at home against New England in Week 17.
I don’t see how James Cook could possibly be on your bench in any of the upcoming weeks considering what he’s done over the past three weeks.
Takeaway #2: Zay Flowers is also a MUST START going forward
Since Mark Andrews went down, Zay Flowers has back-to-back 20-plus PPR fantasy performances.
8-plus targets in both games, 5-plus catches in both games and three TDs over those two games.
However, the most exciting thing about being a Flowers manager right now is the matchups he’s going to have in the fantasy playoffs:
At JAX: 7th most points allowed to WRs and have also allowed 15 total TDs, tied for the 3rd most in the league.
At SF: 9th most points allowed to WRs this season and have allowed the 4th most receptions to WRs.
vs MIA: Miami is about middle of the pack in terms of fantasy points allowed, but that game will almost certainly have an insane over/under projection and should be good for PLENTY of fantasy points.
Takeaway #3: Evan. Engram.
It’s definitely not a coincidence that Evan Engram‘s two biggest games of the season came in the two games Christian Kirk did not play.
Over the past two weeks, Engram has 20 catches, 177 yards and three TDs.
With Kirk now officially on IR, I don’t see how Engram slows down.
None of his playoff matchups are scary enough to stay away from him considering the Browns defense has been HISTORICALLY good in terms of fantasy points allowed to tight ends in 2023.
However, you probably didn’t notice because Engram gave them 11-95-2 served up on a silver platter.
Engram is a Top-3 TE ROS and I don’t even think that’s a hot take.
Thank you everyone for reading. Make sure to come hangout for Monday Night Tailgate at 7:30pm ET, as we try to make the Giants vs Packers game a little more entertaining by hammering some “can’t miss player props!”
You don’t want to miss it!
