play0:35How George Pickens paid off for fantasy managers in Week 16Liz Loza breaks down George Pickens’ nice fantasy game vs. the Chargers.
Eric Moody: Chase Brown firmly on RB1 radar for Week 17 (0:52)Eric Moody breaks down Chase Brown’s nice fantasy game vs. the Dolphins. (0:52)
How George Pickens paid off for fantasy managers in Week 16Liz Loza breaks down George Pickens’ nice fantasy game vs. the Chargers.
Tristan H. Cockcroft breaks down his concerns surrounding Giants QB Jaxson Dart heading in fantasy Week 17.
Matt Bowen and Tristan H. CockcroftDec 21, 2025, 06:27 PM ET
Week 16 of the 2025 fantasy football season featured standout performances by Chase Brown, Trevor Lawrence, Puka Nacua, while Josh Allen, Josh Jacobs and Baker Mayfield disappointed.
5. Chris Olave, WR, New Orleans Saints: Olave had a season-high 36.8 points in the Week 16 blowout win over a quickly fading Jets team. Olave caught 10 of 14 targets for 148 yards and two touchdowns on explosive-play throws. The clear top option for rookie quarterback Tyler Shough, who continues to show rapid growth in Kellen Moore’s offense, Olave will be a fringe WR1 for the Week 17 game versus the Titans. –Bowen
6. Justin Herbert, QB, Los Angeles Chargers: He enjoyed a season-best 30.20-point performance behind a pair of touchdowns passing and one rushing. Herbert’s favorable matchup against the Dallas Cowboys played right into his hands, and he’s seemingly playing directly to his matchups of late. With that in mind, Herbert will have his work cut out for him the next two weeks facing two of the league’s toughest defenses in the Houston Texans and Denver Broncos. — Cockcroft
9. George Pickens, WR, Dallas Cowboys: In a tough matchup versus the Chargers’ pass defense, Pickens had 26.0 points, his highest total since Week 12. Pickens caught seven of nine targets for 130 yards (18.6 YPC), plus he added a touchdown on a 38-yard grab. With a prime Week 17 matchup versus the Washington defense on Christmas Day, Pickens will move back into my WR1 ranks. Playmaking upside here in the Cowboys route tree. — Bowen
How George Pickens paid off for fantasy managers in Week 16
Liz Loza breaks down George Pickens’ nice fantasy game vs. the Chargers.
4. Drake London, WR, Atlanta Falcons: London returned to the field for the first time since Week 11 (knee), but he failed to make an impact in Sunday’s win over the Cardinals. Yes, London was targeted eight times by quarterback Kirk Cousins, so the volume was there. However, London caught only three passes for 27 yards (5.7 points). Not the return managers were expecting, but London will have an opportunity to rebound in Week 17 against the Rams secondary. — Bowen
7. Baker Mayfield, QB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: In the Week 16 loss to the Panthers, Mayfield scored 12.7 points. Yes, he completed almost 70% of his throws while also rushing for 49 yards. However, he finished with only 145 passing yards and a touchdown, and his late-fourth-quarter interception closed the door on the game. Mayfield has topped the 200-yard passing mark just once in his past six games, and even with a positive Week 17 matchup versus Miami, he’ll remain in the QB2 ranks. — Bowen
What we know: Judkins suffered a broken leg in the second quarter versus the Bills, taking a low hit on a swing pass. An air cast was applied on the field, and Judkins left on a cart. He was immediately ruled out of the game. Before exiting, Judkins had 10.1 points.
What’s next: With Dylan Sampson (hand) still out, Raheim Sanders had 46 total yards on 12 touches in relief of Judkins on Sunday. Sanders, who is available in over 98% of ESPN leagues, could be in line to start the Week 17 game versus the Steelers. Stay tuned. — Bowen
What we know: McCarthy injured his throwing hand in the second quarter versus the Giants on a sack from edge rusher Brian Burns. McCarthy was checked on the sideline by the team training staff before leaving for the locker room. He was later ruled out of the game. McCarthy had 8.32 points on the day.
What we know: Mayfield tore an ACL during the second quarter of the Week 16 loss to the Titans. Minshew completed 3 of 8 passes for 15 yards before exiting the game.
1. Chase Brown, RB, Cincinnati Bengals: His 32.9 fantasy points set a personal best, and most importantly considering his team’s shoddy defense, he scored a pair of receiving touchdowns in the effort. Brown steadily chipped away at a bad Miami Dolphins run defense, with every one of his 12 carries gaining at least 1 yard but only two going for 10-plus yards, and he has now averaged at least 5 yards per carry in four of six games since the bye. He’s a top-10 fantasy running back for championship week against the Arizona Cardinals. — Cockcroft
2. Puka Nacua, WR, and Matthew Stafford, QB, Los Angeles Rams: Nacua’s fantasy managers got a head start in their championship matchups as the star wide receiver scored a career-high 46.5 fantasy points to take over the positional lead in scoring for the season from “Thursday Night Football” opponent Jaxon Smith-Njigba (Nacua 333.3, Smith-Njigba 329.3). With the effort, Nacua is in the early lead for the honor of fantasy playoffs MVP, thanks in large part to his having joined Isaac Bruce (Weeks 5-8 of 1995) as the only players since the NFL merger to amass at least 167 receiving yards in three consecutive games. Stafford, meanwhile, scored a season-high 30.88 fantasy points to put him over 300 for the third time in his career and first since 2021. Both players should continue to carry fantasy managers in what is an even more favorable matchup against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 17. In Nacua’s case, that Davante Adams (hamstring) is unlikely to play for the second consecutive week only boosts the odds that he’ll have another big game. — Cockcroft
3. Trevor Lawrence, QB, Jacksonville Jaguars: He’d be a prime candidate for fantasy playoff MVP after his back-to-back weeks with 30-plus fantasy points, if not for the fact that he was minimally started in ESPN leagues, 23.2% of them in Week 15 and 18.5% this week. Still, Lawrence has thrown for at least three touchdowns while rushing for at least one in each of those games, and his position-leading 31.16 fantasy points were especially shocking considering the difficulty of the Denver Broncos matchup. He’s as scorching hot as they come, and he’ll get the Indianapolis Colts, a more middling pass defense, next. — Cockcroft
4. Ashton Jeanty, RB, Las Vegas Raiders: In a tough matchup versus the Houston defense, Jeanty scored 31.8 points, his highest total since back in Week 4 versus the Bears (33.35 points). Jeanty saw a season-high 24 carries, but it was the explosive plays — in both the run and pass game — that jumped here. Jeanty, who finished with 128 yards rushing, had a 51 yard touchdown run, plus he made a house call on his only reception, going 60 yards for score. With the New York Giants up next in Week 17, we expect Jeanty to play a volume role again, putting him in the RB1 discussion. — Bowen
7. Joe Burrow, QB, Cincinnati Bengals: After a really rough Week 15 performance versus the Ravens (5.5 points), Burrow bounced back in Sunday’s win over the Dolphins, posting a season-high 29.96 points. Burrow threw for 309 yards (another season high), and he hit the four-touchdown mark for the second time in his past three games. Burrow was dialed-in too, throwing to every level of the field against the Miami defense, with Ja’Marr Chase bringing in nine passes for 109 yards. With a Week 17 matchup against the Cardinals, managers can lock in Burrow as a midtier QB1. — Bowen
8. James Cook III, RB, Buffalo Bills: Cook carried the Bills offense in Sunday’s win over the Browns, scoring 26.4 points. Cook had 117 yards rushing on 17 carries, adding two touchdowns, and he had 17 yards on his only reception. Cook found open running lanes against the Browns, pressing the ball to the second and third levels of the field. Elusive vision there. And speed. Cook is now averaging 28.8 PPG over his past two, and he’ll remain in my RB1 ranks for the Week 17 matchup versus the Eagles. — Bowen
10. Kenneth Walker III, RB, Seattle Seahawks: Walker had a season-best 25.4 points in the Thursday night win over the Rams. Walker, who finished with 164 total yards in this one (on 14 touches), used his vision and open-field ability to create explosive plays. Walker had a 55-yard touchdown run, plus he turned a screen pass into a 46-yard gain. Walker will continue to operate in a backfield split with Zach Charbonnet (12 touches Thursday), which keeps him in the RB2 range for the Week 17 matchup versus the Carolina defense. — Bowen
11. Kyle Pitts Sr., TE, Atlanta Falcons: In a hot streak that everyone has been waiting for the past five seasons, he has scored at least 15 fantasy points in four consecutive games. To put that into perspective, Pitts had eight games of 15-plus points total in his first 72 career NFL contests. He was a machine during the Falcons’ final drive of the first half, capping it with a five-yard touchdown catch, continuing to show remarkable chemistry with quarterback Kirk Cousins. Pitts is a locked-in, top-10 fantasy tight end for the duration, even with a tougher matchup against the Los Angeles Rams up next in Week 17. — Cockcroft
12. Harold Fannin Jr., TE, Cleveland Browns: David Njoku’s (knee) absence, for the second consecutive week, helped Fannin’s cause, as the rookie tight end tied for the team lead in targets (6). He’d need every one of them, as Shedeur Sanders generally targeted Fannin on short routes, but the two connected on a 13-yard first-quarter score, and Fannin later added a 1-yard rushing touchdown. Fannin now has 175.4 fantasy points for the season, seventh most all time by a rookie tight end (though Tyler Warren can pass and push him back to eighth on Monday night). Make sure he’s in your lineup for Week 17 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. — Cockcroft
1. Josh Allen, QB, Buffalo Bills: His 6.90 fantasy points represented a season low at the absolute worst time for his managers. Allen was facing one of his tougher matchups — the Cleveland Browns had limited quarterbacks to the fourth-fewest fantasy points per game entering the week — and he suffered a foot injury on a sack late in the second quarter, which might have hampered him during a second half in which he passed for only 44 yards and ran for minus-2 yards (on kneel-downs at the game’s end). That said, he doesn’t have a much easier matchup in the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 17, though that seems likely to be a higher-scoring game in which Allen will need to be more of the offensive focal point. If you manage to advance this week despite his low score, he should rebound next week. — Cockcroft