🐻 Rome Odunze and Luther Burden have both been ruled out for the Bears contest against the Packers, pushing D.J. Moore and Colston Loveland to the top of the pecking order. We all know what Loveland is capable of, and while Moore hasn’t been fun to start most weeks, I think he’s still a good receiver. He has outperformed his expected fantasy points based on his usage, albeit by a small amount. His efficiency isn’t what it was in years past, but neither is his target competition. You have Odunze, Burden, Loveland, and Cole Kmet, all viable NFL starters competing for targets. A bump in usage could really help him out in Week 16, and your teams stand to benefit. 🐻

🧀 In the last six weeks, no team has given up more points in the slot than the Chicago Bears. Where does Jayden Reed see the majority of his snaps? Out wi…just kidding, in the slot. He saw his snaps increase from 47% to 65% last week, about where I expect him to stay. Christian Watson is dealing with an injury, and Reed is the Packers’ most dynamic receiving weapon behind Watson. Their games differ, but both can be used for explosive chunk games with schemed touches. I would not be surprised if Reed has a big game on Saturday.

🟠 Start Harold Fannin. I won’t bore you this time with my weekly “here’s what he’s done with Shedeur Sanders at QB.” Just start him.

🏹 Long-time readers know my love for Gardner Minshew. But Minshew is not Patrick Mahomes, and the Chiefs are not the Chiefs of old. Thankfully, the Titans have no one on defense aside from Jeffery Simmons, but even so, trusting anyone is tough. You likely have to start Travis Kelce, but that’s about it for KC, especially since Rashee Rice is likely out.

🐬 Down in Miami, the Dolphins made a switch at quarterback to Quinn Ewers, with Tua Tagovailoa shoved all the way down to the emergency third QB. HC Mike McDaniel is just done with Tua, and he wants to see some new blood in there to close out the season. Who he gets at QB next year, I don’t know.

What I do know is that all of a sudden, it is very tough to start Jaylen Waddle. Add in the fact that corner DJ Turner has been very good, and we have a fade spot for Waddle, even if Turner doesn’t shadow. However, Ewers could lean on his tight end and running back in the short area checkdowns. With the matchup against the Bengals being so good, I do think Darren Waller is worth a look, and De’Von Achane is still a strong play. 🐬

Would you like to guess who is 12th in the NFL in total targets since Week 11? If you guessed Adonai Mitchell, you were right! The New Orleans defense is nothing to be scared of, and Mitchell had a nice game with Brady Cook under center. Of course, you are counting on Brady Cook, and when Mitchell doesn’t go off, it’s been bad. As in 4 receptions on 19 targets bad. But you could do worse (see the Colts below, for example). ✈

⛪ Tyler Shough led the Saints in rushing in Week 15, but you can’t start him at running back. If you are absolutely decimated at running back and need a start or are in a deep format, Audric Estime is who I would turn to if I had to pick a Saints RB. He had three carries to Evan Hull’s four, but importantly, Estime had three receptions. I will always lean toward the back who looks to have the edge in receiving when the rushing work is fairly split.

Going back to Shough, the Jets have arguably the worst secondary in the league. How bad, you might ask? We are 15 weeks into the 2025 NFL season, and the Jets have yet to record a single interception. They also boast the third-worst pressure rate in the NFL and give up the fifth-most adjusted yards per attempt. Now watch the commentator curse hit as Shough throws an INT to the Jets, but I don’t think that alone means you should sit him! ⛪

🟣 JJ McCarthy’s first six games: 6 TD, 10 INT, 155 YPG, 3.8 A/YA, 57.9 passer rating. His last two? 5 TD, 1 INT, 207 YPG, 10 A/YA, 120 passer rating. Yes, those games came against the Cowboys and Commanders’ patchwork secondaries. But guess what? This week, he gets the Giants, who aren’t much better. They have allowed passing 24 TDs, and their 5 INTs rank tied 30th-worst in the NFL.

🏴‍☠ Oh, what could have been with Mike Evans. He got off to a slow start, got hurt, came back, and got hurt again. But he returned in a big way against Atlanta. Even with Chris Godwin and Jalen McMillan back in the lineup, Evans amassed 12 targets, five more than Emeka Egbuka, who was in second. Carolina isn’t a plus matchup for receivers this year, but with playoff seeding on the line, I expect Tampa to get Evans going early.

🐆 Fresh off a three-year deal, Jakobi Meyers gets to face the Denver Broncos, a team he’s gotten familiar with over the last few years. I’m not sure if Patrick Surtain will shadow Meyers or Brian Thomas Jr., but I think with how the offense has finally started to click using HC Liam Coen’s scheme, both are startable.

🟡 Since Week 10, Kenneth Gainwell is the RB12 in PPG. Some of you may remember I had Gainwell as a sleeper two years ago when D’Andre Swift was in Philly. It didn’t work out then, but hey, never wrong, just early, right? He’s outpacing Jaylen Warren in YPC 5.6 to 3.9. Gainwell only trails Jahmyr Gibbs in receptions in that span. The Steelers will need his receiving prowess against Gibbs and the Lions on Sunday in what is the highest projected game total of the week. ⚫

🐮 I’m not sure how, but Dalton Schultz is a TE1 since Week 7 and has a 21% target share. Houston are heavy favorites against Las Vegas, which could mean a lot of rushing work for the Texans. However, to get out to a big lead, someone has to score, right? I’ll lean on the current No.2 target in a surging offense.

🇺🇸 New England vs Baltimore is such a weird game to me. I don’t feel comfortable starting any pass catcher. Maybe Zay Flowers, but he will have a Christian Gonzalez problem. Start TreVeyon Henderson and Derrick Henry. Start the quarterbacks, and get out.

⛏ Jauan Jennings currently has the seventh most red zone targets among WRs in 2025. Since Week 9, he’s the WR18 in PPR PPG among receivers with 3+ games played with a near 23% target share. Ricky Pearsall has played in every game since Week 11 with at least a 58% snap share. Sadly, the 58% share game happened to be his best, and he exited the game with an injury and did not practice on Thursday. Pearsall is just too injured to be trusted at this point. To be fair, you’re injury-prone until you aren’t, but do you feel good banking on Pearsall if he’s active? 🔴

🐴 Sit all Colts not named Jonathan Taylor. Philip Rivers threw for only 120 yards last week, and Ameer Abdullah led the Colts in receptions and receiving yards, just like we saw coming. Abdullah, Michael Pittman, Tyler Warren, and Josh Downs all had between 6-5 targets. Alec Peirce, who looked to be on his way to a nice payday and fantasy breakout, had a single target.