Fantasy Football: Justin Jefferson finally gets right vs. Giants — Here are our bold predictions for Week 16

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The Yahoo Fantasy Football crew reveals their boldest takes for Week 16. Check out what Scott Pianowski, Matt Harmon, Ray Garvin, Chris Allen, Justin Boone and Joel Smyth have to say.

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Justin Jefferson Griddy’s his way into the top 24

Understandably, Jefferson is a name most fantasy managers want to forget. His best result in the last two months has been 16.7 PPR points (WR18). He’s probably the reason many are sitting in their consolation brackets now. But the Vikings still seem to throw the ball his way a lot. Despite posting his third straight game under five points, Jefferson was back above 30% of J.J. McCarthy’s targets (almost half of which were end-zone looks), and he led the team in air yards.

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Sure, the two were still out of sync, but at least McCarthy was calm, cool and collected in the pocket against Dallas (second game over 50% passing success rate). And against the Giants, there’s even less concern. From Terry McLaurin last week to Kayshon Boutte, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Christian Watson and Rome Odunze, WR1s have dominated New York’s secondary. And with the opportunity shifting back toward Jefferson, a WR2 finish for No. 18 shouldn’t be out of the question. — Chris Allen

Colston Loveland finishes as a top-5 fantasy TE

The main concern for Loveland’s fantasy stock this August was the competition around him. With so many mouths to feed, how will a rookie TE, although talented, break through? That becomes much less of a concern in Week 16 as Rome Odunze and Luther Burden III will both be out on Saturday night vs. the Packers. Loveland has already posted double-digit fantasy points in back-to-back games without Odunze, one versus the Packers defense. In the limited snaps with both Odunze and Burden on the sideline this season, Loveland has a team-high 31% target share. With no Devonte Wyatt and Micah Parsons to slow down the Bears’ run game, look for Loveland to capitalize on play action passes and the Bears’ high rate of two TE sets. — Joel Smyth

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Jauan Jennings finishes as a WR1 for the second straight week

Jennings has been excelling in the second half of the season with six touchdowns over his last six outings. He’s also coming off one of his best performances of the year, scoring twice en route to a WR11 result. Next up is a Colts defense that’s allowing the fourth-most fantasy points to receivers, including a top-12 weekly finisher at the position in four of their last five games. And if you’re wondering, the fifth outing occurred last week when Jaxon Smith-Njigba just missed the mark as the WR14. With Ricky Pearsall dealing with injuries again, there’s nothing stopping Jennings from helping you advance through the fantasy semifinals. — Justin Boone

DK Metcalf finishes as a top-10 WR

Somewhat predictably, Metcalf has been a volatile fantasy producer this season, playing on a funky passing offense where the nominal second running back leads the team in receptions. The odd blend of names involved in the 2025 Steelers offense on the field and captained by Arthur Smith has been…exactly what you’d expect. You need to try and guess the right Metcalf weeks and this certainly looks like one of them on the road against the Lions.

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No matter who is banged up for this team, Detroit plays as much man and single-high coverage as any NFL defense. Those looks funnel targets to the X-receiver and Metcalf is the only credible threat from that spot in the Steelers’ now veteran-heavy receiver room. Expect an old school passer like Rodgers to hit Metcalf on several isolated routes in single-high coverage this week on the way to at least 70 yards and a score. — Matt Harmon

Justin Herbert finishes as a top-10 QB on the week

Last week, J.J. McCarthy was my bold call and while QB7 isn’t quite QB5 the important takeaway was the read vs. the Dallas defense. Since Week 12, Dallas has allowed 267 passing yards per game, fourth-most in the NFL, 359 total yards, ninth-most and the second-worst sack rate 3.5%. DaRon Bland has a foot injury that may require surgery, Trevon Diggs has been out the majority of the season and the linebacker group is still struggling even after the trade for Logan Wilson.

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L.A.’s offense hasn’t been good for a month, yet this matchup is prime for eruption. Dallas is fifth-best vs. the run in that span, which just points to Justin Herbert pass attempts as the script. Omarion Hampton returned from injury and the flow of the backfield hasn’t produced the results we’ve wanted and again this is a tough matchup for the backs. I’m not bold enough to tell you which receiver smashes, but Herbert delivers. He has enough weapons. Plant it: top-10 week and his best fantasy finish in over a month. — Ray Garvin

Dallas Goedert finds pay dirt twice vs. Washington

We’ve been taking advantage of Cincinnati’s poor seam coverage all year and it’s been glorious. But it’s possible Washington’s tight-end marking is even worse, but it’s slightly mitigated by quality of opponent. Consider some of the recent results — the Giants racked up 6-107-0 against Washington last week through two tight ends, and the Vikings had three tight-end spikes the previous week (two for Josh Oliver, one for T.J. Hockenson). DVOA’s defensive metrics (which factor opponent strength) say the Commanders are the weakest team when it comes to stopping the tight end.

So Dallas Goedert, come on down. He’s been the TE11 and TE4 the last two weeks, and he’s already caught a career-best nine touchdowns. I see no reason why he can’t spike twice on Saturday in this prime spot. — Scott Pianowski

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