Fantasy Football Championship Fades: Pair of Eagles receivers among players to consider avoiding in Week 17

Sports

add

Welcome to Week 17 of the fantasy fades and busts of the week — championship week and the finale of this column! I am your host, Matt Okada, and have pulled together half a dozen players to avoid one last time! As a note, just because a player earns a “fade” or “bust” designation doesn’t automatically mean they should be benched — it depends on the rest of your roster or the options on your waiver wire. But you can expect them to fall short of expectations (when I get them right).

[Upgrade to Fantasy Plus and gain your edge in player projections and much more]

Merry Christmas and, without further ado, here is my list for Week 17 of the 2025 season.

Advertisement

RB Breece Hall, New York Jets

All season long, I’ve actively attempted to avoid going back-to-back with a player in this column. But with Breece Hall remaining on the edge of RB2 territory in most rankings — and heavily started in most leagues — I feel compelled to offer one last reminder on the former top-five fantasy back.

With the devolution of the Jets offense, Hall has been unplayably inefficient for three straight weeks now, averaging just 5.4 points per game over that span despite seeing at least 14 opportunities in all three contests. His 3.3 yards per carry following New York’s Week 9 bye is fourth-worst among all qualified running backs and he’s scored just one touchdown in his last six games. Now, he draws a matchup with the Patriots defense, which has been lights out against the position all season. Barring a sudden resurgence in his receiving work — Hall has just 31 receiving yards over the last month — the former must-start RB is a must-sit in Week 17.

Advertisement

What to do ❓ I suppose those who continue to rank Hall as a borderline RB2 are doing so based purely on volume, but it still doesn’t make much sense. That volume could diminish as the Jets wind down a lost season, and even if it doesn’t, his lack of efficiency takes him off the starting radar outside of deep-league flexes.

RB Rico Dowdle, Carolina Panthers

Former fantasy darling Rico Dowdle led off the “Stock Down at RB” section of my weekly Stock Report column, and the decline should drop him all the way out of lineups in the fantasy championship. He has scored just one touchdown over his last five games and logged fewer than 60 rushing yards in six straight, while Chuba Hubbard continues to leech just enough volume to hurt Dowdle’s upside.

In Week 17, he and the Panthers clash with a Seattle defense that’s surrendered 13+ fantasy points to just one running back in the last 11 weeks (Kyren Williams, who scored 16.1). If they can suppress backs like Bijan Robinson, Jonathan Taylor and Williams, they can hold Dowdle to another single-digit Sunday.

Advertisement

What to do ❓ Dowdle is always a threat to break off a big play on the ground or through the air, so I like him a bit more than Breece Hall, but he still belongs in RB3 territory for this weekend.

WR DeVonta Smith, Philadelphia Eagles

On the one hand, DeVonta Smith has seen 8+ targets in four of his last five games, a product of Philadelphia’s extremely narrow target distribution. On the other, he’s only logged more than 50 receiving yards once since Week 11 and has consequently posted single-digit fantasy points four times over that span, despite a run of mostly “green” matchups. Against the one tough defense he’s faced through this late-season stretch —the Chargers — Smith caught just four passes for 37 yards. And now he heads to Buffalo to face the Bills secondary at Highmark Stadium in freezing temperatures, high winds and definite rain (or snow). It’s shaping up to be a heavy ground game for both teams and would likely take a miracle downfield touchdown for Smith to return starting value this weekend.

What to do ❓ Unless you have no better options — someone like Jakobi Meyers, Wan’Dale Robinson or even Stefon Diggs — send Smith to the bench in this one. It has all the makings of a three-catch, 30-yard dud.

Advertisement

WR Ladd McConkey, Los Angeles Chargers

What I really mean here is to bench every Chargers wide receiver (and tight end), but I’ve highlighted Ladd McConkey for the convenience of our fearless editors and social team. Also, he’s the most highly started (and ranked) of the trio, ahead of Quentin Johnston and Keenan Allen. But let me repeat: sit everyone in this Los Angeles air attack on Saturday.

They’ve been horribly unproductive lately, outside of last week against the Cowboys defense (if you can call that a defense), and welcome the ravenous Texans secondary into SoFi this weekend. No single slice of this pie is reliable or trustworthy enough to start, and with a dysfunctional offensive line and a battered Justin Herbert, the overall pie isn’t great either. You’re basically taking a nearly blind shot on which receiver will catch a touchdown (if any) and hoping that’s enough to elevate an otherwise lackluster day against Derek Stingley Jr. and Co.

Advertisement

What to do ❓ Bench them all. Seriously. Ladd McConkey falls below names like Diggs and Robinson (mentioned above), as well as all the WR3 Juniors — Brian Thomas Jr., Chris Godwin Jr., Michael Pittman Jr. and Marvin Harrison Jr. … And I wouldn’t touch Johnston or Allen with a 39-and-a-half-foot pole.

TE Dallas Goedert, Philadelphia Eagles

For three straight weeks, Dallas Goedert has been a shining light for the Philly offense and for fantasy football. He’s snagged 17 catches for 180 yards and three touchdowns over that span and scored double-digit fantasy points in all three. But all good things must come to an end. As I noted with Smith above, the weather in Buffalo looks absolutely atrocious for Sunday afternoon, and while the Bills are decent against wideouts, they’re downright terrifying against tight ends. Only the Eagles themselves have allowed fewer points per game to the position, and Buffalo’s “softest” showing against a tight end was Evan Engram’s 11.3 points back in Week 5. On the whole, they’ve allowed the fewest receptions and second-fewest yards and touchdowns to tight ends all season. Unless Jalen Hurts forces the ball to Goedert, which seems unlikely in this weather, he’s going to be yet another victim of this run-funnel defense.

What to do ❓ If you’re starting Goedert in your fantasy championship, you’re in trouble. Go with your alternate tight end if you have one, or try to find a streamer on the waiver wire if not. Dalton Schultz, Darren Waller and Colston Loveland would all work, and you might even consider dropping to AJ Barner in a pinch.

This news was originally published on this post .

Share on

email

Previous

trending_flat

ONLINE: Videomomenty ze zápasu Olomouc – Vítkovice

Sports

Next

trending_flat

Atlético-MG tenta a contratação de Fred, do Fenerbahçe

Extra, Futebol, Mercado da Bola