Week 14 Fantasy Football Sneaky Starts & Sleepers

Dec 07, 2022

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The final Byemageddon is upon us. Six teams–the Falcons, Bears, Packers, Colts, Saints, and Commanders–are off this week. That alone would be enough to create roster chaos, but Lamar Jackson (PCL sprain), Ken Walker (ankle sprain), Jimmy Garoppolo (foot fracture), Treylon Burks (concussion), Courtland Sutton (hamstring), and Hayden Hurst (calf), among others, may/will miss time due to their various ailments.

All but the luckiest fantasy owners at some point need to find the proverbial diamond in the rough—a waiver wire or bench player capable of putting up some points in a pinch. This weekly feature is dedicated to that part of fantasy football. It's not pretty, but it's part of the game.

Below is a list of players who are ranked higher than usual due to injuries, depth chart changes, or favorable matchups. As the bye weeks hit, it’s important to be able to find players who can produce.

I’ll put the matchup along with our signature strength-of-schedule metric, adjusted fantasy points allowed (aFPA), in parenthesis. The higher the number, the better the matchup.

Quarterbacks

Kirk Cousins, Vikings (@ DET, 32)

Cousins is the fantasy QB15 on the season, which is a bit disappointing, but he has a great indoor matchup on tap. In the last four games, the Lions have given up an average of 24.8 fantasy points to the position.

Jared Goff, Lions (vs. MIN, 27)

The flip side of this matchup is favorable as well. The Vikings have yielded an average of 307 passing yards and 1.4 touchdowns per game since Week 9, and that includes 330+ yards to Josh Allen, Mac Jones, and Mike White.