Welcome to the Monday edition of the Daily Dose newsletter, our “Fantasy Fallout” day. In this article, you will get a quick rundown of the relevant things we learned from the week’s games from Thursday through Sunday. 

We won’t talk about every single player and we usually won’t spend time on studs who go nuts (no one needs to be told to start Saquon Barkley right now!), but rather, the idea is to update you on usage trends, injuries, and other relevant things to help your decisions with your teams.

Broncos @ Chargers

• Justin Herbert threw for 284 yards and two TDs as the Chargers rallied back to beat Denver, 34-27. 
• Gus Edwards rushed for 68 yards and two TDs, his best performance of the season. The Chargers face the Patriots next week, and Edwards will be in fantasy consideration against a weak NE run D
• Courtland Sutton’s 5-50 performance was his worst fantasy outing in almost 2.5 months. He remains heavily involved and should still be started with confidence.

Texans @ Chiefs

It’s Championship week! All of our draft planning, trading, and waiver activity over the season comes down to this. Depending on your league’s format, you might be playing for one of the top few spots or prizes, trying to win a consolation bracket, or playing to avoid a last-place penalty/punishment.

With nothing to play for in the majority of leagues past this week, you won’t find any FAAB recommendations below as there is nothing to save or budget for into future weeks. I will continue to list waiver options by position and priority. As usual, make adjustments based on your own league’s specific settings.

These are the top players to consider adding from waivers this week. Unless otherwise noted, all players below are available in greater than 50% of Yahoo leagues (as of Sunday evening).

QB Pickups

Bo Nix (62% rostered, at CIN) and Anthony Richardson (59% rostered, at NYG) are the top streaming options for me, if available.

Michael Penix Jr., ATL, Week 17 at WAS

• Penix made his first career start against an overmatched Giants team last week and appeared comfortable while moving the Falcons’ offense down the field and passing for 202 scoreless yards. The game got out of hand quickly and Kyle Pitts dropped a would-be TD directly into a defender’s hands for an INT, or Penix’s stats would have looked better.
• Low-priority add. Penix is widely available and on the streaming radar this week playing at the Commanders on Sunday Night Football in a game with a respectable 47.5-point implied total. 

RB Pickups

At this point in the season, most trade deadlines have passed so the “Buy Low, Sell High” article no longer makes sense! In its place, on Wednesdays we will give you a quick summary of each game’s important information to know and pay attention to as you get ready for your lineup decisions in these key weeks to end the season and into the playoffs.

Seahawks @ Bears

• Spread/Total: SEA -3.5 // 43.5
• Weather: 40’s, slight chance of rain
• Key Injuries to Monitor:
  • Seattle RB Kenneth Walker is out
• Matchup Notes:
  • Seattle RB Zach Charbonnet is in line for another massive workload, this time against the league’s 31st-ranked run defense, with Walker expected to miss.
  • Seattle needs to win this week to set-up a showdown for the NFC West in Week 18.

Chargers @ Patriots

Some things in fantasy football are easy. We know we should start Ja’Marr Chase and Saquon Barkley. We know we should bench the backup running back who is only on our roster in case of injury. A lot of the decisions are made for us. However, there are a lot of things that are not so simple. All of the “in between” situations are what can make the difference between a few wins and losses, and therefore it can be the difference between a successful season or a failed season. Every Friday, we are here to help!!

I’ll take questions each week in our #fantasy-football channel in our Discord from people looking for Start/Sit advice and give my thoughts. This article on Fridays will feature a few of those questions and responses, so join our Discord to be a part of the conversation or ask questions of your own!!

Question 1:: I’m in the fantasy Super Bowl. I have Jalen Hurts in my starting lineup. I have the option to start Bo Nix or Caleb Williams. Not knowing the status of Hurts, would you start one of the two I mentioned? (Mike1377)

Answer:: I would not have started Williams in that situation, on a short week in questionable weather and with how ugly the Bears’ offense has looked. By the time Nix plays, if we don’t have strong reason to believe Hurts is playing then I would start Nix. Personally I don’t expect Hurts to play, as the concussion and his playing style put him at a big risk and a second such injury at this point would probably end his season and, effectively, Philadelphia’s Super Bowl chances. So unless we get word that Hurts has cleared concussion protocol or is almost certain to start, I think you have to start Nix in a strong matchup in the fantasy championship.

Question 2:: For the championship. Half-PPR. Bo Nix or Sam Darnold? Jalen McMillan or Jameson Williams? (nabamen)

The weekend is here and it’s time to get our lineups set before Sunday’s full slate of games. Each week, the Saturday edition of the Daily Dose will feature my rankings for all players who have yet to play a game this week. Obviously this will not include the Thursday games, but feel free to hit me up in Discord if you have some tough decisions around guys who play on Thursday. 

Most of the leagues I play in are full-PPR, 12-team leagues and these rankings are designed for those settings – you may need to make some slight adjustments based on your own league settings.

QB:: 

1. Josh Allen
2. Jayden Daniels
3. Joe Burrow
4. Baker Mayfield
5. Sam Darnold 
6. Jared Goff
7. Bo Nix
8. Justin Herbert
9. Jordan Love
10. Brock Purdy
11. Kyler Murray
12. Anthony Richardson
13. Drake Maye
14. Matthew Stafford
15. Tua Tagovailoa
16. Bryce Young
17. Aaron Rodgers
18. Michael Penix Jr.
19. Mason Rudolph
20. Mac Jones
21. Aidan O’Connell
22. Cooper Rush

RB:: 

Note: With most fantasy leagues holding their championships in Week 17, we are offering a complimentary look at Mike Johnson’s weekly FanDuel Leverage article, which is available to all Inner Circle members throughout the season on OWS.

Good luck to those fighting for championships today and tomorrow night! For those whose seasons have ended and are still craving a fantasy sweat, read on for some strategy angles that could help you if you decide to jump into FanDuel Week 17 play!

This article is specifically designed to give you some ideas on ways that we can use strategy to jump ahead of the field on FanDuel. Touchdowns play an even bigger role on FanDuel than on DraftKings because receptions are only worth half a point. Touchdowns used to be an even bigger deal before they added bonuses for yardage totals, but it’s still something we need to focus on because of the reception difference and how they price their players. Touchdowns have a high degree of variance and since they carry so much weight on FanDuel, this article will focus on ways each week that we can Leverage that variance to jump ahead of the field when things don’t go exactly as expected as far as who crosses the imaginary line while holding the football.

Michael Penix + Darnell Mooney + Olamide Zaccheaus

• A week after Penix flopped at high ownership and min-price, he is likely to go overlooked in an above average matchup. Penix looked the part last week, he just didn’t need to do that much. Jayden Daniels will be highly owned as people look to ride the momentum from his electric performance last week, but if this game becomes high scoring then betting on Penix and Mooney to connect a week after it was cool to do so could be massively valuable and save salary off of Daniels. Zaccheaus had a huge 4th quarter last week and Dyami Brown is out this week, leaving him to a full-time role at modest ownership and a low salary.

Jordan Love + Jayden Reed + Tucker Kraft