Hello again, friends, and welcome back to Schedule Watch. This time around, we’re going to focus on players with favorable and unfavorable matchups during the fantasy football playoffs. For the sake of this exercise, we’ll assume that most head-to-head leagues hold their fantasy playoffs sometime between Weeks 14-17. We’ll save the lecture about not including Week 17 in your league’s fantasy playoffs for another day.

Now that we are more than halfway through the fantasy football season, it’s time to start thinking about the playoffs. Every year, fantasy owners who cruised through the regular season with the best record in their league are knocked out of the playoffs because they ran into tough matchups and weren’t prepared. Likewise, fantasy owners who just squeaked into the playoffs go on a run and find themselves in the championship because they made moves during the regular season to set up favorable matchups for the playoffs.

Whether it’s by trading players with difficult matchups for similar players with easier ones or finding the right kind of late-season value on the waiver wire, it’s time to start shaping your roster for a postseason run.

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Players with Favorable Fantasy Playoff Schedules

D.J. Chark (WR – JAX)
While he has mixed in some lackluster performances, Chark has seen consistent targets in the Jacksonville offense and has hauled in 39 passes for 660 yards and six touchdowns through eight games. Not only does he face off against the Raiders and Falcons in Weeks 15 and 16, but the Jaguars should get a boost from the return of Nick Foles at quarterback in a few weeks. While Gardner Minshew has been impressive since taking over, Foles should open up more of the playbook, especially in terms of downfield looks for receivers like Chark.

Joe Mixon (RB – CIN)
The Bengals are a mess right now, and they just benched Andy Dalton on his birthday in favor of rookie quarterback Ryan Finley. Some fantasy owners might be worried about Mixon in the second half, especially considering his poor numbers through eight games. But here’s the thing: four of Mixon’s final five games are against defenses ranked 25th (NYJ), 27th (CLE twice), and 30th (MIA) at stopping opposing running backs. Now is the time to buy low on Mixon.

Ryan Tannehill (RB – TEN)
Ryan Tannehill has reinvigorated the Tennessee Titans since taking over at quarterback for Marcus Mariota. He is still available in the majority of leagues, and his fantasy playoffs schedule is about as favorable as it gets: Week 14 at Oakland Raiders (32nd in the league against opposing quarterbacks), Week 15 at home vs. Texans (28th), Week 16 at home vs. Saints (20th), and Week 17 at Houston Texans (still 28th).

Players with Unfavorable Fantasy Playoffs Schedules

Derrick Henry (RB – TEN)
Through eight games, Henry has 581 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns to go with eight receptions for 128 yards and another touchdown. He has a pair of favorable matchups coming up, but his final seven weeks of the season are against defenses that are tougher against the run. In the fantasy playoffs, Henry goes up against the Raiders in Oakland in Week 14, the Houston Texans at home in Week 15, the New Orleans Saints at home in Week 16, and then the Texans again on the road in Week 17. The big one here, obviously, is that Saints matchup in Week 16, since that is the week of the fantasy championship in many leagues and New Orleans is currently fourth in the league at limiting fantasy points to opposing running backs.

Josh Allen (QB – BUF)
Josh Allen has yet to throw for 300 yards in a game in his career, but he has added appeal in fantasy because of his running ability. Unfortunately for fantasy owners, all six of his final games are against top-15 defenses at limiting fantasy points to quarterbacks. Three of those weeks, including Week 16 against the top-ranked Patriots defense, are against teams in the top five. Consider other options for the playoff push.

Tyrell Williams (WR – OAK)
Williams has missed two games this season, but he has a touchdown catch in all five of the games in which he has been able to play. But while it looks like Williams will be healthy for the second half of the season, he finishes the year against a series of tough defenses. He faces defenses ranked in the top 12 against opposing wide receivers in each of his final five games of the season, which four of those five defenses ranking inside the top 10.

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Mike Maher is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him on Twitter @mikeMaher.