This is it. We have arrived at Week 14, also known as the final week of the fantasy regular season. Time to put up or shut up. Sew up the first-round bye or squeak into the playoffs as a 6 seed. The rest will have to set their thermostat a bit lower this winter and bundle up without that extra jingle from their opponents’ pockets. Six teams have the unenviable Week 14 bye, casting a shadow on the fantasy teams on the bubble with Justin Fields or the scorching-hot Christian Watson. One final push to crack the tournament, where literally anything can happen.
Week 14 is a bear. The final slog of desperation and testing one’s mettle. Do you play it safe with what got you to this point, or do you go for broke with moves from your racing mind and dreams that jar you awake in a cold sweat? This is the game. Survive and advance. Trudge another step toward glory or fall on your shield. Here are the top fantasy football storylines for the momentous Week 14.
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Seller’s Remorse
The AJ Brown trade was just the straw that left the camel a paraplegic. Jon Robinson was fired as GM of the Tennessee Titans on Tuesday after a horrendous string of draft picks and free agency misfires. The move surprised some; the Titans are still firmly in the playoff hunt under excellent head coach Mike Vrabel. Just boil it all down to the Titans could really use an alpha WR on their team. Not only has Brown been more productive with the Philadelphia Eagles on his own than all of the Titans’ WR corps combined this season, but he massacred his former team on Sunday. Philly is a Super Bowl contender with AJ Brown, while the Titans were exposed as pretenders in the rugged AFC.
Rookie WR Treylon Burks, whom the Titans selected with the pick in the Brown trade, has been pretty good so far. He has not been anywhere near the dominant, game-breaking force as Brown, who now has nine touchdowns in his 12 games played. All the Titans had to do was copy all the other teams in their situation and sign their superstar 25-year-old WR to a contract extension. They refused and will now attempt to retool with another suit in charge of player personnel. Meanwhile, the juggernaut Eagles have a roster that will give the NFC nightmares for the foreseeable future.
Still Irrelevant
The San Francisco 49ers are cursed. The franchise has dealt with catastrophic injuries to key players every season for over a decade now. No blame is necessary; it is what it is. They have now lost their starting QB and former starting-now-backup QB to ankle and foot fractures this season. The final pick of the 2022 NFL Draft was a stunner at the time when the 49ers selected embattled Iowa State QB Brock Purdy. He is now thrust into the cockpit of a team with Super Bowl aspirations, and everyone should be absolutely terrified.
On one hand, landing with the 49ers was the best-case scenario for a signal caller of such profound limitations as Purdy. Kyle Shanahan runs a rhythmic offensive system riddled with play action and pre-snap motion to put weapons in space for easy throws. On the other hand, Purdy does not possess an NFL-level arm capable of tight-window or boundary throws, and his release would be better timed with a sundial. Even a sliver of game tape and Brock Purdy goes from serviceable fill-in with the most modest expectations to an absolute liability on the field. Can the 49ers continue to win regular season games with a championship defense and a full stable of weapons? Yes, but their run through the playoffs is likely doomed with a third-string QB at the steering wheel.
The Cleaner
Don’t quote me on this stat, but it feels like Amon-Ra St. Brown and D’Andre Swift have been tackled at the one-yard line a hundred times this season. Veteran RB Jamaal Williams has cleaned up the rest with a league-leading 14 touchdowns. Eight of those scores have come from exactly one yard out, while Jamaal has punched in a couple more from the two-yard line. He can’t keep getting away with this…right? Unfortunately for Swift and Sun God managers, this is Williams’ role in the Lions’ offense. He is the hammer behind a vicious offensive line and will continue to find the paint.
Detroit is also clinging to playoff hopes as winners of four of their last five games. With five games remaining, only the next two are against teams with a winning record. As long as he is healthy, Jamaal Williams will pile on the easy fantasy points. He is of the same ilk as James Conner in Arizona, where his specific role is as pure as Fiji water for fantasy football. If the Lions are in a scoring position, they will feed No. 30, and he will succeed. Williams has become one of the best draft values in the game this season, despite drawing the ire of every Swift manager who has been jilted by Detroit’s RB usage.
As Nice as Rice
Some NFL players are so utterly dominant that they even excel in the toughest matchups. Jerry Rice is the greatest football player I have ever seen on the offensive side of the ball. His insane production throughout a long and prosperous career might never be matched, even with today’s passing-friendly rules. One player who has as good of a chance to meet Rice at the apex of the WR god tier is Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson. He had a “down” game versus the Jets on Sunday and still put up 45 yards on seven receptions and a touchdown versus the AFC’s best tandem of CBs. DJ Reed Jr. and Sauce Gardner were like Velcro on Jefferson, yet he was persistently in a position to catch the football.
Jefferson set the mark for most receiving yards through a player’s first three seasons a couple of weeks ago. His success has been as staggeringly consistent as it has been immediate, from his time at LSU to the first time he set foot on an NFL field. Justin Jefferson’s pace is down to only 1,808 receiving yards with three to play. He and fellow megastar Davante Adams will still have a crack at Calvin Johnson’s single-season record of 1,964 receiving yards. The answer to which player should have gone 1.01 in preseason drafts was easy: Justin Jefferson or Travis Kelce. He is a transcendent mainstay on every playoff-bound fantasy roster I manage and is, as far as I’m concerned, untouchable in dynasty. We are witnessing something truly special. I will certainly try my best to soak it in.
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