Fantasy Football Start/Sit: Hunter Henry, Darren Waller, Kenneth Walker

Week 17 of the fantasy football season has arrived, which means your fantasy season has boiled down to one final lineup decision… or 12 of them, depending on how much second-guessing you’ve done since Tuesday. For most leagues, this is Championship Week — the moment where legends are made, group chats are muted, and one questionable Flex decision can haunt you well into the offseason.

To help you avoid that particular brand of misery, we’ve turned to our Featured Pros for guidance. The sleepers and duds below reflect expert consensus on which players are set up to outperform expectations and which ones might be quietly plotting to sabotage your title run. Trust the process, trust the data and, above all, trust that you’re not alone in stressing over whether this is finally the week your gut gets it right.

Fantasy Football Week 17 Start/Sit Advice

Sleepers

Which player outside of the top 100 in the FantasyPros Flex rankings is a good sleeper start, and why do you think he has upside this week?

Hunter Henry (TE – NE)

“I like Hunter Henry as a solid tight end option this week. He faces a softer New York Jets defense this week and has been a really good player all year, outside of Week 15, when he faced the Buffalo Bills, who have locked down virtually every tight end they’ve faced. In five games since Week 10, Henry has finished as a top-14 tight end four times, showing his solid floor for this week.”
– Trevor Land (FlurrySports)

Darren Waller (TE – LV)

“Championship week is not a time to get cute or try to be brave. It is a time to go with the guys who brought you there. That is, unless you were streaming tight ends. At this point, owners need to look at players who might get targets and get into the end zone. Darren Waller is a player who can do both for the struggling Miami Dolphins. He had five targets with three receptions for 40 yards in Week 16. Those are decent numbers in a barren tight end wasteland. Miami isn’t an offensive juggernaut, but a tight end is always a player a young quarterback like Quinn Ewers can depend on.”
– Adam Dove (The Fantasy Couriers)

“The hot-and-cold return season for Dolphins tight end Darren Waller has been impossible to rely on. Fortunately for those with the 33-year-old as an available option, Week 17 presents a unique opportunity. Miami is hosting Tampa Bay, and the Buccaneers have been acting like a sieve for opposing tight ends. Over their last five games, they’ve allowed Colby Parkinson (14.1 PPR pts), Trey McBride (22.2) and Kyle Pitts (45.6) to score double-digit fantasy points. Even Carolina’s Ja’Tavion Sanders managed 8.9 points last week. I’ll take my chances with Waller here.”
– Matt De Lima (Athlon Sports)

Duds

Which player inside the top 40 in the FantasyPros Flex rankings is likely to disappoint fantasy managers this week?

Kenneth Walker III (RB – SEA)

“I understand he went nuclear last week, but I don’t think we need to panic and inflate Kenneth Walker’s value. In the three weeks before his outburst, he finished outside RB50 twice, with his best finish coming as RB36 against the Minnesota Vikings. With Zach Charbonnet vulturing much of his work in goal-line situations, Walker will need to bust off plenty of long runs against a tough Carolina Panthers defense again just to stay relevant.”
– Trevor Land (FlurrySports)

Kenneth Walker III had a couple of big plays last week against the Rams and scored 23.9 half-PPR fantasy points. In the 10 games before that, Walker had averaged 7.9 half-PPR fantasy points and had double-digit points in only two of those 10 games. Walker has had 11 or fewer carries eight times this year. He gets pulled at the goal line. His passing-game usage is erratic. I don’t dislike his Week 17 matchup against the Panthers, but a top-40 overall ranking seems like a case of recency bias.”
– Pat Fitzmaurice (FantasyPros)