Top 3 Fantasy Football Storylines of Week 16 (2025)

The top fantasy football storylines for the semi-finals of the fantasy football season begin on Thursday Night Football. A Saturday contest is also an intriguing one. Finally, a backfield with a fantasy-friendly matchup warrants investigation.

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Fantasy Football Storylines

How Will the Rams Perform Without Davante Adams?

The Rams and Seahawks will get Week 16 started with a crucial NFC West battle. The game’s winner will lead the NFC West and hold the NFC’s No. 1 seed. Los Angeles is a 1-point favorite in Seattle. The game’s spread is just 44.5 points, potentially setting the stage for a slugfest.

The Rams narrowly beat the Seahawks 21-19 in Week 11 when Jason Myers missed a would-be game-winning 61-yard field goal attempt. It wasn’t a banner day for the Rams on offense. Matthew Stafford completed only 15-of-28 attempts for 130 yards and two touchdowns. Stafford scored only 13.2 fantasy points that week, his second-lowest output of the year, finishing as the QB16.

Stafford had both Puka Nacua and Davante Adams in the first meeting against Seattle’s talented defense, and Adams caught one of Stafford’s two touchdown passes. Unfortunately, Adams aggravated his hamstring injury on Sunday and is considered week-to-week.

As well as Stafford has played this year, he should be viewed as a fringe fantasy starter against a defense that previously held him in check when he had Nacua and Adams at his disposal. Nacua is a mainstay in lineups, and he could see an uptick in targets. Colby Parkinson is the other intriguing pass-catching weapon for the Rams.

Parkinson had a fantastic game on Sunday, securing five receptions for 75 yards and two touchdowns. According to the Fantasy Points data suite, Parkinson had a 58.5% route participation rate and 0.29 targets per route run (TPRR). Since Week 11, he’s logged a 51.8% route participation rate, 13.8% target share, 0.26 TPRR, 4.4 targets per game, 3.6 receptions per game, 37.8 receiving yards per game, 2.20 yards per route run (YPRR) and five touchdowns.

Parkinson has a favorable matchup against the Seahawks, and he could nudge up from a touchdown-dependent option to someone who can still finish as a low-end TE1 without a touchdown this week if he sees a slight uptick in usage without Adams.

The Rams could also attempt to lean more heavily on their running backs this week. Sadly, the matchup is brutal for Kyren Williams and Blake Corum. According to the Fantasy Points data suite, the Seahawks have allowed the fourth-fewest half-PPR points per game (15.1) to running backs since Week 11. Running backs averaged just 3.76 yards per carry and scored only one touchdown against Seattle in that five-game period.

Williams had 12 carries, 91 rushing yards, one rushing touchdown, two targets, one reception and five receiving yards against the Seahawks in the first meeting. Williams is still the top dog in Los Angeles’ backfield, handling 65 rush attempts versus 45 and a 39.8% route participation rate compared to 19.3% for Corum in their previous five contests. Because of the matchup, Williams is likely more of an RB2 than an RB1 this week. Corum had eight carries for 10 scoreless yards against the Seahawks in Week 11, and he’s likely best left on benches this week.

Will the Eagles Take Advantage of Another Cushy Matchup?

The Eagles bounced back from an embarrassing performance on Monday Night Football against the Chargers in Week 14 with a thorough beatdown of the lifeless Raiders in Week 15. Philadelphia has another favorable matchup this week.

Since Week 11, the Commanders are tied for the 14th-most fantasy points per game allowed (17) to quarterbacks. Washington has also allowed the sixth-most half-PPR points per game (25.7) to running backs, tied for the 23rd-most half-PPR points allowed (19.3) to wide receivers and ceded the fourth-most half-PPR points per game (15.1) to tight ends. The Eagles are 6.5-point favorites against their NFC East foes, and the game’s total is 44.5 points, leaving the Eagles with an implied total of 25.5 points.

Jalen Hurts efficiently carved up the Raiders. Saquon Barkley logged 92 scrimmage yards and a touchdown, and Dallas Goedert blew up for six receptions, 70 receiving yards and two touchdowns against Las Vegas. They’re all fantasy starters in 12-team leagues or larger this week.

A.J. Brown‘s streak of three straight 100-yard receiving efforts was halted, but he had two receptions, 41 receiving yards and one touchdown on his only two targets, and DeVonta Smith secured both of his targets for 50 yards. They can also be trusted this week.

Do the Vikings Have Two Viable Fantasy RBs?

J.J. McCarthy has strung together back-to-back stellar starts. It hasn’t amounted to much fantasy success for Justin Jefferson, but his competency could allow the Vikings to move the football and score points against the Giants.

According to the Fantasy Points data suite, the Vikings have had a -0.4% pass rate over expectation (PROE) in McCarthy’s last five starts, and they had a -1.9% PROE against the Cowboys. Meanwhile, the Giants have faced a 2.8% PROE since Week 11, but the Commanders had a -5.1% PROE against the Giants in Week 15. Jacory Croskey-Merritt steamrolled the G-Men for 96 rushing yards and a touchdown on 18 carries last week.

Big Blue is pitiful against running backs. They’re tied for allowing the third-most half-PPR points per game (27.6) to them since Week 11. During that period, the Giants coughed up 133.5 rushing yards per game, six yards per carry, four rushing touchdowns, 5.5 receptions per game, 37 receiving yards per game and one receiving touchdown in four games.

The Vikings have a two-headed backfield. Aaron Jones is the lead running back, but Jordan Mason is a more efficient runner. In Minnesota’s last five games, Jones has toted the rock 57 times for 44.8 rushing yards per game, 3.93 yards per carry, a 3.5% explosive run rate and 0% of the team’s rush attempts inside the 5-yard line. Mason had 41 rush attempts for 43 rushing yards per game, 5.24 yards per carry, a 7.3% explosive run rate, 33.3% of the team’s rush attempts inside the 5-yard line and two rushing touchdowns in those contests.

Jones makes up for his lack of work in scoring territory with his work through the air. Since Week 11, he has a 45.2% route participation rate, 0.24 TPRR, 2.6 receptions per game and 16 receiving yards per game. Mason is game-script dependent and would be in trouble if the Vikings were in a trailing game script. Fortunately for him, the Vikings are 3-point favorites this week. As a result, Jones and Mason could both deliver top-24 finishes this week and warrant RB2/Flex consideration.

Josh Shepardson is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Josh, check out his archive and follow him @BChad50.