Inactive NFL Week 16 and Fantasy Picks: Injury-plagued Saints face Packers

Welcome to the Week 16 NFL Fantasy Cheat Sheet, a one-stop shop for The athleteMatch previews, injury and weather updates, and expert analysis. Bookmark this page and check back often as we offer regular updates to help you with fantasy lineups and betting decisions.

The player rankings mentioned in this article are current as of December 22nd. For updated rankings, see the Fantasy Football Player Rankings section.

The latest NFL news and headlines

Last updated: 7:30 a.m. ET, December 23

Injury News | Weather report
Selected games | Market share report
Takeaways of Week 16 | Fantasy football player rankings

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Injury news

Updated through December 23, 7:30 a.m. ET

Monday Night Football

Derek Carr, QB, NR (Concussion, hand) – Out
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Carr has been evaluated for his broken left hand and it will be a few weeks before he is cleared to make contact. Interim coach Darren Rizzi said Spencer Rattler will start at quarterback on Monday.

Alvin Kamara, RB, NR (Groin) – Out
Kamara will miss Monday night’s game because his groin injury is worse than initially thought. Kendre Miller will lead the Saints backfield in Kamara’s absence and is a good flex option. But Green Bay has a strong rush defense, and the Saints may play from behind, forcing them to throw more often.

Chris Olave, WR, NR (Concussion) – Out
Marquez Valdes-Scantling, WR, NO (Chest) – Questionable
Olave’s 21-day window to return from injured reserve was opened, but he was limited in training and was ruled out. Valdes-Scantling did not practice Friday due to illness, and while he was the Saints’ most starting pass-catcher without Olave, it’s difficult to see MVS start in fantasy playoffs with Spencer Rattler under center.

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Weather report

Outdoor games only

According to Rotowire’s aggregated NFL forecasts, the final game of the week between the Saints and Packers is expected to be 31 degrees with a 20 percent chance of snow. In Jake Ciely’s fantasy football weather strategy guide, he notes that the passing game is affected when temperatures drop as low as shown in the table below.

New Orleans Saints (5-9) vs. Green Bay Packers (10-4)

Precipitation primarily impacts the passing game, as teams often lean on their backfields in rain or snow. Use Josh Jacobs safely, and Kendre Miller is a fringe RB2/flex option. According to TruMedia, there are no dates for New Orleans’ rookie QB Spencer Rattler or Green Bay’s Jordan Love in the snow; However, Rattler spent his college and NFL career in the South, while Jordan Love went to Utah State in Logan, Utah (58.2 inches of snow per year). Take that for whatever it’s worth.

Against the Lions in Week 9, when it was raining (not snowing), Love didn’t fare as well. He completed just 59 percent of his passes and threw one interception to zero touchdowns, and Green Bay lost 24-14. He completed 273 passes, and head coach Matt LaFleur trusted Love to attempt 39 passes. The Packers’ leading receiver in the game was Jayden Reed, who had 113 yards on five receptions.

Green Bay has the advantage over the Saints by almost two points, so the weather is a little less relevant, but Green Bay still has the advantage. The Packers are used to the cold; New Orleans and Rattler are not.

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Monday evening

New Orleans Saints (5-9) vs. Green Bay Packers (10-4)

• Venue: Lambeau Field – Green Bay, Wisconsin.
• Time: 8:15 p.m. ET
• TV: ESPN, ABC

Green Bay, which has scored more than two touchdowns at home since Thursday afternoon, can clinch a wild-card spot with a win over the New Orleans Saints this week. Jordan Love has been impressive of late, averaging 17.2 fantasy points per game and a 119.9 passer rating since Week 11. However, starting a Green Bay wide receiver still feels like a gamble. Romeo Doubs is in only 41.5 percent of ESPN leagues, leads the team in goals per game and, unlike Jayden Reed and Christian Watson, has never scored zero PPR points. But when all three are on the field together, Reed wins the battle for the target stocks. Given the fantasy playoffs, it might make sense to avoid all Packers WRs. Check out other skill positions where Tucker Kraft is the fantasy TE8 and Josh Jacobs is the RB6 of the year…which brings us to the Saints.

Alvin Kamara (groin) is out before this match and was replaced by Kendre Miller in Week 15 after he exited with injury. With Kamara out, Miller is a fringe RB2/flex option. However, Green Bay’s rush defense ranks in the top 10 in most categories, and the Saints will likely have to play catch-up for most of the game (based on the odds). Otherwise, there’s Marquez Valdes-Scantling (questionable), whose ceiling was high with Derek Carr, but his value drops when Spencer Rattler throws passes… and that’s it, folks.

Read the full preview.

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Market Share Report Week 16

Michael Salfino examines usage across the league to help you build your fantasy playoff lineup.

Chase Brown (No. 3) is, of course, an automatic starter, and Cleveland’s defense isn’t nearly as good as its reputation. More automatic starts: #6 Rico Dowdle and No. 18 Bucky Irvingwho is enjoying a historically efficient rookie rushing season. I suspect #19 Rachaad White, who keeps scoring TDs, needs to be played as well.

As far as waiver recipients go, I would generally rank them Romeo Doubs, Jalen Coker, Rashod Bateman.

The matchup with the Steelers is the biggest problem for Bateman. The Ravens will probably score one or two TDs.

I like Doubs (No. 55) more than the market because the top three Green Bay WRs each have two TD ceilings and no floor. They are exactly the same. So Doubs has a 20 to 33 percent chance of winning a playoff game for you, not unlike Jayden Reed, even though Reed will start in almost all deeper formats.

Coker wins the Cardinals, a sort of neutral matchup, in the Mayor of Munchkin City Bowl (the winner gets to keep the Ruby Slippers).

–Salfino

Check out all of Salfino’s insights.

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Week 16 takeaways

Michael Salfino reflects on the week for the last time this season.

In my final column of the fantasy season, we’ll wrap up 2024, but we’ll also take a look at some fantasy draft picks for 2025. Congratulations to everyone who made it to the championship round and happy holidays too!

The Raiders have a decent defense and the Jaguars have a bad quarterback in Mac Jones, but Brian Thomas Jr. was wild in the second week of the fantasy playoffs. He was the right answer among rookie WRs and everyone else was wrong. Thomas should be drafted ahead of Malik Nabers and Marvin Harrison Jr. next year.

Kirk Cousins ​​​​is obviously done in Atlanta. The only thing I can say for certain about Michael Penix Jr. is that he has tremendous arm strength. This is definitely one of the top 5 spinners of the ball. The other thing is that left-handed people just look weird. So it takes some consideration to adapt.

Getting involved with the Giants offense is worth its weight in gold. The Falcons D/ST were on waivers in every league and scored 29 points, which is most likely a game-winning effort. The lesson is to stream and play the opponent’s offense rather than defense. Playing defense effectively all year long – and I’ve been a little lucky, to be honest – was a big factor in getting me to the championship game in a big league. It was so cheap too. It cost me 1-4 percent of my budget to do it every week (max), plus a lot of zero bids.

– Salfino

Check out all the Week 16 insights.

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Jake Ciely’s Week 16 Fantasy Football Player Rankings

Find out Jake’s top QB, RB, WR and TE for the week!

• Unfortunately, there is still no perfect widget. I know many see this on your phone, but 1) use the rankings widget on a PC/laptop etc if possible, or 2) open it in your phone’s browser, especially for Android users, to stop scrolling works (or Android users can try two-finger scrolling).
• ECR = “Expert” consensus ranking (which not everyone updates regularly, so use with caution).
• Will be updated regularly. Please find out about the blocking of the lineups.

Get Ciely’s full Week 16 analysis. Plus thresholds and ledges.

(Photo by Spencer Rattler and Kendre Miller: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)