Fantasy Football Week 17 Rankings: Matchups and Projections for Players We Love

The NFL doesn’t pull any punches to close the season, meaning fantasy owners vying for league titles need to be at the top of their games when it matters most. 

This is easier said than done most weeks. With every game going down on Sunday, though, bettors don’t need to worry about how a team might respond on a short week or even with an extra day’s rest for a Monday game.

No, all bettors need to worry about is whether teams sit star players ahead of the postseason. This is a bit different than seemingly final injury reports, though, so those guys still make the lists. Owners can take solace in bad teams wanting to play the spoiler, which creates more producers than usual.

Here’s a look at the tricky slate and rankings for each spot in standard leagues.

Week 17 Schedule

Quarterbacks

It’s a Drew Brees sort of week.

Quarterbacks are always the rage when the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons get together, and this Week 17 encounter is no different.

Brees will look to beat up on the Falcons before they head to the playoffs, which should have owners thinking about his third 15-plus-point performance in a row. He’s hit the floor 11 times this year and pasted the Falcons for 25 points via three touchdown passes back in Week 3.

Those Falcons still allow the second-most points to opposing passers on average, so another 25 wouldn’t blow the mind.

Expect Andrew Luck of the Indianapolis Colts to sit right up there in scoring as well by week’s end. He gets the Jacksonville Jaguars to close the season, which is about as easy as it sounds.

Jacksonville doesn’t rank poorly against quarterbacks this year, though it is partially because of a soft schedule (Houston twice, Denver, Buffalo and Minnesota, among others). Going against Luck is never easy, though, which is why he posted 17 points via two touchdowns back in Week 4. 

Luck has 16 or more points in four games and running, with it looking like a great floor this week.

Running Backs

On the other side of New Orleans-Atlanta, running back Devonta Freeman will have a huge game right alongside Matt Ryan.

Freeman got off to a rocky start this year in what looked like a damaging committee, but he has outings of 19, 21 and 30 points over his last five games. He’s more of a matchup-based play now, but as one can see from those outings, he’s a heck of a play when it …

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