Fantasy Football Week 14 Rankings: Projections for Players with Matchups We Love

If you made the fantasy playoffs, a number of habits likely got you there. You had a solid draft, of course, but you supplemented that by playing the waiver wire like a stud, keeping up to date on the latest NFL news and exploiting the best matchups available each week. 

So congratulations, playoff owner—you made it.

But alas, your journey is not done yet. There's a championship to be won, after all, so your work continues. Luckily, if it's favorable matchups you seek, you've come to the right place, as below I'll go over my rankings for the week and highlight some truly tasty matchups.

As always, may the points be with you!

Schedule

Sunday, December 7	Time (ET)	TV
Monday, December 8	Time (ET)	TV
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati	1 p.m.	CBS
St. Louis at Washington	1 p.m.	FOX
NY Giants at Tennessee	1 p.m.	FOX
Carolina at New Orleans	1 p.m.	FOX
NY Jets at Minnesota	1 p.m.	CBS
Baltimore at Miami	1 p.m.	CBS
Indianapolis at Cleveland	1 p.m.	CBS
Tampa Bay at Detroit	1 p.m.	FOX
Houston at Jacksonville	1 p.m.	CBS
Buffalo at Denver	4:05 p.m.	CBS
Kansas City at Arizona	4:05 p.m.	CBS
Seattle at Philadelphia	4:25 p.m.	FOX
San Francisco at Oakland	4:25 p.m.	FOX
New England at San Diego	8:30 p.m.	NBC
Atlanta at Green Bay	8:30 p.m.	ESPN

Quarterbacks

Rank	Player	Projected Points
1	Aaron Rodgers	25
2	Drew Brees	22
3	Russell Wilson	20
4	Peyton Manning	19
5	Tom Brady	18
6	Andrew Luck	18
7	Ryan Tannehill	17
8	Philip Rivers	16
9	Cam Newton	15
10	Matt Stafford	15
11	Eli Manning	14
12	Andy Dalton	14
13	Ben Roethlisberger	14
14	Colin Kaepernick	13
15	Matt Ryan	13

I'm a Philadelphia Eagles fan. Hardcore. So I can attest to just how poor the team's secondary is, a major reason why I love Russell Wilson this week in fantasy. 

The Eagles are 28th in fantasy points allowed to opposing quarterbacks per week. They're 26th in passing yards allowed per game. They've given up 24 passing touchdowns, tied for 27th in the NFL. Here are some of the quarterbacks who had solid afternoons against them from a fantasy perspective:

• Week 1: Chad Henne scored 16 points.
• Week 3: Kirk Cousins scored 27 points.
• Week 5: Austin Davis scored 26 points
• Week 9: Ryan Fitzpatrick scored 18 points.
• Week 12: Zach Mettenberger scored 19 fantasy points.

Russell Wilson is better than all of the above players. Like, way better. Way, way, way better. So much better. Are you getting the point?

Start Wilson. Smile as the points roll in.

Ryan Tannehill burned me pretty badly last week, but for the second week it's hard to ignore a tantalizing matchup. I'm willing to make some excuses for Tannehill on the road against a divisional rival on a cold, New York night.

If he can't produce against a beat-up Baltimore defense that is giving up 18.1 fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks per week, 28th in the NFL, I'm so over him. I could forgive his performance last week, but I didn't forget.

It's also possible I'm starting to take this whole fantasy football thing a little too personally. Nah.

Running Backs

Rank	Player
1	Arian Foster	23
2	Le'Veon Bell	22
3	Marshawn Lynch	19
4	Eddie Lacy	18
5	Andre Williams*	16
6	Jamaal Charles	16
7	Mark Ingram	15
8	LeSean McCoy	14
9	Justin Forsett	14
10	Ryan Mathews	13
11	Alfred Morris	13
12	Frank Gore	12
13	Joique Bell	12
14	C.J. Anderson	11
15	Andre Ellington*	11
16	Giovani Bernard	9
17	Jeremy Hill	9
18	Isaiah Crowell	9
19	Trent Richardson	8
20	Dan Herron	8
21	Jonathan Stewart	8
22	Lamar Miller	8
23	Fred Jackson	8
24	Chris Ivory	7
25	Chris Johnson	7
26	Denard Robinson	7
27	Steven Jackson	7
28	Bishop Sankey	6
29	Tre Mason	6
30	Terrance West	6
31	Jerick McKinnon*	6
32	Darren Sproles	5
33	Shane Vereen	5
34	LeGarrette Blount	5
35	Latavius Murray*	5

It really doesn't look like Rashad Jennings will play this week, so Andre Williams is absolutely a player worth owning and starting this week. If you were holding out hope that Jennings might be able to go this week, the following tweet from Jordan Raanan of NJ.com is going to depress you:

It's hard to imagine him playing at this point. But fear not, for Williams should absolutely tear it up against a Tennessee defense that has given up 815 rushing yards and nine touchdowns to opposing running backs in their past five games. Yes, you read those numbers correctly.

Start Williams with confidence this week.

And for owners in really deep leagues desperate for a lottery ticket, consider New York's Orleans Darkwa. It sounds as though he could be a part of the game plan if Jennings can't go, per Dan Graziano of ESPN.com:

"

"He's been here a little while; he's smart, he's conscientious and we trust him," offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo said of Darkwa. "He has a little different flavor back there for us."

Asked to expand on what that meant, McAdoo started, then caught himself. 

"He is a shiftier type of guy, and we like his..." McAdoo said, then paused. "Stay tuned. We'll leave it at that." 

"

That's code for "he's a part of our plans, but I can't tell you how," in case you were wondering.

Frank Gore has been pretty inconsistent this year, but it's hard not to like him against an Oakland defense giving up 22 fantasy points to opposing running backs per week, worst in the NFL. This is the team that just gave up 117 rushing yards and two scores to Tre Mason, for heaven's sake.

Gore may not be the back he once was, but he's still good enough to tear up a shoddy Raiders defense.

Wide Receivers

Rank	Player	Projected Points
1	Jordy Nelson	20
2	Randall Cobb	18
3	Calvin Johnson	18
4	A.J. Green	16
5	Demaryius Thomas	15
6	Julio Jones	15
7	Mike Wallace	14
8	Kelvin Benjamin	14
9	Emmanuel Sanders	13
10	T.Y. Hilton	13
11	Antonio Brown	13
12	Odell Beckham Jr.	12
13	Golden Tate	12
14	DeAndre Hopkins	11
15	Jarvis Landry	10
16	DeSean Jackson*	10
17	Josh Gordon	10
18	Mike Evans	10
19	Brandon LaFell	9
20	Roddy White*	9
21	Kenny Stills	8
22	Jeremy Maclin	8
23	Torrey Smith	8
24	Sammy Watkins	7
25	Julian Edelman	7
26	Anquan Boldin	6
27	Mohamed Sanu	6
28	Steve Smith	6
29	Marques Colston	6
30	Andre Johnson	5
31	Jordan Matthews	5
32	Keenan Allen	5
33	Reggie Wayne	5
34	Kendall Wright	5
35	Martavis Bryant	5

The Ravens aren't great against quarterbacks, so its hardly surprising that they aren't very good against wide receivers, either. Start Mike Wallace and Jarvis Landry with confidence.

You're likely starting Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb with confidence each week, but it certainly helps when they're facing a suspect Atlanta defense allowing 24.2 fantasy points per week to opposing wideouts, 27th in the NFL. 

It also helps that Aaron Rodgers could probably post a 300-yard passing game against a defense with 20 players on the field, making Nelson and Cobb about as safe a bet as it gets at wide receiver for fantasy owners.

Calvin Johnson, Golden Tate and the Detroit passing offense have had their ups and downs this year, but things should be looking up against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs are 28th in the NFL in fantasy points allowed to opposing wideouts, and Megatron appears to finally be hitting his stride after a big Thanksgiving performance. 

That may be bad news for Tampa Bay fans, but it's great news for Johnson owners.

Tight Ends

Rank	Player	Projected Points
1	Rob Gronkowski	15
2	Jimmy Graham	14
3	Julius Thomas*	12
4	Antonio Gates	11
5	Travis Kelce	10
6	Dwayne Allen	10
7	Greg Olsen	9
8	Delanie Walker	8
9	Larry Donnell	7
10	Heath Miller	7
11	Coby Fleener	6
12	Jordan Reed	6

Evaluating tight end matchups from a fantasy perspective is always a little difficult, because most defenses tend to struggle when they face a top player at the position. Sometimes, the stats can skew against teams that face a number of elite tight ends or in favor of teams that face opponents that don't make utilizing the tight end a priority. 

Put another way, almost every team actively tries to get their running back and wide receivers involved in the offense. Not every offense cares about using their tight ends.

Charlie Riedel/Associated Press

That said, when a defense has given up seven or more fantasy points to opposing tight ends like the Arizona Cardinals have, that seems like a trend. Travis Kelce certainly has the talent to take advantage of this matchup—and the Cardinals are going to make it tough on Jamaal Charles, that much is certain—so don't be surprised if Kelce is a huge part of Kansas City's game plan this week.

Defense/Special Teams

Rank	Defense	Projected Points
1	Detroit Lions	13
2	San Francisco 49ers	12
3	Houston Texans	12
4	Minnesota Vikings	11
5	St. Louis Rams	10
6	Denver Broncos	10
7	Arizona Cardinals	9
8	Kansas City Chiefs	9
9	Green Bay Packers	8
10	Miami Dolphins	8

Nearly every week, the advice in this section is the same: Always trust the defense that is facing the Jacksonville Jaguars.

How reliable is this advice?

Last week, the one week I didn't choose the Jags' opponent because I didn't think much of the suspect New York Giants defense, that unit still scored nine points against Jacksonville. That continued the Jags' streak of giving up at least seven fantasy points to every defense they face. 

This week, they face a far better defense than the one the Giants have in the Houston Texans. Maybe you've heard of that J.J. Watt guy. Few things in fantasy are guaranteed, but the Texans defense scoring at lest seven fantasy points this week is about the best bet you'll find.

Kickers

Rank	Player	Projected Points
1	Stephen Gostkowski	14
2	Justin Tucker	12
3	Mason Crosby	11
4	Adam Vinatieri	11
5	Randy Bullock	10
6	Caleb Sturgis	10
7	Dan Carpenter	9
8	Cody Parkey	9
9	Steven Hauschka	8
10	Matt Prater	8

As I normally advise in this section, find a kicker on a good offense with a matchup against a poor defense or in a game that has shootout potential. This week, Mason Crosby fits that description perfectly. Of course, it also helps that he has seven or more fantasy points in seven straight weeks. 

All point totals and points-against statistics via ESPN standard scoring leagues. Hit me up on Twitter—I'll answer your fantasy questions and make some corny jokes, too. It's more fun than being Richard Sherman when the San Francisco 49ers come to town.