Fantasy Football Week 16: Rankings and Top Sleepers for Key Playoff Matchups

It's championship week across much of the fantasy football spectrum. While all of the previous decisions helped teams reach this point, these are the most important ones of all. If a fantasy owner loses the title game by one point after picking the wrong running back, they'll never forget it.

Perhaps the most common mistake at this stage is overthinking. People will spend countless hours over the next couple of days trying to determine which players to start. Often that causes what were simple choices for the first 15 weeks to become far more complicated.

With that in mind, let's explore a couple different levels of players for Week 16. First the rock-solid foundation pieces that should be started across the board. That's followed by a deeper dive into some sleepers capable of plugging key voids.

Top 5 Skill-Position Rankings

Rank	QB	RB	WR	TE
1	Andrew Luck	Eddie Lacy	Antonio Brown	Jimmy Graham
2	Tom Brady	Le'Veon Bell	Jordy Nelson	Rob Gronkowski
3	Drew Brees	C.J. Anderson	Odell Beckham Jr.	Travis Kelce
4	Aaron Rodgers	Jamaal Charles	Calvin Johnson	Jason Witten
5	Peyton Manning	Mark Ingram	DeAndre Hopkins	Greg Olsen

Week 16 Sleepers

QB: Mark Sanchez (Philadelphia Eagles)

Al Bello/Getty Images

Sanchez hasn't exactly lit the world on fire since taking over for the injured Nick Foles. He's reached the 20-point plateau just twice in seven games. The USC product is also coming off his worst outing of the year with just six points against the Dallas Cowboys last week.

After the game, he immediately admitted he needed to play better over the final two games. Reuben Frank of CSN Philly passed along the quarterback's pointed comments:

"

I'm better than that. I can only be accountable for myself, and I know all the guys feel the same way I do. Every missed assignment, guys take ownership. Nobody's hiding from anything. There's no, 'Well, you know, he could have caught it, and maybe if he would have dove for it.'

No, that's crap. No way. We've got to take ownership of this thing, and it starts with the quarterback and I've got to be a lot better.

"

He's got a golden opportunity to bounce back strong this week. The Eagles go up against the Washington Redskins, which rank 17th in pass defense and have given up an average of more than 32 points over the past three games.

The first meeting between the teams resulted in a 37-34 shootout victory for Philadelphia. The game should follow a similar script, giving Sanchez a great chance to post his best score of the season. A worthy play for desperate owners.

RB: Doug Martin (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

After a season when Martin has been mostly an afterthought from a fantasy perspective, he's becoming more involved of late. He even started looking more like his old self last week en route to 96 yards on 14 carries in a clash with the Carolina Panthers.

This week, the Bucs face the Green Bay Packers, which is good news for two reasons. Most importantly, Green Bay ranks 26th in run defense at nearly 130 yards per game. So there should be plenty of running room for the seemingly revitalized back.

Then there's the game flow. The last thing the Bucs want is for this game to become a shootout. They want to dominate possession as much as possible, which should many a heavy workload for Martin. That's enough to make him a solid No. 2 running back this week.

WR: Kenny Stills (New Orleans Saints)

Stills, like a lot of the weapons in the New Orleans offense, can be frustrating to own. In the two weeks since his 22-point explosion, he's managed just eight combined points. That said, the upside remains as he gets set to face the Atlanta Falcons.

It's an extremely favorable matchup with the Falcons ranking dead last against the pass. Just like the Sanchez situation, a prior clash between the teams resulted in a 37-34 result, and not enough has changed to think that won't happen again.

Ultimately, fantasy owners shouldn't expect Stills to go off to the tune of 10 catches and 200 yards. There simply aren't enough targets going his way for that. But he could certainly catch six passes for 100 yards and a touchdown, making him an intriguing option.

TE: Dwayne Allen (Indianapolis Colts)

Allen is a player that comes with some risk because he doesn't make a lot of grabs. His season high in catches is just four. His value instead comes from being a major target in the red zone, as evidenced by his eight scores in 12 games.

At other positions, there might be enough reliable options to avoid taking the chance. But tight end is extraordinarily weak this season. Zak Keefer of The Indianapolis Star illustrated that while providing another encouraging stat for Allen:

Add in the fact that the Dallas Cowboys rate 23rd against the pass and have struggled to contain opposing tight ends, and Allen becomes worth the risk. He should receive plenty of looks near the goal line in a high-scoring game.