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

The NFL fantasy football realm didn't take long to show owners this year's playoffs would be brutally difficult. 

On the Week 14 edition of Thursday Night Football between the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons, the latter's Alvin Kamara went down with an injury early and didn't return. To complicate matters, his teammate, Tommylee Lewis, blew up with a massive game. 

Owners pursuing league championships wouldn't want it any other way, right? Below, we'll help you navigate what is clearly a tricky schedule by projecting the top scorers at each spot based on Yahoo standard leagues.  

Week 14 Schedule

Chicago at Cincinnati 

Detroit at Tampa Bay 

Green Bay at Cleveland 

Indianapolis at Buffalo

Minnesota at Carolina 

Oakland at Kansas City 

San Francisco at Houston 

Dallas at New York Giants 

New York Jets at Denver 

Tennessee at Arizona 

Washington at Los Angeles Chargers 

Philadelphia at Los Angeles Rams 

Seattle at Jacksonville 

Baltimore at Pittsburgh 

New England at Miami

Quarterbacks

Player	Projected Points
Tom Brady	20
Derek Carr	20
Philip Rivers	19
Russell Wilson	18
Carson Wentz	18
Jameis Winston	17
Matthew Stafford	16
Dak Prescott	15
Ben Roethlisberger	15
Cam Newton	14
Jared Goff	14
Kirk Cousins	13
Alex Smith	12
Case Keenum	12
Marcus Mariota	11

Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr hasn't been a solid week-to-week option for owners this year, yet his viability in Week 14 is simply how the playoffs go.

Carr has 14 or more points in six straight games, which establishes a great floor for his usage this week. The upshot, though, is a game against the Kansas City Chiefs, the team allowing the fifth-most points to opposing quarterbacks on average. 

It's a fair enough point—Carr started off his current streak by dropping 30.18 points on the Chiefs in Week 7. Divisional game or not, he is a top option this week. 

On the other hand, Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers doesn't have a common rival to line up against—but sometimes that isn't a bad thing. 

Rivers, still a hot hand, next gets the Washington Redskins at home. Those Redskins are reeling; they have to travel across the country and have allowed the 13th-most points per game to quarterbacks so far. 

There is plenty of upside here as well. Not only does Rivers have 16 or more points in four games and counting, he's thrown eight touchdowns and one interception over the stretch with a high of 28.66. 

Running Backs

Player	Projected Points
LeSean McCoy	18
Melvin Gordon	18
Le'Veon Bell	18
Kareem Hunt	17
Leonard Fournette	17
Lamar Miller	17
Rex Burkhead	17
Todd Gurley	15
Samaje Perine	14
Marshawn Lynch	13
Kenyan Drake	12
Alex Collins	12
Dion Lewis	11
Jamaal Williams	11
Alfred Morris	11
Jordan Howard	11
Carlos Hyde	11
Christian McCaffrey	11
Latavius Murray	10
Frank Gore	10
Giovani Bernard	10
DeMarco Murray	10
Derrick Henry	9
Isaiah Crowell	8
Theo Riddick	8

Luckily for owners, running back shouldn't be as difficult as Thursday made it seem. 

Look at Buffalo Bills running back LeSean McCoy—coming off a pair of down weeks, Shady should be back to elite levels of production against an Indianapolis Colts defense coughing up the fifth-most points to backs this year. 

McCoy has been a dud over the past two weeks while totaling 10.2 points or less, but he's a guy with 22.2 or more points in three of his last seven outings. That doesn't sound great, but for owners who know how to pick and choose spots, he rewards them in a huge way. 

One can apply the same logic to Rivers' top running back Melvin Gordon. The Chargers' lead back hasn't topped 10.6 points over his last two outings, but we're still talking about a guy who has highs of 27 and 28.3 points this year in the right situations. 

Week 14 is one of those right situations with the Redskins in town. They happen to surrender the sixth-most points to backs and a week ago permitted 18.7 to a backup by the name of Alfred Morris. 

Gordon? Definitely not a backup. 

Wide Receivers

Player	Projected Points
Antonio Brown	17
A.J. Green	17
Larry Fitzgerald	17
DeAndre Hopkins	16
Marvin Jones	16
Tyreek Hill	14
Adam Thielen	14
Keenan Allen	14
Dez Bryant	13
Michael Crabtree	13
Brandin Cooks	12
Alshon Jeffery	12
Mike Evans	12
Davante Adams	11
Josh Gordon	11
Golden Tate	11
Robby Anderson	11
Stefon Diggs	11
Jamison Crowder	11
Doug Baldwin	10
Sterling Shepard	10
Devin Funchess	10
T.Y. Hilton	9
Jarvis Landry	8
Cooper Kupp	8
Marquise Goodwin	8
Demaryius Thomas	8
Sammy Watkins	8
Jermaine Kearse	8
DeSean Jackson	7

It's only fitting a guy such as Arizona Cardinals wideout Larry Fitzgerald would step up when owners need him most. 

Fitzgerald posted 15.8 points in Week 13, his third-best mark of the season, and it isn't too hard to see him posting his best outright line of the year in Week 14. 

There, Fitzgerald and the Cardinals welcome the Tennessee Titans to town, meaning the visitors who allow the ninth-most points to wideouts.

To put into perspective how well No. 1 wideouts do against Tennessee, Pittsburgh's Antonio Brown dropped 32.4 points on the unit in Week 11. 

Elsewhere, owners can count on Detroit Lions wideout Marvin Jones, who has a nice floor of at least nine points in six of his last seven games. 

The highs are what playoff owners should really care about, though, and over that stretch Jones has outbursts of 15.6, 22.7 and 22.9 points. He figures to head north of the 20-point mark again in Week 14 during a game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the team that happens to allow the most points outright to opposing wideouts. 

Jones doesn't have the star power of Fitzgerald necessarily, but he'll be up there on the scoreboard with him this week. 

Tight Ends

Player	Projected Points
Travis Kelce	11
Jimmy Graham	11
Evan Engram	11
Delanie Walker	10
Cameron Brate	10
Zach Ertz	9
Jared Cook	9
Jason Witten	8
Kyle Rudolph	7
Hunter Henry	7
Jack Doyle	7
Austin Seferian-Jenkins	7
Stephen Anderson	7
Ricky Seals-Jones	6
Charles Clay	6

Star power should play a big role at tight end in Week 14 with guys such as Kansas City's Travis Kelce putting up big games. 

Others, such as Evan Engram of the New York Giants, are also strong options. 

Engram just had a timely outburst of 15.9 points on the road in Week 13, catching seven of eight targets for 99 yards and a score. Now he'll line up against the Dallas Cowboys, a rival allowing the 15th-most points to his position. 

The Cowboys didn't let Engram do much in their first encounter but that came in Week 1. Engram is now a matchup-based stud and looks ready for a big day. 

So does Cameron Brate of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He also happened to put up 15.9 points in Week 13, turning two of his six targets into 39 yards and two scores. 

Purely a matchup-based play in his own right, Brate should shine against a Lions defense allowing the ninth-most points to the spot, especially as he figures to have improving quarterback play under center. 

Defense/Special Teams

Unit	Projected Points
New England Patriots	10
Jacksonville Jaguars	10
Pittsburgh Steelers	9
Green Bay Packers	9
Los Angeles Chargers	8
Seattle Seahawks	7
Cincinnati Bengals	7
Minnesota Vikings	7
Buffalo Bills	6
New York Jets	6

Normally we only talk about the New England Patriots because of their offense, yet here we are. 

Those Patriots have a cupcake of a matchup in Week 14 against the Miami Dolphins, the team allowing the fourth-most points to opposing defenses this year. 

New England, sitting on 28 sacks, 11 interceptions and seven forced fumbles while only allowing 18.6 points per game, looks poised to expose the matchup for a huge day. 

As they should—they did so in Week 12, totaling 17 points, one of six times the Dolphins have allowed double-digit production to opposing units this year and the middle portion of a three-game streak they ride into the rematch.

Kickers

Player	Projected Points
Stephen Gostkowski	10
Greg Zuerlein	9
Harrison Butker	9
Adam Vinatieri	9
Jake Elliott	8
Justin Tucker	7
Travis Coons	7
Matt Prater	7
Chris Boswell	6
Ryan Succop	6

Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker isn't looking as hot as he did earlier this year, but there's still a nice baseline of production for owners in need. 

Butker has seven or more points in as many games this year, a quality floor going into a game against Oakland, the team permitting the third-most points to kickers. 

Back in Week 7, Butker went on the road and dropped 14 points on the Raiders. He also has a pair of 21-point outings, a concoction looking ready to make him one of the top-scoring options at the position. 

All scoring info, points-against info and ownership stats courtesy of Yahoo standard leagues.