Fantasy Football Week 16 Rankings: Projections and Matchups to Love

Week 16 of the 2018 NFL season is the first without a Thursday night contest.

That's either good or bad news for fantasy football owners, depending on your perspective.

You might appreciate the extra time to study, prepare and, oh yeah, remember that life exists outside of the fantasy realm. Or maybe this just means you have two extra nights to second-guess yourself and keep moving streamers in and out of your lineup.

Over-tinkering can be a stressful exercise, but try not to let it bog you down. If you're still playing for something at this juncture, you're handling enough pressure as it is.

We're here to help remove some of the guesswork with 10 rankings at each offensive position, plus projections for a player at every spot with a matchup we love.

Quarterbacks

Jack Dempsey/Associated Press

1. Patrick Mahomes, KC (at SEA)

2. Drew Brees, NO (vs. PIT)

3. Ben Roethlisberger, PIT (at NO)

4. Deshaun Watson, HOU (at PHI)

5. Andrew Luck, IND (vs. NYG)

6. Russell Wilson, SEA (vs. KC)

7. Baker Mayfield, CLE (vs. CIN)

8. Dak Prescott, DAL (vs. TB)

9. Aaron Rodgers, GB (at NYJ)

10. Matt Ryan, ATL (at CAR)

There's only one way to handle disappointing fantasy weeks, and that's forgiving and forgetting them.

In other words, don't harp on Baker Mayfield falling below the 200-yard mark for the second time in week 15. Rather, warm yourself back up to this year's top pick as he prepares to feast on a Bengals defense that surrenders the most fantasy points to quarterbacks.

He's already faced his AFC North division rivals once this season, and hopefully you plugged him in then. That was Week 12, aka the game where he needed just 26 pass attempts to tally 19 completions for 258 yards and a career-best four touchdowns.

We won't set the bar quite that high this time, but he's still looking at big numbers nonetheless. We have him penciled in for 268 passing yards and three touchdowns with zero picks.

Running Backs

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

1. Todd Gurley, LAR (at ARI)

2. Christian McCaffrey, CAR (vs. ATL)

3. Ezekiel Elliott, DAL (vs. TB)

4. Saquon Barkley, NYG (at IND)

5. Melvin Gordon, LAC (vs. BAL)

6. Nick Chubb, CLE (vs. CIN)

7. Alvin Kamara, NO (vs. PIT)

8. Marlon Mack, IND (vs. NYG)

9. Dalvin Cook, MIN (at DET)

10. Joe Mixon, CIN (at CLE)

Week 15 will be remembered as the return of the Mack, as Indy's Marlon Mack snapped out of a mini-funk and shredded the seldom-shredded Dallas defense for a career-best 139 rushing yards and two scores.

The way the schedule shapes up, though, his Week 16 might be even sweeter.

The Giants have struggled to contain the fantasy production of running backs all season. Alvin Kamara, Adrian Peterson, Matt Breida and Derrick Henry all had multi-score games against them. Six different rushers have put 100-plus scrimmage yards on New York, which ranks 28th in rushing yards allowed per game and tied for 25th in rushing touchdowns surrendered.

The Colts need a win to keep pace in the AFC wild-card race, and a heavy dose of Mack might be the best way to procure it. We have him clearing the century mark again and finishing his day with 132 scrimmage yards and two more scores.

Wide Receivers

Ron Jenkins/Associated Press

1. Julio Jones, ATL (at CAR)

2. DeAndre Hopkins, HOU (at PHI)

3. Davante Adams, GB (at NYJ)

4. Antonio Brown, PIT (at NO)

5. Michael Thomas, NO (vs. PIT)

6. Keenan Allen, LAC (vs. BAL)

7. Tyreek Hill, KC (at SEA)

8. Odell Beckham Jr., NYG (at IND)

9. JuJu Smith-Schuster, PIT (at NO)

10. Amari Cooper, DAL (vs. TB)

While the timing of Amari Cooper's frustrating Week 15 wasn't ideal, he was bound to come back to earth at some point. His three-week average entering that contest was 8.7 receptions (on 10 targets) for 157.7 yards and 1.7 touchdowns.

So, yeah, his four-catch, 43-yard stinker was unexpected. But the entire Dallas offense probably wanted to flush that film as soon as the contest ended.

This week should be different. A lot different. The football gods have essentially scheduled Cooper's rebound for him.

"Once: That is how many times this season the Buccaneers have held opposing receivers without a touchdown in a game," ESPN's Matthew Berry wrote. "Once. Tampa Bay has allowed a wide receiver TD in all but one game this season. Once. And the Bucs have allowed the fifth-most fantasy points to WRs overall."

Wide receivers have Tampa's defense to thank for 19 different touchdown catches so far. Look for Cooper to bump that number up with our projections calling for 129 receiving yards and a score.

Tight Ends

Jeff Haynes/Associated Press

1. Travis Kelce, KC (at SEA)

2. Zach Ertz, PHI (vs. HOU)

3. George Kittle, SF (vs. CHI)

4. Eric Ebron, IND (vs. NYG)

5. Jared Cook, OAK (vs. DEN)

6. Rob Gronkowski, NE (vs. BUF)

7. Jimmy Graham, GB (at NYJ)

8. Austin Hooper, ATL (at CAR)

9. Evan Engram, NYG (at IND)

10. David Njoku, CLE (vs. CIN)

You're not going to find consistency outside of this position's top tier. Just ask Austin Hooper, who's been relatively successful in stretches of this season but delivered the dreaded goose egg in Week 15.

You're also not going to find many more favorable matchups for tight ends than Carolina's defense. Again, ask Hooper. He's one of eight different tight ends to find the end zone against the Panthers, which he did as part of a five-catch, 59-yard performance back in Week 2.

We like Hooper a lot this weekend. We'll love him if Julio Jones (questionable) can't give it a go. Either way, we have him down for five grabs, 71 yards and a touchdown.

Statistics used courtesy of NFL.com and ESPN.com. Fantasy scoring obtained via Yahoo Sports.