If you're reading this, congratulations!
With most fantasy football leagues concluding after Week 17, there is no reason for you to be reading this if you weren't playing in your league's Championship Week.
Below you will find some players that could be starts or sits in your league, but my fantasy football rankings will better help you determine if I would start Player X over Player Y.
Week 17 Fantasy Football Start'em
Travis Etienne, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars (at IND)
Etienne has scored 14-plus fantasy points in all but one game since Week 9. During that eight-game stretch, he has averaged the seventh-most fantasy points per game and has scored 10 total touchdowns (five rushing and five receiving). In fact, he's tied with Christian McCaffrey and Jahmyr Gibbs for the most touchdowns since that point. Nearly touchdown favorites over the Indianapolis Colts, the Jaguars have a top-six implied total this week.
Rhamondre Stevenson, RB, New England Patriots (at NYJ)
Currently in the league's concussion protocol, TreVeyon Henderson is very likely going to sit in Week 17. That opens the door for Stevenson, who had eight carries for 51 yards and a touchdown and two catches for 27 yards last week against the Baltimore Ravens. As 12.5-point favorites over the New York Jets, it's likely that the Patriots have many more than the 13 running back carries they had last week.
Kenneth Gainwell, RB, Pittsburgh Steelers (at CLE)
Jaylen Warren vs. Kaleb Johnson? (Many fantasy managers made the wrong decision based on ADP — Johnson was RB27, Warren was RB29.) While the Steelers have had two productive backs this season, it's been Warren and Gainwell (not Johnson).
Gainwell has already been heavily involved as a receiver, and DK Metcalf has been suspended for the final two regular-season games. In fact, the running back leads the team in receptions (62) and trails only Metcalf (99) in targets (72). Over his past six games, Gainwell has averaged 8.3 carries, 6.3 targets, 5.5 receptions and 94.6 YFS per game.
Week 17 Fantasy Football Sit'em
Breece Hall, RB, New York Jets (vs. NE)
Hall has a career-high 229 carries, but he has also set or tied career lows in YPC (4.2), yards per touch (4.9), and receptions per game (2.3). It's possible that you may still need to start Hall, and the good news is he should get enough touches to give you something. That said, the outlook is bad enough for the Jets that Hall is outside my top-24 fantasy running backs for the week and certainly not a must-start. He had 64 scoreless yards in the first matchup against the Patriots this season.
Rico Dowdle, RB, Carolina Panthers (vs. SEA)
From Weeks 5 to 9, who was better than Dowdle? The free-agent addition had three top-two fantasy finishes in five weeks, and only Jonathan Taylor and Christian McCaffrey averaged more fantasy points per game over that stretch. Since then, Dowdle still has averaged 17.5 touches per game, but he has finished as the RB35 (or worse) in two of the past three games and faces the stingy Seahawks defense in Week 17.
David Montgomery, RB, Detroit Lions (at MIN)
At a minimum, he's clearly not happy with his role. He has eight or fewer carries for six weeks. During that stretch, he has averaged 6.0 carries and 1.2 receptions per game.
Continue reading our full Week 17 Fantasy Football Start'em, Sit'em