Sunday, January 21, 2018

Fantasy Football WR Rankings: Championship Games Round

Down to only four teams with three games to go, we have published our fantasy football rankings for the AFC and NFC Championship Games.

With that said, here are our fantasy football wide receiver rankings for this week's games:

1. Stefon Diggs, Minnesota Vikings

Diggs scored an unlikely 61-yard touchdown to send the Vikings to the NFC Championship Game and finished the week with six catches for 137 yards and a score. He now has five-plus catches in five consecutive games and a touchdown in four straight. Both he and Adam Thielen are the top-two options on Sunday.

2. Adam Thielen, Minnesota Vikings

A Pro Bowl snub, Thielen took another big step forward in 2017 (91/1,276/4) following last year's breakout season (69/967/5). Thielen had six catches for 94 yards against the Saints on Sunday. As challenging of a matchup as the Jaguars and Vikings pose to the Patriots and Eagles receivers, respectively, Diggs and Thielen enters this week's games as the 1(a)/1(b) receivers -- separated by only 0.04 fantasy points in my projections.


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3. Brandin Cooks, New England Patriots

No team allowed fewer fantasy points to opposing wide receivers this season than the Jaguars, who have the league's best cornerback duo in Jalen Ramsey and A.J. Bouye. Perhaps the Jags will use Ramsey on Gronk, but things won't be easy for Cooks and New England's receivers. Plus the hand injury to Tom Brady doesn't help, even if it appears that it won't limit him in a major way on Sunday.

4. Nelson Agholor, Philadelphia Eagles

Coming off a career-best season (62/768/8), Agholor had three catches for 24 yards and two rushes for 20 yards in Sunday's win over the Falcons. With a conservative approach in a Carson Wentz-less offense, it's difficult to get too excited about any of the Eagles pass-catchers, but I'd actually prefer Agholor slightly to Alshon Jeffery.

5. Alshon Jeffery, Philadelphia Eagles

In his debut season with the Eagles, Jeffery failed to reach the 100-yard milestone in any game, but he scored nine touchdowns -- one shy of his career high (10) set in 2014. Not only was the injury of Wentz a huge blow to Jeffery, as the team plays it much more conservatively on offense, but Jeffery is likely to draw shadow coverage from Xavier Rhodes on Sunday.

6. Chris Hogan, New England Patriots

In his first game back, Hogan didn't appear limited as he played on 83 percent of the team's offfensive snaps. Targeted only four times, Hogan finished with just one catch for four yards but it was a touchdown. The matchup against Jacksonville's elite corners is certainly difficult, but Hogan should see more targets this weekend.

7. Danny Amendola, New England Patriots

Amendola converted 13 targets last weekend into 11 catches for 112 yards, both of which were team highs. Even if that's something he's unlikely to repeat this weekend, he should see plenty of targets from Brady this week as well. With low touchdown upside, he remains a better option in full PPR formats.

8. Marqise Lee, Jacksonville Jaguars

Relatively quiet in two postseason wins, Lee had a team-high six targets last week as he finished with three catches for 28 yards. Up to this point in the playoffs, the Jags have been able to utilize a run-heavy approach with only 49 combined pass attempts from Blake Bortles. While that will remain the preferred approach, the daunting task of winning a playoff game in Foxboro could dictate that they throw more often than they'd like this week. Either way, I'd expect Lee to once again lead the team's wideouts in targets.

9. Dede Westbrook, Jacksonville Jaguars

In two postseason wins, Westbrook has six catches for 56 yards on 11 targets. As noted above, the team has only thrown the ball 49 times in those two games so Westbrook has had 22.45 percent of the team's targets. If game flow leads to more pass attempts, Westbrook could have his best fantasy performance of the postseason this weekend.

10. Keelan Cole, Jacksonville Jaguars

Cole has only one catch and two targets in the team's two playoff games, but he had a very productive stretch in December. From Weeks 13 to 16, Cole had 100-plus yards and/or a touchdown in all four of those games. Given the recent success and chemistry he has shown with Bortles, it's certainly possible that Cole erupts with a December-like game, especially if the score gets out of hand early.

Here are the next eight wide receivers:

11. Allen Hurns, Jacksonville Jaguars
12. Jarius Wright, Minnesota Vikings
13. Torrey Smith, Philadelphia Eagles
14. Laquon Treadwell, Minnesota Vikings
15. Mack Hollins, Philadelphia Eagles
16. Michael Floyd, Minnesota Vikings
17. Phillip Dorsett, New England Patriots
18. Kenny Britt, New England Patriots


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