Fantasy football rankings for the Wild Card Round

Wild Card weekend is here, and that means we have a prime opportunity to play so more fantasy football in the NFL postseason. The following NFL playoffs fantasy football rankings are geared toward overall fantasy scoring for Wild Card weekend.

However, you don’t want to just blindly use the top options for one-and-done postseason contests. In those formats, you want to carefully balance the present with the future. That means we don’t necessarily want to start the highest-scoring options, but rather the highest scorers who are likely on losing teams. You could also potentially load up on one conference early with the plan to use the other conference later in the playoffs. Regardless of your approach, here’s how things shake out for Wild Card weekend fantasy football.

Quarterback

1. Lamar Jackson, BAL
2. Josh Allen, BUF

This one is close at the top, but Jackson gets the slight edge. Over the final month of the season, Jackson finally resembled his 2019 self, leading all quarterbacks in fantasy scoring. He also faces a Titans defense that allowed the fifth-most fantasy points per game to quarterbacks in the regular season. Meanwhile, Allen gets a Colts unit that was the No. 23 matchup for quarterbacks.

3. Tom Brady, TB
4. Russell Wilson, SEA
5. Ryan Tannehill, TEN

We have a bit of a dropoff to this next tier. Brady is coming off a remarkable 2020 campaign in his age-43 season, but it’s tough to consider him an elite play against a Washington defense that allowed the third-fewest fantasy points per game to quarterbacks. Wilson also runs into a buzz saw with the Rams finishing the regular season as the worst matchup for quarterbacks. Things aren’t much better for Tannehill, who gets the No. 25 matchup at the position. That said, Tannehill is the top one-and-done play if you think the Titans lose this week.

6. Drew Brees, NO
7. Ben Roethlisberger, PIT
8. Jared Goff/John Wolford, LA
9. Philip Rivers, IND
10. Baker Mayfield, CLE
11. Mitchell Trubisky, CHI
12. Alex Smith, WAS

From here, we have somewhat limited upside with Brees, even though the Bears aren’t the most intimidating matchup. Chicago ranks as the No. 15 matchup for quarterbacks over the last five weeks. Roethlisberger was trending up before resting last week, but he struggled against the Browns back in Week 6. Roethlisberger only managed 161 yards and a score through the air in that contest. From there, it’s tough to like any of the remaining options.

Running back

1. Derrick Henry, TEN
2. Alvin Kamara, NO
3. Jonathan Taylor, IND

King Henry tops the list at running back following his 2,000-yard regular-season campaign. He put up 133 rushing yards and the game-winning score against the Ravens back in Week 11. Kamara is certainly a wild card for this weekend, as he isn’t eligible to be activated from the Reserve/COVID-19 list until Saturday. But he is expected to play. Taylor is coming off a massive Week 17 performance and should see a heavy workload against the Bills. Over the final month of the season, only Henry and David Montgomery saw more carries than Taylor.

4. Nick Chubb, CLE
5. David Montgomery, CHI
6. Chris Carson, SEA
7. J.K. Dobbins, BAL
8. James Conner, PIT
9. Cam Akers, LA
10. Ronald Jones, TB
11. Antonio Gibson, WAS

This second tier of running backs all is topped by three solid options in brutal matchups. Chubb gets the league’s third-worst matchup against the Steelers, Montgomery has to face the league’s stingiest running back matchup in the Saints, and Carson will have his work cut out for him against the Rams. Dobbins is coming off a big performance last week, but his drawback will always be volume with Lamar Jackson and Gus Edwards also heavily involved. Conner and Akers aren’t the most trustworthy options, while Jones and Gibson get rough matchups against each other.

12. Nyheim Hines, IND
13. Kareem Hunt, CLE
14. J.D. McKissic, WAS
15. Gus Edwards, BAL
16. Devin Singletary, BUF
17. Zack Moss, BUF
18. Leonard Fournette, TB
19. Latavius Murray, NO
20. Benny Snell, PIT
21. Malcolm Brown, LA
22. Carlos Hyde, SEA
23. Mark Ingram, BAL
24. Peyton Barber, WAS
25. Rashaad Penny, SEA
26. Darrynton Evans, TEN
27. Patrick Ricard, BAL
28. Jeremy McNichols, TEN
29. Ke'Shawn Vaughn, TB
30. Artavis Pierce, CHI
31. Jaylen Samuels, PIT

Wide receiver

1. Stefon Diggs, BUF
2. A.J. Brown, TEN

Diggs missed practice Wednesday with an oblique injury, but he doesn’t seem to be at risk of missing this contest. He notched 127 catches in the regular season and should see a ton of work with Cole Beasley looking to be on the wrong side of questionable. Brown didn’t have a massive day against the Ravens in Week 11, but he did find the end zone in that contest. He also matchups up very well against a Baltimore secondary that has been hobbled down the stretch with injuries.

3. Michael Thomas, NO
4. DK Metcalf, SEA
5. Allen Robinson, CHI

As of this writing, Thomas has yet to be activated from injured reserve. However, he did practice Wednesday and looks to be trending in the right direction to suit up this weekend. Metcalf took a major step forward in Year 2, but it’s tough to be overly bullish on him this weekend. He’s likely to draw a shadow from Jalen Ramsey, just like he did back in Week 16. Metcalf had six catches for 59 yards in that contest and was generally ineffective for much of the day. Robinson’s matchup is actually quite appealing in this one with Marshon Lattimore having allowed seven receiving scores in the regular season. Unfortunately, we can’t be too optimistic for Robinson with Mitchell Trubisky up against a tough Saints defense.

6. Mike Evans, TB
7. Diontae Johnson, PIT
8. Chris Godwin, TB
9. Corey Davis, TEN
10. Marquise Brown, BAL
11. Tyler Lockett, SEA
12. JuJu Smith-Schuster, PIT
13. Chase Claypool, PIT
14. Terry McLaurin, WAS
15. Jarvis Landry, CLE
16. Antonio Brown, TB
17. Robert Woods, LA
18. T.Y. Hilton, IND

Evans is far from a lock to play after hyperextending his left knee in last week’s regular season finale. If he doesn’t end up going, Godwin would move up to the three-spot with Antonio Brown sliding up to eight. Johnson is a good bet for double-digit targets, but the chance of the dropsies returning should give us slight pause. That said, he’s still a superior option to teammates Smith-Schuster and Claypool. Davis and Brown have impressed at times down the stretch, but both come with volatility. If the Football Team had a viable quarterback, I’d likely be higher on McLaurin. As for Landry, Woods and Hilton, all three offer high ceilings on likely losing teams. They’re all in play in one-and-done leagues.

19. John Brown, BUF
20. Emmanuel Sanders, NO
21. Cooper Kupp, LA
22. Gabriel Davis, BUF
24. Darnell Mooney, CHI
23. Rashard Higgins, CLE
25. Zach Pascal, IND
26. Isaiah McKenzie, BUF
27. Michael Pittman, IND
28. Cam Sims, WAS
29. Josh Reynolds, LA
30. Marquez Callaway, NO
31. Willie Snead, BAL
32. David Moore, SEA
33. James Washington, PIT
35. Anthony Miller, CHI
36. Miles Boykin, BAL
34. Steven Sims, WAS
37. Khadarel Hodge, CLE
38. Dez Bryant, BAL
39. Cordarrelle Patterson, CHI
40. Cameron Batson, TEN
41. Scott Miller, TB
43. Van Jefferson, LA
42. Devin Duvernay, BAL
44. Freddie Swain, SEA
45. Juwan Johnson, NO

Tight end

1. Mark Andrews, BAL

Tight end is extremely thin in this year’s postseason. With Travis Kelce on bye, Andrews is in a tier by himself at the top.

2. Logan Thomas, WAS
3. Jared Cook, NO
4. Rob Gronkowski, TB
5. Eric Ebron, PIT
6. Jonnu Smith, TEN
7. Austin Hooper, CLE

Beyond Andrews, Thomas is the chalk one-and-done option following his 72-catch breakout season. Cook, Gronkowski and Ebron all get top-10 fantasy matchups. As for Smith and Hooper, these two are interesting pivots away from Thomas if you don’t want to eat the chalk in your one-and-done leagues.

8. Dawson Knox, BUF
9. Cole Kmet, CHI
10. Tyler Higbee, LA
11. Jack Doyle, IND
12. Jimmy Graham, CHI
13. Gerald Everett, LA
14. Trey Burton, IND
15. Jacob Hollister, SEA
16. Anthony Firkser, TEN
17. Will Dissly, SEA
18. Cameron Brate, TB
19. Harrison Bryant, CLE
20. Mo Alie-Cox, IND
21. David Njoku, CLE
22. Adam Trautman, NO
23. Geoff Swaim, TEN
24. Lee Smith, BUF
25. Vance McDonald, PIT
26. MyCole Pruitt, TEN
27. Jeremy Sprinkle, WAS

Kicker

1. Tyler Bass, BUF
2. Wil Lutz, NO
3. Justin Tucker, BAL
4. Ryan Succop, TB
5. Sam Sloman, TEN
6. Rodrigo Blankenship, IND
7. Matthew Wright, PIT
8. Jason Myers, SEA
9. Matt Gay, LA
10. Cody Parkey, CLE
11. Cairo Santos, CHI
12. Dustin Hopkins, WAS

Team defense

1. Tampa Bay
2. New Orleans
3. Seattle
4. Pittsburgh
5. Buffalo
6. Baltimore
7. LA Rams
8. Washington
9. Cleveland
10. Indianapolis
11. Tennessee
12. Chicago