The Report: Game-by-Game Breakdown for Week 17

Staring at your roster isn’t going to reveal a magical set of answers to the test that will tell you all the “right” plays to make this week. I know. You want to squeeze every possible point out of your lineup, and that’s fair. But sometimes, you get thrown a curveball that you didn’t see coming. There really isn’t anything you can do there. You can’t see the future. Neither can I.

So, what do you do? Set your lineups with the highest-percentage plays and roll into battle.

But how do you determine these plays? Believe it or not, it’s simple. Take a quick look at the FTN Fantasy football rankings tool and start the highest-ranked player based on the rankings you prefer to use. This could be mine or rankings from one of our other staffers. Simply click on the name of the ranker you prefer to sort. You can also go with the average of these rankings in the first column.

Otherwise, you’ve done everything you can to this point. The rest is out of your hands. Best of luck to you this weekend, and don’t forget to enjoy the games. We are only just over a month away from the NFL offseason, and that means no NFL football for eight months.

Each week in The Report, I’m going to go through every game and give you the information you need to make the most informed decisions possible for your fantasy football rosters. I’ll provide some key about matchups, trends and anything else we need to know about each contest.

Note: The Report will be updated as I finish writing up each game, so be sure to check back throughout the end of the week. Games will be periodically added until Friday afternoons.

Kansas City @ Pittsburgh

Patrick Mahomes managed to play through a high ankle sprain last week, completing 28 of 41 passes for 260 yards and a touchdown, while adding 33 rushing yards on five carries. That included a 15-yard rushing touchdown — the longest regular-season rushing score of his career. The Chiefs prioritized getting the ball out of Mahomes’ hand fast. He notched his fastest average time to throw since Week 4 of 2021, clocking in at 2.50 seconds. His efficiency has also been on the rise, as he has now thrown 15 touchdowns to just two interceptions over his past eight games, compared to eight touchdowns and nine interceptions in his first seven games this season. Unfortunately, he’s on the outside looking in at the QB1s this week. The Steelers allow the fourth-fewest fantasy points per game to quarterbacks.

Xavier Worthy had a career-high seven receptions last week. Of his 65 receiving yards, 61 were after the catch. He’s a run-after-catch monster. Given his recent surge, Worthy is worth flex consideration along with DeAndre Hopkins. Marquise Brown got back on the field last week and caught five balls on eight targets. The workload is encouraging, but it may be too little too late for Brown’s fantasy prospects in 2024.

Travis Kelce is on the verge of yet another milestone, with 996 career receptions. With just four more catches, he will become only the fifth player in NFL history to record 1,000 or more receptions within his first 12 seasons. He isn’t his former elite self, but he remains a solid TE1 play. As for the backfield, inconsistent usage between Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt makes this a very volatile unit for fantasy purposes. If you have to use one, Pacheco still gets the slight edge, but hopefully you don’t have to use either.

Russell Wilson enters the week with 349 career passing touchdowns. That’s the fourth most through a player’s first 13 seasons in NFL history. However, he’s hit a rough patch with George Pickens sidelined. The good news is Pickens is practicing in full and should be back this week. His presence isn’t enough to make Wilson startable against a tough Chiefs defense, but Pickens is very useable as a WR2.

Najee Harris is closing in on an impressive milestone, needing just 67 rushing yards to become the first player since Chris Johnson to rush for 1,000 or more yards in each of his first four NFL seasons. Of course, he was outsnapped by Jaylen Warren 40-17 last week against the Ravens. That was a product of game scrip with the Steelers playing from behind. We’ll still see plenty of Warren here too, but there should be enough meat on the bone for both to be flex plays.

Baltimore @ Houston

Lamar Jackson is putting together a historic season, joining an elite group of only five players in NFL history to record 35 or more passing touchdowns with five or fewer interceptions in a season. Notably, the previous four players to achieve this feat all won MVP honors. Jackson has already set a Ravens franchise record with 37 passing touchdowns and has the potential to finish the season with 40 passing touchdowns, 4,000 passing yards and 800 rushing yards. If he accomplishes this, he will be the first quarterback in NFL history to achieve such a combination in a single season. He remains an elite play in Week 17.

Derrick Henry continues to etch his name into the record books with his 17th career game of 150 or more rushing yards, ranking seventh-most in NFL history. This season marks Henry’s fourth career year with 1,500 or more rushing yards, tying him for the second-most all-time. Remarkably, Henry is also the first running back aged 30 or older to rush for 1,500 yards in a season since Tiki Barber in 2006. Henry is locked in as a top-five play.

Mark Andrews has scored a receiving touchdown in four consecutive games. He’s still splitting targets with Isaiah Likely, but Andrews is in the TE1 conversation this week. Keep an eye on Zay Flowers He was DNP Monday. If he’s able to play, Flowers will be a WR2 option following his five-catch, 100-yard performance last week.

C.J. Stroud has experienced some growing pains this season. He has four games with two or more interceptions, compared to just one such game last season. However, his performance at home remains stellar, averaging 287.8 passing yards per game, compared to 218.9 passing yards per game on the road throughout his career. Despite the favorable split, it’s tough to trust Stroud as anything more than a superflex option this week.

Tank Dell was carted off the field with a left knee injury after scoring on a 30-yard receiving touchdown last week. He’s out for the season and his 2025 status is very much in question. Without Dell, the team claimed Diontae Johnson off waivers. Johnson will take time to get up to speed and isn’t a fantasy option. Nico Collins remains the only startable wideout in Houston.

Joe Mixon has seven games this season featuring 100 or more rushing yards and a rushing touchdown — second most in the NFL. That’s certainly impressive, but the veteran has slowed down the stretch. Over his last two weeks, he’s had fantasy finishes of RB27 and RB38. Yikes. Mixon is still a fringe RB1, but we can’t trust him as much as we could earlier in the season.

Seattle @ Chicago

Coming soon…