Trevor Lawrence has the world’s lowest high ankle sprain…

In today's Fantasy Life Newsletter:

With Week 14 here, it’s time to get our rosters prepared for the fantasy playoffs. In today’s edition, both Ian and Cooterdoodle share players (and defenses) you can stash now to get a jump on the competition.

Before we do that, though, let’s catch up on some news from yesterday.

The dominant storyline from the 2023 season has been the constant moving parts at the QB position, so it’s fitting that yesterday brought us even more signal-caller re-shuffling.

Here’s everything you need to know…

🚑️ Trevor Lawrence suffered a high ankle sprain

After a 13-hour walk to the hospital last night, the Jags QB was officially diagnosed with “just” a high-ankle sprain.

I’m including the scare quotes because there have been multiple instances of teams downplaying the severity of high ankle sprains this year.

The Giants famously told us that Saquon Barkley would be back any minute after he suffered an “ordinary” sprain vs. the Cardinals in Week 2, only for him to miss the next three weeks with a not-so-ordinary high ankle sprain.

The Jags have optimistically not ruled out Lawrence for Week 14, but as Matthew notes here, the betting markets disagree:

C.J. Beathard, who will take over for as long as Lawrence misses, will be the umpteenth backup QB to step in and perform better than the Jets QB.

🤢 The Jets shuffle the deck chairs on the Titanic

Speaking of the Jets, they continue to impress in the most spectacular ways.

We all thought it couldn’t get any worse than it was with Zach Wilson.

The Jets said, hold my beer, and started Tim Boyle.

We all thought it couldn’t possibly get any worse than it was with Boyle.

And the Jets said, hold my beer one more time:

In Brett Rypien’s one start this year with the Rams, he completed 13 of 28 passes (46.4%) for 130 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT, and a 24.5 QBR rating.

The Jets are 6.5 point home underdogs to the Houston Texans on Sunday in a game with a 33.5 total.

🍝 The Giants commit to Tommy DeVito

Everyone’s favorite chicken cutlet eatin’, gun slingin’, Italian QB will get another start in Week 14 vs. the Packers.

This is notable because Tyrod Taylor, the initial backup QB behind Daniel Jones, is back practicing this week.

Brian Daboll has actually been letting DeVito chuck it a decent bit (average of 26 attempts over the past three games), but he’ll get a stiff test vs. a red-hot Packers team on Monday Night Football.

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The fantasy football playoffs are almost here. Today, Ian shares some players you should run to stash ASAP…

Most fantasy football playoffs begin next week, meaning managers are either already eliminated, fighting for their playoff life, or sitting comfortably with a spot already clinched

This column is more so for the latter group. What’s the only thing cooler than managing to snatch up your favorite waiver wire darling? Already having them on the squad because you, a scholar, had the foresight to look ahead to see which players are set up brilliantly ahead of Weeks 15 to 17.

As always: It’s a great day to be great.

💰️ Defenses To Stash

Some fantasy DSTs are good enough for fantasy managers to not overly concern themselves with matchups. Think of the Cowboys, Ravens, Chiefs, Browns and 49ers as the poster children of this … although even the Cowboys (BUF, MIA, DET) and Ravens (JAX, SF, MIA) have the sort of schedules in Weeks 15 to 17 to make fantasy managers potentially consider some reinforcements.

As for everyone else: Matchups are more important to play than pretty much any other position – good thing there are a handful of low-rostered units that look more than capable of helping your fantasy squad during the final three weeks of the season.

My five favorite options (ranked by personal preference):

1. Rams (34% rostered in Yahoo! leagues): Faces the Commanders, Saints and Giants. While this might not be the most complete Rams defense that we’ve seen in recent years, Aaron Donald alone remains more than capable of wrecking a game – particularly when getting to face two of the league’s most sack-prone QBs and either Derek Carr or Jameis Winston.

2. Colts (32%): Matchups with the Steelers, Falcons and Raiders. This profiles as Mitch Trubisky, Desmond Ridder and Aidan O’Connell. While the Colts defense isn’t what most would call a “good” real life unit – they rank 27th in points per game allowed this season – they’ve proved plenty capable of exploiting fantasy-friendly matchups in recent weeks on their way to scoring the third-most fantasy points of any DST this season.

3. Texans (16%): Gets the Titans twice as well as the Browns. Very much alive in the playoff race, look for DeMeco Ryans to keep his defense playing hard against probably Will Levis and Joe Flacco.

4. Packers (21%): Good spots vs. the Buccaneers, Panthers and Vikings. This should coincide with the suddenly feisty Packers getting much healthier on the defensive side of the ball as well.

5. Falcons (51%): Will go up against the Panthers, Colts and Bears. I’m honestly less of a fan of Atlanta compared to these other squads due to Gardner Minshew and Justin Fields having more upside than most QBs also on this list.

💰 WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Seahawks

• 58% rostered in Yahoo! leagues

No WR room has a better end-of-season schedule than the Seahawks:

• Week 14 at 49ers: 25th

• Week 15 vs. Eagles: 32nd

• Week 16 at Titans: 28th

• Week 17 vs. Steelers: 17th

Enter JSN, who is coming off a season-high 11-target performance that featured a more middling 7-62-0 production.

Still, this box score only tells half the story, as the 2023 NFL Draft’s 20th overall pick set the Seahawks up at the one-yard line on two separate occasions by drawing end zone defensive pass interference flags. Smith-Njigba was so close to converting this potential 30-yard score in particular.

Yes, DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett aren’t going anywhere. Also yes, the latter receiver continues to play through a hamstring injury that seemed to originate back in Week 7 if the team’s injury report is any indication. Perhaps this is what compelled the Seahawks to start using JSN more like a real WR as opposed to a low-aDOT gadget:

• Weeks 1-6: 4.2-yard average target depth, 4.3% deep target rate (20-plus yards)

• Weeks 7-13: 7.5-yard average target depth, 16.3% deep target rate

JSN still isn’t exactly being used like a prime DeSean Jackson — and that’s OK! He doesn’t need to be, but it was rare to ever see the rookie used downfield in most early-season contests; he’s flashed far more as a pure receiver in recent weeks.

Overall, JSN has averaged a respectable 11 PPR points per game since Week 7 compared to just 5.4 during the first month and a half of the season.

An objectively talented rookie, who was forced to start his career while mending a fractured wrist, but is suddenly seeing more volume and production than ever inside an ascending passing attack with the single-most fantasy-friendly schedule that the WR position has to offer over the final month of the season — is that something you might be interested in?

🤮 Don’t click this link Steelers fans. Trigger warning.

🚑️ The hits keep coming for the Jags. This is bad.

📈 Risers, fallers, and rookie RBs making their marks. Adjust the ranks!

📺 Postseason scenarios, futures odds, and MVP predictions. A perfect combination for intelligent degeneracy.

👀 A backup played the third-most snaps among all Week 13 RBs? Oh snap!

📉 The New England Patriots lose an RB for a few weeks. Should help with the draft, though.

🚀 Always stay a step ahead. Four WRs primed to break out.

💩 A brutal fantasy loss. Take a big swig of that L.

🎁 A heartwarming video surprising Terry McLaurin. Let’s get him some receptions now.

👨‍🍳 Shane Steichen is cooking. A little hot potato.

🤷 The Steelers RB situation…remains unchanged.

Week 13 is in the books! With the trade deadline long gone, Cooterdoodle is here to share her favorite stashes for the fantasy football playoffs…

Trade deadlines have likely passed you by, but that doesn’t mean things are over yet. Just because you can no longer beef up your juicy rosters from your leaguemates’ player pools, doesn’t mean you can’t still make moves.

There are a few concepts to consider as we move into playoff territory. So let’s talk about conceptual Buyin’ and Sellin’!

🛒It’s Handcuffing SZN: BUY

While we wish pain on no one, it is part of the game. And strategically, you need to be prepared to stash the ‘next man up’. So let’s talk about a few handcuffin’ strategies.

1. Identify bellcows. This style of offense is hard to come by in the year of Barbie 2023, but they do exist. Handcuffing a bellcow back is worth the bench space, especially this late in the game.
   
   

2. Get a piece of high-powered offenses. Teams that score a lot, score a lot. It’s that simple. When choosing a handcuff, you need to consider which team will get into the end zone if your player gets a promotion to RB1.

   
   So maybe we don’t want to stash players from NFL teams that are averaging fewer points than is the legal age limit to drive. I don’t know. Something to think about…
   

   NFL teams averaging fewer points per game than Iowa (16.6) this season:

   Steelers (16)
   Panthers (15.9)
   Jets (14.3)
   Giants (13.3)
   Patriots (12.3)

   — Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz)
   8:38 PM • Dec 4, 2023

3. Familiarize yourself with player utilization. Lucky for you, our team has compiled all of that data for you here. Notice trends. Depth charts don’t always tell the true story. Which players are seeing the field and have a chance to take over?

Here are a few of my favorite RB handcuffs to stash in Week 14…

There was a little bit of a scare in Week 13 when Derrick Henry exited the game during the 4th quarter. While out, Tyjae Spears took the field. 

💰️ Tyjae Spears, RB - Titans (65% available)

Speaking of bellcows, Henry is ranked 4th in the league for rushing attempts (197). Spears has already begun to showcase his talent and ability to take over in Henry’s absence. 

While the Titans have cleared Henry from concussion protocol and he is expected to play in Week 14, this is an important stash player to handcuff moving forward. 

💰️ Elijah Mitchell, RB - 49ers (83% available)

Look, if we talk about high-powered offenses and league-winning running backs, you know we have to talk about the 49ers and Christian McCaffrey. 

Not only is he ranked 2nd in rushing attempts (210), first in rushing yards (1,032), and tied 2nd in rushing TDs (12), but this offense is firing on all cylinders!  

And whether you like it or not, San Francisco might even have an NFL MVP on their hands. 

So what does this have to do with Elijah Mitchell? He checks off all of the handcuffing boxes. 

• Bellcow RB usage with CMC? ✅

• High-powered offense? ✅

• Next Man Up Utilization? ✅

Here’s to hoping there are no injuries in San Francisco, but in the event Mitchell gets thrust into starting role territory, it’s time to stash him now.