Week 16 Thursday Fantasy Football Outlook: Should You Start Derek Carr, Matthew Stafford, Alvin Kamara, Puka Nacua, Cooper Kupp and More?

Week 16 of the NFL season kicks off with a fun matchup between the New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Rams. The Saints need a win to stay in the hunt for an NFC South title, while the Rams need a win to hold their playoff spot.

Let’s dive into some of the better fantasy football starting options from the matchup and determine if they should be part of your start/sit decisions or not.

Explore the best in-season tool to manage lineup/start decisions including predictive waiver analytics to help prioritize waiver pickups, projections, auction values, trade suggestions, trade value charts, rest of season rankings, power rankings, and tons more with Fantasy Assistant. Use our fantasy football trade analyzer to break down trade scenarios.

Quarterback Debate

Derek Carr will lead the Saints into battle, while Matthew Stafford engineers the Rams’ offense.

Carr is coming off arguably his best came of the season. He threw for 218 yards and three touchdowns while completing 23-of-28 passes. He avoided an interception for the first time in four games.

It was the fifth time this season Carr has thrown for multiple touchdowns in a game. He’s thrown five TDs to just one interception over the past two weeks.

Stafford continued to roll in week 15, completing 25-of-33 passes for 258 yards and two touchdowns. It was the fourth straight game Stafford threw multiple TDs, and he’s got 12 touchdowns to just one interception in that timeframe.

Stafford has reached at least 200 passing yards in all but two of the game’s he’s appeared in. He’s thrown at least one touchdown in all but one game.

The matchup for Carr is a pretty favorable one, while it’s a tougher clash for Stafford. The weekly projections have Stafford 10th and Carr in 18th.

Verdict: The matchups make this a much tougher decision. I like Stafford more as a fantasy asset, but the Saints’ defense is no joke. I’m still going to side with Stafford over Carr, and feel good about that because the game is in LA and not New Orleans.

Running Back Debate

Alvin Kamara powers the Saints’ backfield, while Kyren Williams is the workhorse for the Rams.

Kamara has at least 15 touches in each of the team’s past four games. He’s over 1,000 total yards and at six total touchdowns despite missing the first three games of the season.

Jamaal Williams is New Orleans’ backup, and he’s gotten 20 combined touches over the past two weeks. He still hasn’t scored and has just 250 total yards for the season.

Kyren Williams dominates the touches in the LA backfield, with at least 22 in each of the past four games. He had a whopping 32 touches last week. Williams has over 1,000 total yards and has scored 11 times despite missing several games.

Royce Freeman got six touches last week and likely will be the top backup. Ronnie Rivers has his 21-day practice window activated this week, and practiced in full on Tuesday, so it’s possible he plays and factors into things too.

Kyren Williams is the top-ranked RB in this game in the weekly projections, coming in second behind just Christian MCaffrey. Kamara is 10th. Jamaal Williams sits in 47th, and Freeman is 61st.

This is a tougher matchup for every running back in action, as both defenses allow 18 or less fantasy points to opposing backs per week.

Verdict: The tough matchups are definitely concerning, but I still would start Kyren Williams and Kamara, simply because their heavy workloads are too good to pass on. Give me Kyren Williams for the top option in the game. Jamaal Williams, Freeman and Rivers are all starting options in deeper leagues, but seeing the tough matchup, I’d try to avoid them all.

Wide Receiver Debate

Each team has a wide receiver on the injury report leading up to the game. 

New Orleans’ Chris Olave is dealing with a heel injury, but is expected to play. 

?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Los Angeles’ Tutu Atwell has a concussion, but is also expected back.

Olave leads the Saints in just about every receiving stat. He’s up to 918 yards and four scores on 72 receptions and 116 targets for the season. He’s caught 7-of-11 red zone targets.

Rashid Shaheed is WR2 now with Michael Thomas out with an injury. Shaheed has 570 yards and three scores on the season. He’s caught 36 passes on 59 targets. 

Lynn Bowden played the most snaps at WR last week with Olave out. Bowden finished with 31 yards on three grabs and five targets. Those marks would likely dry up with Olave back.

Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp are the go-to receivers for the Rams. Nacua has 1,163 yards and four touchdowns this season on 87 catches and 134 targets. Kupp has 658 yards and four scores on 49 grabs and 77 targets. Kupp has better red zone numbers despite missing the start of the season.

Atwell is WR3, but isn’t involved all that much anymore. He has three scores and 476 yards on the season, making 37 catches on 63 targets.

Demarcus Robinson has been fairly involved over the past few games, including a 10-target outing two weeks ago. He has 197 yards and three touchdowns this season on 14 grabs and 23 targets.

Nacua is the top-ranked receiver in the game, coming in sixth overall. Kupp is 11th, Olave checks in 30th, Shaheed is 49th, Robinson is 65th and Atwell is 72nd.

This is a much harder matchup for the Rams’ receivers - the matchup for the Saints’ wideouts is an average one.

Verdict: As long as Olave is a full go on Thursday night, I like him as the best fantasy option from the contest. I would next take Kupp slightly over Nacua based on what we’ve seen lately out of those two. I’d take Shaheed next and then round things out with Robinson, Atwell and Bowden. Olave is the only must start for me this week in standard leagues, with Kupp and Nacua both being solid options, but borderline starters. The other guys are only deeper league starting options, with Shaheed being the only one I’d lean toward starting.

Tight End Debate

The tight ends in this game have been sleeper starting options most of the season.

Tyler Higbee is the Rams’ top option. He’s got at least four targets in his past three games played. He only had 36 receiving yards last week. 

Taysom Hill, Foster Moreau, Juwan Johnson and Jimmy Graham are all options for the Saints. Moreau had five targets last week, while Johnson and Graham scored. 

Hill hasn’t been as involved of late, and only had 5 total yards on two touches last week. He had 15 touches the previous game, so it’s hard to guess what kind of week he might be in store for.

Higbee is ranked 22nd in the weekly projections, while Johnson is 25th. The matchup for Higbee is pretty favorable, while the matchup for the Saints’ TEs are one of the best available this week.

Verdict: Even though there’s some great matchups available in this game, I’d stay away from any of the TEs in standard leagues. There’s some decent starting options for deeper leagues, but I’d only start Higbee and maybe Hill. 

Game Prediction

The Thursday game currently has an over/under mark of 46, with the Rams favored by four.

I think it’ll be a pretty close game throughout, but the Rams’ offense finds a way to get things done late to earn the win. I believe the Saints will cover, and the teams will fail to hit the over.

For a final score, I like Los Angeles 24, New Orleans 21.