Week 16 Saturday Fantasy Football Starting Options: Can You Trust Texans' Joe Mixon and Ravens' Derrick Henry in Tough Matchup? Are Chiefs' Travis Kelce and Steelers' Pat Freiermuth Good Options?

Week 16 of the NFL season has a pair of Saturday games. The Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs meet in the first game and the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens will battle in the other.

Let’s take a look at the top starting offensive options from the two games and provide rankings at each position.

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Quarterbacks

There’s some big-name quarterback squaring off. Patrick Mahomes (if he’s active), Russell Wilson, Lamar Jackson and C.J. Stroud will be guiding their teams.

Mahomes is dealing with an ankle sprain, but he’s practiced in full this week and looks like he’ll be playing on Sunday - so much for a Carson Wentz start, which I covered early in the week. Mahomes has scored at least 14 fantasy points in eight straight contests.

Stroud has struggled to repeat his impressive rookie season. He tallied 12 fantasy points last week, and hasn’t gone over 16 points in the past eight games.

Wilson is coming off an eight-point fantasy showing, but he had at least 14 in the previous three games. The team has a good record in his starts, so I expect Wilson to remain the starter.

Jackson is a candidate for MVP and is the top fantasy scorer this season. He’s scored at least 23 fantasy points in three straight games.

Wilson has the most favorable matchup on Saturday. Stroud, Mahomes and Jackson (ranking from easiest to toughest) have tougher matchups.

Despite having the worst matchup, Jackson is projected for the most fantasy points (20). Stroud is at 16, Mahomes 15 and Wilson 14.

I too would trust Jackson to deliver for fantasy owners - he scored 15 fantasy points in the team’s first matchup. I’d take Mahomes next, if he ends up playing. I simply trust him more than Stroud or Wilson, even with average fantasy results himself this season.

Stroud comes before Wilson for me, as long as George Pickens is out (we’ll cover that shortly). If Pickens plays, I’d put Wilson above Mahomes too. But if Pickens is out, I actually prefer to sit Wilson despite the favorable matchup. I also would try to stay away from Stroud in his tough matchup.

QB Fantasy Rankings

1. Lamar Jackson

2. Patrick Mahomes

3. C.J. Stroud

4. Russell Wilson

Running Backs

Derrick Henry and Justice Hill are the top fantasy backs for Baltimore. Pittsburgh has Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren to turn to.

Joe Mixon is the clear lead back for Houston. Dare Ogunbowale and Dameon Pierce need to be mentioned with Mixon dealing with an injury though. Kareem Hunt and Isiah Pacheco are the top Kansas City backs.

Henry was in the running for fantasy MVP earlier in the season, but hasn’t topped 14 fantasy points in any of the past five contests. He’s coming off a seven-point fantasy showing.

Hill, who missed practice this week for personal reasons, scored 18 fantasy points last week, six the game before that, 14 in week 12 and eight in week 11. He doesn’t add much on the ground but is a good PPR option.

Harris scored only three fantasy points last week. He had 11 in week 14 and 25 back in week 13. Warren scored three fantasy points last week. He had nine or more in the previous five contests.

Mixon is dealing with an ankle injury. He tallied 11 fantasy points last week. Mixon had 22 in week 13 and 10 in week 12.

Ogunbowale and Pierce only get a couple touches a week (and sometimes get none). They’d only be fantasy options if Mixon is out.

Hunt has remained involved offensively after Pacheco returned, but has just 14 fantasy points in the past three games combined. Pacheco has 20 fantasy points over that span.

Every back playing on Saturday has a bottom-12 fantasy matchup. In the weekly projections, Mixon leads this group of backs with 18 PPR points. Henry is at 17, Pacheco 13, Warren 11, Harris 10, Hill seven and Hunt six. 

I like Henry the most among these running backs. He scored 11 fantasy points in the team’s first meeting, and I think he has the safest floor of these backs.

If Mixon plays, he’d go second. I’d take Harris third, then Pacheco. Give me Warren fifth, Hill sixth and Hunt seventh. If Mixon is out, Pierce would slot in eighth, and Ogunbowale ninth - that matchup is too tough to trust either guy in.

RB Fantasy Rankings

1. Derrick Henry

2. Joe Mixon

3. Najee Harris

4. Isiah Pacheco

5. Jaylen Warren

6. Justice Hill

7. Kareem Hunt

8. Dameon Pierce

9. Dare Ogunbowale

Wide Receivers

In Baltimore, Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman, Nelson Agholor, Devontez Walker, and Tylan Wallace are all options. Pittsburgh has Pickens, Calvin Austin, Van Jefferson, Mike Williams, Ben Skowronek and Scotty Miller as options.

Houston has Nico Collins, Tank Dell, John Metchie, Xavier Hutchinson and Steven Sims. Kansas City has Xavier Worthy, DeAndre Hopkins, Justin Watson, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Nikko Remigio and maybe Marquise Brown.

Flowers is the top Baltimore fantasy wideout by a good margin this season. Bateman is averaging 10.4 PPR points per game, while no other receiver is over 3.5 points.

Pickens hasn’t practiced this week, so his availability for Saturday seems like a long shot. He’s easily the best fantasy wideout on the team. Austin is second on the team, but at just 7.4 PPR points per week. Nobody else is over 3.9 points. 

Collins is not only the top Houston fantasy wideout, but is No. 2 in PPR points per game this season. Dell is at 9.1 points per week, and everyone else is at 3.7 points or less.

Worthy is the top Kansas City fantasy wideout available, with Hopkins just a bit behind him. Nobody else is over 4.4 points per week.

The matchup is fantastic for the Steelers’ wideouts. It’s pretty favorable for the Chiefs’ receivers and average for the Ravens and Texans.

In the weekly projections, Collins leads this group of receivers at 17 PPR points. Flowers is projected for 13, Pickens 12, Hopkins 11, Worthy 10, Bateman nine, Dell eight, Williams four and Brown one (although that would rise if he’s active).

I too like Collins the most among the wideouts in the Saturday games. If Pickens plays, he’d be second.

After that, I’d consider Flowers, Worthy, Bateman, Hopkins and Dell for standard league starts. Austin and Brown are the only ones I’d consider in deeper leagues. I’ll provide rankings for everyone else below.

WR Fantasy Rankings

1. Nico Collins

2. George Pickens

3. Zay Flowers

4. Xavier Worthy

5. Rashod Bateman

6. DeAndre Hopkins

7. Tank Dell

8. Calvin Austin

9. Marquise Brown

10. JuJu Smith-Schuster

11. Van Jefferson

12. John Metchie

13. Nelson Agholor

14. Mike Williams

15. Justin Watson

16. Tylan Wallace

17. Devontez Walker

18. Xavier Hutchinson

19. Scotty Miller

20. Ben Skowronek

21. Nikko Remigio

22. Steven Sims

Tight Ends

Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely are the top fantasy tight ends for Baltimore. Pittsburgh has Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington.

Kansas City has Travis Kelce and Noah Gray, while Houston has Dalton Schultz doing almost everything.

Andrews has a touchdown grab in three straight games, and at least 10 fantasy points in those contests. He scored four points against Pittsburgh in the team’s first meeting. Likely had four fantasy points last week after 15 in week 13. He scored 10 fantasy points the last time the teams met.

Freiermuth has at least 10 points in four straight games. He tallied three points in the last clash with Baltimore. Washington hasn’t scored a fantasy point in two weeks. His third-best fantasy outing (six points) came against the Steelers.

Schultz scored just three fantasy points last week after a 17-point showing in week 13. Kelce scored seven points last week - he had between 10-14 the previous three games. Gray had 10 fantasy points last week, marking the fourth time in five weeks he scored in double figures.

The best defensive matchup belongs to Schultz. The Steelers’ TEs have an above-average matchup, while the Ravens’ pair has an average test. The Chiefs’ duo has one of the toughest matchups in the league.

In the weekly projections, which includes 25 players, Kelce leads this group of TEs with 13 PPR points. Andrews, Schultz and Freiermuth are projected for nine points, while Gray is at eight and Likely is at six.

I’d also trust Kelce the most this week, but that’s more based on his history than anything else. Andrews would be second and Freiermuth third. I’d also consider Schultz in standard leagues because of the favorable matchup.

Gray and Likely are better deep-league options in my eyes, while I’d stay away from Washington. 

TE Fantasy Rankings

1. Travis Kelce

2. Mark Andrews

3. Pat Freiermuth

4. Dalton Schultz

5. Noah Gray

6. Isaiah Likely

7. Darnell Washington