Week 17 Fantasy Football Stars Who Will Struggle: Joe Burrow, Josh Jacobs, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Sam LaPorta

Last week’s attempt at finding fantasy stars who would struggle was not great, though it was better than Week 15 (it had to be).

• Jayden Daniels went nuts: 258 passing yards, five touchdowns (with two interceptions), and 81 rushing yards against Philadelphia, maybe the best defense in the league.
• Kyren Williams had both strong volume and efficiency, turning 23 carries into 122 yards and a touchdown while catching one pass for seven yards against the Jets.
• Tyreek Hill had just three catches for 29 yards, but a touchdown against the 49ers saved his fantasy day.
• Jonnu Smith had a better day than his WR teammate, catching six passes for 62 yards, though he didn’t score.

Let’s do it again and identify weekly fantasy starters who will struggle to excel in Week 17. I used stats from NFL.com and our FantasySP defensive fantasy rankings to help determine the toughest matchups. I will reference those numbers often.

Quarterback

Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals vs. Denver Broncos

In maybe the most important game of the week when considering both teams involved, Cincinnati’s MVP-level quarterback gets his chance to both keep his team in the playoff hunt and put a major dent into one of their main competitors for the final AFC postseason spot.

The Bengals need to win both of their remaining games and have either the Broncos or Chargers lose both to even have a chance at making it, and that doesn’t consider the Colts or Dolphins, who could also be part of that picture. There’s not much of a better guy to have under center when the Bengals need to win, though, as Burrow has been one of the best of 2024.

The matchup makes this one of the tougher games of the season, as Denver has allowed the fourth-least yards per pass attempt and seventh-fewest fantasy points per game to quarterbacks. The Broncos have gotten some nice play out of their rookie quarterback, Bo Nix, but they are in playoff position and need just one more victory to lock in their spot because of the defense.

Owners aren’t benching Burrow, and that’s fine. He was QB3 entering Week 17, ahead of everyone except Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen. This matchup makes it more likely that Burrow will struggle to excel than in other weeks, but he’s still good enough to overcome and have another big game in a big 2024.

Running Back

Josh Jacobs, Green Bay Packers @ Minnesota Vikings

The Vikings might be the toughest running back matchup in fantasy right now. They have allowed the second-least yards per rush attempt and the third-least fantasy points per game to running backs.

On top of being tied for the least rushing touchdowns allowed, Minnesota is also giving up the eighth-fewest receiving yards per game to backs, shutting down all avenues of potential fantasy production. The Vikes are getting lucky on their run to 13-2, but they have also played really well; no one is THAT lucky.

Jacobs is having his second-best season by rushing yardage and has scored the most touchdowns of his career. He hasn’t been overly efficient, gaining a very average 4.4 yards per carry, but fantasy is about bulk, and Jacobs is accumulating stats.

He has also been involved in the passing game, on pace for 40 receptions (which would be his third-best number) and 385 yards (second best). Jacobs even scored his first career receiving touchdown after more than 200 receptions.

It’s impossible to deny that Jacobs has been a valuable fantasy player, regardless of what you think about his bloated contract (which the team can easily get out of this offseason if they choose). Jacobs is RB4 in standard scoring and RB6 in PPR.

While his performance might make it impossible for owners to sit him, Jacobs is up against a tough test. He had just 51 rushing yards when these teams played in Week 4, though four receptions for 27 yards were a nice PPR boon.

Wide Receiver and Tight End

Amon-Ra St. Brown, Detroit Lions @ San Francisco 49ers

Sam LaPorta, Detroit Lions @ San Francisco 49ers

I did this last week with the Miami duo of Hill and Smith with the caveat that I never choose two guys from the same team. Well, if it’s good enough to do it once, why not twice? (It’s just like school at the end of the year: you just phone it in, right?)

The matchup is what makes this a tough week for these star pass catchers. The 49ers have allowed the third-least yards per pass attempt, the least fantasy points to wide receivers, and the third-fewest fantasy points to tight ends. There’s not a position that finds an easy go of it against San Fran, an oddity in such an offensive league.

It’s hard to expect bad days out of the Lions, though. They were averaging the most points per game (with Buffalo and Baltimore close behind), second-most passing yards per game, and sixth-most rushing yards per game heading into Week 17. They are as dominant as San Francisco was the past few seasons.

St. Brown is doing his thing, already over 100 catches and 1,100 yards with 11 touchdowns. That TD number is a career high, and he’s just 18 receptions short of his top number (though he’s still about 400 yards shy of last year’s mark). You can’t argue with St. Brown’s production; he’s WR3 in both standard and PPR entering Christmas week.

LaPorta is down from his great rookie season, on pace for 30 less catches, 200 fewer yards, and three less touchdowns than 2023 in just one fewer game. It’s not an exaggeration to call this a disappointment given preseason fantasy expectations, even though he’s a top-10 player at his position in both standard and PPR scoring.

These are two more players who owners probably aren’t benching given their statuses and name recognition. It’s hard to sit your stars when you get to the end; what if they go off while you instead have a streamer in who gets two points? If you’re strong at either WR or TE, though, it’s worth seeing if you have the option to sit either Detroit pass catcher, especially LaPorta.