Just when you thought the road to the championship would be an easy one, the fantasy gods are here to pull the rug right out from under you.
Outside of Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Travis Kelce and Derrick Henry, the first three games of NFL Week 17 have been terrible for fantasy football.
Now you have a concussed Jalen Hurts unlikely to play, CeeDee Lamb has been shut down for the season and an array of questionable starters whose game status will have you refreshing the news feed over and over until the start of the Saturday games.
No one said winning was easy, but they also didn’t tell us it would be this difficult to stomach.
The wide receiver position seems to be taking it on the chin the most this week.
In addition to Lamb sitting out the final two games of the regular season, the list of questionable receivers is making lineup decisions an absolute nightmare.
Once a reliable fallback option, Adam Thielen popped up on the injury report Thursday and is now questionable to play. He is joined by Tyreek Hill, A.J. Brown, Tee Higgins, Terry McLaurin, Malik Nabers, Drake London and Davante Adams.
Some of these receivers might just be limited through holiday practices, but with games starting up Saturday, you may need to seek replacements.
To find a proper replacement, you want to start with teams that have something to play for in Week 17.
With the Falcons and Buccaneers fighting for the NFC South title, both teams will be pulling out all the stops.
Darnell Mooney is a great place to start, even with Michael Penix at quarterback.
Offensive coordinator Zac Robinson will continue to work on the rookie’s accuracy but here in his second start, he is also expected to look downfield more.
While Drake London is contending with Marshin Lattimore in coverage, Mooney will be matched up with Benjamin St-Juste, one of the weakest cover corners in the game.
Jalen McMillan also finds himself in a great spot against the Carolina Panthers, whose defense ranks near the bottom in almost every defensive metric.
After weeks of wondering who would pick up the slack and fill out the Chris Godwin role in Tampa, the rookie is stepping up at just the right time.
Betting on the NFL?
Over the last three weeks, the rookie has seen 20 targets, which he’s turned into 14 catches for 191 yards and four touchdowns.
With Panthers top corner Jaycee Horn banged up, they’re going to have to float safety help his way to try to contain Mike Evans, which will leave McMillan in plenty of one-on-one coverage.
Keep a watchful eye on the injury reports as news flows in over the weekend.
Keep a watchful eye on the weather as well. Championship week requires you to pull out all the stops.
So if your stars are struggling, be sure to have a stable of help waiting in the wings.
Howard Bender is the head of content at FantasyAlarm.com. Follow him on X @rotobuzzguy and catch him on the award-winning “Fantasy Alarm Radio Show” on the SiriusXM fantasy sports channel weekdays from 6-8 p.m. Go to FantasyAlarm.com for all your fantasy football news and advice.