Eric Karabell is a senior writer for fantasy baseball, football and basketball at ESPN. Eric is a charter member of FSWA Hall of Fame and author of "The Best Philadelphia Sports Arguments".
As we say hello to December football and the fantasy playoffs, we must say farewell to the rest-of-the-season rankings for this season. It has been a fun ride, and thanks to so many of you who reached out on Twitter with thoughts during the season. This might seem obvious, but fantasy managers should play their top options during the fantasy playoffs, and matchups matter quite a bit. That hardly means you should sit Michael Thomas because he plays San Francisco this weekend, but for lesser players, keep it in mind. As always, we combine these rankings with a little Stock Watch. Best of luck in your playoffs!
QB Stock Up
David Blough, Detroit Lions: Fantasy managers tend to get overly excited about rookies at running back, wide receiver and tight end, yet they presume rookie quarterbacks will struggle outside of the top options. Blough did fine against a ferocious Bears defense on Thanksgiving, and while Matthew Stafford remains "week-to-week," it makes little sense for him to return this season. Blough, at home against the Buccaneers in Week 15, could work well.
Drew Lock, Denver Broncos: The fourth quarterback chosen in the 2019 draft, and the only one to go in Round 2, Lock is finally healthy, and he won in his debut, topping the struggling Philip Rivers and the Chargers. The statistics were hardly awesome, but Lock is mobile and he should get chances to throw downfield in the coming weeks. There is simply little movement among the top 20 quarterbacks for fantasy this late in the season, unless injury or playing time changes things. With teams out of contention and rookies receiving a late-season look in real life, it is different.
QB Stock Down
Nick Foles, Jacksonville Jaguars: Rather than light up a terrible Buccaneers secondary on Sunday, Foles became a turnover machine and rookie Gardner Minshew II replaced him in the second half of the eventual loss. Minshew will start in Week 14 against the Chargers, and assuming he plays well, he then gets the Raiders and Falcons. Foles seems like a poor fantasy investment for 2019 and beyond.
RB Stock Up
Austin Ekeler, Los Angeles Chargers: Yes, Melvin Gordon gets the rushing attempts, but Ekeler catches the passes, and he is the one with better fantasy numbers in PPR formats the past two games. In fact, Ekeler might be the most underrated running back around, since he ranks No. 3 at the position in PPR points per game, behind only Christian McCaffrey and Dalvin Cook. Ekeler's production has waned some since Gordon's return but not much.
Kareem Hunt, Cleveland Browns: Speaking of time-shares in which each player remains productive, Hunt has played in four games, and despite a mere 11 touches per game, he has averaged more than 14 PPR points per game with strong consistency, and a pair of Bengals games still remain on the schedule. Nick Chubb is an RB1, but Hunt looks like a borderline RB2 now.
Raheem Mostert, San Francisco 49ers: This team has three viable running backs, which can really mess with fantasy managers, but the way Tevin Coleman has played for the past month, Mostert deserves the most attention. Matt Breida should play this week, and while no 49ers running backs are strong options this week in New Orleans, the Falcons are up after that. All three 49ers backs could be flex options for that one.
RB Stock Down
Le'Veon Bell, New York Jets: Bell investors have a right to be displeased about his season, but it is worth pointing out there are only 12 running backs with more PPR points this season. OK, so you wanted more and I agree, so he moves down a bit in these final rankings because there is no end in sight to his average performance. But whether we should blame Bell, other Jets or the odd coaching (that we warned you about), the bottom line is Bell has been a safe RB2 this season.
David Johnson, Arizona Cardinals: Another consensus first-round pick, but this one has become unplayable in fantasy, thanks presumably to injury and coaching decisions. It is hard to see Johnson suddenly earning 20 touches in any December game. Other running backs dropped in these rankings because it's a bit late to be guessing on health and potential touches, so James Conner, Damien Williams and Jordan Howard are among others we used to rely on but might not be able to anymore.
WR Stock Up
Robert Woods, Los Angeles Rams: He torched the Arizona defense and gets it again in Week 17, if that matters in your league, but at the least it was nice to see Jared Goff look Woods' way early and often on Sunday. Woods is talented, and while it has been a down season for both him and Brandin Cooks, Woods looks like a WR3 again.
DeVante Parker, Miami Dolphins: The Eagles knew where Ryan Fitzpatrick was going with the football and could not stop the enigmatic Parker, who has teased the Dolphins and fantasy managers for years, but things look good now. The schedule continues to look good as well, with the two New Jersey clubs and Cincinnati up next.
Sterling Shepard, New York Giants: The schedule looks favorable for him as well, with the Eagles on the docket twice. Shepard's main issue this season has been health, but unlike quite a few wide receivers drafted in the first few rounds, he is healthy now.
WR Stock Down
T.Y. Hilton, Indianapolis Colts: Fantasy managers clinging to Hilton could not have enjoyed his coach telling reporters he was merely "hopeful" Hilton returns this season with a calf injury. Um, what? That is a problem. It looks like Adam Thielen and JuJu Smith-Schuster, other receivers on contenders, could be back sooner, though it's tough to rely on any of them at this point, so they all drop in the rankings. Julio Jones also dropped just a bit thanks to his shoulder injury and the fact that the Falcons have little to play for in the final weeks.
TE Stock Up
Jack Doyle, Indianapolis Colts:Jacoby Brissett has to throw the football to someone, and Doyle has three touchdowns in his past five games. At this feeble position, that is what we call a hot streak worthy of playoff deployment, especially with the Buccaneers up this week and so many other potential top-10 tight ends dealing with injuries (Austin Hooper, Evan Engram, Gerald Everett).
TE Stock Down
T.J. Hockenson, Detroit Lions: The rookie from Iowa hit injured reserve this week, which is actually a good thing in fantasy because he was still active in more than 20% of ESPN standard leagues in Week 13, despite doing next to nothing in fantasy since September. Hockenson scored nearly one-third of his fantasy points for the season in Week 1, and people kept playing him anyway. Now they should all know not to!
