Tampa Bay Buccaneers WR Breshad Perriman -- yes, we're talking about the Baltimore Ravens first-round pick four seasons ago -- scored three receiving touchdowns in Sunday's rout of the Detroit Lions. He should be one of the more popular fantasy free agents this week, regardless of the status of star Chris Godwin.
The Buccaneers lost Mike Evans to a hamstring injury in Week 14 and Godwin left Sunday's game early with the same injury. His status for future games is unclear. After years of battling a combination of injuries and disappointing performances, Perriman is finally healthy and productive. It's just in time to help eager fantasy managers.
Perriman's Buccaneers host the Houston Texans in the first of the three Saturday games in Week 16, and those Texans are certainly susceptible to opposing passing games. It is not strange for fantasy managers to sign a player and then activate him for a critical Week 16 playoff matchup, perhaps benching someone they had relied on for months who is either not producing at the same level anymore or simply has a difficult matchup. (Players like Cooper Kupp and Kenny Golladay fit the bill of someone who could potentially ride the fantasy pine.) Rather than blindly offering loyalty to players, you should look at weekly matchups. If you do the latter, you'll see that Tampa Bay should be able to throw the ball Saturday, with Perriman perhaps assuming the usual WR1 status of his hamstrung teammates.
As noted, Week 16 of the 2019 fantasy football season brings us a new schedule. The Thursday games are over with and a triple-header of Saturday action arrives, with each game featuring a playoff team. (In Week 17, everything is on Sunday, and all but a few games start at the same time.) Anyway, please get a reasonable semblance of your lineups in before Saturday at 1 p.m. ET. You can always change your Sunday players on Sunday, but some strong teams with strong offenses (and defenses) will suit up on Saturday. You have Deshaun Watson versus Jameis Winston in the first game. There's an AFC East rematch between the Bills' and Patriots' defenses in the second game. The night game features an NFC West rematch between the Rams and 49ers.
Meanwhile, Winston is the first player in league history with consecutive games of at least 450 passing yards, achieving this on Sunday despite a fracture in his throwing thumb. Winston will enter Week 16 among the top five quarterbacks in 2019 scoring, with a good chance of leading the NFL in passing yards. He has also reached 30 TD passes for the first time in an occasionally erratic five-year career. The problem with Winston is that he tends to throw the football to the other team quite a bit as well. No passer has served up more interceptions. Now, Winston had only one of them Sunday, giving him 24 for the year, so the first 30-TD, 30-INT season might have to wait. Still, it's not an impossible milestone.
Here are more fantasy themes to watch in Week 16.
NFC East on the line
The Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles will likely decide their division (and the NFC's No. 4 seed) on Sunday in Philadelphia, with the winner earning their eighth win. Eight wins might not seem like much in mid-December, but a .500 record could win this division. The Eagles have won consecutive games (barely) over the other two NFC East clubs, as much-maligned QB Carson Wentz engineered late drives to beat both the New York Giants and Washington Redskins, despite missing a key running back and much of his WR corps. No problem! Boston Scott and Greg Ward Jr. have become relevant in deeper fantasy leagues. Rookie Miles Sanders, coming off a 35.2-point performance (in PPR leagues) against Washington, looks like a RB2 option these days, though Jordan Howard could return Sunday to muddy the waters a bit.
The last time these teams met was in Week 7, when Wentz delivered a poor 6.8 points in his worst outing of the season. This game comes at home, but with lesser personnel at his disposal, he seems undeserving of a top-10 ranking from the ESPN Fantasy staff. Meanwhile, the Dallas triumvirate of RB Ezekiel Elliott, WR Amari Cooper and QB Dak Prescott thrived in their 37-10 rout the first time these teams met. The Cowboys' passing game figures to succeed again as the Eagles struggle to pressure the passer and the secondary has permitted big plays to rookie wide receivers in recent games.
Rookies catching on
A trio of first-year wide receivers scurried past the 800-yard receiving mark with their Sunday efforts, as Tennessee's A.J. Brown and Washington's Terry McLaurin were among the top 10 receivers in PPR scoring. Seattle's DK Metcalf also scored a touchdown. These three players enter Week 16 with similar statistics, although Metcalf boasts the most receptions (52), Brown the most yards (893), and Brown and McLaurin each have seven TD catches. Brown has been among the top wide receivers in the NFL of late, surpassing 100 receiving yards in three of four games and scoring four touchdowns in that span. He should be in more lineups for Week 16 against the Saints.
At running back, the Oakland Raiders welcomed Josh Jacobs back to their lineup after he had missed their Week 14 game. He provided 109 yards from scrimmage in the Raiders' loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. The final two weeks will also decide the top fantasy option at running back for the season, as Philadelphia's Sanders is within 7.6 points of Jacobs. While Jacobs is among the top 10 among all running backs in rushing attempts (and one of only 10 to have 1,000-plus rushing yards), Sanders is a bigger factor in the passing game.
Monday madness
The final game of the week could decide the NFC North, as Kirk Cousins and the Minnesota Vikings host Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. To be fair, when these teams met in Week 2 it was the running backs who starred for fantasy purposes. Aaron Jones and Dalvin Cook combined for a cool 53.1 points. Jones totaled 150 scrimmage yards and 25 points, while Cook supplied 191 total yards and 28.1 points. Each rushed for a touchdown. We would love to see both of these players thrive again, but Cook left Sunday's win over the Chargers with a recurring right shoulder injury he originally suffered last month; he did not return to the game. Cook finished with 7.4 points, by far his worst performance of the season and at simply the worst time for fantasy managers.
Usual Minnesota backup RB Alexander Mattison missed Sunday's game with an ankle injury, leaving second-year player Mike Boone to handle things -- and handle them he did. Boone scored a pair of rushing touchdowns and, depending on further clarity on the Cook and Mattison injuries early this week, he could become a popular flex option for Week 16.
One further note involving Cook: He entered Week 15 as the No. 2 PPR running back in fantasy. He was a good ways behind Carolina Panthers superstar Christian McCaffrey, but in a race for the No. 2 spot with -- wait for it -- Chargers surprise Austin Ekeler. Yes, Ekeler might finish the season as fantasy's No. 2 PPR running back, especially if Cook misses a game or two. Never underestimate how valuable receptions and receiving yards are for a running back.