When I was a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, four friends and I shared a dilapidated house on Dayton Street that wouldn’t have passed any earnest inspection.
We used to throw semi-regular keggers. We’d charge people a few bucks for a cup and usually make enough to pay our utility bills for the month. Our standard party order was four half-barrels of beer — three for the party and one that we’d stash in someone’s bedroom and bring out late at night for an after-party.
The after-party was limited to good friends only. When the third keg ran out, we’d bid adieu to the slightly weird guy from Eric’s poli-sci class, the guys who worked with Kevin at the sub shop and the underage freshmen from the dorm up the street, while surreptitiously telling our buddies (and a few cute girls) to stick around.
Once the strangers and the people with only tenuous connections to the guys in the house were gone, we’d bring out the fourth keg.
I bring up this memory because Week 14 of the NFL regular season reminds me of the moment the tapper on the third keg started spitting out foam.
After Week 14, we’ll say farewell to the playoff non-qualifiers, and then the postseason afterparty will rage on.
“Great seeing you, Greg! Man, you lost so many close games. Leading the league in opponent points against is such a bummer. Until next time, brother!”
“G’night, Michelle! Sorry about the Brock Bowers and Bucky Irving injuries. See you at next year’s draft?”
The party is about to end for some people. Here’s hoping you get to stick around to drink from that playoff keg.
Let’s get to the 10 most intriguing fantasy football players of Week 14.
The 10 Most Intriguing Players of Week 14
1. Adonai Mitchell (WR – NYJ)
Is Adonai Mitchell turning into a star before our eyes, or is he just teasing us?
When the Jets traded cornerback Sauce Gardner to the Colts for two first-round draft picks, Gang Green got Mitchell as a throw-in. Mitchell had become a pariah in Indianapolis after dropping the ball at the goal line on what should have been a long catch-and-run touchdown in a big Week 4 game against the Rams. The Colts lost 27-20.
In his first two games with the Jets, Mitchell was targeted 13 times but had only three catches for 52 yards. The incompletions included a couple of ugly drops.
But then in Week 13, Mitchell had eight catches for 102 yards and a touchdown on 12 targets and looked like the player the Colts hoped they were getting when they took him in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Mitchell ran a 4.34 at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine. His exotic combination of size, speed and ball skills made him a Day 2 draft pick even though he never had a 1,000-yard season at the University of Texas.
Mitchell has a golden opportunity to prove himself down the stretch. The Jets have a condensed passing game these days. It’s Mitchell and John Metchie at wide receiver, plus running back Breece Hall and a little bit of tight end Mason Taylor. That’s pretty much it. Tyrod Taylor is giving the Jets a functional passing game, unlike Justin Fields.
It will be fascinating to see if Mitchell can give fantasy gamers a lift down the stretch and become a receiver we covet in 2026 drafts.
2. Christian Watson (WR – GB)
I love a good redemption story, and the NFL is full of them.
Christian Watson is becoming one.
A second-round pick out of North Dakota State in 2022, Watson missed 11 games over his first two NFL seasons. Before the 2024 season, Watson underwent medical testing in search of a solution to his chronic hamstring problems. It was discovered that he had a muscle imbalance in his legs, and he adjusted his training accordingly.
Watson then tore his ACL in the final week of the 2024 regular season. His career seemed very much in jeopardy.
Watson made an unexpectedly quick return in Week 8 and has been sharp, with 21 catches for 363 yards and three touchdowns in six games. He’s the WR24 in half-PPR fantasy points per game since his return. Watson has averaged 17.3 yards per catch, 10.7 yards per target and 2.24 yards per route run (YPRR)— impressive numbers.
Watson will be a key figure in the Packers’ critical Week 14 game against the Bears, with Green Bay having a chance to overtake Chicago for first place in the NFC North. The Bears’ pass defense has been shaky, allowing the third-most fantasy points to wide receivers. But Chicago had played nearly the entire season without its two best cornerbacks, Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon, who are both healthy now.
3. D’Andre Swift (RB – CHI)
Speaking of the NFL’s oldest rivalry…
When the Bears visit the Packers in Green Bay this Sunday, the Bears’ running game will be critical to their chances of beating their archrivals.
Chicago ranks second in the league in rushing yardage, 22 yards behind Buffalo. Since their Week 5 bye, the Bears have averaged 179.6 rushing yards per game behind what has become one of the NFL’s better offensive lines, and they’ve run for at least 140 yards in all but two of those eight games.
The Bears’ backfield has become a near-50/50 split between veteran D’Andre Swift and rookie Kyle Monangai. Having a tag-team partner seems to be keeping Swift fresh. Since the bye, Swift has averaged 83.9 rushing yards per game, 105.6 scrimmage yards per game and 5.6 yards per carry.
Swift had a touchdown run in each of his two games against the Packers last season. The Bears are hoping he’ll find the paint again this week.
4. Jakobi Meyers (WR – JAX)
Trevor Lawrence seems to have very little chemistry with Brian Thomas Jr. Jakobi Meyers showed up in Jacksonville a month ago, and he and Lawrence had instant chemistry. Lawrence is Walter White; Meyers is Jesse Pinkman.
In four games with the Jaguars, Meyers has an 85.7% catch rate and is averaging 11.7 yards per target. Meyers played only 27 snaps in his first game with the Jaguars and had three catches for 41 yards. In the three games since, Meyers has averaged 68 receiving yards. He’s scored a touchdown in each of his last two games.
Meyers has become a must-start for fantasy. He has a Week 14 matchup against a Colts defense that has allowed the ninth-most fantasy points per game to wide receivers and will be without recent acquisition Sauce Gardner, who has a calf injury.
5. Jonathan Taylor (RB – IND)
Over his first 10 games of the season, Jonathan Taylor averaged 113.9 rushing yards per game and six yards per carry, racking up 17 touchdowns in the process. Led by Taylor and quarterback Daniel Jones, the Indianapolis offense was one of the biggest surprises of the season.
But the Colts’ offense has bogged down. Indianapolis has lost two straight games, and the Colts have scored 13 and 20 points in those contests. Taylor averaged 3.9 yards per carry the last two weeks in losses to the Chiefs and Texans, and he didn’t score a touchdown in either game.
In fairness, Kansas City and Houston were tough matchups, and Taylor runs into another challenging opponent this week when the Colts visit the Jaguars. Jacksonville has allowed a league-low 764 rushing yards and only four rushing touchdowns to running backs.
The Colts need Taylor to carry a heavy load since Jones is playing with a fibular fracture and hasn’t looked very good in recent weeks. Fantasy managers are hoping Taylor can put their teams on his back and carry them to trophies and winners’ checks.
6. Davante Adams (WR – LAR)
Davante Adams is on a remarkable touchdown spree. Adams has scored 11 touchdowns over his last six games. He’s scored at least one touchdown in each of those contests, and he’s scored multiple touchdowns in four of them.
What’s wild is that Adams has averaged only 48.8 receiving yards per game during the touchdown streak. He’s scored a touchdown on 42.3% of his catches over that stretch.
In his first six games of the season, Adams averaged 66 receiving yards per game and scored three touchdowns. Go figure.
This week, with the Rams coming off a disappointing road loss to the Panthers, Adams and the Rams face an Arizona pass defense that’s given up only seven touchdown passes.
Adams is 32 and will turn 33 on Christmas Eve. Clearly, he still has a lot left in the tank.
7. Lamar Jackson (QB – BAL)
We’ve hit crunch time in the fantasy season, and some drafters who spent an early-round pick on Lamar Jackson are now wondering whether they should start him. Pretty wild, huh?
Jackson had been a no-brainer start for most of his eight NFL seasons. But he’s been dealing with an ankle injury and hasn’t been himself. He’s gone three straight games without a touchdown pass and hasn’t run for a touchdown since Week 1. Jackson is the QB31 in fantasy points per game over the last four weeks.
This Sunday, Jackson faces a Steelers defense that has historically given him trouble. In eight career starts against the Steelers, Jackson has averaged 160.5 passing yards per game, with eight touchdown passes and nine interceptions. Jackson has never had a rushing touchdown against Pittsburgh.
Some fantasy managers may bench Jackson this week in critical games. Will they be able to live with themselves if they miss out on a vintage Jackson game?
8. Terry McLaurin (WR – WSH)
After giving his fantasy managers next to nothing for the first 12 weeks of the season, can Terry McLaurin be a rainmaker in the final month?
McLaurin averaged 49.7 receiving yards over his first three games of the season and injured his quad in Week 3. He returned in Week 8 only to reinjure his quad, causing him to miss another three games.
In his subsequent return last week, McLaurin faced the vaunted Denver pass defense and was playing with backup quarterback Marcus Mariota, who’s been starting in place of the injured Jayden Daniels. It hardly seemed like a smash spot, but McLaurin smashed anyway, catching seven passes for 96 yards and a touchdown on 14 targets.
Making McLaurin’s big game even more impressive was the fact that he played just over half of Washington’s offensive snaps. He was on the field for 46 plays and was targeted on 30% of them.
The Commanders may get Daniels back this week for their game against the Vikings in Minnesota. Daniels and McLaurin connected for 13 touchdowns in 2024.
9. Chris Godwin (WR – TB)
I was recording a podcast with Jake Ciely of The Athletic this week, and he and I were talking about how good Chris Godwin looked in Week 13.
Normally, Godwin looking good wouldn’t be especially noteworthy. His career started to take off in 2018, his second NFL season, and then he erupted for 1,333 receiving yards and nine touchdowns in 2019. That was the first of his four 1,000-yard seasons.
Godwin was leading all wide receivers in PPR fantasy scoring through the first six weeks of the 2024 season. But he sustained a gruesome ankle injury in Week 7 and missed the rest of the season.
Still recovering from the injury, Godwin wasn’t able to get back on the field until Week 4 of this season, and he didn’t appear to be himself. He had three catches for 26 yards in each of his first two games back, then went back on the shelf with a separate fibular injury. It looked like it was going to be a lost season.
But Godwin came back in Week 12. He played only 25 snaps in his return and had two catches for nine yards. Then, last Sunday against the Cardinals, Godwin was only targeted five times but had three catches for 78 yards. His receptions went for 25, 31 and 22 yards. Godwin’s day could have been even better had he not dropped what should have been a touchdown pass.
Godwin is now back on the fantasy radar, although the impending return of Mike Evans from a collarbone injury could complicate the target distribution in Tampa.
10. James Cook (RB – BUF)
James Cook has been having a splendid season. He has 1,228 rushing yards, 1,464 scrimmage yards and nine touchdowns. Cook is the RB6 in half-PPR fantasy points per game.
What’s nice for Cook’s fantasy managers is that the Bills need to lean hard on Cook.
Normally, the rest of the Bills can just hop on quarterback Josh Allen‘s Superman cape and come along for the ride. But the Bills’ pass-catchers are such a pedestrian group that Buffalo has been more reliant on its non-Allen running game than usual.
Only the Seahawks have been run-heavier than the Bills, who have run the ball on 49.5% of their offensive snaps. Buffalo’s pass rate over expectation (PROE) is -2.9%. Allen is averaging 29.2 pass attempts per game,
Cook is averaging 19.3 carries and 102.3 rushing yards per game. He’s six carries away from matching his previous single-season high of 237.
if the Bills feed Cook a steady diet of carries this week against the Bengals, look out. Cincinnati has yielded a league-high 128.2 rushing yards per game to running backs. Opposing BACKS are averaging 5.2 yards per carry against the Bengals.
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