There will be many difficult decisions to be made in Week 16. It is the Fantasy Football semifinals in most leagues and there is a certain finality to every decision. There's no shortage of things to stress over as a Fantasy manager. Whether or not you start Rashee Rice shouldn't be one of them. While Rice is just WR29 on the season, that's mostly due to a slow start, and his hot start has pushed him into must-start, borderline top-12 territory.
The Chiefs' star rookie has four straight games with at least nine targets and he's scored at least 14 PPR Fantasy points in all of those games. Since Week 12, only Deebo Samuel and CeeDee Lamb have scored more PPR Fantasy points that Rice.
On paper, the matchup doesn't look great, because the Raiders have been above average in terms of limiting the Fantasy production of wide receivers. But this hot stretch started against the Raiders, when Rice scored 24.7 PPR Fantasy points against them in Week 12. They are playing a style of defense that limits big plays but allows throws underneath which fits Rice and his 4.3 ADOT perfectly. While the Raiders have surrendered the 11th-fewest passing yards this season, they've given up the fourth-most yards after the catch.
If Rice is on your roster, he's in your starting lineup. You have plenty of other things to stress about.
- Heath's Week 16 Previews: QB | RB | WR | TE
You can find more in my weekly projections over at SportsLine. Now here is the rest of the Week 16 WR Preview:
Week 16 WR Preview
Who's Out
Numbers to Know
Matchups That Matter
Waiver Wire Targets
DFS Plays
Projections
The following players are not being projected to play Week 16 at this time. Here's what it means:
WR Preview
Numbers to Know
- 69.9% -- Nearly 70% of Rashee Rice's receiving yards have come after the catch, that's tops amongst wide receivers with at least 50 targets.
- 11.4 -- Deebo Samuel is on pace to become just the fourth player since 1992 to average more than 11 yards per target with at least 60 targets in multiple seasons. The other three are Tyreek Hill, Tyler Lockett, and DeSean Jackson.
- 18 -- Puka Nacua needs 18 more catches to set the rookie record for most catches in a season.
- 152.67 -- After missing last week's game, Tyreek Hill now needs to average almost 153 yards per game in his final three to reach his stated goal of 2,000 receiving yards this season.
- 15.88 -- Drake London is averaging 15.88 PPR FPPG at home this season and just 7.37 on the road.
- 24.2 -- Noah Brown has three games this season with at least 24.2 PPR Fantasy points. He also has zero points in two of his last three. He's the Gabe Davis of the South.
WR Preview
Matchups that matter
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Sportsline
WR Preview
Waiver Wire Targets
Week 16 Adds (WR Preview)
Top DFS Play (WR Preview)
Projections powered by
Sportsline
Contrarian DFS Play (WR Preview)
Projections powered by
Sportsline
WR Preview
Heath's Projections
My full set of Week 16 Fantasy Football projections for every position are now available on SportsLine. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don't live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 16. Projected stats for all starting quarterbacks are available at Sportsline.