Close Calls: Week 18's Toughest Lineup Decisions

For most fantasy managers, the last Close Call has been made for this season. Week 17 was the end of the line. Either they are basking in the glow of a championship as we ring in 2025, or they are lamenting the bad decisions that led to a Championship Game loss.

However, for some, there is still one game to play. There is no shortage of disagreement among fantasy enthusiasts regarding the wisdom of Week 18 Championship Games. Both sides have points, whether it's the pro of an extra week of fantasy football or the con of guys with nothing to play for sitting out.

It isn't for this analyst to judge it one way or another—I play in just about every fantasy football league format imaginable. No, the task here is to help those managers who are still playing come down on the right side of this week's toughest lineup decisions. To pick that player who will put teams over the top and into the annals of history as champion.

So, one last time, here goes nothin'.

Every week here at Footballguys, Close Calls will make a case for a pair of closely-ranked fantasy options—and then make the call on which player will be more productive.

For the sake of this exercise, we'll only consider quarterbacks and tight ends outside the top 10, running backs outside the top 20, and wide receivers outside the top 30 in the Footballguys Weekly Rankings.

Hope the column was moderately useful in 2024.

Also hope to see you again in 2025.

Close Call: Bryce Young, Carolina (QB11) vs. Jordan Love, Green Bay (QB14)

The Case for Young: The fact that we're even making a case for Young speaks to the improvement the second-year pro has demonstrated since returning to the starting lineup after being benched. Young has four passing touchdowns and no interceptions over his past two games, and since Week 13, Young is quietly a top-10 fantasy quarterback.

Young's 203 passing yards and two touchdowns last week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week wasn't especially impressive. But Young has also been making opponents pay with his legs of late—two weeks ago against the Arizona Cardinals, Young scrambled five times for 68 yards and a touchdown.

The Case for Love: The Case for Love is rooted in redemption. Because frankly, Love's 185 yards and a touchdown in a plus passing matchup with the Vikings last week was a disappointment. Love hasn't thrown for 200 yards since Week 15 and has just one game in the last month with multiple touchdown passes.

However, Love has also been the far more productive fantasy option as a whole—he has outscored Young by over four full fantasy points per game this season. Love is the more proven player on a better team. He also had a decent game against the Bears in their first meeting of the year, throwing for 261 yards and a score and adding a touchdown on the ground.

The Verdict: Young. Love likely has the better fantasy floor—he scored just over 20 points against the Bears last time out. But the Atlanta Falcons have surrendered the fourth-most fantasy points to quarterbacks this season, and Young has no shortage of motivation to stamp his case as Carolina's long-term quarterback—and potentially ruin Atlanta's season in the process.

Close Call: Kenneth Gainwell, Philadelphia (RB21) vs. Antonio Gibson, New England (RB23)

The Case for Gainwell: The Philadelphia Eagles are locked into the No. 2 seed in the NFC, and the team has already stated that 2,000-yard rusher Saquon Barkley will sit out the season finale. That sets up fourth-year pro Kenneth Gainwell to be the team's lead back against a New York Giants team that ranks dead last in the NFC in run defense.

Gainwell has limited experience as a lead back, and in fairness, he hasn't exactly shone when he was afforded the opportunity in the past. But there's a good bet that Gainwell will see 15-plus touches against the G-Men—frankly, this is a game where both teams will likely play things safe and try to end the game (and regular season) as quickly as possible.

The Case for Gibson: Rhamondre Stevenson appears to have played his way right out of the lead role in New England—after "starting" last week, Stevenson carried the ball just twice for one yard, while Gibson averaged over five yards a carry on a dozen totes in a blowout loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

Gibson has been a lead back in the past—he rushed for over 1,000 yards with the Washington Commanders back in 2021. Gibson's 4.6 yards per carry this season is his highest mark since his rookie season, and in Week 18, the Patriots face a Bills team that has surrendered the fourth-most PPR points to running backs in 2024.

The Verdict: Gibson. Gainwell has a better matchup and offensive line, but Gibson is the more proven running back, and it appears the Patriots are playing to win in Week 18. The Bills will be resting starters, though, so a good fantasy matchup for Gibson might actually be that much better this week.