DraftKings GPP Domination Week 17

Apologies for this coming out later on Saturday than normal. I needed to re-write this multiple times due to the critical injuries that were announced on Saturday and wanted to ensure that the information here was as current as possible. 

Slate Overview- Week 17 Thoughts

Week 17 is one of the worst slates of the year. It is only an eight-game slate, but for the most part, there are seven teams that are mostly unplayable, either due to injury or just a lack of production. Miami, Cleveland, New Orleans, New York Giants, Dallas, and Jacksonville are all mostly unplayable. They may have one player who is fantasy-relevant on them, but it greatly limits the player pool with his many players who are on teams that no one has an interest in playing.

With a narrow field like this week, it’s critical that you pay attention to percent rostered projections. There are players who are going to get extremely popular that likely shouldn’t, while there could be some players on those seven teams that are still fantasy-relevant that people have completely written off because of how bad those teams actually are. Overall, this is a pretty terrible slate in general, but there are still some massive prize pools on this slate that could be won, including a $2.25M Millionaire Maker that looks like it could have a massive overlay this week.

Key Injuries for Week 17

• Tua Tagovailoa is doubtful for this week. Without Tua, the Dolphins are going to start Tyler Huntley. Huntley started the year with Cleveland before being cut so the Browns could keep Dorian Thompson-Robinson as their third quarterback; now, the game will feature the two facing off in one of the lowest projected totals of the week.
• Tony Pollard has been ruled out for the Titans. Tyjae Spears will get the start, which is a long-awaited start for fantasy players. He should be in a great matchup against the Jaguars this week.
• Chuba Hubbard is out for the season due to a calf/knee injury. The Panthers are going to give Raheem Blackshear the first look, but Mike Boone is also expected to get some snaps here this week. At minimum price, Blackshear is somewhat intriguing on this slate.
• Joe Flacco will start for the Colts, as Anthony Richardson has been ruled out. Flacco gives a significant upgrade to the receivers on the Colts, especially Josh Downs.
• Jalen Hurts is out for the Eagles. While logic would tell you that this would hurt the offense with Kenny Pickett starting, it likely is only going to hurt the auxiliary players as Pickett locked onto both A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith this past week, only throwing to them. It also should help Saquon Barkley’s touchdown equity as he does not have to worry about Hurts taking the one-yard touchdowns from him.
• CeeDee Lamb is out for the season with a shoulder injury. There’s not a direct beneficiary to the Cowboys offense here, but Brandin Cooks and Jake Ferguson should see a little bit more work this week.
• David Njoku has been ruled out for Cleveland. Jordan Akins is at least interesting in how often Dorian Thompson-Robinson targets his tight ends.
• Alvin Kamara has been ruled out for Week 17. Kendre Miller will once again get the start for New Orleans. He did not look great in a lopsided game script against Green Bay, but he will get another shot this week.

Stacks

Bryce Young, Adam Thielen, Mike Evans

Bryce Young is going underlooked on this slate at just 5% and is rostered at Thielen at just 9%. Most people are going to look at the Baker Mayfield side of this stack instead of Young, as Young is perceived as slightly overpriced at $5,600 compared to what he has been for most of the year. However, his play over the last several weeks has improved tremendously. In Week 13, these two teams met, and Young threw for 298 yards and a touchdown while also running for a touchdown. Thielen, meanwhile, has 99 yards or more in two of his last four games, one of which came against this putrid Buccaneers secondary. Tampa Bay has allowed the second-most fantasy points all season to opposing quarterbacks, with Jacksonville only allowing more. At $5,600, we really need at least 20 points from Young, which is something that seven quarterbacks have done against the Buccaneers this season, and with 2023 All-Pro Antoine Winfield Jr out again this week, the secondary should be susceptible to giving up a big game.

You could really take either Thielen or Jalen Coker in this game, but Thielen wins out just slightly if he doesn’t get to his ceiling game of 100+ yards; he’s much less likely to have the floor of a 0-point performance like Jalen Coker could have on any given week. With the injury to Chuba Hubbard, the Panthers are going to throw much more than what we’ve seen in prior weeks, and Thielen should get back to seeing 10+ targets, which is something we saw in both Week 14 and 15.

For Mike Evans, this is entirely a narrative for him at this point. He needs 92 yards per game over the next two weeks to keep his 1,000-yard streak alive. Evans has had 1,000 yards in every one of his 10 years as an NFL player. It’s something that’s incredibly important to him, the team, and the fans, and they’re going to look to get him the ball early and often this week. Evans torched the Panthers in their first meeting, as he had eight receptions for 116 yards and a touchdown. He’s going to be extremely popular as he’s one of the few receivers on this slate with slate-breaking upside and is very affordable at $7,500.

Josh Allen, Khalil Shakir, Davante Adams