From left to right: Alvin Kamara, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Baker Mayfield
For many of you, your championship week turned out like Wonder Woman 1984.
You were so hyped about enjoying it only to be left confused and disappointed as to what you were watching for a few hours this weekend.
While Diana's latest adventure flopped in the forum of popular opinion, some of your fantasy studs might have carried you to the pandemic peak of your league.
Here are biggest booms and busts of Week 16:
Booms
Alvin Kamara RB New Orleans Saints
The bedazzled-grilled back went full Drake, running in the six—six rushing touchdowns, that is. Kamara gave New Orleans one hell of a gift on Christmas day, gaining 172 total yards while finding pay dirt half a dozen times: the first time that has been accomplished since Gale Sayers did it in 1965.
Alvin Kamara was in a giving mood on Christmas 😄 @ESPNNFL https://t.co/6NPpiNyKQh— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter)1608994380.0
If you have Kamara for a Week 17 final, you're looking at a tasty matchup with the Carolina Panthers, but he could be subbed out to save his legs for the playoffs.
Davante Adams WR Green Bay Packers
What more is there to say about Davante Adams? After an 11-reception, 142-yard and three-touchdown performance, he finds himself at the top of the fantasy wide receiver food chain with 341.80 points in PPR leagues.
👑 11 Rec 👑 142 Rec Yds 👑 3 TDs Davante Adams is among WR royalty. https://t.co/n3o3tW59Op— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter)1609128969.0
Next on the dance card for the Packers are the rival Bears and with a first-round bye far from guaranteed, Adams could be leaned on one more week to secure it.
Stefon Diggs WR Buffalo Bills
Diggs treated the Stephon Gilmore-less Patriots like Sony punishing CDPR for releasing Cyberpunk 2077 unfinished. The league's most productive wideout in terms of catches and yards finished with 9 receptions, 145 yards and three scores.
This Josh Allen-Stefon Diggs moment before Monday Night Football is too much 😂 @ESPNNFL https://t.co/9BBkWx2dks— ESPN (@ESPN)1609200849.0
With a No. 2 seed on the line against the Miami Dolphins next week, Diggs will probably be plying his trade at full speed to end the season.
Myles Gaskin RB Miami Dolphins
Talk about a return. After spending two weeks on the COVID reserve list, the Miami Dolphins' unheralded running back continued his quiet, but productive, season, gaining 169 total yards and two receiving touchdowns.
After pulling off a miracle in Las Vegas, the Dolphins face off against the Buffalo Bills in Week 17. With a playoff spot potentially on the line, they'll need every yard and every score he can provide.
Busts
Baker Mayfield QB Cleveland Browns
Against the lowly Jets, Baker Mayfield showed why people still have doubts he can carry the franchise, fumbling the ball twice and being held without a touchdown. To be fair, he was without four of his best receivers, but eight points against the third-worst passing defense heading into Week 16 is a tough sell.
QB @bakermayfield meets with the media live: https://t.co/S6F6ahfGhV— Cleveland Browns (@Cleveland Browns)1609106495.0
With the Pittsburgh Steelers next on the schedule, Mayfield may have an even more difficult time to end the season.
Brandon Aiyuk WR San Francisco 49ers
Game script is a gamble for wide receivers and Brandon Aiyuk managers came up with snake eyes against Arizona on Saturday. With Jeff Wilson Jr. dominating the Cardinals on the ground and George Kittle drawing targets in his first game back from a foot injury, the rookie wideout was the odd man out, only getting two touches for 31 yards.
After being diagnosed with an injured ankle after the game, Aiyuk's productive first year is over, finishing with 60 receptions, 748 yards and seven total touchdowns.
Le'Veon Bell RB Kansas City Chiefs
It was supposed to be Le'Veon Bell's week with Clyde Edwards-Helaire out with multiple ailments, but the former bell-cow back couldn't turn back the clock as Kansas City's feature back, only gaining 39 total yards on eight touches.
Still, with the Chiefs securing a first-round bye, Bell may be leaned on if the team decides to rest its more critical offensive players.
Josh Jacobs RB Las Vegas Raiders
Jacobs managers were a victim of circumstance on Sunday, watching Jacobs purposefully go down before the end zone a few times in the final drive in order to bleed more time off of the clock. Of course, that effort was pointless as the Dolphins went into field goal range in less than 19 seconds to win against the Raiders and people who started the running back were left with 6.9 touchdown-less points and a whole lot of disappointment.
Josh Jacobs managers when Booker is on the field https://t.co/MRjpvTG09W— PFF Fantasy Football (@PFF Fantasy Football)1609039221.0
The Raiders are already out of the playoff picture but can at least end their season on a high note against the Broncos, who have been vulnerable against the run lately.
Josh Allen scampers for a gain against the Colts in the third quarter of the wild card game.
As the NFL postseason got underway last week, it became clear we need to make some halftime adjustments with our picks this week.
The Ravens were an easy cover for us, especially once Lamer found his groove and the grooves in Tennessee's D. Throw in a few head scratching punts by Mike Vrabel and that does the trick.
Meanwhile, Stefon Diggs came up two catches short for us with three targets left on the table. It was always going to be tough to get that many grabs, but it was worth a few bucks just to see what would happen.
Please, please, please remind me never to bet unders. I haven't hit one all year and yet the siren's song calls me to shore. I maintain this is the best one I bet all year. The pick 6 and DK Metcalf bomb in the second quarter killed after the best start imaginable. After 15 minutes, we had a combined score of 3, 15 minutes of game time later? 30. Bananas.
Then I don't really know what else to say about Pittsburgh losing to Baker Mayfield and co. that hasn't already been said. I just have to edit my list of completely impossible things to put, "Snowing in the Sahara desert," and "Taylor Swift ever getting back together with Jake Gyllenhaal" above "The Browns beating the Steelers in the playoffs."
Wizards guard Bradley Beal looks on in a game against the Celtics on Jan. 8, 2021.
Put on your general manager hat for a moment and ask yourself this question: If my team struggled mightily the past couple seasons, is struggling now and will continue to struggle, would I trade my franchise star?
It's an extremely difficult decision to make, but it's something the Washington Wizards have to be pondering with shooting guard Bradley Beal.
Beal has been on an absolute rampage through 11 games, posting a league-high 34.9 points per game on 49% shooting and 38% from distance. He's also dishing out five assists and grabbing 5.3 rebounds with 1.5 steals. All that in 36 minutes a night, yet the Wizards are 3-8 which is the third-worst record in the Eastern Conference.
"I'm pissed off," Beal told reporters after his 60-point game on Jan. 6. "I'm mad. I don't count [them]. ... Any of my career-highs, they've been in losses. So I don't give a damn. You can throw it right out the window with the other two or three I've had."
His frustration is evident, and though he hasn't verbalized that he wants out of D.C., it's hard not to think that the idea hasn't crossed his mind at least once with how bad the Wizards have been recently.
From 2018-20, they went a combined 57-97 with John Wall sidelined after he tore his Achilles. Before this season began, the Wizards acquired Russell Westbrook in exchange for Wall and a pick, thinking they were getting an upgrade at point guard. Plot twist, they weren't.
Wall is healthy and playing good basketball in Houston while Westbrook is sitting back-to-backs and is currently nursing a quad injury. More importantly, he doesn't make them much better because of his lack of defense and is thus piling up meaningless triple-doubles that don't translate to team success.
Each Friday, FindBet will preview the week's DFS slate, highlighting players that are priced well on DFS sites, as well as some contrarian plays that can push your team to the top of the leader board.
Most NFL DFS games have you putting a team together with players from a certain slate of games. It could be just Sunday 1:00 PM games, or it could be every game that is slated for the week. Once the last game that has eligible players is over, the final payouts are made according to how many fantasy points each team scored. Each player is worth a certain dollar amount, and you have a cap of $60,000 to build your team with. You have to have 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 FLEX (RB, WR, or TE) and 1 DEF.
The general scoring rules include (6) points for each rushing and receiving touchdown, (4) points for each passing touchdown, (0.1) points for each rushing and receiving yard gained, (0.04) points for each passing yard, and also (0.5) points for each reception. There are other scoring opportunities for defenses. Let's take a look at players we like in the first round of the NFL playoffs this weekend.
