Fantasy Football Week 17 Wide Receiver Preview: Waiver adds, Starts, Sits, DFS plays, and more
Everything you need to know about wide receiver for Fantasy Football in Week 17
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2 min read
Welcome to Fantasy Football Championship Week. Congratulations if you are still alive. This will be the last week of my position preview; let's go get a championship! While there will be plenty of content for those trying to win it all this week, I look to also take a look ahead this time of year to 2026. So you'll still find waiver wire adds, numbers to know, and Week 17 DFS plays below like normal. But to start, I would like to offer a short overview as to what the position might look like in 2026.
At wide receiver, there is definitely an elite tier at the top, but plenty of room for debate about who belongs in it. Puka Nacua, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Ja'Marr Chase are locks to be drafted in Round 1. Amon'Ra St. Brown and CeeDee Lamb likely will be as well. Drake London could be, depending on his QB situation. Rashee Rice could be, if Patrick Mahomes is healthy. Malik Nabers might be as well, but he's probably a Round 2 guy with Nico Collins.
Two names I haven's said yet that could shape how we see the position in 2026 are George Pickens and Justin Jefferson. Jefferson has been a Round 1 mainstay, but his struggles with J.J. McCarthy and his current 11.7 PPR FPPG could keep him out of the first two rounds. Pickens is a free agent, but the most likely scenario seems to be that he stays in Dallas. Even that could go sideways if they franchise tag him and he holds out. Pickens has outscored Lamb by 2.6 points per game this year. If he's back and bought in, both Lamb and Pickens could go in Round 2. If Pickens is gone, he is a complete wild card, and Lamb is probably back in Round 1.
Here is the rest of the Week 17 WR Preview:
Week 17 WR Preview
WR Preview
Numbers to Know
- 17.3 -- Chris Olave has averaged 17.3 PPR FPPG with Tyler Shough under center. He's a WR1, and may be again next year if this duo stays together.
- 50.9% -- Marvin Harrison Jr. only played half the offensive snaps in his first game back. He's a boom/bust WR3, and Michael Wilson is a start as a WR2.
- 3.11 -- Christian Watson is averaging 3.11 yards per route run, which trails only Puka Nacua and Jaxon Smith-Njigba this year.
- 88.5% -- Stefon Diggs ran a route on 88.5% of the Patriots' drop-backs in Week 16. With Kayshon Boutte and Demario Douglas hurt, Diggs may be a full-time player again this week, which would make him a start.
- 36.53 -- The Colts are giving up 36.53 PPR FPPG to receivers this year, second only to Dallas.
- 58 -- Michael Pittman has 58 total receiving yards in two games with Philip Rivers. He's a sit.
WR Preview
Waiver Wire Targets
Week 17 Adds (WR Preview)
This does feel a little bit like point chasing. At the same time, Washington just scored 26.5 PPR points and now faces the second-best matchup for wide receivers. How could you leave him on the waiver wire. Jakobi Meyers is a start this week for Jacksonville and both Washington and Brian Thomas are boom/bust flexes.
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Kayshon Boutte, Demario Douglas, and TreVeyon Henderson are all hurt. As of Tuesday, we aren't expecting any of them to play. That should mean a condensed target tree for Drake Maye, and Mack Hollins has already been very involved. His 22.3% target share over the last month actually leads New England. Expect around seven targets for Hollins against a very good matchup. If he scores, he may be a top 24 receiver.
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WR Preview
DFS Plays
Top DFS Play
Projections powered by
Sportsline
The Cowboys have been the best matchup for opposing wide receivers this season, and they have been particularly bad on deep targets, as Quentin Johnston exposed last week. McLaurin's aDOT this year is 14.5, a career high, and he has scored a touchdown in three of his last five games. The Commanders want to be run-heavy, but this is a pass-funnel defense and a pass-heavy game script. McLaurin has top-12 upside and is the best value on the Christmas slate.
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The main slate is thin at wide receiver with Puka Nacua, CeeDee Lamb, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and George Pickens all playing primetime games. I think that makes it more important to spend up for Smith-Njigba, who is projected to outscore every wide receiver on the main slate by at least two PPR Fantasy points.
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Contrarian DFS Play
Projections powered by
Sportsline
Thomas has a fantastic matchup, but most Fantasy managers are going to be more interested in Jakobi Meyers or Parker Washington. If you want to make your Trevor Lawrence lineups just a little more contrarian, stack him with Thomas instead. His route depth has exploded since he came back, which makes him more inconsistent but also gives him the potential to make huge plays if he and Trevor Lawrence hit just a couple of passes.
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WR Preview
Heath's Projections
My full set of Week 17 Fantasy football projections for every position are now available on SportsLine. You'll find them here. 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 17. Projected stats for all starting wide receivers are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.
