PFF's fantasy football cheat sheet for Week 14

We’re in the middle of free content week here on PFF Fantasy. If this is your first trip to the site this week, everything we have written since Monday has been outside the paywall. Yeah, it’s because we want to entice you to like our stuff and become customers, but if nothing else, you get a free week of advice from some of the best minds in the fantasy business.

If it is your first trip to the site this week, well, you have some prep work to make up, as we’re staring down the barrel of the first week of the fantasy playoffs. Which brings us to the PFF Fantasy cheat sheet, our weekly roundup of our advice. Below you’ll find five of our top bits of advice for Week 14, along with links back to their source materials. Below that is the rest of our advice for season-long leagues this week. And at the bottom is our DFS content from the week.

Click. Read. (Buy? Up to you.) Get your team ready for its playoff matchup, even if it’s only a playoff consolation game. Good luck in Week 14, and hope you’re still alive for Week 15.

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Season-long fantasy

Stream Arizona QB Carson Palmer
(from Mike Castiglione’s look at QB streamers)

Palmer started the season pretty brutally, but since Week 8, he’s averaged 19.2 fantasy points per game, including multiple passing touchdowns in four of his last five games and 300-plus passing yards in four of six. This week, he and the Cardinals face the Dolphins, who have given up the fifth-most fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks on the season.

Downgrade New England RB LeGarrette Blount
(from Jeff Ratcliffe’s flex rankings)

Blount has 13 touchdowns and almost a thousand yards this season, including 10-plus fantasy points in every game but three, five-plus in all 12 games. This week, though, the Patriots face the Ravens, who have allowed the fewest fantasy points to opposing running backs this season, with Isaiah Crowell in Week 2 the only back to go for over 100 yards against them. The Patriots aren’t slaves to a gameplan; if the run isn’t there, they won’t force it. And that could lead to fewer touches and less work for Blount.

Use Cleveland TE Gary Barnidge
(from Tyler Loechner’s breakout candidates)

A year after finishing as the No. 3 fantasy tight end, Barnidge has fallen flat this season, sitting as the No. 24 tight end so far despite playing in every game. Barnidge has only one touchdown (the only tight end inside fantasy’s top 30 with only 1). But this week, he gets quarterback Robert Griffin III at the helm — and Griffin might not be his vintage self, but he can’t reasonably be worse than the ones who have been throwing Barnidge the ball so far — and faces a Bengals team that have allowed the third-most fantasy points per opportunity to tight ends on the season. Barnidge could have a rebound game.

(It’s PFF Fantasy’s free content week. Keep up with all our free offerings here.)

Sit Tennessee QB Marcus Mariota
(from Dan Schneier’s start/sit advice)

Mariota is the No. 4 fantasy QB on the season, trailing only the veterans Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and Matt Ryan. He has the most rushing yards and highest average depth of target of any quarterbacks in the top 10. But this week, he and the Titans run into the buzzsaw that is the Denver Broncos pass defense. The Broncos remain an absolute elite pass defense, but their run D has been less exciting, giving up the 11th-most fantasy points to opposing running backs. The Titans could lean on DeMarco Murray this week, leaving less for Mariota.

Add Seattle WR Tyler Lockett
(from Jeff Ratcliffe’s waiver wire check)

Lockett is finally healthy, and he showed it in Week 13 with a season-high 138 yards from scrimmage and his first touchdown of 2016 in the Seahawks’ Sunday night game against the Panthers. Just like last year, Lockett and the Seattle offense are clicking as the season winds down, and his upside and versatility make him a must-add for the fantasy playoffs.

PFF's fantasy football cheat sheet for Week 14

Season-long fantasy

Daily fantasy