Fantasy Football playoff matchups to watch: WR and TE

The Good 👍

Allen Robinson vs. Houston Texans

Robinson is perennially one of the most underrated receivers in fantasy football. I love him. Year in and year out, he demonstrates that he is an elite route runner, and he performs no matter who is under center. He’s the WR11 on the year and, although the Houston defense has been playing better as of late, they don’t have a corner that can cover Robinson. Play him with confidence.

Tee Higgins vs. Dallas Cowboys

The Dallas Defense looked absolutely vile against Baltimore last week. Busted coverage on all levels, overmatched, no fight… it was gross. While the Bengals are playing for nothing more than pride at this point, Higgins continues to produce, and continues to be targeted heavily. Even without Joe Burrow under center, Higgins has seen five and seven targets respectively against two good defenses in the Giants and Dolphins. Especially in PPR formats, I’m not concerned. He has only posted single-digit fantasy points once since Week 2. He’s a flex option this week that could easily completely go off and give you 15-20 fantasy points if he cashes in a touchdown… or two.

The Bad 👎

Chase Claypool vs. Buffalo Bills

This is arguably the game of the week. Claypool lines up predominantly on the right side of the formation, which would see him lined up against stud corner Tre’Davious White. With so many options in the passing game for Ben Roethlisbergert, I’m not sure why he would go after White hardly at all. Juju Smith-Schuster, Diontae Johnson, even James Washington have been contributing to this quick-hitting offense, and I expect Big Ben to direct targets elsewhere. Claypool is having a breakout rookie season, but I don’t like him in this one.

Deebo Samuel vs. Washington Football Team

This Washington defense is no joke. Deebo is electric, head coach Kyle Shanahan loves to get the ball to him in a multitude of ways, but with all the injuries to the 49ers on the offensive line and rolling with a backup quarterback, I think it’s going to be a long day for the 49ers. Deebo has been solid for your fantasy roster since coming back, with 24.3 and 13.6 fantasy points in the last two weeks. Washington gives up the second fewest fantasy points per game to the wide receiver position, holding entire teams of wide receivers to 19.7 fantasy points. If you have a better flex option, I’d look take it.

The Good 👍

T.J. Hockenson vs. Green Bay

In the desolate landscape that is the tight end position, T.J. Hockenson’s second-year breakout has been a welcome sight. He is heavily targeted — 7.12 targets per game since their bye week — and as consistent as it gets outside of K.C.’s Travis Kelce and Vegas’ Darren Waller this year. Wide receiver Kenny Golladay is trending toward missing another game, meaning even more targets to go around. The volume alone makes Hockenson a locked in tight end play this week, even in a fairly tough matchup against Green Bay.

Rob Gronkowski vs. Minnesota Vikings

In things I didn’t see coming in 2020, Gronk has been actually serviceable this season from a fantasy perspective. Lately, it looks like Brady has been going back to what he knows, and that’s drawing up plays to his old security blanket, Gronk. I expect that to continue. Gronk has seen at least six targets in his last two games. Look for Brady to continue the recent trend of going back to his old friend in a game the Buccaneers feel like they have to win to continue pushing for the playoffs.

The Bad 👎

Evan Engram vs. Arizona Cardinals

Remember last year when the easiest weekly advice was “play your tight ends against Arizona?” They seemed to give up 100 yards and a touchdown to the position every week. This year, that is far from the case. On the season, Arizona is allowing the 7th-fewest fantasy points per game to the fantasy position. A combination of great safety and coverage linebacker play is locking down opposing tight ends — they haven’t given up 50 receiving yards to an opposing tight end since the aforementioned Hockenson did the trick on September 27. If you’re hoping for a touchdown from Engram? He only has one on the season. Hard pass. I hate this matchup.

Hunter Henry vs. Atlanta Falcons

The Falcons were awful on defense to start the year, but they’ve turned a corner lately. They held Raiders TE Darren Waller to only 23 yards on four receptions two weeks ago in a blowout victory. They haven’t allowed a receiving touchdown to the tight end position since (and you’ll notice a trend here) they played, yep, Hockenson in Week 8. Side note: Hockenson is good. On the surface, you might think Henry is a lock this week, but he’s anything but. This game could easily feature the Chargers wide receiver group, leaving Henry to underperform.

Week 14 has a ton of great games to watch. Good luck in the first week of the fantasy playoffs!