Welcome to Week 18! This is my least favorite week of the season, but we can still get excited about it and figure out how to win some money.
Some teams have zero to play for as they have been eliminated from the playoff picture. There are other teams that are going to play for their lives because this week will either make or break their chances of getting into the playoffs. And finally, there are teams that are locked in and will most likely be resting their starters so they are fresh and have no chance of injury before the playoffs.
There are two games that I am really interested in this week. The first game is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers visiting the Carolina Panthers. The other game I have a lot of interest in is the Chicago Bears visiting the Green Bay Packers.
We will start with the Buccaneers and Panthers game first here. The Buccaneers are going to be playing for their lives in this one to lock up the NFC South and home-field advantage in a playoff game. If they lose this game, it makes it much more difficult for them to get to a playoff spot.
Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Baker has been all over the board this season. If you were to look at his fantasy point performance on a graph, you would feel like you are on a rollercoaster, but over the last few weeks, that ride has steadily gone up and up. In the month of December, Baker scored 20.06, 33.04, 19.82 and 21.26 fantasy points, averaging 4.1 points/$1k on DraftKings.
We all know that the Panthers have been poor against the run, but they have not been as poor against the pass. The Panthers are actually one of the five teams that have allowed the fewest touchdown passes this season so far at 19. That is not going to stop me from liking Baker here. The reason I like him is based on the games we have on the slate and how well he has been playing recently. At $6,200, against a Panthers team that has nothing to fight for, I’m going to have exposure to him. I will be stacking Baker with Mike Evans as he went off against this Panthers team in Week 13, catching seven passes for 162 yards and a TD.
Next, we will go to the Chicago Bears visiting Lambeau Field and the Green Bay Packers. Technically the Bears have been eliminated from the postseason, but they have a lot to prove in terms of whether Fields deserves to be their starting QB next season and of course the take down of their divisional rival team in the Green Bay Packers. With that said, I expect them to play all of their starters as if this were any regular season game. On the other side of the ball, the Packers will grab a playoff spot with a win. If they lose, I believe they will be knocked out, so they have everything to play for as well.
Justin Fields, Chicago Bears
This is an interesting game for me because I was born and raised in Wisconsin, but I have called Illinois my home for the last 13 years. I have always had a special place in my heart for the Packers, as they are my home team, but I don’t really have a “favorite” team as a DFS player. As far as the relationship I have with the Bears, I don’t dislike them, but I think they have some serious fundamental flaws in their organization and it is where quarterbacks go to ruin their careers. I honestly feel bad for any rookie who gets drafted to the Bears.
So, let’s talk about Fields. The players are supporters of his play. The fans were chanting their desire to keep him as their franchise QB. But really, does any of that matter to the people above who make the decisions? Probably not, but I personally think they should keep him and build a tough, solid team around him and take advantage of their No. 1 pick and the opportunity to acquire a ton more picks.
I love Fields this week against the Packers. He has improved this season and the team has started to hum like a fine-tuned machine, both on offense and defense. The Bears have won five of their last seven games, and they are ready to take down the Packers just to prove that they can. Fields has definitely improved on accuracy, sneaky backfield fakes for positive yardage with his legs, and reads in the passing game. Fields is a dual-threat QB, and we know what can happen in this league with those types of guys. My favorite stack this week is Fields with D.J. Moore. They will be core players for me.
