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Who should I start for Week 16? Fantasy football outlooks for Xavier Worthy, Dalton Schultz, Noah Gray. Our expert fantasy football start 'em, sit 'em picks.
The Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Texans have a variety of offensive players who have been key contributors in helping fantasy football teams make it to the playoffs. Not all of them have played well consistently, though, so making decisions about which ones to start and sit can be difficult.
Chiefs' wide receiver Xavier Worthy, tight end Noah Gray, and Texans tight end Dalton Schultz have presented weekly challenges to fantasy managers looking to maximize the scoring outputs of their starting lineups. None of the three have been consistently good, and all have mixed in solid games with absolute duds.
So, we'll try to break down each player and whether you should slot them into starting lineups this week. Let's dive in below!
Should I Start Xavier Worthy for Fantasy Football?
Worthy is a much more interesting player to consider starting lately. His snaps have finally ticked up in the past two weeks, and he played more than 80% of the team's offensive snaps for the first time in Week 14. He followed that up with an 81% snap share in Week 15. We've seen this story before with Rashee Rice (knee) in his rookie season.
Rice also didn't have a single game with more than 80% of snaps until Week 14 of his rookie campaign in 2023. The Chiefs run a complicated offense, and head coach Andy Reid seems to have a clear idea of how he wants to work with rookie wideouts throughout the season.
Xavier Worthy has received 10 targets of 30+ air yards from the hand of Patrick Mahomes in 2024.
Those two have connected on only one of these targets. pic.twitter.com/tHN6VQxc4y
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) December 16, 2024
But the biggest problem this season for the rookie speedster has been quarterback Patrick Mahomes (ankle). He's not been particularly good at deep passing this season. His long passes have been highly inaccurate, and that's been a killer for XW's fantasy value so far.
Still, we like the additional playing time and the 11 targets the rookie wideout got last week and Worthy faces a banged-up Houston Texans secondary. Mahomes practiced in full on Wednesday, and his ankle is likely still bothering him, though. He is expected to play in Week 16, but it's unlikely to be at 100%.
Patrick Mahomes was a full participant in practice today pic.twitter.com/afo0x345LK
— BBQ Chiefs (@BBQChiefs) December 18, 2024
Worthy is a solid WR3/FLEX option for now. We don't anticipate WR Marquise Brown (shoulder) returning just yet, so that's a conversation for another day.
Should I Start Dalton Schultz for Fantasy Football?
No. Schultz has disappointed massively this season. The only pass-catcher from the Texans to have a good season so far has been wide receiver Nico Collins, who's been elite. But quarterback C.J. Stroud has struggled in a big way, and while it seems that Collins has been immune to these struggles, Schultz and WR Tank Dell have not.
Hate to nit pick but TE Dalton Schultz has the worst contract on the Texans and has proven be a limited contributor
Schultz has been getting exposed as a:
•Poor blocker
•Poor separator
•Missing speed to get overtop
•Stiff hips to get lateral pic.twitter.com/4bKxQg3n5X— Drew (@IndepthTexans) November 21, 2024
Given Dell's struggles, you'd expect the former Dallas Cowboys TE to have more work, but that just hasn't happened. He's simply not been good as a tight end this season. He's the TE21 in PPR despite being force-fed more targets than he probably should have gotten. But his two catches for 13 yards last week didn't inspire any confidence moving forward.
Neither does the fact that he has a single game with double-digit PPR fantasy points this season. There are better options for your fantasy rosters right now.
Should I Start Noah Gray for Fantasy Football?
Gray has scored five touchdowns in his last five games but still has just one game where he's logged six or more targets. You're essentially fully depending on him scoring a touchdown to make it worth starting him. And with the previously mentioned Mahomes dealing with an ankle issue, that might become slightly more difficult to count on.
Al Michaels drops a casual Aaron Hernandez comparison when talking about Chiefs TE Noah Gray pic.twitter.com/hbFkA4JlXR
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 29, 2024
As we've already stated, the Chiefs QB's deep passing issues have been a problem all season. It's hard to see Gray consistently succeeding considering this and the fact that he's the team's No. 2 tight end anyway. The No. 1 is still obviously TE Travis Kelce. Trying to predict what will happen based on the matchup with the defense is also somewhat of a lost cause.
So, we'll just say he's fine in deeper leagues for now.
Popular Week 16 Searches - Start/Sit Comparisons
Below are some popular Week 16 searches and comparisons from our Who To Start tool for Xavier Worthy, Dalton Schultz, Noah Gray compared to others. You can also use the free Who Should I Start tool to run your own start/sit comparisons, up to four players at once:
Brenton Strange or Dalton Schultz
Romeo Doubs or Xavier Worthy
Adam Thielen or Xavier Worthy
Devonta Smith or Xavier Worthy
Jayden Reed or Xavier Worthy
Pat Freiermuth or Dalton Schultz
Quentin Johnston or Xavier Worthy
Tank Dell or Xavier Worthy
Tyreek Hill or Xavier Worthy
Amari Cooper or Xavier Worthy
Cole Kmet or Noah Gray
Courtland Sutton or Xavier Worthy
Dalton Kincaid or Noah Gray
Deebo Samuelsr or Xavier Worthy
Jake Ferguson or Dalton Schultz
Jalen Mcmillan or Xavier Worthy
Josh Downs or Xavier Worthy
Kyle Pitts or Noah Gray
Ladd Mcconkey or Xavier Worthy
Najee Harris or Xavier Worthy
Pat Freiermuth or Noah Gray
Pat Freiermuth or Noah Gray
Romeo Doubs or Xavier Worthy
Adam Thielen or Xavier Worthy
Alexander Mattison or Xavier Worthy
Brenton Strange or Dalton Schultz
Brenton Strange or Noah Gray
Brian Thomasjr or Xavier Worthy
Cade Otton or Dalton Schultz
Cade Otton or Noah Gray
Calvin Ridley or Xavier Worthy
Christian Watson or Xavier Worthy
Cole Kmet or Noah Gray
Cooper Kupp or Xavier Worthy
Dalton Kincaid or Dalton Schultz
Dalton Kincaid or Dalton Schultz
Darnell Mooney or Xavier Worthy
David Njoku or Noah Gray
Deebo Samuelsr or Xavier Worthy
Dj Moore or Xavier Worthy
Dk Metcalf or Xavier Worthy
Elijah Moore or Xavier Worthy
George Pickens or Xavier Worthy
Hunter Henry or Noah Gray
Jake Ferguson or Dalton Schultz
Jake Ferguson or Xavier Worthy
Jalen Coker or Xavier Worthy
Jameson Williams or Xavier Worthy
Jameson Williams or Xavier Worthy
Jalen Mcmillan or Xavier Worthy
Jauan Jennings or Xavier Worthy
Jaxon Smithnjigba or Xavier Worthy
Jayden Reed or Xavier Worthy
Jaylen Warren or Xavier Worthy
Jonathan Taylor or Xavier Worthy
Khalil Shakir or Xavier Worthy
Kyle Pitts or Dalton Schultz
Brenton Strange or Dalton Schultz
Najee Harris or Xavier Worthy
Noah Gray or Dalton Schultz
Pat Freiermuth or Noah Gray
Rhamondre Stevenson or Xavier Worthy
Tank Dell or Xavier Worthy
Trey Mcbride or Xavier Worthy
Trey Mcbride or Xavier Worthy
Tucker Kraft or Dalton Schultz
Tucker Kraft or Noah Gray
Tyrone Tracyjr or Xavier Worthy
Zach Ertz or Dalton Schultz
Zach Ertz or Dalton Schultz
Zay Flowers or Xavier Worthy
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