Wide Receivers on the Decline for Week 16: Odell Beckham Jr, Larry Fitzgerald, Deandre Hopkins

For those of you looking to start Odell Beckham Jr. in your championship match in Week 16, you will have to look elsewhere for help. Odell has been arguably the most productive and consistent fantasy football wide receiver this season. Unfortunately, his antics on the field last week against the Carolina Panthers and Josh Norman have earned him a one game suspension that was upheld by the NFL today for Week 16 against the Minnesota Vikings. This is a crucial blow for fantasy football owners everywhere as this week is the most critical. Don’t even think about considering Rueben Randle or Dwayne Harris as logical replacements. Randle would be the best out of the two if you are really in a bind, but your best bet is to look on your bench with players who have been on your roster for the most part of the season.

Larry Fitzgerald is another wide receiver who is having a great season, however lately his numbers have actually been consistently below average if you look at them closely. In the past four weeks Larry has watched his catch total dwindle from 10 to 8 to 5 to 3. In those four games he has only accumulated 205 yards and has zero touchdowns. Fantasy football owners should take notice of his lacking performance and be careful starting him assuming he will be productive. Based on his lack of productivity assume Fitz to be a flex-play with hopes that he can get it going again with better numbers.

Another interesting wide receiver to keep track of for this week would be Houston Texans star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. D-Hop has been one of the break-out fantasy football performers of the year and has been ranked in the top five of most leagues in terms of fantasy football points. However, it is most definitely worth noting that DeAndre is losing quarterbacks left and right. Original starting quarterback Brian Hoyer is still out with a concussion, and back-up quarterback T.J. Yates was put on season ending IR this past Monday with a torn ACL in his knee. Last man standing is Brandon Weeden. Yes, the same Brandon Weeden who started for the Dallas Cowboys for the injured Tony Romo but then was cut for his awful performances. Can we trust Weeden to get Hopkins the ball and produce respectable numbers? Expect Hopkins’ numbers to slip a little bit but still consider him a WR2 for Week 16 at Tennessee.