You've heard it everywhere; It's fantasy playoffs season! Playoffs are starting!" Woo hoo playoff time! Every site that does analysis this week is smiling wide, assuming you made the playoffs, and that those playoffs start with Thursday Night Football! Cue the music! Woohoo!

It's worth first congratulating you all who made the playoffs, because if you made the playoffs, then it makes more sense that you're reading this. If you selected a 1-2 draft pick of Jay Ajayi and Zeke Elliott, or Julio Jones and Jordan Howard, you're probably less stoked and should be drinking in the woods instead of looking at this at all.

But there are some of you who aren't quite in yet, and some of you who may actually be on week two of your fantasy playoffs. In the ever changing world of fantasy football, there's not really a hard line start-and-stop time frame. So in the interest of serving the 12-1 team as much as the 7-6 team, I'll be giving all of the scattershot recommendations I can fit into this column.

• 2025 fantasy football rankings
• Running back (RB) rankings
• Wide receiver (WR) rankings
• Quarterback (QB) rankings
• Tight end (TE) rankings
• Defense (D/ST) rankings
• Kicker (K) rankings
• FLEX rankings
• Dynasty rankings

Running Back Questions

______ will either be on my bench or will RUIN my week.

A: Lamar Miller
B: Leonard Fournette
C: Carlos Hyde
D: Christian McCaffrey 

I don't know what makes you look at Leonard Fournette and feel like he's a decent RB2 in a week where you really need to win. Possibly bad ankle? Check. Has only found the end zone once since the Bye? Check. Against a Seahawks offense that will get up early, and a Seahawks defense that looks to follow the pattern of stacking the box against Fournette and making Bortles beat them through the air.

It's a ballsy time to sit a top-10 running back, but you also know if you own him and you're still in it that he hasn't done much to contribute to your team's second half success, and if you have a better option in your FLEX, I'd deploy it in a heartbeat.

Bonus: I'm also avoiding Jerick McKinnon until he can manage more than fifteen touches a game, Joe Mixon due to injury, and Buck Allen who has clearly lost his spot in the offense.

Against all odds, should you take a look at ___________ now?

A: Adrian Peterson
B: Austin Ekeler
C: Marlon Mack
D: Kenyan Drake

Hey, it's me, the big idiot who told you to let Kenyan Drake sit just last week. Kenyan, in turn, produced career days in damn near every category, and he looks to do so again at home vs New England. Now if this was Week 4 of the regular season, I'd probably recommend you cool your jets and see if his performance is real before you start him. Unfortunately, if you're in a position of starting Kenyan Drake somewhere you're more than likely in need of a win that simply can't wait another week. In a week that will reward ballsy boom-or-bust plays, Kenyan Drake's performance against a bad Patriots defense (who are getting better, he says with hesitation and nerves) may help you survive another week. Maybe. I'm so nervous.

Bonus: For the desperate, I'm ok using Theo Riddick only if Ameer Abdullah is out again, I'm still rolling with Rex Burkhead and Dion Lewis (in that order), and if you really need to just put someone out there and hope for a score, Frank Gore is an interesting play vs a very bad run defense.

Wide Receiver Questions

______ will either be on my bench or will RUIN my week.

A: Doug Baldwin
B: Davante Adams
C: Alshon Jeffery
D: Kenny Stills

If you own him, you know that you've already had the conversation this week about starting Doug Baldwin vs the Jaguars defense. Don't get cute in a week where you have to win; the Jaguars defense has allowed all of one receiving touchdown at home, and Seattle isn't shy about going away from Baldwin when needed, as his nine total receptions across the past three weeks has shown. Baldwin simply can't be counted on this week

Bonus: I also would recommend avoiding recent disappointments Golden Tate and Mike Evans. Tate's fallen in the team depth chart and isn't seeing the end zone, and Mike Evans didn't get the immediate uptick we were hoping for with Jameis's return, so I can't trust him in a must-win week.

Desperate times call for a desperate use of ______.

A: Demariyus Thomas
B: Jermaine Kearse
C: T.Y. Hilton
D: Dez Bryant

What a time to be alive when Jermaine Kearse is a WR2 for me this week, when I can't seem to find anyone else who is as high on him. Jets + Broncos defense isn't exactly a combination I desire, but look at the facts; the Jets are really only scoring through the air, and though ASJ has a sneaky good matchup, the Jets simply don't score through anyone besides Anderson and Kearse. Despite Anderson being almost matchup proof recently, Kearse's increased targets and revenge-game type blow-up means I'm favoring him over everyone else on the list this week, and it's not close.

Bonus: If we dig deeper for fantasy boom-or-bust potential, I still like Marqise Lee for some potential garbage time scoring, and really believe in the Marquise Goodwin renaissance for San Francisco this week.

Tight End Question

In Week 14, I will stop blowing my horn for ASJ and start blowing my horn for _________

A: Hunter Henry
B: Jared Cook
C: Benjamin Watson
D: Austin Hooper

So fun story; I pick these names every week by simply looking at four players who are ranked similarly, and then challenge myself to pick one. For TE's I tend to focus on around the 10th-15th ranked guy each week, the potential pickups or fringe starts, and it is always the same guys. It's just the nature of the position in fantasy. Are you really gonna consider David Njoku? Marcedes Lewis? No, week in and week out it's which one of these guys is finally gonna not be a fringe starter anymore.

Well, it's Hunter Henry. The increase in targets, the touchdown, the favorable matchup. He's finally breaking away in Los Angeles, and though that may not mean much good to you in 2017, keep an eye on his utilization through the playoffs whether you own him or not to see if he's worth the price in 2018.

More Week 14 Lineup Prep