Fantasy Football WR Sleepers: Smash Spots for Week 14 Include Malik Nabers, Darnell Mooney, Jauan Jennings, Brandin Cooks

‘Tis the season of the final fantasy push for the playoffs. Whether you’ve comfortably booked your ticket or making a final effort to squeak in, these weeks are the most important of the entire fantasy season. 

In last week’s article, we hit on some bolder calls. Starting with Jayden Reed’s 18.2 fantasy points, we also called out Marvin Harrison Jr., who had five receptions, 60 yards, and a score. Unfortunately, Tank Dell and Devaughn Vele did not come through, but we’ll try to go 4-for-4 this week!

My name is Ellis Johnson and this is my weekly WR Smash Start article. In this article, I select four players who I believe have a good chance to overproduce their current projections. Unintentionally, this week seems to be the week of “bounce-back WRs.” Without further ado, here are your Week 14 WR Smash Starts.

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Malik Nabers (WR, NYG)

It has not been a fun season for anyone who drafted the top three rookie wideouts. Whether it has been poor QB play or mediocre offensive schemes, none of Nabers, Marvin Harrison Jr., or Rome Odunze have produced for fantasy.

This week, Nabers takes on a terrible Saints secondary. After trading away Marshon Lattimore and putting Paulson Adebo on season-ending IR, they do not have any notable playmakers to stop opposing wideouts. Since Week 10, the Saints have allowed the second-most fantasy points to the WR position.

Nabers has been a volume-based WR3 all season, but in the right matchup, he still can make big plays and showcase his elite talent. Even with Drew Lock under center, Nabers managed eight catches for 69 yards.

He will have the volume not to burn your fantasy team, and we can all hope his talent can bring him into the top-20 conversations of the week.

Bonus: With the decent matchup and six targets last week, I think Darius Slayton is also a decent boom-bust flex play this week. 

Malik Nabers is kind of good pic.twitter.com/Cn9kt3bHii

— Anthony Rivardo (@Anthony_Rivardo) November 29, 2024

Darnell Mooney (WR, ATL)

After switching from the Bears, Mooney has showcased his improved ability as a route runner and separator. Going into Week 10, Mooney was the WR8 on the season. In this Falcons offense, he is the go-to guy opposite of Drake London and has come down with some impressive deep shots.

This week, he faces a Minnesota team that has been bleeding points to the WR position all season. We all know that Brian Flores has a great defensive scheme that fills all the gaps and pressures the quarterback. As a result, quarterbacks often find their WRs over the middle on some quick throws or (if they have enough time) down the field, beating man coverage.

With the attention heavily focused on London and Bijan Robinson, Mooney’s speed and playmaking ability should feast. I expect we will return to early season production in this game for Mooney, making him a top-20 player for me this week.

Darnell Mooney wide open for a walk-in TD, incomplete. pic.twitter.com/D0fmB4Rydb

— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) December 3, 2024

Jauan Jennings (WR, SF)

We have to give Jennings a ton of respect. It’s not often a perennial role player turns into a very stable WR both for fantasy and reality. Jennings has been one of the very few bright spots of this 49ers team this season.

Especially with Brandon Aiyuk going down to injury and rookie Ricky Pearsall in and out of the lineup with injury, Jennings couldn’t have picked a better time to step up. His ability after the catch and to break tackles has been most notable compared to years prior. He was already reliable as a pass-catcher, nicknamed “Third and Jauan” by the 49ers, but adding the after-the-catch ability brings him into the WR2 mix.

Even though this team still has George Kittle (who has been phenomenal this season) and Deebo Samuel Sr., Jennings should be the top receiving target.

Not only has Samuel been disappointing for fantasy, but he also doesn’t appear to be fully healthy on the football field. Unfortunately, there are no injuries reported, so that is a speculative observation when I am watching the film. Plus, with both Christian McCaffrey and Jordan Mason out, I would expect Samuel to have some backfield touches as well.

This week, the 49ers match up against a Bears defense that has been solid all season. Although not the best matchup on paper, we have seen players like Christian Watson (four receptions, 150 yards) and Jordan Addison (eight receptions, 162 yards, and a TD) have big games against them in recent weeks. I expect Jennings to be another name added to that list, as he is my WR15 heading into this week.

Jauan Jennings Niners MVP of the season pic.twitter.com/mETILKDn7m

— OurSF49ers (@OurSf49ers) December 2, 2024

Brandin Cooks (WR, DAL)

For my final selection this week, I wanted to go a little deeper. I’ll be honest, I completely forgot about Cooks this year until I saw his touchdown on Thanksgiving. In fact, after that play, I had to look up to see if it was Brandin Cooks who had returned from injury!

Lo and behold, it was indeed the veteran journeyman WR. This Cowboys team desperately needs playmakers. Although Jalen Tolbert did an admirable job stepping in for a few weeks, he isn’t reliable enough for this offense.

Now, with Cooks entering the mix, this team has that second WR opposite of CeeDee Lamb. Plus, Lamb is also dealing with a shoulder injury, providing the potential for Cooks to be even more involved.

Last week in his first game back, Cooks only had three receptions for 16 yards and a score. However, I’m expecting that to increase as he gets further away from his injury. It’s one of my bolder calls; however, if there was ever a time to have a breakout game, it would be against the Bengals in prime time.

As a Bengals fan, I am gutted about this season and don’t want to talk about their defense. However, I’m a man of the people, so I’ll swallow my pride and tell you how bad they have been on defense. Allowing the most fantasy points to WRs since Week 10, they have allowed the most touchdowns to the position -- and they had their bye week over that span.

I could keep telling you how they allowed a mediocre Steelers offense to put 40 points for the first time since 2018, or that Russell Wilson had a career-high in yardage against them last week, but I have to have some self-respect. 

The moral of the story is to play WRs against the Bengals. If you are desperate, I think Cooks could be a sneaky play this week in a game that should have plenty of shootout potential.

That Brandin Cooks TD celebration, tho… 💥👊‼️ pic.twitter.com/2VLJM1eYms

— Douglas Barricklow ✭ (@SirDouglas71) November 29, 2024

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