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Matt's wide receiver (WR) fantasy football start 'em, sit 'em picks for Week 17 of 2025. His WR lineups advice for Week 17 fantasy football start/sit decisions.
Through all the mock drafts, the questionable trades, and late nights working the waiver wire, it all comes down to one final matchup.
Whether Puka Nacua (46.5) punched your ticket to the championship game or you were in the RotoBaller Discord listening to me pound the drum for Parker Washington (26.5), fantasy heroes come in every shape and size, and can be drafted in any round.
Let's dive into RotoBallers’ Week 17 wide receiver starts and sits.
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Week 17 Starts - Potential Fantasy Football Booms
Chris Olave - WR, New Orleans Saints at Tennessee Titans
The Titans held Xavier Worthy to two receptions for 42 yards. Marquise Brown had three catches for 22 yards. JuJu Smith-Schuster managed one catch for 12 yards. However, these numbers are a little misleading, since Gardner Minshew exited early with an injury and Chris Oladokun took over the Chiefs' offense.
Tyler Shough has already proven to be a quality NFL quarterback, completing 66.7% of his passes through eight games, totaling 1,484 passing yards and six touchdowns. We can also safely conclude that neither Worthy, Brown, nor Smith-Schuster is anywhere near Chris Olave as a receiver in fantasy this season.
Shough to Olave for the Saints TD!
NYJvsNO on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/C7dfe07A4e
— NFL (@NFL) December 21, 2025
Volume matters, and through 15 games, Olave has been targeted 145 times, including 16 times last week against the Jets, in which he caught 10 of those intended targets for a pair of touchdowns and 148 receiving yards. Olave has had a remarkable season to this point, averaging 16.2 fantasy points per game (WR8), and has produced 18.3 fantasy points per game since Week 7.
As for the Titans, the 33.3 fantasy points per game they are allowing to the wide receiver position over their past six games are the ninth-most in fantasy, while the 931 receiving yards on 63 receptions are the seventh-most since Week 11.
Terry McLaurin - WR, Washington Commanders vs Dallas Cowboys
Fantasy managers would be much more at ease with this decision if Marcus Mariota were cleared to return to action rather than putting blind faith in journeyman Josh Johnson, but to Johnson's credit, he did complete five of nine passes for 43 yards in relief of Mariota last week.
Since Week 11, only the Detroit Lions (1,199 yards) and Atlanta Falcons (1,098 yards) have allowed more receiving yards to opposing wide receivers than the Dallas Cowboys. Over Dallas’ last six games, Cowboys wide receivers have faced defenses that allowed 41.3 fantasy points per game, with 10 touchdowns on 79 receptions totaling 1,079 yards.
McLaurin has been up and down since returning to the lineup. Through it all, he has averaged 13.5 fantasy points per game over his last four games. That has positioned him as the WR19 over that span.
With so much uncertainty around the quarterback position, it's understandable if fantasy managers fade McLaurin. But if the Commanders get any competent play at quarterback, McLaurin is in a great spot to produce this week.
Courtland Sutton - WR, Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs
Since Week 13, Courtland Sutton has been as productive in fantasy as Jaxon Smith-Njigba. He's averaging 18.6 fantasy points per game (WR6) over that four-game stretch. After hauling in six of his 12 targets last week for 86 receiving yards, Sutton is now 28 receiving yards shy of his second consecutive 1,000-yard season.
Sutton has seen at least six targets in five straight games. More impressively, he has seen 10 or more targets in each of his last three contests. That has resulted in 19 receptions for 261 receiving yards. In that recent sample, Sutton has earned a target share greater than 27% and holds an air yards share above 45%.
Nix. Sutton. SIX.
JAXvsDEN on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXnxV pic.twitter.com/XHg8wZueN5
— NFL (@NFL) December 21, 2025
As for this week's matchup, that advantage went in favor of the Chiefs back in Week 11 when Sutton was held in check with 59 receiving yards on four receptions. However, since then, things have changed. While there are certainly players on the Chiefs' sideline playing for pride, there also appears to be dejection amongst the ranks, and since Week 11, the Chiefs' secondary has been touched for 1,014 receiving yards and 33.3 fantasy points per game in those six contests.
Week 17 Sits - Potential Fantasy Football Busts
Justin Jefferson - WR, Minnesota Vikings vs Detroit Lions
There are seven stages of the fantasy football season: shock, disbelief, denial, anger, bargaining, guilt and pain, and depression. For those who drafted Justin Jefferson, you know this well. It’s now time to move on to a place of acceptance.
Since Week 10, Jefferson is averaging just 7.4 fantasy points per game (WR59). For perspective, other wide receivers in the same tier over the past seven games include teammate Jalen Nailor, Romeo Doubs, Rashid Shaheed, and John Metchie III. J.J. McCarthy, who finally seemed able to get the ball to Jefferson, injured his hand in last week's contest. His status this week is very much in doubt.
If McCarthy can’t go, it’s back to Max Brosmer. In Brosmer’s only start, Jefferson was targeted six times but secured just two passes for four yards. The matchup against the Lions is great on paper, but the potential quarterback downgrade should give anyone pause before starting Jefferson this week.
Jameson Williams - WR, Detroit Lions at Minnesota Vikings
Sticking with this Lions and Vikings matchup, there is another wide receiver that you simply can not afford to insert into your lineup if you have those championship aspirations, and that’s Jameson Williams.
Williams has been one of the best receivers in recent weeks and has been more productive than Amon-Ra St. Brown in several recent contests, meaning he has outgained St. Brown in yardage and receptions over those games. Last week, Williams led the Lions in receiving, hauling in five passes for 70 yards, and has now finished with 1,000 yards receiving in back-to-back seasons. Over the last four weeks, only Nacua (30.8 fantasy points per game) and Tee Higgins (20.8) are averaging more fantasy points per game than Williams’s 20.7.
In the last matchup against the Vikings, Williams was productive. He averaged 16.5 yards per catch on his way to 66 receiving yards and a touchdown back in Week 9. Since Week 11, however, Minnesota has allowed just 18.6 fantasy points per game to wide receivers, the second-fewest in the league. They have held opposing wideouts to 598 receiving yards over the past six games.
Williams is one of the few receivers who only need one or two receptions to finish as a WR2 or better, but with the way the Vikings have been playing in recent weeks, that probability of that happening is a risk I am not willing to take with fantasy glory on the line.
Ladd McConkey - WR, Los Angeles Chargers vs Houston Texans
Sticking with the matchups, Ladd McConkey finds himself squarely on the “Potential Bust” watch list this week. Whenever a wide receiver is facing Derek Stingley Jr., Kamari Lassiter, Jalen Pitre, Calen Bullock, and Myles Bryant, it is a daunting task.
Houston enters the contest fifth in rushing yards against (90.2), fourth in passing yards against (176.1), and ninth in sacks (41). With a defense that is as stingy as the Texans, whose backend is equally matched by their front, which includes Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr., it can be a long day for opposing offenses, particularly the passing game and all the fantasy options that are tied to that.
Since Week 11, the Texans have given up 675 receiving yards to opposing receivers. More impressively, Houston has limited them to just 53 receptions on 94 targets, a catch rate of 56.3%. Over the last six games, Houston has allowed 137.6 fantasy points to receivers, or 22.9 points per game, the sixth-fewest in that span.
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