Takeaways from Week 16 as told by the tweets of the Fantasy Stronghold.
If you had Todd Gurley on your roster these past couple of weeks and didn't win a championship, I just don't know what to tell you. Not only did the Rams running back lock up the fantasy MVP award with his late-season performance but he put his name in the running for the NFL's MVP award as well. There really isn't much to analyze with what he's done since it's the same thing we've seen him do all season long. It's just that Gurley has turned it up a notch when you needed him most. Right now, he's the leading candidate to be the No. 1 overall pick in most 2018 fantasy drafts.
Tom Brady wasn't terrible in Week 16 ... but he didn't play like a guy you were expecting to lead you to a fantasy championship. That's been the case for the past month Brady has failed to reach the 16-point mark and has barely been a top 20 quarterback in that stretch. Plenty of people subscribe to the "start your studs" philosophy and the fear of sitting him this week was understandable. But it also made sense to not just blindly stick Brady into your lineup and instead consider if you had better options. Considering the final result, it's likely that you did.
It has been a frustrating offensive season for the Falcons, their fans, and anyone relying on a Falcons player in fantasy football. Julio Jones will end 2017 as the poster child for this frustration. He quietly put together 149 receiving yards today and should have had a touchdown (instant replay is no one's friend) but it was a bittersweet highlight in an otherwise underwhelming season that saw far more valleys than peaks. Then again, this has become The Way of Julio over the past few seasons. Will this cause people to rethink where they draft him next season? Probably not. Will Steve Sarkisian have a better idea of how to use all the parts of this offense? We can only hope.
Bortles wasn't exactly the WOAT on Sunday but he had to work pretty hard to salvage what was looking like a pretty miserable day to begin with. The Jaguars quarterback tossed three interceptions but rallied for a couple of touchdown passes and close to 400 yards. It might not have looked pretty but the fact that Blake Bortles was going to lead people to a fantasy championship remains as true today as it did when I first started talking about it more than a month ago.
Now that the season is pretty much over, it's about time to start looking back to what was and what might have been. While Jameis was certainly disappointing this season, you could make the argument that injuries had a lot to do with his lackluster fantasy season. After all, he did have five games with 18 or more fantasy points. It was just enough to leave you wanting more. Mariota also had his injury issues to deal with in 2017 but the Titans offense as a whole was a mess and watching their quarterback was to fully believe in the power of regression. Mariota had more interceptions than touchdowns -- and the margin was fairly wide. There might be some reason to believe Winston can rebound next year but expect Mariota to go undrafted in plenty of fantasy leagues.
It's time to put away the things of this year and start looking toward next year. Jimmy Garoppolo is going to be on plenty of sleeper lists as we progress through the summer. Not only is the 49ers signal-caller undefeated as a starter but he's looked more and more impressive as he's had more reps. Certainly, his nearly 22-point performance against the fearsome Jaguars defense in Week 16 was an eye-opener but he's been trending this way for quite awhile. If the Niners can add a piece or two to their offense, Garoppolo could become a darling among the "wait on a QB" crowd.
If you thought maybe Tyreek Hill was a flash in the pan, think again. He's definitely known for his speed but the Chiefs receiver is proving that he's more than just a straight line burner. In this rejuvenated Kansas City passing attack, Hill has shown that he's a legitimate pass-catching threat. He's not going to be mentioned among the elite receivers in the game (nor should he be) but if the Chiefs offense can pick up next year where they are this year, Hill will be a nice WR2 option in all formats.
Wait ... what?
* Josh Doctson was targeted 13 times ... and had two catches.
* Jordan Howard carried the ball 22 times for 44 yards. Mitchell Trubisky had seven carries for 44 yards.
* Mike Evans had his first 100-yard game of the season.
* Nearly 45 percent of Eric Ebron's 2017 fantasy points have come in the past four games.
* Antonio Gates had his most receiving yards in a game since Christmas Eve 2016.
* Defenses that scored as many or fewer points than you this week: Only the Dolphins. Good job, guys.
* TE Watch: The luminaries that landed in the top 10 among tight ends this week -- James O'Shaughnessy, Maxx Williams, and C.J. Uzomah.
**And one for the road...**
Fantasy sucks — James Koh (@JamesDKoh) December 24, 2017
Marcas Grant is a fantasy editor for NFL.com and a man who for the umpteenth year in a row procrastinated on his Christmas shopping and had to turn to Amazon to bail him out yet again. Tell him your tales of waiting until the last minute or ask fantasy questions on Twitter @MarcasG. If you read all of that, congrats. He also dishes out (get it?) fantasy advice -- and life shenanigans -- on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat (marcasg9)
