Brock Purdy looks to build off his best start of the season, Dak Prescott tries to keep the troops focused with the season slipping away, and a red-hot Trevor Lawrence confronts an ice-cold matchup.

Other positions: Running Back | Receiver | Tight End/Kickers/Defense

Week 16 Quarterbacks

QB Notes: Joe Burrow certainly has the right matchup for Week 16, visiting the Dolphins in Miami. Does he have the right mindset? Fresh off a shocking shutout loss to the Ravens, Burrow seems in a darker place than ever, with the team having to clarify it’s perfectly healthy quarterback will indeed start the final three games of the season, Bizarre and somewhat troubling, but the ‘Fins should at least be a temporary cure for what ails him. That’s especially true if Tee Higgins (concussion) returns, as seems likely. Burrow is understandably cool on the Bengals experience. Fantasy managers need to give the Burrow experience another chance, even with everything on the line. … Fresh off becoming the first quarterback all season to produce three touchdown passes against the Texans, Jacoby Brissett gets a much better Week 16 fantasy setup as a home ‘dog in a reasonably high-totaled contest against a Falcons defense that is more forgiving than Houston’s. We’ve been expecting this wild Flacco ride to stop at some point, but it just doesn’t seem possible. The Cardinals can’t run the ball or play defense, meaning it’s always Brissett O’Clock.

The bottom line for Jared Goff: Even if the Steelers get T.J. Watt back, Goff is a touchdown home favorite with a total north of 50. Those are not conditions under which you bench Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams’ quarterback. … Coming off the best start of his abbreviated season, Brock Purdy is a high-floor bet vs. the Colts. Whether he can produce a ceiling could depend on if Philip Rivers can produce anything at all. … Matthew Stafford’s past five fantasy finishes: QB11, QB4, QB22, QB4 and QB15. That QB15 effort came against the Seahawks, with whom Stafford is now rematching on a short week on the road sans Davante Adams. It would be a bit extreme to call Stafford “benchable,” but the loss of his goal-line finisher against one of the league’s best defenses means he is not a must start with everything on the line. … Rematching with a Bears defense that produced one of his best overall statlines two weeks ago, Jordan Love should see enough passing volume to get home in fantasy. Vegas is projecting a reasonably good game environment, and Josh Jacobs is probably too banged up to handle 20-plus carries at the moment.

Jaxson Dart looked more like the quarterback fantasy managers have come to expect in Week 15, supplementing his two passing scores with 9/63 on the ground. The Vikings could go either way as a matchup, but matchups don’t matter as much when you can make bigs play with both your arm and legs. … Baker Mayfield was more recognizably himself with Mike Evans back in action for Week 15. With 10 days for quarterback and wideout to prepare for a must-win divisional showdown with the Panthers, Mayfield is a recent QB2 who could easily find himself back inside the top 12 when the Week 16 dust settles. … The Jaguars are a “pass funnel defense,” but it’s not because they’re slack through the air. They’re just that dominant on the ground. Although he’s coming off his first multi-score start in five weeks, Bo Nix is merely a QB2 for this intriguing playoff preview. … C.J. Stroud loves to be occasionally dominant. Week 15 was one such occurrence. With the Texans’ backfield banged up heading into a Raiders smash spot, Stroud has a decent chance to match last week’s QB8 output.

Trevor Lawrence, who is the QB2 by both average and total points over the past five weeks, is coming off one of the greatest fantasy quarterback performances of all time … and isn’t a QB1 for Week 16. Despite play that was dramatically improving even before his epic spiked week, Lawrence’s road date with the Broncos is simply too poor of a setup. Now, if you are in a situation where you “have” to play the quarterback of the moment, you can certainly sell yourself some optimism based on his ridiculously effective play of late. … Whatever post-deadline progress the Cowboys’ defense made has either stopped or reversed. Getting dunked on at home by “Nine” was a new low. The Chargers are going to want to establish the run, but Justin Herbert has the matchup and weapons to still earn priority streamer status for the fantasy semis. … Marcus Mariota has been one of this season’s best fill-in quarterbacks, but facing the Eagles isn’t time for QB2/superflex managers to get cute. If you have to play Mariota, there’s reasonable enough hope he will have a top-20 day. If you don’t have to play Mariota, there’s all too real of a chance he has nothing doing vs. one of the league’s best defenses.

The QB7 against the Dallas Cowboys, J.J. McCarthy is up to six total scores over his past two soft matchups. Coughing up the second most QB fantasy points, the Giants will look to make a trilogy of JJM’s hot streak. “Nine” is no one’s idea of a comfortable start, but he is most definitely a two-QB league play for the fantasy semis. … Never quite as good of a streamer as you remember, Gardner Minshew does have a plus-plus matchup in the Titans. His weapons are another story, but Minshew will probably end up cracking the top 24. … Philip Rivers was the QB29 in his shock NFL return. Although his advanced stats weren’t as awful as I was expecting — he was “only” fourth to last in average depth of target, and middle of the pack in completion percentage over expected — he did not have the look of a 44-year-old whose performance was going to improve with time. Despite his experience, prolific history and well-stocked skill corps, Rivers is not a recommended superflex option.

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