Fantasy Football Week 17 Wide Receiver Rankings: Trust Davante Adams, Tyreek Hill?

The state of the wide receiver position for Fantasy entering Week 17

By Chris Towers

Jan 1, 2023 at 11:00 am ET • 4 min read

USATSI

Before we get to my Week 17 rankings for wide receiver, here are my thoughts on four of the biggest questions facing a position with quite a few big questions these days:

Can you trust Davante Adams?

There's been no shortage of ups and downs with Adams in his first season in Las Vegas, but he enters Week 17 in the midst of his lowest point, with just nine catches for 114 touchdown-less yards over his past three games. And now he's going to be playing with Jarrett Stidham, making his first start after Derek Carr was benched. Oh, and Stidham is making his first start against the best defense in the NFL, the 49ers. It's not a good situation for Adams at all, and he's been moved down in the rankings as a result -- Adams has been a no-doubt No. 1 WR all season for me, and he would have remained so with Carr, but I've dropped him to the WR2 range with Stidham. That means I'm probably still starting him, though in one league, I am considering sitting him for Jerry Jeudy, at least. I'll go back and forth on that one, but I'll probably still end up with Adams in my lineup. I expect Stidham to lean heavily on Adams, as every quarterback who has ever played with him has. Those targets may be less valuable than they've been in the past, but Adams has dealt with inconsistent accuracy and still had massive upside this season, and I think that's what he still has. He's a risk, for sure, but I'm still probably rolling with him.

How much should we downgrade Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle with Tua Tagovailoa in concussion protocol?

We found out Monday that Tagovailoa was in the concussion protocol, seemingly the third time he has dealt with a concussion this season. He hasn't been ruled out, but given his recent history, it seems safe to assume Teddy Bridgewater will start for the Dolphins this week against the Patriots, a tough matchup. But is it enough to put Hill and Waddle on your bench? Definitely not with Hill, who has 275 yards on 20 targets from Bridgewater this season – a 33% target share. Waddle hasn't been nearly as productive with Bridgewater, but he also missed some time when Bridgewater was filling in earlier in the season, so I don't know how much we should take from a 10-target sample size. Does Bridgewater make him a less sure thing? Yeah, anytime there is a QB change, you're introducing uncertainty, and uncertainty is never a welcome thing for Fantasy. But Waddle is such a tremendous talent, and Miami's offense does such a good job getting him the ball in space that I can't see myself going away from him.

Is Garrett Wilson back to being must-start?

The numbers for Wilson with and without Zach Wilson are stark:

Garrett Wilson w/ Zach Wilson (9 games): 6.3 targets, 3.8 catches, 49.7 yards, 0 TD, 8.8 PPR points
Garrett Wilson w/o Zach Wilson (6 games): 10.7 targets, 6.2 catches, 91.5 yards, 0.7 TD, 19.3 PPR points

Basically, when Zach Wilson is at QB, Garrett Wilson is a Fantasy afterthought; with anyone else, he's a superstar. Mike White is back from his rib injury, and Zach Wilson will be inactive for Week 17, so Wilson is back to being a Fantasy superstar, right? Well, I think the splits probably overstate things just a bit – the Jets were throwing 50 times per game with Joe Flacco at QB, which was never a sustainable pace. However, the coaching staff clearly has more faith in the non-Wilson QBs on the roster, and that includes White. Garrett Wilson sure looks like a burgeoning superstar, and I'm viewing him as a solid WR2 with White back under center.

Are we starting Tyler Lockett if he plays?

Lockett has a chance to return after missing just one game with a broken finger, but this is a really tough situation to gauge right now. As of Monday night, I'm not ranking Lockett, but if he gets cleared, we're going to have to make some decisions. If he was healthy, Lockett would be a borderline WR1, though it's worth noting that the Jets are a very tough matchup, allowing the second-fewest Fantasy points to wide receivers of any team. Add in that Lockett would be less than two weeks after surgery, and there's just a ton of risk here. He could play through the injury without issue; he could play through it but be used mostly as a decoy because he just won't be able to catch the ball the way he usually does; or he could play through it and suffer an aggravation that forces him out. There are a lot of possible outcomes, but most of them are probably pretty bad. I'll probably rank Lockett in the WR3/4 range if he's cleared.

Here are my Week 17 rankings for WR: