Of the four teams with the best W-L records last season, only one will reach this year's playoffs. And unless Baltimore pulls off a miracle, only two of last season's seven "best" teams will compete in the postseason.
The fantasy implications have been pretty big. If you invested in Chiefs, you got very little from their key playmakers down the stretch. Travis Kelce had their best performance in the fantasy playoffs: 14 points last weekend. Jacory Croskey-Merritt has been the lone bright spot for Washington, with Terry McLaurin delivering between "solid" and "sub-adequate" numbers these past three games.
Minnesota was 4-4 entering Week 10, and then dropped four straight on only 10.5 points per game. Only three times did a player post 12+ fantasy points during that losing streak. Two of them were JJ McCarthy and Jalen Nailor. In their past four contests, the Vikings are 4-0 on 26 points per game. And yet, Justin Jefferson's averaged only 7.2 points, while TJ Hockenson netted 7.0 in the three games he's been active. Jordan Addison's only a bit better at 9.0.
Meanwhile, Washington's fantasy prowess has taken a huge step back. Last year they had six regular starters averaging double-digit points. Injuries limited four of them this season, and a fifth was traded away in August. The result is only three regular starters averaging double digits, and compared to last year, two of them (Jayden Daniels and Terry McLaurin) are down 4.8 and 4.4 points per game, respectively.
It's interesting that of the four teams eliminated from playoff contention before yesterday's games, only Dallas had a healthy/full starting lineup. The Cowboys also happened to have had the worst preseason Super Bowl odds of the six teams that took the field. Several of their key fantasy playmakers will be free agents in a few weeks. They're incentivized to play and earn their next contract. If Javonte Williams' near-term role were secure, maybe Dallas would have been more cautious with his neck injury. Instead, he and fellow upcoming free agent Malik Davis were heavily involved, and another 2026 contract question mark -- George Pickens -- outproduced supposed #1 WR CeeDee Lamb.
Finally, what awful timing for Detroit: a road matchup against an elite pass defense. Jared Goff endured his first single-digit fantasy performance of the year. Jahmyr Gibbs also flopped and is netting only 2.8 yards per carry since Week 13. In the run-up to the fantasy playoffs -- Weeks 7 to 14 -- he was averaging a seemingly impossible 29.2 points. As it turns out, even Gibbs is human.
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