Ranking Every Week 17 Game by Fantasy Goodness

Week 17 is the most important week of the year for fantasy football. That’s especially true if you’re playing in a large-field best ball tournament like Best Ball Mania IV, where more than $6.2 million of the $15 million prize pool is handed out based on what happens in the final week of the fantasy season. With so much money on the line in a single week, the idea of game stacking Week 17 has become a hot topic of conversation in the best ball community. For those who aren’t familiar, game stacking basically means you take multiple players from competing teams because the performance of opponents in a single game is correlated. For example, if one team’s passing attack has a productive fantasy day, it’s more likely their opponent has to pass a lot to keep up. While game stacking shouldn’t be your first priority — Justin Herzig put it at the very top of his best ball pyramid — it’s indisputably a good idea if you want to compete for the grand prize. Today, we’ll rank each Week 17 game in order of fantasy goodness so you know which spots we’re attacking during fantasy championship weekend.

TIER 1: PROJECTED SHOOTOUTS

1. CINCINNATI BENGALS @ KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

This game actually doesn’t have the highest total on the slate at 48.5, but it easily boasts the most star power. Patrick Mahomes vs. Joe Burrow is one of the great rivalries in the NFL, and they will clash once again with fantasy championships on the line. Kansas City is a 3-point favorite at home, but game script getting out of hand isn’t a major concern with the spread within a field goal. Mahomes is arguably the best quarterback in fantasy, and Travis Kelce is clearly the best TE in the game. Kadarius Toney and Marquez Valdes-Scantling sit atop the Chiefs’ WR depth chart right now, but youngsters Skyy Moore and Rashee Rice may carve out a significant role by the end of December. Isiah Pacheco and Jerick McKinnon currently spearhead the backfield, but there is some fragility here given Pacheco’s status as a seventh-round rookie who doesn’t catch passes and McKinnon’s advanced age.

On the flip side, the Bengals’ 22.75 team total is tied for their third-lowest mark of the season — not that surprising when you consider it’s Arrowhead in December — but it’s a start-your-studs scenario with Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins. Tyler Boyd will man the slot for Cincinnati again in 2023 and stands to benefit from a Chase or Higgins injury, so he could easily be fantasy-relevant come Week 17. The same goes for Irv Smith, who is slated for TE1 duties. Joe Mixon could receive a suspension for off-the-field reasons early in the year, but he should be the Bengals’ RB1 if healthy this fall. Still, Cincinnati will likely need to throw to keep pace with K.C., so Burrow and his trio of receivers (especially Chase and Higgins) are the main pieces you want for this game stack.

2. DETROIT LIONS @ DALLAS COWBOYS

The game with the highest total on the Week 17 slate features two high-powered offenses in a dome. Amon-Ra St. Brown handled a ridiculous target share when healthy last season and should lead the Lions’ passing corps again, although Jameson Williams will be back from suspension and fully integrated into the offense by the end of the year. Williams also possesses the field-stretching speed needed to flip a slate on its head, making him extra appealing in a format where we basically only care about upside. Jahmyr Gibbs should have a sizable Week 1 role after being selected 12th overall, but he will definitely have a big role by the end of the season. David Montgomery will slide into the Jamaal Williams short-yardage role and possesses multi-TD upside every game. Both Lions backs could also be in RB1 overall contention if the other suffers an injury, which is certainly possible by Week 17.

For Dallas, CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott make up one of the most desirable stacks in best ball and Tony Pollard has slate-breaking potential with Ezekiel Elliott out of town. Brandin Cooks and Michael Gallup will compete for WR2 duties, and all three DAL WRs stand to benefit production-wise if another one gets injured. Jake Ferguson vs. Luke Schoonmaker is a fierce debate among fantasy gamers right now, and both are young enough that they could truly ascend into a lead TE role by Week 17. Jared Goff is a workable QB2, but Prescott is the QB you want here for the optimal game stack, and there are enough capable WRs on both teams to form a strongly correlated group.

TIER 2: SHOOTOUT POTENTIAL

3. MIAMI DOLPHINS @ BALTIMORE RAVENS

Lamar Jackson is an elite fantasy QB who could be fully unleashed in Todd Monken‘s offense, and Mark Andrews trails only Kelce in the tight end hierarchy. Young guns Rashod Bateman and Zay Flowers will compete to give Jackson a legitimate WR1 target with Odell Beckham looking to regain the form he found during the Rams’ playoff run two seasons ago. All four of them are viable options to stack with Jackson in this new-look Baltimore aerial attack. J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards don’t possess much pass-catching upside, but they have the efficiency and TD ceiling necessary to win fantasy leagues, especially if one of them has the backfield to themselves in Week 17.

For the Dolphins, Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle are elite WR options and Tua Tagovailoa has mid-level QB1 upside if he stays healthy. Devon Achane has game-breaking speed and could win primary back duties by the end of the season, especially if Dalvin Cook stays away from South Beach. Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson are Achane’s current competition, and both have a path to fantasy relevancy, especially if there are injuries in the Dolphins’ backfield. Hill and/or Waddle are must-haves for a MIA-BAL stack, but the late-round options could be critical differentiators.

4. GREEN BAY PACKERS @ MINNESOTA VIKINGS

The third-highest total on the slate is another dome game. The Vikings are loaded with talent offensively with Justin Jefferson heading an attack that also features T.J. Hockenson, Jordan Addison — who, as a rookie, should be at his best come playoff time — and K.J. Osborn. Alexander Mattison has the backfield to himself following the release of Dalvin Cook. Kirk Cousins lacks the upside of some of the other QBs in this tier, but he’s capable of a blow-up game and has the weapons to do so. On the other side, Jordan Love is a complete question mark with one start in three seasons, but the Packers have decent weapons in Aaron Jones, A.J. Dillon, and Christian Watson. Jayden Reed and Luke Musgrave are already getting first-team snaps and should be accustomed to the NFL by Week 17, and Romeo Doubs had a great rookie year for a Day 3 WR. The Packers’ offense has a wide range of outcomes that is heavily dependent on