Congratulations to all of our readers who have made it to the semi-finals in their dynasty leagues! And, to those who lost, you know nothing is worse than an early exit in the playoffs. You worked hard all year, just missed out on the bye week, and one bad week ends your season so abruptly. And now, not only are you out of the running for an end-of-season payout, but you are also stuck with a later pick in the first round. 

Week 15 saw the Chiefs officially eliminated from playoff contention, for the first time since 2014! Worse than that, their franchise QB Patrick Mahomes was knocked out of the game with a torn ACL and LCL in the final minutes of the game. He’ll miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery, and the start of next season is now in doubt. Mahomes is someone you can count on working as hard as he possibly can to get back on the field on time next season, but what is this team going to look like next year? They need help on offense, especially at running back. Travis Kelce is likely to retire, so they’ll need to address that position as well. Meanwhile, Andy Reid is another year olde,r and Mahomes could lose some of his elusiveness in the pocket. The Chiefs are in a tough position heading into their off-season, much earlier than they are used to. 

The Bills and Josh Allen got a statement win in New England, and now the AFC is officially on notice. The Bills haven’t been dominant this season, and they are likely still a wild-card team, but nobody is going to want to play this team in the NFL playoffs. Allen is incredible and might even be considered a first-round dynasty player in single-quarterback leagues. 

Week 16 kicks off tonight with an exciting matchup in the NFC West. The 11-3 Rams travel north to Seattle to take on the 11-3 Seahawks. The division lead, and the number one seed, is on the line in this game. These teams have clearly been two of the best teams in the league this season, and they’ve had some high-end fantasy options. The Rams won the earlier contest 21-9, with a stunning four interceptions from Sam Darnold in that game. 

The schedule continues SATURDAY with a couple of division matchups between the Eagles and Commanders, then the Packers and Bears. Sunday afternoon’s slate is highlighted by an NFC South battle in Charlotte, with the Bucs coming to town. I’ll be in attendance for the Sunday night game in Baltimore, where the Patriots will try to turn it around after a horrible second half against the Bills. Monday Night’s showdown will feature the 49ers visiting the Colts in Philip Rivers’s second game of the season. 

Whether you won or lost, and even if you had the bye, or you’ve been eliminated for weeks, there is no off-season in dynasty fantasy football! Trim the waste off your bench, and load up on young lottery tickets that could see their value increase between now and the rookie draft. Dive into the trade market, if your league still allows it, and build your draft capital, especially if you can take advantage of desperate teams competing in the fantasy playoffs. Check out the DLF Expert Rankings to see where your players stand according to our experts. You can also plug your league into the My DLF League Sync Tool, where you can see your rosters, all of your leaguemates’ rosters, available players on the waiver wire, and grades for all of your positions. If you have some holes in your starting lineup, open up the rankings, and you’ll easily be able to find the best available players for you to pick up. League sync also works for the Trade Analyzer Tool, if your league hasn’t passed its trade deadline yet. The playoffs are here, and whether you’re in the action or on the sideline, DLF is here to help you be the best dynasty manager in your league!

KYLE PITTS! That’s the “unicorn” tight end that everyone expected when he was the fourth overall pick in the NFL Draft. He was incredible in Thursday’s win over the Bucs, catching 11 of 12 targets for 166 yards and three touchdowns! He was (likely) the star of your consolation bracket in week 15, scoring an astounding 45.6 PPR points in this one. All of a sudden, he’s the TE3 on the season, and he’s finished as a top six tight end in back-to-back-to-back weeks. Pitts will see his rookie contract expire this off-season, and he’ll have the chance to hit free agency if the Falcons don’t retain him. With that, let’s dive into his dynasty value heading into this crucial off-season, and see if he’s worth a bye before the speculation begins. 

Pitts was a dynasty darling when he entered the league, and his 1,026 yard rookie season pumped up the hype even higher. In September of 2022, he had an ADP of 4.83, being drafted behind only Jonathan Taylor, Justin Jefferson, and Ja’Marr Chase! He hit his rock bottom in January of this year, after a lackluster season, going at pick 119 overall. Right now, Pitts is the TE11 in December’s ADP, going off the board 88th overall. That data accrued before the 45 point performance in Week 15, I imagine that number is going to be even higher in January. He’s the TE13 in the DLF Expert Rankings, getting selected at 110 overall. 

Kyle Pitts is going to be a major story of the fantasy football off-season. He is a high-profile name in the fantasy community, and everyone has an opinion on him, one way or the other. I’m worried that the price is going to be too high to acquire him in a trade, but if he remains around TE11 in value, then I would buy him. Pitts has incredible upside, and a potential change of scenery could do wonders for his career. If the hype does start to push him up into the same tight end range as Tucker Kraft and Colston Loveland, then I would hold onto him. The price tag would be too high to trade him, but he does legitimately have TE1 upside. Sell at your own risk, but the risk could absolutely be worth the reward in the end. 

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WEEKLY MATCHUPS: PLAYOFF DECISIONS FOR WEEK 16

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve probably noticed a series of tweets I share on a weekly basis regarding player and team defensive performances, all from a fantasy lens. I’m going to be sharing some of that same information with you here. I use this each week as I am making my own lineup and waiver wire decisions, and I thought you might find this valuable as well.

In fact, the weekly matchup numbers may be the most relevant, actionable data we look at each week. Examining how teams have performed against certain positions and then targeting or avoiding those players each week has been a huge game-changer in my weekly lineup decisions. With that in mind, this year, I’ll focus most of my attention on that weekly matchup info, giving you a few must-start or must-sit players each week, based on the trends and numbers.

If you’re reading this, you have probably advanced to your league’s semifinals. Congratulations! With the higher stakes of the fantasy playoffs come more difficult and agonizing lineup decisions. Once again this week, many of the league’s top players have difficult matchups but simply cannot be benched. We’ll get to some of those later. First, I wanted to focus on some potential playoff week winners. These are the reliable weekly fantasy starters that also have an excellent matchup this week. That combination could make them true week winners and help your squad advance to the finals.

Jalen Hurts, QB PHI

Finally ending their losing streak last week, Hurts and the Eagles will look to keep things going and move closer to clinching the NFC East. The Commanders have been decimated by injuries, and their decision to shut down quarterback Jayden Daniels represents the entire team’s efforts in many ways. Washington has allowed nine QB1 games on the year, second-most in the league. The 23.3 fantasy points allowed per game is fifth-most in the league. This is a blow-up opportunity for Hurts and the Philly offense.

TreVeyon Henderson, RB NE

The Patriots' rookie has been on a nice hot streak as of late, posting three games as the RB4 or higher over the past five contests. That makes it easy to risk your season on him, and the matchup against Baltimore pushes this over the top. The Ravens’ on-again, off-again defense has been off recently, allowing five top-24 performances to running backs over the past four weeks. On the season, the Ravens’ defense is giving up 24 fantasy points per game to enemy backfields, but over the past three weeks, that number has fallen to 26.3, tenth-most in the league.