The fantasy football championships are in full swing, as managers prepare for Week 17 of fantasy football.\u00a0 Sometimes, players who are viewed as fringe starters can produce unexpectedly big performances.\u00a0 These can often make or break fantasy football matchups.\u00a0 Below is a list of players, one from each position, who carry upside this week and can be placed in fantasy starting lineups.<\/p>\n
Week 16 Upside Plays<\/a> provided mixed results.\u00a0 Jerome Ford and Sam Laporta crushed their weekly projections, but Aaron Rodgers disappointed and Christian Watson suffered a knee injury in the second quarter of SNF.<\/p>\n Tua Tagovailoa has been underwhelming for fantasy over the past two weeks.\u00a0 The Dolphins<\/a> signal caller has only thrown one touchdown in each of the last two contests.\u00a0 Nonetheless, Tua should get back on track in Week 17 against the Cleveland Browns.\u00a0 The Browns defense ranks bottom-ten against quarterbacks this season and are allowing 227 passing yards per game.\u00a0 Tua and the Dolphins are in must-win territory, as they hold a 7-8 record and sit just outside of the playoff picture.\u00a0 Fantasy managers should expect Tua to return to form this week in a favorable matchup.<\/p>\n *Tua is listed as questionable for Week 17, but is expected to play.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Tyjae Spears has been heating up lately.\u00a0 The Titans back has recorded over 20 fantasy points in back-to-back weeks, scoring four touchdowns in the process.\u00a0 Spears has taken full advantage of an ankle injury to lead back Tony Pollard, who has been less effective over the last two games.\u00a0 Spears and the Titans will have a plus matchup against the Jaguars<\/a> in Week 17.\u00a0 The Jaguars defense has been abysmal all season and are allowing the second-most fantasy points per game to running backs.\u00a0 With Pollard listed questionable,<\/a> Spears may also have the opportunity to assume lead-back responsibilities this week.\u00a0 RB1 volume should launch Spears into fantasy relevance again in Week 17.\u00a0 Managers should consider Spears as a high-upside RB3, dependent on if Pollard is active.<\/p>\n Jalen McMillan is in the midst of a late-season breakout.\u00a0 The rookie wideout has finished as a top-20 wide receiver in each of the last three weeks.\u00a0 McMillan has also been a red zone threat, scoring four touchdowns over that span.\u00a0 McMillan and the Buccaneers<\/a> will face the Panthers in a divisional matchup this week.\u00a0 This game is set up to be a potential shootout, with an over\/under total of 47.5.\u00a0 While the Panthers have been solid against opposing receivers, McMillan’s recent production is difficult to ignore.\u00a0 McMillan should be viewed as a solid flex option this week and will continue to operate as the clear number two passing option for Baker Mayfield.<\/p>\n Tucker Kraft has had volatile fantasy performances this season.\u00a0 The Packers<\/a> tight end has only one top-ten finish in the last five weeks, as the Packers passing offense has many mouths to feed.\u00a0 Nonetheless, Kraft and the Packers will have an advantageous matchup against the Vikings<\/a> in Week 17.\u00a0 The Vikings have been a pass-funnel defense all season, allowing nearly 250 passing yards per game.\u00a0 While Kraft has been inconsistent, he has a solid opportunity to finish as a TE1 this week.\u00a0 Fantasy managers should start Kraft with confidence this week against a team he recorded 6-53-1 in Week 4.<\/p>\n Main Photo: Christine Tannous – USA Today Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Unexpected players will often make or break weekly fantasy matchups. These are some of the best upside plays for Week 17 of fantasy football<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5329,"featured_media":206771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[59,54],"tags":[32375,4443,9888],"class_list":["post-206733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fantasy","category-editorials","tag-jalen-mcmillan","tag-tua-tagovailoa","tag-tyjae-spears"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5329"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206733"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":206772,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206733\/revisions\/206772"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Upside Plays of the Week – Week 17 Fantasy Football<\/h2>\n
Quarterback – Tua Tagovailoa*<\/h4>\n
Running-Back – Tyjae Spears<\/h4>\n
Wide Receiver – Jalen McMillan<\/h4>\n
Tight-End – Tucker Kraft<\/h4>\n