The fantasy football landscape shifts each week, bringing fresh opportunities and unexpected challenges that separate the prepared from the pretenders. Savvy managers know that last week’s performance tells only part of the story, and diving deeper into the underlying metrics reveals the accurate picture.
This week presents some intriguing decisions. Here’s insight about key Arizona Cardinals players heading into their matchup with the Houston Texans to help you craft a winning lineup.
Jacoby Brissett, QB
There are no pictures in the stat sheet, so I don’t care that Jacoby Brissett has scored 65.5% of his points since Week 10 with the Cardinals down by double digits.
Doesn’t matter.
He’s run for over 15 yards in three straight, thrown 40+ passes in five straight, and has multiple TDs in seven of his last eight.
The rubber is at risk of meeting the road against this Texans team, however, and that’s why he sits outside of my top 15 at the position. The defense is as good as any in the league (four of the past five QBs have failed to get to 13.5 points, a run that includes both Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes), but that’s not what has me most worried.
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It’s a factor, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not sure this offense has the potential to put Arizona in such a bind where they are forced to keep up. If the Texans dominate this game, it’s a 23-13 sort of deal where Arizona doesn’t get nearly the play volume they’ve benefited from over the past month.
If the Cardinals are more balanced and playing with caution, Brissett’s 40 attempts crash to 30, and his superpower is negated.
I’d rather play Caleb Williams in a tough spot this week against the Browns, and, to be honest, I’d sign up for C.J. Stroud on the other side of this game before I pencil in Brissett for a playoff matchup.
Bam Knight, RB
Didn’t we just see this?
Bam Knight walked into a tough Week 14 matchup (vs. Rams), poised for plenty of work with Emari Demercado (ankle) and Trey Benson (knee) both out.
The Cards wasted little time cutting bait on the run game and took their chances with Jacoby Brissett flinging the ball all over the yard. It didn’t work; they lost by 28, but that was the approach.
This week could be awfully similar, but without the upside of six targets for Knight because the Texans’ offense can’t present game pressure in quite the same way. At 3.3 yards per carry this season (103 touches this season and his long gain is just 20 yards), there’s not enough quality or quantity in this profile for me to give it a second look with my fantasy season hanging in the balance.
Trey Benson, RB
Jonathan Gannon seemed awfully guarded when discussing the Trey Benson (knee) situation last week, and that should have you planning on being without him until we get either consecutive days of glowing reports or actual on-field proof that he’s recovered.
Gannon expressed some cautious optimism about his returning to play this season. However, he also implied that you don’t rush activation when the player would still be at risk of being shut down shortly thereafter.
Bam Knight continues to be the man getting the work, but this is yet another brutal matchup. It should be noted that the Cards host the Falcons before traveling to Cincinnati in Weeks 16-17: if this is still Knight’s gig at that point, we might be able to have a RB2 discussion, but for now, in a pass-centric offense for a franchise with nothing real to play for, this looks, for now, like an outright avoid situation for Week 16.
Marvin Harrison Jr., WR
Marvin Harrison Jr. missed Weeks 11-12, but we saw him return productively against the Bucs in Week 13 (69 yards on seven targets). He was much more efficient than the red-hot Michael Wilson in that game, getting the high-quality looks that their WR2 had thrived with when he was absent.
But he suffered a heel injury, and it nagged him enough to have him inactive last weekend against the Rams. He was ruled out on Friday, a day that also carried the news that Kyler Murray’s 2025 season was over.
Coincidence?
The Cards obviously have nothing left to play for, and while their QB situation is TBD moving forward, Harrison still has two years left on his rookie deal and is firmly a part of this team, trying to build a reputable offense.
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We know that the WR1 in this Jacoby Brissett-led offense is a strong bet, but until we get glowing health reports, I’m operating under the assumption that Harrison is on my fantasy bench. This is a brutal matchup for a team that is already looking to 2026: I’m not putting my fantasy season in the hands of a player viewed as a building block for a team that lacks short-term motivation.
Michael Wilson, WR
Marvin Harrison gets ruled out, have the social team put together a cute graphic, look intelligent.
Life doesn’t have to be hard. Michael Wilson has been nothing short of unstoppable when functioning as the WR1 in this Jacoby Brissett system; there is just no two ways about it. If you do the completely irresponsible thing of projecting his three games in that role over the course of an entire season, you get 204 catches (55 more than the current single-season NFL record) for 2,257 yards (563 more than the current single-season NFL record).
Crazy good.
If this heel injury sidelines Harrison for another game, you’re firing up Wilson again, though with slightly lower expectations against maybe the best defense in the league. At the very least, the target count should be there, and that makes him a higher upside version of Jakobi Meyers in my eyes.
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If Harrison plays, I’m not sure you feel good about any of these receivers. We know Trey McBride is going to demand 25-30% of the targets, and we also know we faced this situation in Week 13 against a Bucs defense that is vulnerable through the air: Wilson got 36 yards on six targets.
Greg Dortch (chest) being on injured reserve does open up some target equity in that situation, which is why I am currently planning to start Wilson wherever I have him, regardless of Harrison’s status.
But it would be fun to walk into the fantasy postseason with new-age Calvin Johnson on our rosters, wouldn’t it?
Trey McBride, TE
Trey McBride looked destined for another huge game with two catches and 45 yards on the first drive over the weekend against the Rams, but things went sideways in a hurry for the Cards, and their elite TE felt it.
After that opening script, he managed just 13 yards (three catches) the rest of the way as the Rams cruised to the easy win.
Nothing to see here. You rub some dirt on it and move on.
The Texans are, of course, another brutal matchup. Still, McBride has been a problem in seemingly every type of matchup this season, so don’t overreact to one down week (and for the record, I think you could sign at least a handful of your leaguemates up for 10.8 PPR points from the tight end position now and they’d take it, so try not to complain too loudly).
This is the Jacoby Brissett show the rest of the way, and that means McBride sits atop the position ranks without a real challenger.
