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 Atlanta Falcons to help you craft a winning lineup.
Jacoby Brissett, QB
The Cardinals were down 10 before Jacoby Brissett stepped onto the field last week against the Texans, and it opened us up to even more garbage time production.
Fantasy Finishes, Weeks 6-14
- Week 6: QB7
- Week 7: QB12
- Week 8: bye
- Week 9: QB10
- Week 10: QB9
- Week 11: QB4
- Week 12: QB7
- Week 13: QB10
- Week 14: QB12
- Week 15: QB12
Since Week 10, 90% of his fantasy points this season have come when trialing. They are a minor underdog this week against a rested Falcons team, and while I don’t think this is one-sided the way the other games have been, Arizona’s backfield injuries are stacking up.
Asking for another 40+ pass attempts (he’s done it in six straight) is a bit much, but we did see Baker Mayfield throw 34 times against them last Thursday night, and if Brissett can get to that level, he’s in that QB8-12 range again.
I don’t think there’s much (if any) room for statistical growth, but you don’t need growth; you need Brissett to sustain what he’s been doing. In terms of popular QBs in the fantasy world, I have Brissett ranked ahead of Dak Prescott, Baker Mayfield, and Justin Herbert this week.
Bam Knight, RB
Bam Knight went down with what has been labeled a “bad” ankle sprain last week, as this team tries to reach the finish line of a disappointing 2025 season (Trey Benson and Kyler Murray are already out for the season).
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He’s averaged 3.3 yards per carry this season and has more fumbles (one) than touches that have gained more than 20 yards (zero). If you have Knight, this loss probably doesn’t hurt, but the potential for Michael Carter to pick up volume (14 carries on Sunday at Houston) could impact how your league plays out.
Carter isn’t ranked as a starter for you, but we just saw a situation where managers were forced to pivot at the last minute with the Rome Odunze situation. There is no such thing as too many 14-18 touch players on your roster, even if you don’t plan on playing them all.
Michael Carter, RB
They say that to survive a bear attack in the woods, you don’t have to be faster than the animal (did you know that a Grizzly Bear can hit a top speed of 35 MPH? Don’t you dare say you didn’t learn anything from this article), you just have to be faster than the other prey it is chasing.
When it comes to this backfield, you don’t have to be a good running back; you just have to be healthier than those around you, and that’s currently an awfully low bar to clear.
Carter is averaging 3.3 yards per carry this season, and New Year’s Eve 2023 was the last time he had a run gain of more than 15 yards. It isn’t easy to paint an overly optimistic picture for Carter himself, and even the matchup isn’t as great as it once was (Bucky Irving averaged 3.8 yards per carry in this spot last Thursday night). Still, he should get the work, and there’s value in volume in December.
Assuming that Carter is the lead man in this backfield for Week 16, he’ll settle around my RB30. That’s not viable in most situations, but it’s a nice defensive roster move to give your opposition one fewer path to touches.
Trey Benson, RB
Last Wednesday, the Cardinals failed to activate Trey Benson (knee) within the allotted window, thus ending the season of the 23-year-old running back.
Through two seasons, we have 111 touches from Benson to form an opinion, and he’s checked the efficiency boxes (4.9 yards per carry, 5.2 yards per touch, and an 86.4% catch rate). One career touchdown isn’t ideal, but we did see him score 15 times during his final season at Florida State, so I’m holding out hope that he can be a fantasy asset if featured in an above-average offense.
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Benson has two years left on his rookie deal, and this Arizona offense might enter 2026 with a different structure than it did in 2025: he should have every chance to be the lead back and a top-20 performer at the position in our game.
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’s been grabbing at him enough for him to miss each of the past two weeks. He didn’t practice at all last week, and the status was the same as it was the week prior: show no real signs of optimism during the work week and get ruled out on Friday.
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.
We know that the WR1 in this 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 isn’t a bad matchup, but Atlanta does have an extended week in terms of prep time after playing on Thursday night.
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
Harrison Jr. has missed consecutive games with this heel injury, and it’s hard to imagine the Cards bringing him back in a meaningful way at this point (four DNP’s in this five-game stretch).
Fire up Wilson and feel good about it.
He’s cleared 16 PPR points in all four of the games in handling the WR1 role in Arizona, and the Falcons have allowed a receiver to surpass 24 PPR points in three of their past four.
The matchup box is checked, the role box is checked, and the connection with QB box is checked, so it’s time to address the elephant in the room.
Garbage time.
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Since Week 10, 63.5% of Wilson’s points have come with the Cards down by double digits and 85.7% with them trailing in some capacity. It’s less likely that we see a game script like that this weekend, and that does create a path to failure, but this game is being labeled as a coin flip by oddsmakers, and as long as that’s the case, I expect this team to put the ball in the hands of Brissett.
Wilson is a low-end WR1 for me.
Trey McBride, TE
Trey McBride has more PPR points this season than Brock Bowers and Sam LaPorta combined.
If you removed his top three games from this season, his overall point total would rank behind only Travis Kelce at the position.
There’s simply no stopping the man who now holds the TE record for consecutive games with 5+ receptions (16).
In the second quarter last week against maybe the best defense in the sport, Arizona ran a play-action design with the intent to get him a score, but Houston covered it well.
And by “covered well,” I mean they put all the kids from the recess on the bully to stop him.
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It worked for that play, but not for the next pass, a free release inside the red zone that resulted in another score. He’s the second player in a decade to have 105 catches and 10 TD receptions through 15 weeks (also: 2021 Cooper Kupp) and holds my vote for the fantasy MVP.
The upside, along with the consistency at the challenging position in all of fantasy, cannot be overrated: this is a historic season that is likely to see him outscore the next best TE by over 100 PPR points.
