Making lineup decisions can be the most frustrating or most rewarding part of fantasy football. Here to help you make those decisions are our start ’em and sit ’em picks. The fantasy season is over. Congrats to all the champions! If your league does anything for Week 18, here are our start/sit plays.
Start ‘Em: C.J. Stroud, QB, Houston Texans (vs. IND)
It’s not exactly safe to start C.J. Stroud. The Houston Texans want to run the ball, and the Colts are unlikely to push them away from that plan. The hope here is we can get a couple of passing touchdowns, just like last week.
The Colts are a pass funnel defense. They allow the 14th-most fantasy points per game to quarterbacks.
Houston will still be motivated to win this game because it has a shot at the division if the Jaguars stumble against the Titans.
Stroud has only had three games of 20+ fantasy points all season. But in Week 18, even a redux of last week’s 244 yards and two touchdowns might be enough.
MORE: Free Fantasy Start/Sit Optimizer
Aaron Jones Sr., RB, Minnesota Vikings (vs. GB)
Aaron Jones Sr. did get hurt last week. So, there’s no guarantee he plays this week. Even though the games haven’t mattered for weeks, Jones is one of those players who loves to play. I think he goes as long as he is healthy enough. Regardless, the point here is to start the Vikings RB1.
The Packers just got eviscerated by Derrick Henry to the tune of 216 yards and four touchdowns. Of course, the Vikings don’t have a Henry. But the Packers clearly have an issue stopping the run, and now they’ll be playing backups in a game that doesn’t matter.
The Vikings are way more motivated than the Packer,s and Green Bay simply won’t care if Jones, or whoever, runs all over them.
Tetairoa McMillan, WR, Carolina Panthers (at TB)
If Tetairoa McMillan burned you in the fantasy championship, I promise I feel your pain. One catch for five yards. Yikes. It was a really bad time for the worst game of his young career. Things should be better this week, though.
The Panthers get a Bucs team that, despite still playing for the NFC South crown, has completely quit. McMillan just posted a 6-73-1 line on this defense two weeks ago.
The Bucs are an average matchup for wide receivers, but they are better against the run than the pass. Even though the Panthers have a serious aversion to calling pass plays, McMillan is highly unlikely to be silenced once again.
Carolina was completely noncompetitive against the Seahawks, unable to get their best offensive player involved. That cannot happen again. It won’t happen again. Fire up McMillan this week.
Travis Kelce, TE, Kansas City Chiefs (at LV)
The Raiders are actually pretty good at defending the tight end. Of course, a lot of that is predicated on which ones they face. But they allow the fourth-fewest fantasy points per game to the position.
With that said, this is Week 18. When we have two teams not playing for anything, stats like that hold less water than motivation and circumstance.
This is so hot of him pic.twitter.com/7b1yUNPyRw
— kristy⸆⸉🦦❤️🔥 (@taysservant) December 29, 2025
Reading the tea leaves, it sure sounds like this will be Travis Kelce’s last NFL game. This will be just the second game of his career (the first being last week) where the Chiefs have nothing to play for.
Chris Oladokun will certainly struggle to move the ball, but the Raiders will also struggle to play defense as they continue their tank. You have to think the Chiefs will feature Kelce and try to have him retire on a high note, at least to the extent they can, given the fact that they won’t be in the playoffs.
Sit ‘Em: Baker Mayfield, QB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (vs. CAR)
I don’t think the English language possesses the words to truly capture how terrible this Tampa Bay Buccaneers team is. Or, at least, I’m not allowed to use them in this article.
It took a garbage-time touchdown for Baker Mayfield to merely get close to 20 fantasy points last week. His 19.4 point effort was his second-highest since Week 11.
The Bucs have lost seven of their last eight and still somehow have a win-and-in Week 18. Incredible … but they are not going to win it.
Mayfield threw for 145 yards, one touchdown, and one interception against the Panthers the last time around. That was just two weeks ago.
The Panthers allow the sixth-fewest fantasy points per game to quarterbacks. The Bucs may have the talent to overcome it, but head coach Todd Bowles’ coaching philosophy seems to be to keep his best players out of the most important spots. If the Bucs weren’t in playoff contention, you would have a hard time convincing me he wasn’t tanking.
This is a completely dead team that will play like it. Don’t start Mayfield.
MORE: Free Fantasy Football Trade Analyzer
Kenneth Walker III, RB, Seattle Seahawks (at SF)
The fantasy industry consensus every week of this season has been to rank Kenneth Walker III ahead of Zach Charbonnet. Why? You certainly wouldn’t have found that in any of my rankings (most weeks).
Walker has virtually no path to fantasy production. He is a between-the-20s runner who doesn’t catch passes and doesn’t get goal-line carries. How does that player ever score fantasy points? The answer is splash plays. That’s it. And we don’t want to ever need a splash play.
Walker had his 25-point explosion against the Rams in Week 16 with … you guessed it! A splash play. Since Week 5, Walker has had eight games with single-digit fantasy points. He has just one other game of 20+ fantasy points.
The 49ers did just give up 38 points to the Chicago Bears. But even if we get another shootout, when the Seahawks get close, it will be Charbonnet punching in the touchdowns.
Ladd McConkey, WR, Los Angeles Chargers (at DEN)
What a disaster Ladd McConkey has been this season. One of my main strategies in fantasy football is targeting sophomore wide receivers coming off good rookie seasons. McConkey fit the bill perfectly. But it did not work out. Not even close.
Heading into Week 18, the Chargers’ de facto WR1 cannot be trusted. Regardless of the difficult matchup, McConkey just isn’t being targeted. He’s seen six or fewer targets in eight consecutive games.
Since Week 11, McConkey has had four games with 4.3 points or fewer. In the two games in which he managed to reach WR2 numbers, his production was mostly the same. He just happened to score. There is no world in which McConkey can be trusted against a Broncos defense allowing the fourth-fewest fantasy points per game to wide receivers.
Tyler Warren, TE, Indianapolis Colts (at HOU)
What a precipitous falloff for Tyler Warren. I had Colston Loveland ahead of Warren in the rookie rankings and felt very foolish for half the season. Not anymore.
After posting 11+ fantasy points in six of his first seven career games, Warren has reached double digits just twice since then. Of course, Daniel Jones’ injury played a role, but Warren was already fading before he lost his quarterback.
Tyler Warren on the backside of Open side IZ.
With how they ID this, he essentially takes two here. pic.twitter.com/fC5iVAvNht
— Colts Film Room (@ColtsFilmRoom) December 29, 2025
The Colts are going to start Riley Leonard. It makes sense because they have nothing to play for, so they might as well see what the rookie can do. But it’s probably not going to go well.
The Texans still have a shot at the division if the Jaguars stumble. So, they will be trying. Although they aren’t elite against the tight end, Houston remains the best defense in the NFL. The Colts are going to have a hard time scoring points.
