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 Green Bay Packers players heading into their matchup with the New York Giants to help you craft a winning lineup.
Jordan Love, QB
Jordan Love has three top-15 finishes this season and has been held without a touchdown in consecutive games (73 pass attempts against the Panthers and Eagles). It’s largely been an underwhelming season for the Leader of the Pack, but if you’re going to roll the dice, this lines up to be the spot.
Entering the season, we thought the Giants would struggle, but that their defensive front would at least create pressure.
Not so much.
The Giants rank No. 22 in non-blitz pressure rate this season, a flaw that doesn’t appear likely to be rectified, and one that has me ranking Love as my QB10.
Love When Not Pressured, 2024
- Completion Percentage: 70.1%
- Yards Per Attempt: 8.2
- Touchdowns: 18
- Interceptions: 6
Love When Not Pressured, 2025
- Completion Percentage: 82.9%
- Yards Per Attempt: 9.4
- Touchdowns: 13
- Interceptions: 1
The Packers need to right the ship after consecutive losses, and if they are going to level up, their quarterback figures to add a dimension that has been lacking recently.
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Josh Jacobs, RB
The Packers noted that Josh Jacobs was past his lingering calf issue ahead of Monday Night Football last week, and their usage of their star running back confirms as much (21 of Green Bay’s 22 running back carries in the 10-7 loss to the Eagles).
The offense struggled for much of the night, but even in a game like that, Jacobs gets his multiple red zone touches (something he’s done in every game this season) and scores (six straight games with a touchdown after his 11-game streak was snapped in Week 3).
At 3.8 yards per carry, we aren’t talking about the most efficient runner on the planet, but that’s kind of the story of 2025 at the running back position. He’s caught at least three passes in six of his past seven games, positioning himself as a script-agnostic running back that you can count on for low-end RB1 numbers every single week.
He’s been a top-10 running back in four of five games since the bye. With the Giants getting decimated by the past two top-flight running backs they’ve faced (Saquon Barkley and Christian McCaffrey both cleared 30 PPR points against them), Jacobs is in position to post a big week and could be the answer to a loaded RB slate in DFS.
Christian Watson, WR
Romeo Doubs suffered a chest injury during the game, which certainly factored in, but I found it interesting that with Matthew Golladay sidelined, Christian Watson was on the field for 81.8% of Green Bay’s offensive snaps, pacing them with 35 routes run.
The offensive sledding was tough all day for the Packers, but he did have catches of 20 and 25 yards with a 32.0-yard aDOT.
Yes, he’s going to be pigeon-holed, but considering that he’s flashed a limited skill that feeds into how he’s being used, that’s all we can ask for. In his three appearances this season, 75% of Watson’s targets have come 15+ yards downfield: this is what he’s going to be, and why I think Matthew Golladay can be cut.
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For planning purposes, here’s how the Green Bay schedule runs out in terms of defensive rankings on deep ball efficiency (yards per attempt), noting that Weeks 12 and 14 are the weeks with four teams on a bye, where you may be asked to dig deeper.
- Week 11 at Giants: 25th
- Week 12 vs. Vikings: 31st
- Week 13 at Lions: 13th
- Week 14 vs. Bears: 32nd
- Week 15 at Broncos: 3rd
- Week 16 at Bears: 32nd
- Week 17 vs. Ravens: 14th
- Week 18 at Vikings: 31st
Watson isn’t going to be a lineup staple, but there are certainly windows to use him. There are only two teams on a bye this week, but if you’re replacing Michael Pittman or Chris Olave and want some upside, Watson sneaks inside of my top 35 at the position this week.
Dontayvion Wicks, WR
Dontayvion Wicks shook off a calf injury to play two-thirds of Green Bay’s offensive snaps on Monday night, earning a season-high eight targets in the process (10.2 aDOT).
This is a thin profile at best.
Wicks is a capable player, but under a point per target in a game where Romeo Doubs got banged up and Matthew Golladay sat, speaks to the volatility of this situation.
This is a democratic passing game that ties up scoring equity on the ground. If you want access to two games with the Bears in December and have the roster flexibility to stash him, go for it, but outside of that, I’m still at least a week away from being interested in Wicks.
Jayden Reed, WR
Jayden Reed underwent foot and clavicle surgeries in the middle of September, and the first half of November was the initial target. Still, without much in the way of confirmation, I’m skeptical that we’ll get a viable version of him any time soon.
Green Bay’s presumed WR1 scored in Week 1 and was injured on a play in Week 2 that was inches from being a score. It’s only a six-target sample, so do with it what you will, but three came 15+ yards downfield (sub 30% rate in each of his first two seasons).
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My thought is that the team was aware of what Tucker Kraft could do in the short receiving game, and the speed of Matthew Golden was anything but a secret, thus opening up Reed to expand his route tree a bit. The names have changed a bit with Kraft on IR and Golden banged up, but the general idea remains that there is a relatively clean role for him to assume when ready.
The Packers play the Bears twice in December, matchups that give Reed the potential to crack my top 24 in those impact weeks, should his usage trend in the direction we saw out of the gates.
Matthew Golden, WR
Matthew Golden sat out last week with a shoulder injury, a decision that came down to the wire. The hope is that the rookie speedster can make a quick recovery and add another dimension to this passing attack.
For the Packers, that’s huge. For fantasy managers, I’m not sold.
Golden has earned just 29 targets across his eight games and has one game with double-digit expected points. As Jayden Reed records, Christian Watson rounds into form, and Romeo Doubs ascends, the runway is narrow at best for the 2023 first-rounder.
I’m fine with ignoring him. Not because there isn’t talent in this profile or upside attached to this offense, but because the parlay of hitting both and starting him in a given week is a long shot at best.
For me, this version of Golden, even if at full strength, is a DFS dart more than a rosterable piece on your way to a redraft championship.
Romeo Doubs, WR
Romeo Doubs missed time on Monday night with a chest injury that was obviously pulling at him after a missed target, but this wasn’t exactly lining up to be a banner game prior.
- 23 routes
- 4 targets
- 5 yards
You see, the problem is that the Eagles had the same impression as we did: this is the head of the snake. Not that the Green Bay offense can’t function without Doubs, but that, especially with Tucker Kraft sidelined, he’s their clear-cut top target.
In some respects, that’s good news. It means we were right with our analysis. In most respects, it’s bad news as Jordan Love doesn’t profile as the type of quarterback who is going to force-feed anyone.
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Doubs will remain my WR1 when it comes to ranking the Packers, but he’s more of a flex, presuming health, for fantasy managers. Christian Watson is the most interesting receiver in this room, given the upside he’s proven to have when healthy, but his range of outcomes is always going to be wide.
I’m looking at Doubs in a very similar way to how I view Jauan Jennings: the top wide receiver on his NFL team by default, but not a must-start in our game.
Luke Musgrave, TE
There was some hope that Luke Musgrave would be a waiver wire find after the Tucker Kraft injury, but in a week where WR1 Romeo Doubs missed time, the TE ranked sixth in targets against the Eagles.
Kraft made the role work; the role didn’t make Kraft.
There’s no need to bank on Musgrave as a weekly option moving forward. We know that the target hierarchy on Green Bay is a moving piece week-to-week, and I’d rather not throw a dart in this fashion at the position.
Tucker Kraft, TE
Kraft was on his way to being one of the best values of the year through the first two months, but a Week 9 ACL tear ended his season and has him targeting the first week of next season as a return.
It’ll be easy to forget, in nine months, just how much of an asset Kraft was.
Don’t let that happen. In the two games before the injury, Kraft posted a 30.2% target share with three touchdowns. This organization has struggled to develop a WR1 since the Davante Adams era, which opens the door for Kraft to have a peak George Kittle/Mark Andrews trajectory.