The Indianapolis Colts will face the Tennessee Titans in Week 16. Here’s the latest fantasy football news and advice to help you with your lineups this week and moving forward, especially regarding WR Josh Downs.
Is Josh Downs Playing in Week 16?
Downs is not listed on the injury report this week, so barring any setbacks, he is on track to play this weekend.
We’ll continue to monitor the Colts’ injury report. You can also visit and bookmark our NFL Injury Tracker and Fantasy News Tracker for the latest updates.
Should You Start or Sit Josh Downs in Week 16?
Downs used the Week 14 bye to heal up his shoulder (DNP in Week 13) and walked right into his standard role by playing 76.4% of Indianapolis’ offensive snaps with a 72.7% slot rate.
Downs can be as healthy as he wants to be, and for my money, he’s the best receiver in this offense. But it doesn’t matter if the quarterback can’t throw a stone into the ocean.
Let’s play a game. There are eight receivers this season with at least 50 targets who were drafted inside of the top 75 at the position this summer and have spent over 60% of their time in the slot. Below are their catch rates:
- Player A: 80.7%
- Player B: 80.6%
- Player C: 75.4%
- Player D: 75.3%
- Player E: 74.6%
- Player F: 71.6%
- Player G: 67%
- Player H: 65.1%
Have your guesses?
I’ll buy you a little scroll time. These slot targets are supposed to be the easy-button options, the layup targets, the ones the defense is more willing to give up than the deep ball over the top.
Downs was able to parlay this role into a 7-66-1 stat line on a 25% target share in the first meeting with the Titans, numbers that came from Joe Flacco.
That’s not the world we are currently living in.
How many did you get right?
- Player A: Khalil Shakir
- Player B: Chris Godwin
- Player C: Jayden Reed
- Player D: DeMario Douglas
- Player E: Jaxon Smith-Njigba
- Player F: Ladd McConkey
- Player G: Cooper Kupp
- Player H: Josh Downs
The point is that you can be as big a Downs fan as you want to be and still not feel great about Flexing him this week with your season on the line. I have him ranked in the same tier as the struggling Deebo Samuel Sr. and Tank Dell.
Are you looking for start/sit advice for other players in your lineup? Read our Week 16 Fantasy Start-Sit Advice Cheat Sheet for every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Josh Downs’ Fantasy Points Projection in Week 16
As of Sunday morning, Downs is projected to score 12.1 fantasy points in PPR formats. This includes 4.9 receptions for 54 yards and 0.3 touchdowns.
Check out the free PFN Fantasy Start-Sit Optimizer for the latest projections and advice for your lineups this week.
Josh Downs’ Fantasy Ranking
Our Weekly Consensus PPR Rankings are below — both positional and overall. They were last updated at 11:45 PM ET on Saturday, January 25.
Conference Championship WR PPR Rankings
1) A.J. Brown | PHI (vs. WAS)
2) Terry McLaurin | WAS (at PHI)
3) DeVonta Smith | PHI (vs. WAS)
4) Khalil Shakir | BUF (at KC)
5) Xavier Worthy | KC (vs. BUF)
6) Hollywood Brown | KC (vs. BUF)
7) DeAndre Hopkins | KC (vs. BUF)
8) Keon Coleman | BUF (at KC)
9) Dyami Brown | WAS (at PHI)
10) Mack Hollins | BUF (at KC)
11) Amari Cooper | BUF (at KC)
12) Curtis Samuel | BUF (at KC)
13) Olamide Zaccheaus | WAS (at PHI)
14) JuJu Smith-Schuster | KC (vs. BUF)
15) Jahan Dotson | PHI (vs. WAS)
16) Jamison Crowder | WAS (at PHI)
17) Luke McCaffrey | WAS (at PHI)
18) Justin Watson | KC (vs. BUF)
19) Johnny Wilson | PHI (vs. WAS)
20) Parris Campbell | PHI (vs. WAS)
21) Nikko Remigio | KC (vs. BUF)
22) Ainias Smith | PHI (vs. WAS)
