The Indianapolis Colts will face the New York Giants in Week 17. Here’s the latest fantasy football news and advice to help you with your lineups this week and moving forward, especially regarding QB Anthony Richardson.
Is Anthony Richardson Playing in Week 17?
Richardson apparently got a bit banged up in last week’s game. He is dealing with back and foot injuries and has not practiced all week. He was officially ruled out on Saturday.
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.
Anthony Richardson’s Fantasy Outlook
At this point, you know exactly what you’re getting from Anthony Richardson. For better or worse, what he is going to try to do is predictable — you just have to decide if you can stomach it.
For those fantasy managers trying to decide whether to do just that, the decision just became a lot easier with the Colts ruling him out for Week 17’s game.
On the surface, the Giants sounded like a good matchup, partly because they are a bad football team that just gave up 34 points to a Falcons team starting a rookie quarterback for the first time and partly because it’s true.
This defense is a bottom-three unit when it comes to defending the deep pass (yards per attempt, touchdown rate, and completion percentage). I’m not trying to sell you that this defense is better than you think. I was, however, more concerned about them in this specific spot, and isn’t that what we are talking about?
They rank fifth in blitz rate through 16 weeks (31.8%; NFL average: 25.2%), which, as you might imagine, would have introduced all sorts of downsides for Richardson. His passer rating is underwhelming across the board, but it does dip by 20.6% when the opponent brings pressure, so I’m not sure those fun deep ball numbers have been accessed.
Also, what would have worked against Indy’s volatile QB was facing a top-10 red-zone defense. He had the designed five-yard score last week and is a tank when in close, but if there’s one spot that this Giants’ defense has put up a fight, it’s after they’ve allowed you to get inside their 20-yard line.
If he was playing, I would have told you to do what you want as I can’t project Richardson’s randomness with as much confidence as I can others, and I’m aware that he’s run for five scores in his past five games.
His skill set is certainly more friendly for our game than the one he gets paid to play. I just didn’t love this spot for him as much as you might at first blush.
Are you looking for start/sit advice for other players in your lineup? Read our Week 17 Fantasy Start-Sit Advice Cheat Sheet for every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Anthony Richardson’s Fantasy Points Projection in Week 17
Richardson is projected to score 0 points in Week 17.
Check out the free PFN Fantasy Start-Sit Optimizer for the latest projections and advice for your lineups this week.
Anthony Richardson’s 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 QB PPR Rankings
1) Josh Allen | BUF (at KC)
2) Jalen Hurts | PHI (vs. WAS)
3) Jayden Daniels | WAS (at PHI)
4) Patrick Mahomes | KC (vs. BUF)
