The Carolina Panthers will face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 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 TE Ja’Tavion Sanders.
Is Ja’Tavion Sanders Playing in Week 17?
Sanders is not listed on the injury report this week, so barring any unexpected setbacks, he is on track to play this weekend.
We’ll continue to monitor the Panthers’ 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 Ja’Tavion Sanders in Week 17?
The potential is there for Sanders to develop alongside Bryce Young, and that’s going to have my attention in the 2025 redraft prep. I think there’s a lot to like in the rookie season, but not with your season on the line after consecutive goose eggs.
This season, just one of his 271 routes has earned an end-zone target. With seven instances in which a single-digit on-field target share was posted (zero targets on 21 routes in Week 16), the floor is too low to garner serious interest as a streaming candidate.
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.
Ja’Tavion Sanders’ Fantasy Points Projection in Week 17
As of Sunday morning, Sanders is projected to score 6.2 fantasy points in PPR formats. This includes 1.6 receptions for 34.3 yards and 0.2 touchdowns.
Check out the free PFN Fantasy Start-Sit Optimizer for the latest projections and advice for your lineups this week.
PFN Insight on the Buccaneers' Defense
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers posted a roughly average game (73.3) in their Week 16 letdown in Dallas. Given that they were facing a Cooper Rush-led unit with CeeDee Lamb heavily limited due to his right shoulder injury, it was fair to expect more.
The Bucs' pass defense had turned around in recent weeks but regressed back to its below-average form on Sunday night. Tampa Bay averaged -0.20 defensive EPA per dropback vs. the Cowboys, which is even worse than their 25th-ranked average for the season (-0.11). That more than offset their tremendous 88.9% run defense success rate, the second-highest by any defense in a game this year.
Tampa Bay's defense should fare better the final two weeks against the Carolina Panthers and Saints, though Carolina has looked friskier the second half of the season (and took Tampa Bay to overtime in Week 13).
If the Bucs don't get help from the Atlanta Falcons to slip into the playoffs, this will loom as one of the more painful "what if" moments in Tampa Bay's season.
For more insight on all other team defenses, head to our PFN Defense+ Metric Analysis.Â
Ja’Tavion Sanders’ Fantasy Ranking
Our Weekly Consensus PPR Rankings are below — both positional and overall. They were last updated at 7:25 AM ET on Sunday, December 29. If you're in a Superflex league, make sure you check out our Weekly Consensus Superflex Rankings.
Week 17 TE PPR Rankings
1) Brock Bowers | LV (at NO)
2) Trey McBride | ARI (at LAR)
3) George Kittle | SF (vs. DET)
4) Jonnu Smith | MIA (at CLE)
5) Sam LaPorta | DET (at SF)
6) Mark Andrews | BAL (at HOU)
7) Travis Kelce | KC (at PIT)
8) T.J. Hockenson | MIN (vs. GB)
9) Dalton Schultz | HOU (vs. BAL)
10) Pat Freiermuth | PIT (vs. KC)
11) Chigoziem Okonkwo | TEN (at JAX)
12) Tucker Kraft | GB (at MIN)
13) Dalton Kincaid | BUF (vs. NYJ)
14) Brenton Strange | JAX (vs. TEN)
15) Jake Ferguson | DAL (at PHI)
16) Hunter Henry | NE (vs. LAC)
17) Juwan Johnson | NO (vs. LV)
18) Stone Smartt | LAC (at NE)
19) Zach Ertz | WAS (vs. ATL)
20) Kyle Pitts | ATL (at WAS)
21) Mike Gesicki | CIN (vs. DEN)
22) Will Dissly | LAC (at NE)
23) Noah Gray | KC (at PIT)
24) Isaiah Likely | BAL (at HOU)
25) Grant Calcaterra | PHI (vs. DAL)
26) Cole Kmet | CHI (vs. SEA)
27) Austin Hooper | NE (vs. LAC)
28) Noah Fant | SEA (at CHI)
29) Ja'Tavion Sanders | CAR (at TB)
30) Foster Moreau | NO (vs. LV)
31) Tyler Higbee | LAR (vs. ARI)
32) Michael Mayer | LV (at NO)
33) Tommy Tremble | CAR (at TB)
34) Daniel Bellinger | NYG (vs. IND)
35) Dawson Knox | BUF (vs. NYJ)
36) Payne Durham | TB (vs. CAR)
37) Tyler Conklin | NYJ (at BUF)
38) Jordan Akins | CLE (vs. MIA)
Panthers at Buccaneers Trends and Insights
Carolina Panthers
Team: The Panthers have won a game that wasn’t decided in overtime or by less than a field goal once since the beginning of last season (Week 3 at Raiders: 36-22).
QB: Splash plays? Bryce Young has a 30+ yard completion in four of his past five games and a 10+ yard rush in five of his past six.
Offense: The Panthers have turned 13 of their past 14 goal-to-go situations into touchdowns.
Defense: Sunday was the seventh time this season in which the Panthers allowed points on the majority of opponent drives.
Fantasy: Adam Thielen has caught 5+ passes in all four games this month and has scored in three of his past six, but he has just two games this season with 60+ receiving yards.
Betting: The Panthers are 4-11 ATS in their last 15 road games. Carolina covered in Philadelphia in Week 14 – they haven’t covered consecutive road games since Weeks 11-14 in 2022.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Team: The Buccaneers are 4-3 since Week 9 with a +53 point differential. Over that stretch, the Chiefs are 7-1 with a +28 point differential, the Rams are 6-2 with a +12 point differential, and the Steelers hold an identical 4-3 mark while being outscored by 14 points.
QB: Baker Mayfield’s touchdown pass under pressure on Sunday night was his first since his TD pass in Week 1 against the Commanders.
Offense: Odd but true – the Bucs are just 1-3 this season when scoring a touchdown on 100% of their red zone trips and 7-4 otherwise.
Defense: From Weeks 8-12, Tampa Bay allowed their opponents to convert 53.8% of third downs. Since then, that rate has plummeted to 30%
Fantasy: Jalen McMillan has three straight games with at least four catches and a touchdown reception – over the past 20 years, only three rookies have topped that streak (Odell Beckham Jr., Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Tank Dell).
Betting: The Buccaneers are just 1-6 ATS in their past seven home divisional games (the lone cover, however, was in Week 17 of 2022 against the Panthers).