The Houston Texans will face the Kansas City Chiefs 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 RB Joe Mixon.
Is Joe Mixon Playing in Week 16?
Mixon was limited the past three days with an ankle injury he sustained on an unflagged hip drop tackle last week. He carries no injury designation and will play on Saturday.
We’ll continue to monitor the Texans’ 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 Joe Mixon in Week 16?
Mixon has had a great season, and that is why the fantasy industry held its collective breath as he suffered an ankle injury last week.
Fortunately, he made a quick return to action and, on Monday, DeMeco Ryans doubled down on the health of his star running back, saying that there was nothing to worry about.
Good enough for me.
Mixon has a rushing touchdown or at least five targets in all 11 of his games this season. The Chiefs’ run defense is no joke (fifth best in rush success rate while allowing the second-fewest yards per carry after contact to running backs), but Houston is favored in this spot and should dictate the script.
I’m penciling in for Mixon with as many touches as any running back this week and feel fine in doing so. He deserves to be locked in as a RB1 in all formats, even against a strong front.
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.
Joe Mixon’s Fantasy Points Projection in Week 16
As of Saturday morning, Mixon is projected to score 16.1 fantasy points in PPR formats. This includes 15.4 rushing attempts for 65.7 yards and 0.6 touchdowns. It also includes 2.7 receptions for 20.5 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 Ravens' Defense
For much of the season, the Ravens were stuck in a funhouse. After years of banking on elite production from the defense and Justin Tucker, both had turned into pumpkins threatening to drag down an MVP-caliber production from Lamar Jackson and the offense.
Don’t look now, but Baltimore's defense is back to ranking as an above-average unit after another positive performance vs. Pittsburgh (77.0, C+ grade). Baltimore has taken advantage of some weak recent opponents, including a Pittsburgh offense missing George Pickens. Still, the Ravens deserve credit for generating a season-high 48.4% pressure rate without blitzing.
Baltimore is still a relatively weak pressure team, ranking 20th in non-blitz pressure rate for the season. However, the Ravens have done a great job of converting those into sacks, owning the eighth-highest sack rate.
Baltimore has the 11th-best pressure-to-sack conversion rate on the year, bringing the QB down 23.3% of the time when they do generate pressure.
Although the Ravens led the league in scoring defense in 2023, they only ranked 10th in Defense+. This year’s unit is getting close to that level while pairing it with a much more well-rounded offense, which bodes well for the postseason.
For more insight on all other team defenses, head to our PFN Defense+ Metric Analysis.
Joe Mixon’s Fantasy Ranking
Our Weekly Consensus PPR Rankings are below — both positional and overall. They were last updated at 3:45 AM ET on Wednesday, December 25. If you're in a Superflex league, make sure you check out our Weekly Consensus Superflex Rankings.
Week 17 RB PPR Rankings
1) Saquon Barkley | PHI (vs. DAL)
2) Jahmyr Gibbs | DET (at SF)
3) Derrick Henry | BAL (at HOU)
4) Bijan Robinson | ATL (at WAS)
5) Josh Jacobs | GB (at MIN)
6) De'Von Achane | MIA (at CLE)
7) Jonathan Taylor | IND (at NYG)
8) Chase Brown | CIN (vs. DEN)
9) Kyren Williams | LAR (vs. ARI)
10) James Conner | ARI (at LAR)
11) Bucky Irving | TB (vs. CAR)
12) Chuba Hubbard | CAR (at TB)
13) James Cook | BUF (vs. NYJ)
14) Breece Hall | NYJ (at BUF)
15) Joe Mixon | HOU (vs. BAL)
16) Aaron Jones | MIN (vs. GB)
17) Jerome Ford | CLE (vs. MIA)
18) Tony Pollard | TEN (at JAX)
19) Brian Robinson Jr. | WAS (vs. ATL)
20) D'Andre Swift | CHI (vs. SEA)
21) Rico Dowdle | DAL (at PHI)
22) Isaac Guerendo | SF (vs. DET)
23) Rhamondre Stevenson | NE (vs. LAC)
24) Rachaad White | TB (vs. CAR)
25) Tyrone Tracy Jr. | NYG (vs. IND)
26) Zach Charbonnet | SEA (at CHI)
27) Alexander Mattison | LV (at NO)
28) Isiah Pacheco | KC (at PIT)
29) Tyjae Spears | TEN (at JAX)
30) Kendre Miller | NO (vs. LV)
31) Travis Etienne Jr. | JAX (vs. TEN)
32) Jaylen Warren | PIT (vs. KC)
33) Javonte Williams | DEN (at CIN)
34) Justice Hill | BAL (at HOU)
35) Najee Harris | PIT (vs. KC)
36) Gus Edwards | LAC (at NE)
37) Tank Bigsby | JAX (vs. TEN)
38) Ameer Abdullah | LV (at NO)
39) Kareem Hunt | KC (at PIT)
40) Devin Singletary | NYG (vs. IND)
41) Tyler Allgeier | ATL (at WAS)
42) Kimani Vidal | LAC (at NE)
43) Audric Estimé | DEN (at CIN)
44) Raheem Mostert | MIA (at CLE)
45) Ray Davis | BUF (vs. NYJ)
46) Antonio Gibson | NE (vs. LAC)
47) Kenneth Gainwell | PHI (vs. DAL)
48) Craig Reynolds | DET (at SF)
49) Cam Akers | MIN (vs. GB)
50) Ty Johnson | BUF (vs. NYJ)
51) Blake Corum | LAR (vs. ARI)
52) Patrick Taylor Jr. | SF (vs. DET)
53) Roschon Johnson | CHI (vs. SEA)
54) Braelon Allen | NYJ (at BUF)
55) Jeremy McNichols | WAS (vs. ATL)
56) Jaleel McLaughlin | DEN (at CIN)
57) Isaiah Davis | NYJ (at BUF)
58) D'Onta Foreman | CLE (vs. MIA)
59) Cordarrelle Patterson | PIT (vs. KC)
60) Jamaal Williams | NO (vs. LV)
61) Emanuel Wilson | GB (at MIN)
62) DeeJay Dallas | ARI (at LAR)
63) Keaton Mitchell | BAL (at HOU)
64) Chris Brooks | GB (at MIN)
65) Pierre Strong Jr. | CLE (vs. MIA)
66) Ke'Shawn Vaughn | SF (vs. DET)
67) Trey Benson | ARI (at LAR)
68) Kenneth Walker III | SEA (at CHI)
69) Michael Carter | ARI (at LAR)
70) Sean Tucker | TB (vs. CAR)
71) Samaje Perine | KC (at PIT)
72) Israel Abanikanda | SF (vs. DET)
73) Ezekiel Elliott | DAL (at PHI)
74) Khalil Herbert | CIN (vs. DEN)
75) Dare Ogunbowale | HOU (vs. BAL)
76) Jaylen Wright | MIA (at CLE)
77) Kyle Juszczyk | SF (vs. DET)
78) Trey Sermon | IND (at NYG)
79) Mike Boone | CAR (at TB)
80) Chris Rodriguez Jr. | WAS (vs. ATL)
81) Dameon Pierce | HOU (vs. BAL)
82) Sione Vaki | DET (at SF)
83) Hunter Luepke | DAL (at PHI)
84) Alec Ingold | MIA (at CLE)
85) Tyler Goodson | IND (at NYG)
Ravens at Texans Trends and Insight
Baltimore Ravens
Team: Since the start of the last regular season, no team has had more double-digit point wins than the Ravens.
QB: Lamar Jackson has set a career-high for touchdown passes in a season and now has tossed multiple scores in eight of his past nine games (three TD passes in his first three games this season).
Offense: Baltimore was 0-of-2 in terms of turning goal-to-go drives into touchdowns in Week 1 – they are 28-of-30 since
Defense: In Weeks 1-10, Baltimore allowed 7.9 yards per pass – that rate sits at 5.9 since.
Fantasy: Derrick Henry has failed to score a touchdown in four straight games, the first time he has done that since opening the 2018 season with six-in-a-row. Marcus Mariota led that Titans team in passing and Corey Davis in receiving – yea, it’s been a minute.
Betting: The Ravens blew out the Dolphins in Week 17 last season. Since then, they are 0-4 ATS on short rest, failing to cover by an average of 7.4 points in those games.
Houston Texans
Team: The Texans haven’t won a game in consecutive weeks since Weeks 5-6 (their wins in Week 13 and 15 were separated by their bye).
QB: C.J. Stroud has weapons around him, but the loss of Tank Dell is impactful in more ways than one.
- Yards Per Attempt with Dell: 8.0
- Yards Per Attempt without Dell: 7.0 (down 12.5%)
- Air Yards Per Non-Pressured Pass with Dell: 8.8
- Air Yards Per Non-Pressured Pass without Dell: 6.6 (down 25%)
- Deep Passer Rating with Dell: 107.4
- Deep Passer Rating without Dell: 90 (down 16.2%)
Offense: The vertical game this season simply hasn’t been clicking. In his first 19 games, Stroud didn’t throw an interception on 147 deep pass attempts – he has six INTs on 97 such attempts since.
Defense: Houston sits at 8-1 when holding opponents to a sub-40% conversion rate on third down (1-5 otherwise).
Fantasy: Dalton Schultz has scored at least 15 PPR points in two of his past three games and posted a 21.6% target share on Saturday against the Chiefs – his role could be as favorable this week as any up to this point given the matchup and injury to Dell.
Betting: Unders are 9-3-1 in Houston’s past 13 home games, most recently was Week 15’s 20-12 win over the Dolphins (closing total: 46.5 points).