The New Orleans Saints will face the Green Bay Packers 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 TE Juwan Johnson.
Is Juwan Johnson Playing in Week 16?
Updated at 6:45 PM ET on Monday, December 23
Johnson is active for tonight's game.
The Saints TE was limited at Thursday and Friday’s practice with an ongoing foot injury. He was a full participant on Saturday and has no injury designation headed into Monday’s game.
We’ll continue to monitor the Saints’ 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 Juwan Johnson in Week 16?
The situation in New Orleans and trying to project target shares is beginning to feel like shuffling chairs on the Titanic. Would it be nice to get right? Sure, who doesn’t like being right? But would it impact the well being of any fantasy roster if I did nail it?
Nope.
Foster Moreau had more catches than Juwan Johnson had targets in the loss to the Commanders last week because of course he did. This roster is void of NFL-level playmakers not named Alvin Kamara, and with no stability under center, why get cute and take on a Packers defense that looked pretty good on Sunday night?
Johnson has scored on 13.6% of his career receptions — that’s the type of note that can be fun to use when streaming if the offense has a level of promise to it. This unit lacks that, and with an implied team total hovering around 15 points for Monday night, I’m very comfortable in taking the ‘less is more’ approach with any positive-based exposure to the Saints.
If you want to bet unders — we can have that discussion (the Best Bets column publishes every Sunday morning!).
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.
Juwan Johnson’s Fantasy Points Projection in Week 16
As of Sunday morning, Johnson is projected to score 8.9 fantasy points in PPR formats. This includes 3 receptions for 34.1 yards and 0.4 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 Packers' Defense
The Packers parted ways with Joe Barry last offseason after three straight league-average seasons. Jeff Hafley looked like he was delivering similar results in his first season as defensive coordinator, but a recent surge has the Packers knocking on the door of the top 10.
Green Bay delivered a season-best 89.7 (B+) Defense+ grade in the Sunday night win over Seatle. The Packers were the second-highest-graded defense of Week 15 (Broncos).
The key was the pass rush abusing an overmatched Seahawks offensive line. Both Geno Smith and Sam Howell suffered to the tune of seven sacks and a 52.4% pressure rate, the Packers' highest this season.
For most of the season, the Packers have been reluctant to blitz (sixth-lowest rate at 18.7%) but have also generated a below-average pressure rate as a result. Sunday night, Green Bay generated a season-high 50% pressure rate without blitzing and third-best of any defense in Week 15.
Two games behind the Vikings and Lions with three weeks left, the Packers are likely headed for a Wild Card spot. Still, if this level of pass rush can travel on the road in the playoffs, Green Bay will have a meaningful chance at a postseason upset.
For more insight on all other team defenses, head to our PFN Defense+ Metric Analysis.
Juwan Johnson’s Fantasy Ranking
Our Weekly Consensus PPR Rankings are below — both positional and overall. They were last updated at 6:05 AM ET on Sunday, December 22. If you're in a Superflex league, make sure you check out our Weekly Consensus Superflex Rankings.
Week 16 TE PPR Rankings
1) Brock Bowers | LV (vs. JAX)
2) Trey McBride | ARI (at CAR)
3) George Kittle | SF (at MIA)
4) Jonnu Smith | MIA (vs. SF)
5) David Njoku | CLE (at CIN)
6) T.J. Hockenson | MIN (at SEA)
7) Travis Kelce | KC (vs. HOU)
8) Mark Andrews | BAL (vs. PIT)
9) Sam LaPorta | DET (at CHI)
10) Dalton Kincaid | BUF (vs. NE)
11) Tucker Kraft | GB (vs. NO)
12) Hunter Henry | NE (at BUF)
13) Brenton Strange | JAX (at LV)
14) Pat Freiermuth | PIT (at BAL)
15) Jake Ferguson | DAL (vs. TB)
16) Dalton Schultz | HOU (at KC)
17) Juwan Johnson | NO (at GB)
18) Kyle Pitts | ATL (vs. NYG)
19) Stone Smartt | LAC (vs. DEN)
20) Cole Kmet | CHI (vs. DET)
21) Grant Calcaterra | PHI (at WAS)
22) Noah Gray | KC (vs. HOU)
23) Chigoziem Okonkwo | TEN (at IND)
24) Isaiah Likely | BAL (vs. PIT)
25) Noah Fant | SEA (vs. MIN)
26) Ja'Tavion Sanders | CAR (vs. ARI)
27) Mike Gesicki | CIN (vs. CLE)
28) Tyler Conklin | NYJ (vs. LAR)
29) Jordan Akins | CLE (at CIN)
30) Tyler Higbee | LAR (at NYJ)
31) Michael Mayer | LV (vs. JAX)
32) Zach Ertz | WAS (vs. PHI)
33) Austin Hooper | NE (at BUF)
34) Dawson Knox | BUF (vs. NE)
35) Foster Moreau | NO (at GB)
36) Luke Schoonmaker | DAL (vs. TB)
37) Daniel Bellinger | NYG (at ATL)
Saints at Packers Trends and Insights
New Orleans Saints
Team: The Saints, the same team that opened the season by scoring 47 points against the Panthers, have scored 47 points since their Week 12 bye.
QB: New Orleans had the hot start – since Week 3, they rank 24th in yards per pass, 26th in pass touchdown rate, and 30th in completion percentage.
Offense: On Sunday, Alvin Kamara joined Lenny Moore, Marshall Faulk, and Christian McCaffrey as the only players with 25 receiving touchdowns and 50 rush touchdowns.
Defense: Despite posting their fourth-lowest blitz rate of the season on Sunday (13.3%), the Saints recorded their highest sack rate of 2024 (20.5%).
Fantasy: Kamara’s last run gaining more than 30 yards came during his six-touchdown effort against the Vikings on Christmas Day of 2020.
Betting: Unders are 15-1 in New Orleans’ last 16 games played on extended rest, going under by an average of 7.1 points)
Green Bay Packers
Team: As of Tuesday, we are more than 365 days removed from Green Bay’s last regular-season loss in the United States against a non-NFC North team.
QB: Jordan Love was intercepted three times when blitzed in his first three games this season – he’s been picked off on such a pass just twice since.
Offense: On Sunday night, the Packers had four first-half possessions — 15 first downs, 235 yards, and four scoring drives (20 points).
Defense: Matchup-based defense. Over the past three weeks, Green Bay has two sub-10% games (Week 13 vs. Miami and Sunday in Seattle) and a plus-30% game (32.6% in Detroit, easily their highest mark of the season)
Fantasy: Josh Jacobs had nine touches in the first six minutes on Sunday night, tying him for the most such touches in a game during the 2000s (others: Chris Ivory in Week 4, 2014, and Peyton Barber in Week 17, 2017).
Betting: The Packers failed to cover four straight games in the middle of the season (Weeks 7-11) but haven’t failed to cover a game since (3-0-1).