Throughout the NFL regular season, we'll meet here on Thursdays to break down the film from a fantasy football perspective. I'm looking for trends and tendencies on both sides of the ball to give fantasy managers a jump when they set their weekly lineups. Schemes matter. So does offensive deployment in weekly matchups. And remember, the game tape always tells us a story.
As we head into the second week of the fantasy playoffs, we'll start with a quarterback who can be schemed up to win a defined coverage matchup Sunday. Plus, I have two flex targets below with opportunities to produce positive numbers for your lineup. As always, we will discuss three players I have questions on, along with three more to put on your radar in dynasty formats.
All references to fantasy scoring are for PPR leagues unless otherwise noted.
Players to upgrade in Week 16
Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Miami Dolphins
Tagovailoa hasn't produced more than 20 fantasy points in a game since back in Week 8, but I'm taking the coverage matchup versus Dallas on Sunday, along with Mike McDaniel's ability to scheme for his quarterback. Remember, the Cowboys play man coverage on a league-high 64.9% of opponent dropbacks. And Tagovailoa has registered a QBR of 84.0 -- with 16 touchdown passes -- versus man coverage this season. With the expectation that Tyreek Hill (ankle) is up and healthy for this game, I expect McDaniel to attack the Cowboys with motion, movement and formation variation to give both Hill and Jaylen Waddle free access off the ball. You can play Tua this week as a lower-tier QB1.