Broncos Start Em, Sit Em: Week 17 vs. Chiefs

Does the coaching change by the Denver Broncos make their offense more appealing in fantasy football? The short answer is no, the coaching change doesn’t make Denver’s offense more appealing in fantasy football. On the flip side, it doesn’t make it any less appealing either – how could it?

Ultimately, it’s unlikely you are relying on many of these players during the fantasy football championship weekend. Considering the outlook is bleak for the Broncos offense, I will share where I have that player slotted in amongst his peers. For example, if I call Russell Wilson a sit but say he’s a QB2, that means I’d value him somewhere in the QB13-24 range, as he’d be among the second wave of QB’s you’d consider playing after the top 12 are spoken for.

Let’s get into it.

Quarterback

Sit Russell Wilson (QB2)

No surprise here. If you made it this far, you didn’t do it with Russell Wilson at the helm. It can’t get much for Wilson, and if you’re forced to start him you might be optimistic that Hackett was holding Russ back. It’s unlikely he makes a significant leap with Hackett out, but I suppose it’s possible. The other optimistic angle is that the Kansas City Chiefs are allowing 20.2 fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks, the 29^th worst mark in the league. In addition, Russ posted his second-best fantasy score of the season in week 14 against the Chiefs with 25.58 points. The thought of Wilson posting that kind of score again falls more on the wishful thinking side than the realistic side, but if you’re desperate and squint hard enough, Russ is a fine desperation play.

Running Back

Sit Latavius Murray, Chase Edmonds & Marlon Mack

The Chiefs have been respectable against running backs, sitting at 14^th in the NFL while allowing 19.2 fantasy points per game to the position. A big reason for that is that the Chiefs spend most of their time in the lead, as the opposition tries to keep pace with their high-flying offense. There simply aren’t as many opportunities to establish a running game against the Chiefs. In week 14, Russell Wilson led the Broncos in rushing with 57 yards, which tells you all you need to. Perhaps there’s an avenue for Chase Edmonds to make his mark with the team through the receiving game, but that’s nothing more than a hail mary type of play reserved for DFS.

Wide Receiver

Start Jerry Jeudy as a WR2/3 / Sit Courtland Sutton (WR4)

Courtland Sutton missed the game in week 14 when these two teams played, but Jerry Jeudy stepped up with 33.3 fantasy points for his best game of his career. To be fair, touchdowns aren’t very sticky, and he was held to 73 yards, so it’s tough to predict a repeat performance. Still, Jeudy has increased his yardage total in each of the last four weeks since returning from injury. Starting with 65 yards in week 13, Jeudy followed with 73 yards, 76 yards, and 117 yards last week. If there’s any shred of good news out of the organization, it just might reside with Jerry Jeudy taking a step forward. He’s up to WR28 on the season, which includes two missed games, and the Chiefs are the 26^th ranked team against opposing wide receivers, surrendering nearly 30 points per game. Depending on your league size and dynamics, I’d consider starting Jeudy as a back end WR2 or WR3/flex.

After missing two full games (and most of a third), Sutton returned last week with five catches for 64 yards. Although that game can be tossed out for the most part, this is the output we can expect from Sutton right now. It’s clear that Wilson has gravitated towards Jeudy a bit more, and Sutton hasn’t been effective since the first few weeks of the season. He had his only 100-yard game in week 2 and his only touchdown in week 4. It would take a big leap of faith to think he hits either of those marks this week.

Tight End

Sit Greg Dulcich (TE2)

Another bright spot in an otherwise gloomy offense is Greg Dulcich, who is putting together a strong rookie season. Although he’s cooled off after a hot start, much of that is due to the ineptitude of the offense as a whole. Even so, Dulcich is the TE10 from week 6 forward, when he made his NFL debut which is uncommon for a rookie tight end. The Chiefs are the 20^th ranked team against tight ends, and with the likelihood of Denver playing from behind, there is some appeal to playing Dulcich. The risk, however, is obvious and too hefty to ignore. The range of outcomes are tremendously wide for both the offense and Dulcich, putting him just outside of the top 12 tight ends. He didn’t practice on Wednesday with a hamstring injury, so keep an eye on his status heading into the weekend. If he plays, I would feel comfortable playing him in two tight end leagues, or if you have a starter down, I’d look to Dulcich in the top tier of the TE2 range.

Defense

Sit Broncos D/ST

After a season long battle against opposing offenses and its own offense, the Broncos defense finally broke in week 16. The defense surrendered 45 points (the other 7 coming on a pick-six), by far the most in any game this season. The -4 points produced was also the lowest output from this unit as they produced zero turnovers or sacks for the first time this season. Although they held up with 4 points against Kansas City in week 14, that came at home still isn’t what you’re looking for here. You can find better defensive matchups to exploit this week.

In addition to contributing as a writer for Mile High Report, Chad Workman is a contributor at FantasyPros and co-manages a fantasy football Patreon page, Filmalytics. Follow Chad @tweetsbychad and Filmalytics @filmalytics_ on twitter.