Who Should I Start? Josh Jacobs or Darnell Mooney

Saturday, December 21, 4:35 PM

Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs looks to keep his awesome run going in Week 16 as the Packers host the New Orleans Saints. Jacobs has been on fire over the last five games, where he's scored nine touchdowns and averages 21 carries and 112 total yards per game. The Packers have been leaning more and more towards the run in the second half of this season as Green Bay has a bottom-five pass rate over expected. The expectation for Jacobs to continue that rushing volume is there against a Saints team that ranks 28th in defensive EPA per rush attempt. With this excellent matchup looming, it should be no surprise that Jacobs is a must-start option at running back for fantasy managers this week.

Friday, December 20, 10:30 PM

Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Darnell Mooney picked a terrible time to have his worst outing of the season, recording zero catches on one target against a depleted Raiders defense. The 27-year-old posted a one-catch performance back in Week 1, but averaged almost five catches per contest from Week 2-14. Now, with confidence shaken combined with a rookie quarterback making his first start, fantasy managers who survived Week 15's debacle must decide whether or not to use Mooney in Week 16. The lack of success last week should probably be attributed to Kirk Cousins more than Mooney, however. Still, even though the Falcons are nine-point favorites on Sunday versus the Giants, Atlanta is likely to deploy a heavy dose of Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier against a defense that has yielded the fourth-most fantasy points to running backs on the season. If the Falcons do need to ask Michael Penix Jr. to throw, then the receivers should see some success, as New York allows the third-highest completion rate to QBs and has only intercepted a pass twice on the entire year. All that being said, Mooney looks like a shaky WR3 in the fantasy playoffs this Sunday.