Who Should I Start? Kenny Pickett or Sam Howell

Friday, January 10, 6:32 PM

Philadelphia Eagles backup quarterback Kenny Pickett (ribs) was limited in practice all week but was removed from the final injury report on Friday and will be available for Sunday's wild-card matchup against the visiting Green Bay Packers. Jalen Hurts (concussion, finger) was also cleared from the league's concussion protocol after he missed the final two games of the regular season, so Pickett will be back as Hurts' backup this weekend. Obviously, Pickett won't have any fantasy value whatsoever in the playoffs unless Hurts is injured again. The 26-year-old former Pittsburgh Steelers QB suffered broken ribs in Week 16's loss to the division-rival Washington Commanders and was pulled from his start in the Week 17 blowout win over the division-rival Dallas Cowboys before not playing in Week 18. In his five games (one start) in 2024, Pickett went 25-for-42 with 291 yards, two TDs and one interception.

Wednesday, January 1, 5:04 PM

Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said the team doesn't plan on playing backup quarterback Sam Howell in their Week 18 regular-season finale on Sunday against the division-rival Los Angeles Rams. The Seahawks were eliminated from postseason contention in Week 17, but it sounds as though they plan to play all of their starters this weekend to close out the season. Howell has played only 25 offensive snaps in his first year in Seattle and didn't look particularly confident in the rare instances he got into a game this year. Despite dealing with a nagging knee injury of late, the 34-year-old Geno Smith should start and play all of the Week 18 game, lining him up as a QB1 option this week with so many starters across the league being rested in the season finale. Smith enters Week 18 as the QB13 in overall fantasy points with 4,097 passing yards, 17 TDs and 15 interceptions in 16 games.