Browse our Game and Player Matchup Dashboards to see how injuries will affect each matchup on the Week 18 slate. Our player matchup dashboards offer a wide array of statistical rankings, including explosive runs and passes, red zone carries, targets and receptions, YAC, reception counts, QB rushing yards, RB receiving yards and more.
Saturday Injury Updates and Impacts to Skill Positions
- Houston Texans: Houston will be without one of their top WR’s in Noah Brown and their top pass rusher in DE Jonathan Greenard, both significant blows in the most important Texans’ game in recent memory. T Laremy Tunsil and DE Will Anderson both will play.
- Atlanta Falcons: QB Taylor Henicke is questionable with an ankle injury; he has been a limited participant and will likely play, but will be facing a Saints’ defense that that is excellent against the pass, ranking 7th in passing YPG and 8th in YPA.
- New Orleans Saints: The Saints are very banged up heading into a pivotal matchup with the Falcons in Week 18; Alvin Kamara has not practiced all week after leaving Week 17 with an ankle injury and is a game-time decision. S Lonnie Johnson and OT Landon Young are both OUT.
- Chicago Bears: The Bears are banged up in the secondary – DB Jaylon Johnson is doubtful, while Kyler Gordon is questionable, which could be an issue against a Green Bay offense that ranks 8th in EPA/play, 9th in series conversion rate and 10th in YPP on the season.
- Miami Dolphins: The Dolphins will be missing OLB Bradley Chubb and CB Xavien Howard on the defensive side of the ball against Buffalo’s high-powered offense that ranks 3rd in EPA/play, 2nd in series conversion rate, 5th in YPP and 1st in 3rd down conversion rate. RB Raheem Mostert and WR Jaylen Waddle’s statuses are in question, which is an issue for Miami but creates additional opportunity for Tyreek Hill and De’Von Achane, who will face a Buffalo defense that ranks 27th in YPC allowed.
Best QB Matchup
- Dak Prescott (O/U 280.5 passing yards, DKNG) will face a Commanders’ secondary that is among the league’s worst, 30th in passing YPG allowed, 31st in YPA allowed and 25th in passes of 10+ yards allowed and potentially down their top 2 corners once again in Week 18. Prescott has cleared this number in 6 of his L10 games and most recently threw for 345 yards and 2 TD’s on 26-38 passing against a vulnerable Lions’ secondary. That said, Dak is averaging a 73% completion rate and 288 passing YPG at home (22 TD’s, 3 INT’s) and just a 63% completion rate and 266 passing YPG on the road (10 TD’s, 5 INT’s); he may also be pulled if Dallas jumps out to a big lead.
Best RB Matchups
- Kenneth Walker (O55.5 rushing yards, DKNG) will face a Cardinals run defense that is the worst in the league (144 rushing YPG allowed) and ranks 29th in YPC and 31st in runs of 10+ yards. Walker has faced a relatively tough slate of run defenses over the L2 months of the season, but he ran for 105 yards on 26 carries in Seattle’s first meeting with the Cardinals. The Chicago Bears and LA Rams have run for 250 yards and 228 yards respectively over the course of the L5 weeks, while Kenneth Walker has faced 4 bottom 10 rushing defenses in 2023 and has cleared this number on each occasion.
- James Conner (O68.5 rushing yards, FD) has an excellent matchup in Week 18 against a Seattle run defense that ranks 30th in the league in rushing YPG allowed, 24th in YPC allowed and 23rd in runs of 10+ and just allowed the Steelers to run for 202 yards and 3 TD’s on 46 carries in Week 17. The Seahawks are allowing opponents to run for 170 yards on average over the L6 weeks, which bodes well for James Conner, who is the feature back in an Arizona offense that ranks 6th in rushing YPG, 4th in YPC and 4th in runs of 10+ yards allowed. Connor is averaging 91 rushing YPG over his L4 games and has cleared this number in 3 of his L4 games. Najee Harris (27 carries, 122 yards, 2 TD’s), Jaylen Warren (13 carries, 75 yards), Derrick Henry (19 carries, 88 yards, 1 TD), D’Andre Swift (18 carries, 74 yards), Christian McCaffrey (16 carries, 145 yards), Royce Freeman (17 carries, 73 yards) and Keaton Mitchell (9 carries, 138 yards, 1 TD) have all cleared this number over the L9 weeks of the regular season against Seattle.
- Bijan Robinson (O57.5 rushing yards, DKNG) will face a Saints’ run defense that ranks 28th in YPC allowed and 30th in runs of 10+ yards allowed as the feature back in a Falcons’ offense that ranks 8th in rushing YPG and 5th in runs of 10+ yards. Robinson has logged double digit carries in 8 of his L9 games and has cleared this number in 4 of his L7, including a Week 11 matchup in which he took 16 carries for 91 yards against the Saints earlier in the year. Over their L9 games, the Saints are allowing opponents to rush for 141 yards on average and have allowed opponents to go for at least 133 in 6 of 9 games in that stretch. Kyren Williams (22 carries, 104 yards, 1 TD), Chuba Hubbard (23 carries, 87 yards), Miles Sanders (10 carries, 74 yards), Jahmyr Gibbs (8 carries, 60 yards), D’Onta Foreman (20 carries, 83 yards), Jonathan Taylor (12 carries, 95 yards) and Zack Moss (11 carries, 66 yards) have all cleared this number in that stretch. Robinson is tied with Raheem Mostert for 3rd in the league in rushes of 10+ yards and tied for 4th in the league in rushes of 20+ yards and 8th among RB’s in explosive rush rate, facing a Saints run defense that ranks 30th in runs of 10+ yards allowed.
Best WR Matchups
- CeeDee Lamb (O/U 93.5 receiving yards, DKNG) is one of the 3 best receivers in football that now will enjoy an excellent matchup against a Commanders’ secondary that ranks 30th in passing YPG allowed, 31st in YPA allowed and 25th in passes of 10+ yards allowed. Lamb has cleared 100 yards receiving in 7 of his L11 games and most recently caught 13 balls for 227 yards and a TD on 17 targets against Detroit in Week 17. Lamb does run the risk of coming out of the game early should Dallas take a big lead in the Week 18 finale.
- Justin Jefferson (O/U 92.5 receiving yards, DKNG) ranks 3rd in the league in receiving YPG, though he has missed a significant amount of time in 2023. He has an excellent matchup against a Lions’ secondary that ranks 25th in passing YPG allowed and 31st in passes of 10+ yards allowed; Jefferson caught 6 balls for 141 yards and a TD against Detroit in Week 16 and should have an opportunity to duplicate that success in Week 18 against a Lions’ secondary that CeeDee Lamb just shredded.
Head over to our Dashboard section of the site to comb through game matchup dashboards for every game on the board in Week 18, and browse our Player Matchup Analysis dashboards to optimize your DFS / FF lineups and target the player prop markets.
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