Week 17 Fantasy Picks: Start 'Em, Sit 'Em for Atlanta Falcons vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Week 17 is always a tricky one for fantasy football. Not every team has something to play for, and we end up seeing a lot of high-profile players get rested. It doesn't look like that'll be the case here though, as both teams appear to be playing their starters as they normally would.

With that in mind, here's some start 'em, sit 'em advice for the Week 17 game between the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Start Russell Gage, WR, Atlanta Falcons: Russell Gage has seen at least six targets in back-to-back games since Calvin Ridley went down, and he has a good chance to turn that volume into production against Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers have surrendered a league-high 44.15 PPR points per game to opposing wideouts, suggesting Gage could be in for a nice day here. Gage is the WR29 in our Week 17 PPR rankings.

Start Breshad Perriman, WR, Atlanta Falcons: Breshad Perriman has stepped up since Mike Evans and Chris Godwin went down. With Evans out, and Godwin's status still up in the air, there's little reason to expect Perriman to slow down here. Perriman has turned 9.0 targets per game into 6.0 receptions for 107.5 receiving yards per game over his last two contests, and is facing an Atlanta defense that checks in at No. 26 against the pass in Football Outsiders' DVOA metric.

Sit Devonta Freeman, RB, Atlanta Falcons: Devonta Freeman is coming off his best game of the season, but he draws one of the most difficult matchups in fantasy this week. The Buccaneers are the league's No. 1 rush defense, per Football Outsiders' DVOA metrics, and Tampa Bay has surrendered the third-fewest PPR points to opposing RBs this season.

Sit Ronald Jones, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Ronald Jones hasn't been a reliable fantasy producer this season, and that's largely due to his inconsistent usage. While Week 16 was seemingly a step in the right direction, as Jones played 51 percent of the snaps and totaled 109 yards from scrimmage, his workload is likely to normalize this week. Jones has played at least 50 percent of the snaps on two other occasions this season, and in both instances, his snap share fell below 50 percent in the following game.

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Max Staley is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Max Staley also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mstaley1212. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.