Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Week 18: Top Matchup Plays and Sleepers for Final Games

For the first time ever, the NFL will present Week 18, featuring plenty of games carrying playoff implications and stars looking to put an exclamation point on their regular seasons. That will certainly benefit fantasy managers looking to wrap up championships in their leagues.

With so many high-stakes games—and pressure mounting to beat your friends and take home the league title—it can be difficult to figure out just who to start, who to sit and which sleeper may be worth sliding into your lineup in hopes of maximizing points.

The answer to those questions awaits with these players playing key roles, or not, in the final lineup of your fantasy season.

2021 may not have been the season fantasy managers expected out of Bills running back Devin Singletary but he is showing signs of a late-season surge and will benefit from playing a sub-par Jets defense in the season finale.

Singletary is coming off a season-high 23 fantasy points in a Week 17 in which he hung up 110 yards on 23 carries and two touchdowns. The Jets have been so bad against opposing running backs, allowing 29.5 points per game, that there is no reason to believe he cannot replicate that performance in Week 18.

That the Bills are still playing for postseason seeding and the AFC East title suggests there will be plenty of reason for the team to play its starters, resisting the urge to rest them at a time of the season when that is common.

Singletary is a key member of the offense and a player Josh Allen and the rest of the Bills offense will look to lean on in the playoffs, when defense and running the ball proves a winning formula. Keeping him hot is in the team's best interest.

Your fantasy team will benefit, especially if he can find the end zone on more than one occasion Sunday.

With a high-stakes, win-and-your-in game against the Los Angeles Chargers Sunday night in Las Vegas on the schedule, you might be tempted to want to start Derek Carr. The veteran quarterback has had some monster games in the past, and with all eyes on him and his team in the final game of the regular season, you might think now is the time for him to show up and ball out.

Not so fast.

Carr has not had a 20-point fantasy day since the Thanksgiving showdown against Dallas. He has also not had a multi-touchdown day since Week 10 against Kansas City. This is despite increased fantasy value for Hunter Renfrow and weapons like Zay Jones at wideout and Josh Jacobs at running back. 

He is averaging just 10.35 fantasy points per game since the game against the Cowboys, which is hardly worthy of a start in a week that might make or break your fantasy season.

Carr is a natural leader and has helped his team win three in a row to remain in playoff contention down the stretch. He may well be the catalyst for the team beating the Chargers and cashing their ticket to the postseason. He's just not the fantasy stud he has been in past years.

If you're still in contention in your fantasy league, sit Carr this week. Start Taysom Hill against Atlanta or Ryan Tannehill against Houston instead. The numbers simply do not support starting Carr at this point.

The inconsistency of the Chicago Bears offense hardly made its players fantasy studs in the 2021 season, but a favorable matchup and potential for explosive plays make Darnell Mooney a sleeper pick for your team in the final week of the season.

Mooney has not had a single game with more than 18 fantasy points this season. His Week 15 game against Minnesota was particularly disappointing (5 catches, 63 yards, 6.6 points) given the fact that it was one of rookie Justin Fields' best days as a pro to this point.

With the Bears wrapping up another disastrous season that will likely conclude with head coach Matt Nagy being dismissed, expect Chicago to let loose and experiment on offense. The Vikings are easily the worst team in the NFL in terms of giving up fantasy points to opposing wide receivers.

The pass defense is leaky, to say the least, allowing 35.5 points to WRs per game. Mooney is a big-play threat, and if veteran quarterback Andy Dalton is starting, expect him to be able to find the explosive wideout down the field for some big plays.

He isn't going to win you your week single-handedly, but Mooney benefited from playing with Dalton in Week 17, posting seven catches, 69 yards and a touchdown. Against a worse defense Sunday, and with the Vikings' playoff hopes dashed, look for Mooney to end the season in style with a big day.

Especially if Dalton can utilize play action on the strength of David Montgomery running the ball.

Signed in the offseason as a significant free-agent addition, tight end Gerald Everett has had a massively disappointing season in Seattle. Much of that can be attributed to the fact that Russel Wilson missed games because of injury, the offense struggled and the team underperformed to a significant degree.

From a fantasy perspective, though, Everett's impact for the Seahawks has been nearly nonexistent.

He has had one game with double-digit fantasy points all season (Week 16 against Chicago) and has only four touchdowns this season. He's averaging under 10 yards per catch and 4.8 points per game. He has not been of value to any fantasy manager, the exact opposite of what many expected once paired with Wilson and wideouts Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf.

That will not change in Sunday's season finale against Arizona.

The Cardinals are giving up the second-least fantasy points to opposing tight ends this season with 6.1. With Wilson rediscovering his chemistry with Metcalf a week ago, expect the franchise QB to force the ball to wideouts in search of the big plays that might deliver them the upset victory.

In fact, if there is a silver lining for Everett in this matchup, it's that a 6.1-point fantasy day would be an improvement over his average output.