Welcome to Week 16 of the 2025 Footballguys Roundtable. Our intrepid panel of fantasy pundits discusses and debates four topics every week. We split the conversation into separate features.
This week's roundtable features these four topics:
- Unlikely Playoff Starters
- What to Make the Jaguars' Lawrence
- The Chiefs Without Mahomes
- Fantasy True/False
Let's roll...
Matt Waldman: Gardner Minshew will be under center for Kansas City. How do you expect this change to impact the fantasy fortunes of current Chiefs options who have delivered fantasy starter production?
David Zacharias: There are only two Chiefs who clearly qualify as fantasy starters (in PPR points per game, seven games minimum): Rashee Rice (WR6) and Travis Kelce (TE8). The highest-ranked Kansas City running back on the season (Kareem Hunt) is RB29.
I view Hunt as a risky flex starter, as neither the Chiefs nor the Titans are in the NFL postseason, and there's plenty of incentive on both sides to give the backups extended run as a 2026 audition.
The Vegas line for this week's matchup at Tennessee favors the Chiefs by 3.5 points, making it the lowest-scoring game of the week. That said, there are strong rumors that this will be the final game in Travis Kelce's professional career. It wouldn't surprise me if he were given a featured role in the game plan to send him out on a high note.
Andy Hicks: Gardner Minshew is a fun quarterback to watch, but there is a reason he was a sixth-round draft pick and is on his fifth team in seven years. He plays to the level of the team around him. His 17-29 winning record is testimony to that.
His passing statistics are reasonable, but it's the turnovers and risky way he sees the field that make him a career backup. With the Chiefs out of playoff reckoning, what are they playing for? If Minshew loses the last three games, it will surprise no one.
All fantasy production has to be scaled back for the team. Mishew finds a groove, players like Xavier Worthy and Tyquan Thornton will benefit. Rashee Rice and Travis Kelce are at risk of being shut down, while the running game will be its usual every-week adventure.
Meng Song: As much as I hate to say it, I'm not sure Gardner Minshew will be a huge downgrade to the Chiefs' skill position players from their 2025 levels of production thus far. Yes, the offensive line's injuries are partly to blame, but Mahomes also has struggled with the deep ball for multiple seasons now.
In theory, the least-impacted players should be Rashee Rice and Travis Kelce. Both project for strong target share from Minshew this week as the primary pass-catching options, and Tennessee presents a good passing matchup on paper.
Of course, the biggest question will be the level of motivation from Kansas City. This is an unprecedented game in the Mahomes era, as they will have nothing to play for.
As such, it's anyone's guess how willing Rice will be to lay his body on the line after having taken some huge hits in the last two games. Plus, Kelce is getting ready to sail off into the sunset, so does he want to risk injury before his wedding with no playoff implications? Rice is a PPR WR3 with upside, and Kelce is a high-floor TE2 option.
We could just end up seeing a heavy dose of both Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt. The Chiefs will probably prefer to keep the clock running and limit the risk of injury to any other starters, and both running backs have an incentive to show out on expiring contracts.
Pacheco and Hunt are both in the flex mix, but they're risky starts with the added possibility of Kansas City giving rookie Brashard Smith more touches down the stretch to evaluate his progress and potential.
