Green Bay Packers and 3 Other Teams May Bench Starters in Week 18 Fantasy Football

The reason that many Fantasy Football Leagues have been completed comes down to the factor of benching starters. Many NFL teams will bench their starters in Week 18 if they have clinched the playoffs, or even if they have been eliminated. If your league is still running, this is something to pay attention to. These are teams that may be benching key items in Week 18.

Buffalo Bills

The Bills are locked into a Wild Card spot after they lost to the Eagles, thus handing the AFC East to the Patriots. They can rise up to the 5th seed, but that would be contingent on the Chargers and Texans also losing. As for the Texans, they are (10) Point favorites against the Colts, and very likely to win. The Chargers will face the Broncos, and they are (7.5) Point underdogs — meaningful.

The thought is that a Bills win may not matter to their seeding. However, with the Chargers playing alongside the Bills at 4:25pm, there is a good chance that this game may matter early on for the Bills.

The Bills also believe that they very well should beat the Jets with backups. Even if the Bills play their starters, they may see limited roles, and they may get pulled early if they jump out to a comfortable lead, as the Patriots did this past week. To simplify, consider the Bills' to be risky Fantasy Football assets in Week 18.

Bench Watch: Josh Allen, James Cook, Dalton Kincaid

Los Angeles Chargers

The Chargers are currently the 6th seed in the AFC. They may fall as low as the 7th seed, all depending on Week 18's results. If the Texans defeat the Colts, they will not be able to rise to the 5th seed, as this is likely the case.

It seems like the Chargers will want to win and gain the 6th seed. This would slate them to likely face the Patriots rather than the Jaguars. However, if we analyze the differences here, there are not many. Both of these teams are to the same caliber. In fact, the Jaguars are one spot ahead of the Patriots in the FPI.

The Jaguars, on paper, have an elite home field advantage in the regular season. In the playoffs, the Chargers may actually prefer to play in warm weather down in Jacksonville.

What I am getting at here is that a win, or loss may not matter a ton. The Chargers are in the Playoffs, and they will surely be very cautious. This means that they may limit, or bench their key starters.

Bench Watch: Justin Herbert, Omarion Hampton, Ladd McConkey, Keenan Allen, Quentin Johnston, Oronde Gadsden II

Kansas City Chiefs

They have already done this to an extent. The Chiefs are in a lost year as they clinched a missed playoff berth in Week 16. Pat Mahomes is out, as is Gardner Minshew. Any players that are somewhat injured may just be benched. The only thing that win will do for the Chiefs is cost them draft spots.

Bench Watch: Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy, Hollywood Brown, Travis Kelce