Fantasy Football: Five changes from Week 16 you need to know about

We've made it to the last week of the NFL season! I hope that Week 16 found you in a winning position for your Fantasy championships, and that your time spent reading this column in 2018 was well worth it. 

We are wrapping up the year with one of the most fun weeks of the season and what we were able to take away.

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Nick Foles has the juice

I think at this point, it seems unlikely that Carson Wentz will be the quarterback of the Eagles next season. Wentz draws ire from the fans in a way that Foles doesn't, and if Foles is able to lead the Eagles into the playoffs and perhaps even to a playoff win (or two), the organization will be put in between a rock and the hard place. Sunday's 471-yard and four-touchdown performance is one of the best overall QB games of the season, and it seems like Doug Pederson really knows how to get the best out of Foles in a way that he has not quite discovered with Wentz.

Tom Brady is a game manager

In the kindest possible way, Tom Brady has evolved past being a true difference-making quarterback in the year 2018. He can still win games and the Patriots could still theoretically win a Super Bowl, but Brady is not the record-breaking version of himself who can put the team on his back. In yesterday's gritty win against Buffalo, Brady threw only 24 passes while the team ran 47 times (!!!!). This comes off a week of losing against bitter rivals the Pittsburgh Steelers in which Brady looked horrible when he wasn't throwing to wide-open receivers.

Taylor Heinicke is not Cam Newton

The theme of the pre-kickoff Sunday morning on DFS twitter was that Heinicke could run the Panthers' whole playbook, including the zone-option reads. While Heinicke did fine for the minimum salary on DraftKings, he ran only three times and attempted 53 passes at 5.2 yards per attempt. Any QB who can come in and not set everything on fire off the bench is a genuine asset, but I think it's important to realize that Cam is still the straw that stirs the drink in Carolina.

Doug Baldwin is back

Dusty Dough has returned to his final form, scoring touchdowns, getting open at will and being a real WR1 in the run-heavy Seattle offense. In Sunday night's thriller against Kansas City, he led the whole game in targets with 12, converting that into seven receptions for 126 yards and a touchdown. Wilson threw only 29 passes, which shows that really when Seattle intends to pass, there is generally a 35 percent chance that Baldwin will be the recipient of that pass. While 2018 was mostly a lost season for him, provided that he stays healthy over the offseason, he will be rather high on my 2019 draft board.

The Rams don't need Todd Gurley

C.J. Anderson stepped in and had the best game of his career while the Rams piled up 31 points at home against the Arizona Cardinals. While I think it is a little glib to say something like "Todd Gurley is just average," but I do think this is illustrative of one important part: we overrate running back talent and the most important thing to remember is to target volume. Even if a running back is "bad," if they are in a good situation with plus volume, they are almost always going to be good for Fantasy.