Rams vs. Cardinals Fantasy Football Worksheet, Week 17

The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 17 matchup between the Rams and Cardinals.

Find a breakdown of every Week 17 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.

Trust = spike production for that player

Quarterback

Kyler Murray: Gamers have circled this stretch of playoff games for Murray for a while, but the opening two rounds have been lackluster.

After 224 yards and 0 touchdowns against the Patriots in Week 15, Murray only threw for 202 yards and 6.3 yards per pass attempt against a Carolina defense that has been a target for gamers all season.

Murray was 3-of-10 passing with an interception on throws 10 yards or further downfield Sunday.

He is now 24th in passing points per attempt (0.388), right behind Drake Maye and ahead of Bo Nix for context.

That is the type of fantasy player he has been, as well.

Murray has primarily been a QB2 option this season and is a boom-or-bust fantasy option.

I was on board looking at these past two spots as good for Murray’s upside based on a hard schedule before that New England game, but this passing game does not inspire confidence.

I prefer to use him in 2QB formats over leaning into him in 1QB leagues.

Murray managed 20.2 fantasy points on Sunday, but it felt fortunate to get out of that game with a usable score.

He ran for 63 yards and a touchdown, something gamers have not seen in a while.

Those are the most rushing yards Murray has had in a game since Week 7.

It was his first rushing touchdown since Week 10.

We need his rushing production from last week to remain static.

Murray’s best fantasy game of the season came when these teams played in Week 2.

In that Week 2 matchup, Murray set season highs with 12.7 yards per pass attempt and 3 touchdowns.

He also added 59 rushing yards.

That box score will draw plenty of gamers back to him this weekend, but this matchup is not as strong as the one in Week 2.

Arizona is a road underdog with a middling total here.

The Cardinals were favored in the past two weeks with high team totals.

They lost last week but still scored 30 points.

The Rams have developed a pass rush as the season has progressed and have done a good job limiting high-end fantasy output through the air.

Los Angeles has allowed two QB1 scoring weeks over their past 12 games.

That includes facing Jalen Hurts, Jordan Love, Tua Tagovailoa, Sam Darnold, Drake Maye, and Brock Purdy. None of those players posted QB1 weeks.

The Rams are 12th in pressure rate over that span (35%), which has been the catalyst for their turnaround.

Arizona will be without both starting offensive tackles in this game, placing Jonah Williams and Paris Johnson on IR.

When the Rams have generated pressure in those games, they have allowed 5.2 Y/A (8th), a 44.9% completion rate (6th), and a 3.4% touchdown rate (8th).

When they have not created pressure over that span, they have allowed 8.0 Y/A (25th), a 70.7% completion rate (15th), and a 4.8% touchdown rate (17th).

There is still an upside outcome for Murray because the Rams have played shootouts with the Seahawks, Eagles, and Bills since they have gotten healthy, but this is not as clean as the first matchup.

Matthew Stafford: Just when we were getting comfortable with Stafford as a high-floor QB2 and potential weekly option on the QB1 line, he finished as QB20 or lower in three of his past four games.

Stafford has thrown for fewer than 200 yards in three of his past four games.

His past two QB1 scoring weeks have come when pressed on the scoreboard against the Bills and Eagles.

Weather may have impacted the past two games against the 49ers and Jets, but the Rams had a 38% dropback rate on Sunday, their lowest in a game this season.

They have a sub-50% dropback rate in four straight games.

Stafford is a matchup-based QB2.

The Rams are firm home favorites with a high team total, so the spot provides a strong signal for production.

We need the Cardinals to help push things along.

Stafford was QB30 (6.6 points) when these teams played in Week 2, but things could not be more different for this offense than that matchup.

The Rams played that game without Alaric Jackson and Steve Avila on the offensive line.

Stafford has not been sacked in any of his past three games behind a full offensive line.

They did not have Puka Nacua.

Cooper Kupp was forced from the game in the first half with an injury that sidelined him for several weeks.

Arizona has allowed Drake Maye and Bryce Young to have back-to-back QB1 scoring weeks, but both players had rushing touchdowns.

Young had 12.8 rushing points.

It is hard to count on Stafford getting there via rushing.

The Cardinals have allowed more than 2 passing touchdowns just once this season.

Running Back

Kyren Williams (TRUST): Williams has been doing heavy lifting these past three games, racking up 31, 31, and 24 touches.

He has posted 97 or more yards in four straight games, getting into the end zone five times over his past four games.

Not only was Stafford bad in the first matchup between these teams, but Williams had a season-low 52 yards on 16 touches.

The line was banged up in that game.

Williams averaged -0.08 yards before contact per rush, his fewest in a game this season.

Over the past five weeks, Williams has averaged 1.55 yards before contact per rush, seventh in the league.

That was also an outlier for the Arizona run defense.

The Cardinals allow 4.7 YPC to running backs (26th) with a 56.3% success rate (30th) on those runs.

They have allowed a first down or touchdown on 25.6% of those attempts, 31st in the league.

Arizona allowed 165 yards and 2 touchdowns to Chuba Hubbard on Sunday two weeks after allowing 193 yards and 2 touchdowns to Zach Charbonnet.

James Conner: Conner was forced from Sunday's game with a knee injury, but word all week has trended positively and he appears on track to play Saturday.

The Cardinals are eliminated from the postseason, so there could be some caution with Conner's usage if he is not 100%, but he is back in play as an RB2.

He also takes a bit of a hit for a few things here.

As noted, Arizona will be without both of their offensive tackles on Saturday.

Conner is also attached to a significant road underdog.

But the Rams allow 4.49 YPC to running backs (23rd) and 13.9 rushing points per game (17th) to backs to provide some matchup alleviation.

Wide Receiver

Puka Nacua: Nacua caught 8-of-9 targets for 56 yards on Sunday.

While the yardage was underwhelming, Nacua continued to accrue a massive rate of targets.

He accounted for 47.4% of the team targets on Sunday, his seventh game in a row hitting at least 30%.

Nacua has been targeted on a league-high 37.4% of his routes.

Malik Nabers is the next closest wide receiver and has been targeted at a 30.5% rate.

The gap between Nacua and Nabers is the same as between Nabers and WR29.

The yardage was not stellar last week, but Nacua still leads all wide receivers with 3.50 yards per route run this season.

He remains a high-volume WR1.

Cooper Kupp: Kupp has been the core player most impacted by the team’s recent string of playing games closer to the vest.

Kupp has had games of 5-92-1 and 8-60-1 against the Bills and Eagles with the Rams pressing the action through the air.

But in grinding wins against the Saints (3-17-0), 49ers (0-0-0), and Jets (3-24-0), the gap between Nacua and Kupp has shown itself.

As noted above, the Rams have not had a dropback rate over 50% in any of their past four games.

Kupp still has 27.9% of the team's targets when he and Nacua are on the field together.

We need to see more passing volume to spill over to counting targets for Kupp.

The implied game environment makes that more challenging to lean into, but the Rams have a high team total here, and there is no weather impact on Saturday night.

Kupp’s recent floor has pushed him toward the WR2/WR3 line, but this is still a favorable matchup for keeping him in lineups.

We always highlight slot receivers against Arizona because of how much zone coverage they play.

The Cardinals allow a 71.4% catch rate (25th), 8.9 yards per target (27th), and an 8.6% touchdown rate (29th) to slot receivers.

Marvin Harrison Jr: Gamers waiting on the postseason bump for Harrison have gotten nothing.

After catching 4-of-8 targets for 39 yards on Sunday, Harrison has 25 receptions for 315 yards and 2 touchdowns over his past 7 games.

The most yardage he has posted over that span is 60 receiving yards.

He still does not have a double-digit scoring fantasy game without a touchdown this season.

This is another spot to look at the matchup and talk yourself into the upside outcome for Harrison as a touchdown-dependent WR3/FLEX.

The Rams have allowed 9.0 yards per target (22nd) and an 8.6% touchdown rate (31st) to lead WR1 targets.

That includes allowing 4 catches for 130 yards and 2 touchdowns to Harrison when these teams played in Week 2.

The running theme here has been how different this matchup is from that one.

The Rams were starting Tre’Davious White, who is now on the Ravens.

Tight End

Trey McBride: McBride has been such a strong performer and consistent target earner that it was surprising to see how little he was incorporated on Sunday.

McBride caught 3-of-4 targets for 20 yards.

He had double-digit targets in each of the four games before Sunday.

His 13.8% target share was a season low, the first time it had dipped below 20% since Week 3.

It was the first time he was not a top-10 scorer since Week 7.

Despite the poor runout last week, McBride remains a front-end TE1.

He has another excellent matchup this week.

Tight ends have accounted for 25.2% of the targets against the Rams, the fifth-highest rate in the league.

Tight ends have 27.3% of the receptions allowed by the Rams, which is fourth.

Tyler Higbee: Higbee was a feel-good player in this offense on Sunday.

In his first game since returning from his ACL injury suffered last postseason, Higbee got into the end zone.

But it is hard to chase that score.

He only ran 6 pass routes and had 2 targets.

Colby Parkinson ran 8 routes, Hunter Long 3, and Davis Allen ran 1, all without a reception.

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