Fantasy football advice, Week 14: Who to start/sit for San Diego Chargers vs. Carolina Panthers

The playoffs continue on Sunday for many fantasy leagues, and those owners don’t have any more room for error. Luckily, fantasy owners will have more than a few options to choose from in a showdown between two teams that are playing for pride as the season nears its end. Let’s take a look:

Melvin Gordon continues to be a model of consistency for a Chargers offense that has been devastated by injuries, and his value is just as high for fantasy teams he happens to be on. Now, Gordon is in a spot to reward his fantasy owners in the first week of the playoffs against a Panthers defense that hasn’t looked the same since losing Luke Kuechly to a concussion. Gordon remains a locked-in RB1 and can be started as usual. Philip Rivers, Tyrell Williams and even the boom-or-bust Antonio Gates warrant starting consideration against the Panthers’ 30th-ranked pass defense.

Dontrelle Inman was a popular Week 13 pickup with Williams’ capacity unknown due to injury, but his concerns were quickly put to rest. Though Inman had a decent showing of his own despite that, he isn’t anything more than a desperation flex option on Sunday.

Cam Newton and the Panthers’ struggling offense were predictably shut down on the road against the Seahawks on Sunday night, and a matchup against a capable Chargers defense won’t make matters much easier. The Chargers have surrendered just two 300-yard outings to opposing quarterbacks over the last nine games, however, a game script with the Panthers needing to play catchup due to their own porous defense presents itself. Newton still has QB1 upside, and even though tight end Greg Olsen has been on a milk carton the past six weeks, he gets the benefit of facing a defense that has been torched by tight ends on the Texans, Titans, and Buccaneers in recent weeks.

Jonathan Stewart is a risky option against the NFL’s No. 3 run defense, however, only two teams have allowed more than the 16 rushing touchdowns the Chargers have given up. Stewart can be considered a touchdown-or-bust RB2.

Kelvin Benjamin will likely draw shadow coverage from Casey Heyward, who has been performing at a shutdown level all season. Heyward just held Mike Evans to a 3-38-0 line and will likely force Newton to look toward Olsen and Ted Ginn instead. Ginn has touchdowns in three consecutive outings, but fantasy owners would be playing with fire counting on his boom-or-bust nature in the first week of fantasy playoffs.