Fantasy Football: 4 Bold Predictions for Week 18

There's nothing quite like the NFL.

Football is one of the most intense, exciting sports on the planet. The source of the now-ubiquitous saying "Any Given Sunday," the NFL is a place where even struggling teams have a chance to topple the best in the league. Anything can happen when you play only 17 regular season games a year.

That uncertainty is a huge driver behind the excitement the NFL generates each and every season. What's more fun than watching something totally unexpected unfold before your eyes?

That's why, this year, we'll be bringing you some bold predictions to watch for in each week the 2024 NFL season.

All NFL odds come from FanDuel Sportsbook and may change after this article is published.

NFL Bold Predictions for Week 18

Tee Higgins Logs 100+ Receiving Yards

Since returning from injury in Week 11, Tee Higgins has made himself a lot of money. Before becoming a free agent this offseason, Higgins is averaging 6.7 catches and 86.2 receiving yards on 9.8 targets per game over the last six. This has been alongside Ja'Marr Chase, who has enjoyed an unworldly season by leading the NFL in receptions (117), receiving yards (1,612), and receiving touchdowns (16). Having Joe Burrow throwing the ball has certainly helped Higgins' stock, which plays a part in Tee potentially taking less money than expected to stay with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Back to the task at hand, Higgins comes off a heater with 11 catches for 131 receiving yards and three touchdowns. He's now logged double-digit targets in four of his past six outings, and don't expect that to stop on Saturday against the Pittsburgh Steelers -- who sport the 14th-best schedule-adjusted pass defense compared to ranking 8th when facing the run. The Bengals' 64.4% pass-play rate (second-highest) should keep chugging along.

Considering Higgins touts a 24.9% target share and 33.3% air yards share since Week 11 (both second-highest), he should get more than enough volume for another standout performance. Higgins is even tied with Chase for a team-high 29.9% target share over the last two, and he leads Cincy with a 36.3% air yards share during the span.

As expected, Chase is expected to have the biggest day with a 92.5-receiving yard prop while projected the most fantasy points (17.8) for Week 18 in our NFL DFS projections. Carrying a 74.5-receiving yard prop, Higgins is in a good spot to provide some excellent value. He's projected to go over this total at 82.9 receiving yards. I'm willing to take this even a step further by backing Tee to go for 100+ receiving yards (+225).

He's reached 100+ receiving yards twice over his last six appearances. Plus, Higgins has recorded a 100+ yard showing in four of seven matchups against the Steelers since 2020. Over the past three matchups with Pittsburgh, Tee has logged 140+ yards twice, good for a per-game average of 119.0 receiving yards per contest in the split.

Jaleel McLaughlin Rumbles for 70+ Rushing Yards

There are several backfields across the NFL that have been a pain to figure out. The Denver Broncos' running back room has been one of those cases as Jaleel McLaughlin (23% snap share in Week 17), Javonte Williams (37%), and Audric Estime (30%) are sharing near even snap shares as we saw in Week 17 against the Bengals. We can narrow the touches down to McLaughlin and Estime, for Williams has only 4 rushing attempts over the last two while McLaughlin has 17 and Estime totaled 18 carries.

Between the two, McLaughlin has the more trustworthy role on the ground as he's averaging 10.3 rushing attempts per contest over the previous three. For comparison, Estime is recording 7.7 rushing attempts per game, but McLaughlin was absent in one of those games (Week 17). In his last two games with McLaughlin active, Estime's per-game average goes slightly down to 7.0.

The Broncos have a 57.5% pass-play rate (14th-highest), though, and they carry the 13th-worst adjusted rush offense. Why are we so focused on Denver's run game in Week 18? The Kansas City Chiefs are expected to rest multiple key starters; this could include instrumental defensive players like Chris Jones and George Karlaftis. If the Chiefs are without multiple starters on the defensive line, this run game should find more success than usual.

Additionally, Denver is a 10.5-point favorite for Sunday's contest. With that said, a positive game script is in the picture, meaning more rushing attempts. Plus, I'm not too worried about McLaughlin getting pulled early if this game gets lopsided. Remember, this backfield has pretty much been evenly split across the board in snap share. McLaughlin is not the clear top dog, at least when it comes to snaps.

Our projections are giving McLaughlin the highest projected rushing total on the Broncos at 42.5 rushing yards. He's reached at least 69 rushing yards twice over his previous three. Plus, McLaughlin has produced excellent efficiency over his last four with 5.7 yards per carry and 0.57 rushing yards over expectation per carry (RYOE/C) -- via NFL Next Gen Stats. Once props are out for the Chiefs-Broncos, don't be afraid to heavily lean on McLaughlin's alternate rushing yard lines.

Bijan Robinson Totals 2 Touchdowns in Third Straight Game

As many expected prior to the 2024 season, Bijan Robinson has emerged as the superstar fantasy player many managers coveted. In fact, he's RB1 for Week 18 in our projections, even over the Detroit Lions' Jahmyr Gibbs.

Since Week 13, Robinson is averaging 20.4 FanDuel points per game -- which coincided with four top-eight finishes among running backs. He's been a touchdown machine during the five-game span, coming up with six tuddies in the split. Bijan even comes off back-to-back games with two rushing touchdowns. Will that keep up against the Carolina Panthers?

There's little reason to expect Robinson's numbers decline. Carolina not only gives up the most yards per carry and rushing yards per game, but its rush defense also ranks as the second-worst adjusted unit. The Panthers even surrender the fourth-most rushing touchdowns per contest.

Our projections have Robinson in line for 1.1 touchdowns. Chances are he will carry minus odds for an anytime touchdown. To up the value, taking Bijan for two touchdowns should not be overlooked. He has the recent production, and Carolina's rush defense has been putrid.

Since Week 13, Robinson has a 90.2% red zone snap share and 80.6% red zone rushing attempt share. Prior to the bye in Week 12, this was a near even split with Robinson sporting a 64.7% red zone snap share and 52.0% red zone rushing attempt share compared to Tyler Allgeier's 43.8% snap share and 42.0% rushing attempt share. Allgeier has a 13.7% red zone snap share and 12.9% red zone rushing attempt share over the last five. This is Robinson's backfield, as seen in his absurd 28.6 adjusted opportunities per game since Week 13.

Atlanta is favored by only 7.5 points, too, meaning this should be a competitive game. Carolina is 6-2 against the spread (ATS) and the Falcons are 2-5-1 ATS over the last eight games. Atlanta still has an outside shot of winning the NFC South by winning on Sunday paired with a loss from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Look for Robinson to keep dominating in the Falcons' final regular-season game.

Jared Goff Racks Up 325+ Passing Yards

We usually take some time for fading players in our bold predictions. However, we are going to end the regular season on a positive note by circling a fourth player poised for a huge game. In Sunday night's highly anticipated matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions, expect plenty of Jared Goff chants to ring throughout Ford Field.

Since David Montgomery sustained an injury in Week 15, the Lions have still been able to play their brand of football by having a near even split in offensive play calls. In fact, Detroit has run the ball 65 times compared to 66 passing attempts in the last two games without Monty in the lineup. Detroit had 27 rushing attempts compared to 25 passing attempts in its win against the Vikings in October. Expect another even split in Week 18.

While the Lions haven't necessarily looked to air it out, this hasn't taken away from Goff's numbers. He's recorded 319.5 passing yards per game over his last two. Goff also logged a gaudy 494 passing yards in Week 15, but this was in a negative game script against the Buffalo Bills as Goff logged 59 passing attempts.

Goff holds a 271.5-passing yard prop this weekend while projected 270.7 passing yards. Not only do I love the over, his alternate line for 325+ passing yards (+300) deserves some attention.

In the previous head-to-head clash, Goff put up 11.2 yards per passing attempt! Minnesota has allowed 3.9 yards per carry (3rd-fewest) and 88.1 rushing yards per game (2nd-fewest) compared to 7.0 yards per passing attempt (12th-fewest) and 243.6 passing yards per game (5th-most). This is reflected in our adjusted rankings as the Vikings have the best rush defense and rank fifth against the pass.

Since Week 11, Goff has recorded an elite 0.59 expected points added per drop back (EPA/db). Similar to Week 7's 0.40 EPA/db against the Vikings, another huge game should be ahead for Goff.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.