If you’re reading this, it’s likely that you survived the first fourteen weeks of the fantasy football season and are set to take on the playoffs. Congratulations! You’re inches away from reigning victorious, but the season isn’t over yet. Just like the NFL, although you need a formidable team to actually make the playoffs, all it takes to bring home a championship is a little bit of luck. At the same time, even the best team can be derailed by a single injury or an unfavorable game script for its star player. The unfortunate truth about fantasy football, as always, is that it’s unpredictable.

Unpredictability was a key point highlighted in the article from week one, and not much needs to be said about whether that has held true or not. Javonte Williams is one of the top RBs, Jaxon Smith-Njigba is on pace for almost 1,900 receiving yards, and… Philip Rivers is unretiring to play for the Colts? What!? 

Anyways… As unpredictable as fantasy football can be, the best approach is to make informed guesses based on several key factors: the stakes for certain teams, injuries, and, most importantly, the strength of their schedule. That last factor is especially notable during the playoffs because each player can be viewed through a lens that takes into account their remaining schedule, considering the playoffs only span three weeks. 

That’s enough introduction. Here’s what you need to know for the 2025 fantasy football playoffs:

The Saints’ schedule is easy, to say the least

No team has an easier end-of-season schedule than New Orleans: Panthers this week, Jets the next, and finally the Titans in week 17. The Panthers are a formidable team, but their defense often struggles. The appeal of playing the Jets and Titans needs no explanation. 

RB Devin Neal, assuming Alvin Kamara remains sidelined, benefits most from this schedule. In the past three weeks – the three weeks where Neal has gotten a meaningful workload – he has averaged 12.1 PPR points. All three teams on their remaining schedule are in the bottom half of the league in terms of rushing yards allowed per game, with the Jets being third-worst. Neal will be on waivers in most leagues, which means any teams thin at RB could take advantage of his situation. Rookie QB Tyler Shough benefits similarly from this schedule, but starting him would be slightly riskier considering he has only started five games in his career.

Another major beneficiary of their schedule is the defense. Last time they played the Panthers, they got two turnovers out of QB Bryce Young and tallied two sacks. This game will be a must-win for the Panthers, but considering their last meeting and the fact that it’s a divisional game, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the defense can force mistakes out of Young and rack up fantasy points in the process.

The Colts are a mess…

In one of the most unexpected moves of the 2025 NFL season, Philip Rivers is unretiring to play for the Colts. Indianapolis’ current quarterback situation is unlike any other team in the league: starter Daniel Jones tore his achilles and is out for the season, backup and former 4th overall pick Anthony Richardson is currently on IR for a fractured orbital from a freak accident involving an elastic training band, and rookie 3rd string QB Riley Leonard is now dealing with a knee injury. Essentially, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.

The addition of Rivers as a remedy to this misfortune is interesting. On one hand, Rivers hasn’t played a snap of NFL football since 2020. He’s been out of the league for so long that he was eligible to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year. It would be unreasonable to expect him to step back onto the field and perform at the level he did throughout his career.

On the other hand, the Colts are in a dire situation. Their record was 8-2 before the bye week, but they have now lost three straight and are sitting at second in the AFC South. They’re by no means out of the playoff picture, but everyone on the team knows that they need to take advantage of the situation that Daniel Jones led them to (with the help of Jonathan Taylor). Rivers will want to prove that he can still compete in the league just as much as the Colts will also be doing everything in their power to let him run the offense in the best way possible; the pursuit for success will be mutual. Not to mention, HC Shane Steichen is a familiar face for Rivers. He worked with him on the Chargers as the quarterbacks coach, and Rivers has actually been installing Steichen’s Colts offense into the high school team he coaches.

This is all to say that, as usual, the whole situation is unpredictable. Out of all the players on their offense, WR Michael Pittman Jr. is the scariest option. He will be affected most by a new quarterback and will already be dealing with a difficult playoff schedule. If you have the luxury of doing so, it could be beneficial to sit Pittman this week to see how he performs with Rivers at the helm. RB Jonathan Taylor, on the other hand, may benefit more from the quarterback change. Rivers historically targets running backs at a high rate, and if the passing game proves to be unsuccessful, it’s likely that the team will try to lean on Taylor and the run game for the remainder of the season. TE Tyler Warren is in a similar situation to Pittman; however, the potential for short passes likely gives him a slightly higher floor. 

There’s not much else to take away from this odd situation, and it will likely clear up after Sunday. If anything, watching a 44-year-old quarterback try to lead the Colts to the playoffs will be entertaining, to say the least.

“What do I do with my Vikings players?”

The Vikings have had quite a disappointing year. Coming into the season, they chose not to re-sign Sam Darnold or Daniel Jones as their QB, but instead rolled with sophomore J.J. McCarthy. McCarthy was actually meant to start last season, but suffered a setback when he tore his meniscus in a preseason game. Darnold would then step into the QB1 role and lead the team to a 14-3 season. The team also chose to sign Jones as a backup after the Giants released him late in the season.

Now, in 2025, with Darnold leaving in free agency to sign with the Seahawks and Jones joining the Colts, their decision to stick with McCarthy has proved to be the wrong one. To put it lightly, McCarthy, or “Nine” as he calls himself, has been awful. Before week 14, among all 852 qualified passers since 2000, McCarthy ranked 851st. The only quarterback behind him? Infamous bust and candidate for worst quarterback of all time, JaMarcus Russell.

Week 14 was a different story, though. Against the Commanders, McCarthy put up 163 passing yards on 16 attempts for three touchdowns and no turnovers. Whether things are actually turning around for him or if he just benefited from playing one of the worst defenses in the league is unclear. But, considering their schedule for the next three weeks, it likely doesn’t matter. Their next three opponents – the Cowboys, Giants, and Lions –  all rank in the bottom 15 teams for passing yards allowed per game. In other words, assuming the game against Washington wasn’t entirely a fluke, McCarthy will hopefully be able to keep his momentum going against relatively easy defenses.

What’s interesting, though, is that nobody on the offense seemed to heavily benefit from McCarthy’s big performance, at least fantasy-wise. WR Justin Jefferson, WR Jordan Addison, RB Aaron Jones, and TE T.J. Hockenson all scored 10 points or less. It raises the concern that, for these players whose fantasy production has been limited by horrendous QB play all season, they still won’t be able to produce even when McCarthy has a good game. 

The most concerning player of all is Jefferson, who, despite being one of the best receivers in recent NFL history, is somehow only averaging 4.8 fantasy points in the last three weeks. It may seem foolish to bench a player of his caliber, but if he only scores 3.1 points in McCarthy’s best game of the season, then why should there be any expectation for him to produce even against the worst defenses?

The future is looking up for the Vikings after last week, but it takes more than one game to be a good quarterback. Hopefully, their game against Dallas this week will reveal more about their offense and whether “Nine” can actually be the franchise player they need him to be.

The best thing to remember is that fantasy football is all about luck. Even if you have Josh Allen, JSN, Jonathan Taylor, and Brandon Aubrey, your whole season could get ended by Kyle Pitts scoring 45 points on a random Thursday night. Good luck to all competing in the playoffs!