Houston Texans - Fantasy News

Who to Start: JuJu Smith-Schuster or DeAndre Hopkins?

by Mike Rose

12/21/17

NFL

Houston Texans

DeAndre Hopkins

An AFC matchup is set to occur at NRG Stadium on Christmas when the Houston Texans welcome the Pittsburgh Steelers into town for the first meeting between the two teams since 2014.

Despite his squad losing in heartbreaking fashion to New England, Pittsburgh wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster played a huge role last week by hauling in a team-high six receptions for 114 yards. Houston’s DeAndre Hopkins had a nice game himself with four receptions for 80 yards and a touchdown in a losing effort to Jacksonville.

Let’s see what these guys have up their sleeve as they go head-to-head in Week 16.

Fantasy Matchup: JuJu Smith-Schuster (11.0 PFP) vs. DeAndre Hopkins (16.0 PFP)

Smith-Schuster is averaging 10.28 Dober Fantasy Points per game, which is a lower mark than Hopkins to date, so he enters this matchup as a five-point underdog. It will be interesting to see how the USC product fares with the absence of Antonio Brown, as he and Martavis Bryant will more than likely split catches while the star receiver is out for the remainder of the regular season.

Overall, Smith-Schuster has caught 43 passes for 699 yards and five touchdowns. He’s averaged 16.3 yards per grab as the No. 35 pass catcher in fantasy. He’s recorded two games over 100 yards on the season as well. His 69-yard reception against the Patriots was the longest catch in the final two minutes of a fourth quarter in the Bill Belichick era, which is a good sign that he’s trusted by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in crunch time going forward as one of the key playmakers for the black and yellow’s offense.

Smith-Schuster has scored three of his five touchdowns on the road and the Texans have struggled ranking No. 28 against pass catchers in 2017. This is going to be a great matchup for him to have back-to-back solid performances. Houston has allowed 247.8 passing yards per game (No. 27), so if you’re looking for fantasy goodness definitely select him for your Dober Play Cards on Monday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Hopkins has been off the charts great this season. As the No. 2 receiver in fantasy football, he’s hauled in 92 passes for 1,313 yards and a dozen touchdowns with a 14.3 yards per catch average. He’s scored three times in the last two weeks, hit the 100-plus yard mark five times and went over 200-plus yards once. He’s failed to catch fewer than four passes in a game just once and that was back in Week 6 against Cleveland when he had only two. He’ll get to show off his talents on Christmas against the No. 6 ranked pass defense of the Steelers.

Smith-Schuster will get his touches with Brown out with a calf injury. Meanwhile, Hopkins will do his thing and will be at home. And you can’t knock his consistency. However, the Texans can’t stop anyone when it comes to their pass defense. Call me crazy, but I’m going with Smith-Schuster to eat in a big time way in this one.

Week 16 Fantasy Projection: JuJu Smith-Schuster (+5) vs. DeAndre Hopkins