By Jim McCormick
Special to ESPN.com
Archive

AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

A motivated Jay Cutler faces the Lions in Week 17.

In this final week of the NFL season, one rife with inconsequential games both in real and fantasy regards, the grind of the Gridiron Challenge wears on.

Building on your potential budget and seeking dividends no longer applies in this final week, as the only thing that matters is maximizing production and making the most of a mercurial late-season market.

As the Colts famously reminded us last week, playoff scenarios can severely affect the worthiness of several top commodities as a number of teams are firmly entrenched in a specific playoff seed or have little to play for as a disappointing season comes to end.

We must then mine for the talents that are apt to ably produce and won't have their playing time, and thus statistical potential, curbed or compromised by their team's status. It sounds easy enough, but it's difficult to dismiss proven producers like Aaron Rodgers and Kurt Warner, especially when you already have them rostered at a value, and place trust in more volatile commodities like Jay Cutler and Matt Ryan in this crucial final leg of the season. But this is just yet another challenge that the Challenge presents over the course of the long campaign and some the suggested names below should help in your bid for a huge final outing. … MORE

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