Fantasy Football Rankings Week 15: Sleepers, Predictions, Starts, Seats | Antonio Gibson, Zay Flowers and more – The Athletic

Cover 7 | Saturday A daily NFL destination that provides in-depth analysis of football's biggest stories. Every Saturday, Jake Ciely updates his weekly player rankings to help you be fully prepared for your fantasy football playoff match(es).

The fantasy football playoffs are here. It's time to take a look at the Week 15 fantasy football rankings, sleepers and game previews to put together your best lineup. Also, this week we've reached the second part of Fun with Ranks as the best TV show intros continue… with the animated list!

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Week 15 Waivers | SOS Ranks Week 15
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WEEK 15 FANTASY FOOTBALL PREVIEW

NOTE: ALL of the statistics are SINCE WEEK 9 – Unless known. We want to look at current performance versus year-round performance with defense, etc., as in-season adjustments can change things.

Acronyms you should know

• RBTouch% – RB Touch Percentage – Percentage of the team's total RB touches this player had
• TmTGT% – Team Goals Percentage – Percentage of the team's total goals that go to this player
• TGT% – Percentage of time a player has as a goal while running routes
• TmAirYD% – Team Air Yards Percentage – Percentage of the team's total air yards that go to this player
• YPRR – Yards per Route Run – pretty valuable indicator
• APA – Adjust Allowed Points (table link above)

Chargers at Raiders, TNF

• Even without Keenan Allen, Joshua Palmer is just a boom/bust WR4 play given the added risk of Easton Stick at quarterback.
• If Josh Jacobs plays, I consider him a risky RB2, while Zamir White would be a volume-dependent RB2/3 without him.
• The Chargers are the only team to have managed just one game over since Week 3, and that was before the loss to Justin Herbert.

Vikings at Bengals, Saturday, 1 p.m

• Without Alexander Mattison, Ty Chandler would be a nice RB2, while Mattison would be a little riskier than usual and more of an RB2/3.
• Since Week 4, the Vikings have only allowed three double-digit WR scores allowed, no more than 15.4 points and just one game over 100 yards.
• Zack Moss had a touchdown callback – for the second week in a row – ending the streak of four consecutive opposing running backs scoring at least 13.9+ against the Bengals.

Steelers at Colts, Saturday, 4:30 p.m

• If Jonathan Taylor plays, the Colts risk sharing the workload similar to when he returned earlier in the season, and that's why he's an RB2. If Taylor is out, the “all the work” of making excuses for Zack Moss is done and he is an RB2.
• Zack Moss has an 88.0 RBTouch% in games without Jonathan Taylor – Josh Jacobs would be second at 85.2% for the season.
• Since Matt Canada's firing, Jaylen Warren has 51.6, 35.7 and 42.3 RBTouch% with 5.7-6.0 points in each game… in other words, there isn't much of a difference in usage.

Broncos at Lions, Saturday, 8:15 p.m

• There are two qualified quarterbacks with more than double their TD/ATT percentage when actually UNDER pressure or not under pressure: Matthew Stafford 4.7% without pressure (vs. 10.6% with) and Russell Wilson rising from 3 .1% without to 10.8% with pressure!
• The Broncos' defense has improved significantly since Week 5, but they have still given up five double-digit RB scores in the last four games, with James Cook, Latavius ​​Murray, Ty Chandler, Alexander Mattison, Jerome Ford, Dameon Pierce and Austin Ekeler all scored 7.9 or more in these games.
• In the first six weeks, Jared Goff had three games with more than 22 points. He has just one (21.1) since Week 7 and just one more over 16.3 points (18.2). The Broncos haven't allowed a quarterback to reach 17.3 points since Week 4.

Bears at Browns, 1 p.m

• The Lions are the only team (twice) to rush for more than 97 yards against the Bears since Week 3, with five teams totaling 54 or fewer rushing yards.
• Amari Cooper, Elijah Moore and David Njoku account for 69.9% of Joe Flacco's targets in his two starts, and they each have more than 108 receiving yards combined in those two games.
• D'Onta Foreman had a 72.2 RBTouch% last week when all three running backs were active, which was actually his second-highest mark this year.

Buccaneers at Packers, 1 p.m

• Chris Godwin is the only wideout with just one touchdown and more than 51 receptions or more than 541 receiving yards.
• With Christian Watson out, Romeo Doubs and Jayden Reed are tied at 20.9 TmTGT%, while Dontayvion Wicks is in third place at 14.4%. Reed has 62.9 points and Doubs 53.5.
• Drake London became the 10th wideout to have more than 100 receiving yards this year against the Buccaneers – the Seahawks are second with eight yards allowed.

Texans at Titans, 1 p.m

• Obviously no CJ Stroud is downgrading everyone, but if Stroud is active and Nico Collins is out as expected, Noah Brown is a boom/bust WR3 with Xavier Hutchinson in play as a decent flyer (see Waivers column).
• Derrick Henry has just three games with more than 81 rushing yards and two games with double-digit points without a touchdown (Weeks 1 and 8). The Texans stopped the last four backfields (ARI, JAX, DEN, NYJ) from scoring a rushing touchdown.
• For the year, only Garrett Wilson (48.3), Davante Adams (46.3), AJ Brown (45.7) and DJ Moore (44.1) have a higher TmAirYD% than DeAndre Hopkins' 43.0.

Jets at Dolphins, 1 p.m

• Dalvin Cook had 10 and 8 touches in the last two games, his most since Week 3 (11), but Breece Hall had 19 and 18, his most since Week 9 (20).
• Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle are the only wideout teammates who combined to score in double figures against the Jets…and they are just two of six wideouts to score in double figures this year.
• Tua Tagovailoa is just 20th (tied with Mitchell Trubisky and Taylor Heinicke) in TD/ATT (3.8%), and only three quarterbacks have multiple touchdown passes against the Jets (Dak Prescott, Russell Wilson, Josh Allen).

Chiefs at Patriots, 1 p.m

• If Isiah Pacheco plays, that suggests he's ready to go (i.e. he doesn't need to rush back). The Chiefs' backfield works well enough with the Jerick McKinnon/Clyde Edwards-Helaire duo that they don't need to force Pacheco.
• The Patriots have the lowest TD/ATT allowed in the league at 1.8%. The Vikings and 49ers are right behind at 2.2%.
• Ezekiel Elliott is fifth in RBTouch% (83.3) with 26.0 TmTGT% (first) in the last two games without Rhamondre Stevenson.

Giants at Saints, 1 p.m

• Alvin Kamara and Saquon Barkley are top 8 in FPPG, RBTouch% and TmTGT% – the only other running back who can make that claim is Christian McCaffrey.
• The Saints have allowed one wideout to reach 100+ receiving yards all year (Chris Godwin, Week 4) and one receiver touchdown since Week 8 (Amon-Ra St. Brown in Week 13 with 49 yards).
• Chris Olave has had five straight games with double figures and is sixth in TmTGT% (46.3), 12th in receiving yards (401) and 15th in points (72.1) during that span.

Falcons at Panthers, 1 p.m

• While the Panthers have allowed double-digit scoring to every backfield except the Texans in Week 8 and the Vikings in Week 4 (Mattison missed at 9.8), they have only given up two double-digit wideouts since their bye (HOU, IND). , CHI, DAL, TEN, TB, NO).
• Bijan Robinson has only exceeded 60.9 RBTouch% once, but has 17.1, 25.8, 9.4 and 17.3 with a touchdown each in his last four games – in those games he is RB8 in FPPG (17, 5).
• Week 14 was Desmond Ridder's third game with more than 300 pass yards or more than 17 points. Only two quarterbacks have exceeded the 18.5-point mark against the Panthers, and those were Weeks 5 and 6.

Commanders at Rams, 4 p.m

• Without Brian Robinson, Antonio Gibson would be a nice floor RB2/3 and Chris Rodriguez would be a RB3/4 hoping for a touchdown.
• The Commanders are the only team whose games have reached the over in all but one week since Week 8.
• Kyren Williams has a 74.5 RBTouch% in his games with the Rams (Weeks 1-6, 12-14) and is averaging 19.1 points there – behind only Christian McCaffrey's 22.0 for the year.

49ers at Cardinals, 4 p.m

• If Michael Wilson can return, he is a risk/reward WR4. If they're out, Rondale Moore and Greg Dortch are WR4/5 plays.
• Brock Purdy leads the league with 15.4 YD/Comp, first in TD/ATT (9.6%) and is second behind Dak Prescott with 6.5 TD/INT (Prescott 18.0).
• The Cardinals allow the second-highest TD/ATT at 6.7%, behind the Commanders at 6.9%.
• As mentioned, both Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel are great, but Aiyuk is the better play against MAN with 3.75 YPRR vs. 3.03 vs. Zone, and Samuel has 1.32 vs. 3.33, plus 13.2 YD /TGT vs. 13.1 (Aiyuk) and 8.2 vs. 13.2 (Samuel), making Samuel better vs. ZONE. The Cardinals rank sixth in the zone (75.8%).

Cowboys at Bills, 4 p.m

• The Bills ran 51.4% of the time through Week 7 (sixth lowest), then 79.9% of the time from Weeks 8 to 13 (third lowest) without Dawson Knox, and back to 46.6% in Week 14 (sixth) – lowest).
• The Cowboys have the third-highest QB pressure percentage (44.2), but since Week 6, Josh Allen hasn't seen a big TD/INT difference whether he's under pressure or not, with 1.7 TD/INT when under pressure compared to 1.4 when not under pressure.

Ravens at Jaguars, SNF

• Since Mark Andrews was injured, Zay Flowers has 25.7 TmTGT% and 18.9 FPPG – which would rank 15th and second on the year.
• After the loss of Christian Kirk, Zay Jones leads the Jaguars in TmTGT% (25.0), receptions (10) and yards (107), but Parker Washington has both receiving touchdowns, despite two RZ and EZ targets of six and three for Calvin Ridley.
• Since returning for the second time (Week 9), Keaton Mitchell is just ahead of Gus Edwards in points thanks to big plays, but the RBTouch% is Edwards 40.7, Mitchell 38.9 and Justice Hill 20.4.

Eagles at Seahawks, MNF

• Since his second-highest rush attempt and touch totals in Week 9 (18 and 20), D'Andre Swift has averaged 10.8 carries and 12.3 touches with just 8.5 FPPG and 8.9 over the past three weeks. Scored 3.0 and 3.9.
• The only team without a double-digit running back score against the Seahawks (since Week 7) was the Rams when Kyren Williams was sidelined.
• Week 14 marked the first time since Dallas Goedert was injured when DeVonta Smith failed to score at least 12.6 points. Goedert didn't look 100 percent, which is concerning for Smith once he does.

WEEK 15 FANTASY FOOTBALL SLEEPERS

These are sleeper (DuckTales and Darkwing Duck style – Woo-oo is worthy of risk in most leagues, and Dangerous is when you need a Hail Mary). You will not 100% imitate my ranking. This is about aiming for the upside and it often comes with a higher level of risk – to put it simply, they are upside plays that you might consider over a firm bottom option.

Woo-oo worthy

• QB: Sam Howell, WSH
• RB: Najee Harris, PIT; Ezekiel Elliott, NE
• WR: Zay Flowers, BAL; Jayden Reed, GB
• TE: Tucker Kraft, UK

Let's get dangerous

• QB: Russell Wilson, DEN
• RB: Rico Dowdle, DAL; Keaton Mitchell, B.A.L
• WR: Noah Brown, HOU; Jordan Addison, MIN
• TE: Logan Thomas, WSH

FUN WITH RANKINGS!

If you read last week's list, you knew what to expect this week. I've ranked the best TV show intros – live action – and not without some controversial ranks and missed great ones (as you all say). So I'm expecting the same thing this week – debates, hatred of my ranks and more!

Best Show Intros – Animated

Honorable Mention: Thundercats – Thunder, Thunder, Thundercats, hoooo! Rugrats – 90s Kids Nick had some of the best intros without lyrics; Sailor Moon – I still don't know if the vocals should sound halfway; Tiny Toon Adventures – similar to Animaniacs; Dragon Ball Z, The Jetsons

WEEK 15 FANTASY FOOTBALL PROJECTIONS

🚨 HEADS UP 🚨 These may differ from my rankings and mine Ranks are the order in which I would start players outside of additional context, such as “Need the highest upside potential, even if it's risky.” Also based on 4 point TDs for QB, 6 point break and half PPR

Forecasts Download LINK – Saturday Update

WEEK 15 FANTASY FOOTBALL RANKINGS

🚨 HEADS UP 🚨

• Unfortunately, there is still no perfect widget. I know many see this on your phone, but 1) use the rankings widget on a PC/laptop etc if possible, or 2) open in your phone's browser, especially for Android users, for scrolling to work properly .
• ECR = “Expert” consensus ranking (which not everyone updates regularly, so use with caution).
• Will be updated regularly. Please find out about the blocking of the lineups.

(Photo by Antonio Gibson: Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)