As we roll into the final hours before week 15, most NFL teams are getting ready for the last stretch of games before playoffs. However, here in the fantasy football world, we are right in the thick of it. Last week didn’t do anyone any favors, however, as it seems like any and every relevant player caught the injury bug, or was just flat out disappointing. Whether you were fighting to secure a playoff spot, or trying to survive your first week of the fantasy postseason, you probably had one of your solid players come out of the week banged up or just simply not produce like you needed them to. If you were able to get through this week and stay in the race for the trophy, congrats to you! But for anyone who is suffering from the aftermath of last week’s apocalypse, and needs some last minute help deciding who to play and who to bench, don’t worry, I am here for you. Here is my Last Minute Start/Sit Week 15!
QB Starts:
Ryan Tannehill- This is a perfect matchup to play your hot hand vs a struggling defense. Since taking over the starting job, Tannehill has put up 300+ yards and/or 2+ touchdowns in EVERY game he’s started. He is on fire right now. The Texans on the other hand are just coming off a two game stretch of giving up 300+ yards and 3 touchdowns to an old ass Tom Brady and, *checks notes*…… Drew………..Lock. With the season Tannethrill has been having, this is the perfect time to capitalize on a great matchup against the Houston defense.
Ryan Fitzpatrick- Oh, this makes me so happy. It’s FitzMAGIC time again for this playoff run, and although he can’t do anything to save the sorry ass Dolphins, he can be a sneaky start for anyone with the balls to trust in him. The one good thing about the Dolphins being so bad is that they constantly have to throw, and nothing is more valuable in fantasy than opportunity. Good ol’ Fitzy has thrown the ball at least 33 times in EVERY week since week 7, and Flores has continued to just call deep shot after deep shot. With no running game (unless you are a Laird truther) and a promising matchup against the Giants, who are among the league’s worst in pass defense, Fitzy should be able to deliver some of his magic.
QB Sits:
Russell Wilson: This may come as a shocker to some, but the MVP candidate just hasn’t been doing well recently, and now he will be traveling to Carolina to take on a top 10 passing defense. He hasn’t had a game over 245 since week 9 against the Buccaneers, and through those 4 games, his 4 interceptions match his 4 TDs. Don’t get sucked in by the big name and MVP candidacy, this is a QB who has been trending in the wrong direction, and now gets a very solid defense. It may be best to look for another option.
Aaron Rodgers: Another big name QB on the list, I know. Look, rivalry games are tough battles for fantasy studs as it is. The other team knows your stars well, and they want to make sure they don’t let them look good. Now take your QB against that rivalry team, put them in 10 degree weather, and add top tier defense. It’s not a recipe for success. Rodgers, despite being a future Hall of Famer, has mostly been a let down this season anyway. He has only produced 4 top tier weeks this year, and every single one of those games came against bottom of the barrel pass defenses (PHI, OAK, KC, NYG). Even if you just look at the last time he played Chicago in week one, they limited him to 18 completions for 203 yards, and one TD. By standard scoring, that’s only 12 (Yup TWELVE, like the number on his jersey) points. You are just taking this game and adding a below freezing temperature to it. Expect them to get the ground game heavily involved and do not buy into the Hall of Fame name, . He is simply not gonna get it done for you this week.
RB Starts:
Raheem Mostert: I cannot believe this. There is no way in hell I should be here in the heat of the fantasy playoffs, telling you to play Raheem Mostert. You probably drafted a guy like Alvin Kamara, or Saquon or maybe even Joe Mixon. You probably thought to yourself “Hell yeah, I got my bell-cow RB, I don’t have to worry about anything, this dude will get me to the championship.” You probably took not one, but TWO 49er RBs in your drafts this year, and neither of them were Raheem Mostert. Well guess what? You can tell every single one of those guys where to shove that draft pick you used on them, because the work horse RB that EVERYONE predicted would bring you a trophy is ready and waiting to deliver for you. He’s now coming off two games with 100+ yards from scrimmage and at least 1 touchdown. These two games were against two of the best run stopping defenses in the NFL. Shanahan came out and says “he has no other choice but to make him the lead back.” The Niners want nothing more than to run the football. There is a 100% chance that if given the opportunity, they would not even throw the ball once. And now the head coach is telling the world that this man will carry the load on this run-worshipping, offense against the Atlanta Falcons. If you aren’t going to play him this week, when will you play him? Trust the Niners run game, trust the Falcons being awful, and trust Mostert delivering now, when you need it the most. And if you’re not gonna use him for some reason, drop him so that someone else can use him and he doesn’t waste away on a bench.
Chris Carson: If you have stock in Carson, like I do, you just went through a hell of a rollercoaster this season. You probably took him in the 3rd-5th round, and he did pretty well at first. Then he kept fumbling, and fumbling, and fumbling. And then he almost lost his job, but then he stepped up. And then Penny came out of NOWHERE and took away your workhorse RB. It looked like it was gonna be a fantasy players worst nightmare……. a timeshare, at the very worst time in the season. Unfortunately, Penny came down with an ACL injury (Get well soon, Rashaad) just when he was heating up, and now the backfield belongs solely to Carson again. Remember how I said not to trust Russ against this very solid Panthers pass defense? The same does not hold up here, as Carolina ranks among the very worst in run defense. If you are a Carson owner, don’t worry about the fumbles, or the timeshare you just had to get through. Plug him into your lineup with confidence.
RB Sits:
Joe Mixon: I understand he’s had a revival over the back half of the season. In fact, I am actually a Mixon truther. His talent has been greatly suppressed this season due to his horrible O-line and the team’s inability to move the ball. However, in recent weeks, he ha been able to even overcome that and generate some valuable points in the closing stretch leading to playoffs. That being said, he has one of the worst matchups of the week, going up against a Patriots defense that has absolutely silenced fantasy offenses all year. I know they have been torched a couple weeks in a row, but keep in mind, those were good teams, and now the Pats once again will be playing a god awful team, and are going to be in predator mode to try and chase the #1 seed. Expect them to absolutely throttle the Bengals in every aspect, which should make this week very hard for Mixon.
David Montgomery: This is another running back whose talent I love, but just isn’t someone you want in your lineups this week (or possibly at all this season). This rookie has shown a lot of promise and good ability, and should develop into a good player with a little time. This Packers matchup is not the week it will happen though. He has been incredibly inconsistent this year, because Matt Nagy is a twat. That’s as simply as I can put it. When given the opportunity he has proven that he can be a good lead back, but Nagy insists on putting the ball in Trubisky’s hands to toss interceptions to everyone like he’s Oprah. D-mo has the ability to put up a 20 point week any given week, but the floor is incredibly low and can you be the reason you lose in a critical matchup, and with this week’s game being a tough divisional game vs the Packers, it just isn’t worth the risk.
WR Starts:
Jarvis Landry: With a juicy matchup vs the Cardinals, some might expect a Browns WR to have a big game. However, the WR you probably expect, isn’t gonna be the one having the biggest game. The Cardinals have been just awful guarding the pass, but their biggest weakness is defending the middle. They give up big games to TE and slot WRs like their lives depend on it. Jarvis plays a majority of the slot snaps for the Browns as it is, and with the OBJ rumors circling that he wants out, the Browns and especially Baker, who has extreme self and team pride, are gonna want to prove that they don’t need OBJ anyway. Usually, buying into a narrative is dangerous, but with how crazy the Browns’ players are and how much drama surrounds them, this could be one that actually has merit. Expect Jarvis to eat up a lot of targets against a very weak secondary.
Terry McLaurin: After starting off the year as a complete stud, he fell dramatically off the map after an injury and the game of musical chairs happening at QB and Head Coach. With Callahan coming in as the head coach for now, a very run heavy game plan has been in place. However, he finished last week with 57 yards and a touchdown against a relatively tough Packers pass defense, and the stage is set for him as the Eagle’s terrific run defense should be able to force Washington into passing quite often. Look for McLaurin to have a sneaky bounce-back week in the playoffs and take advantage of the weak secondary.
WR Sits:
Stefon Diggs: A mid-season surge erased all memory of Diggs’ slow start to the season. He has been on a tear since his 167 yd, 3 touchdown stunner against Philly. However, as tempting as it is to keep riding the momentum, it is wise to thank him for his service to your team, and leave him on the bench this week. Adam Thielen is returning after a long period of being unable to play, and should immediately cut into Diggs’ target share. To make matters worse, the Vikings will be facing a very stingy Chargers pass defense this week, which should provide some challenges to the Minnesota passing game. The LA run defense however is absolutely awful, and Mike Zimmer is going to be able to do whatever he wants in the run game, and what he wants is to run the ball down your throat, repeatedly until he can’t any more. With a huge mismatch in the run game, a healthy Thielen, a stingy pass defense matchup, and likely a game where they will be leading, you should expect the Diggs express to come to a stop in LA.
Julian Edelman: This might be the wildest take you hear all week, but I’m sticking to it. Jules is the pinnacle of consistency as far as fantasy WRs go, especially in half/full ppr leagues. It seems like no matter what happens this guy is gonna get you a solid point total. With a matchup against the Bengals, who have one of the absolute worst defensive units in the league, this should, in theory be a matchup where all the Pats players explode. What this game is, is a trap game. If you look back at the numbers this season for fantasy WRs against the Bengals, they are surprisingly ranked in the middle of the pack. It’s not because they can defend them incredibly well, it’s just that they are so inexplicably bad in the run game, that teams don’t have to pass at all, and when they end up taking such huge leads, the pass game becomes almost a non-factor. Bill Belichick is a genius coach who exploits all your biggest weaknesses and in this matchup he will be look to attack the run game all game long. And if they jump out to a huge lead early, you can probably expect to see a lot of the key players getting some rest later in the game as well. So as consistent as Jules is, make sure you see this trap game coming, leave Julian on the bench if you have another option, and watch as players you’ve never heard of have the game of their lives.
TE Start:
David Njoku: Njoku saw his first action back on the field last week after being out essentially the entire season. As soon as he returned, he suffered a new injury and there was fear he might miss this week too, but it appears he is ready to go and will be out there Sunday. This news couldn’t have come on a better week for Njoku owners. There is only one rule in fantasy football this year, when it comes to starting and sitting TEs, and that is The Cardinal Rule my friend. If you have a TE going against Arizona, you start that TE. The Cardinals are insanely bad at guarding the TE spot, and that is not gonna suddenly change this week. If Njoku can stay healthy all game, he should be able to put up some huge points this week. Put him in your lineups and enjoy Cardinal week, my friends.
Defense Start:
Green Bay Packers: This start is less about the defense and more about the offense and coach they play. The Chicago Bears are absolutely disgusting to watch on offense. Trubisky already turns the ball over anytime someone looks at him. Now he is gonna have to travel to Lambeau and play in the below freezing cold. The Bears go against a relatively bad run defense this week, and a very strong pass rush, so if I’ve learned anything this season, it’s that Matt Nagy is about to make Trubisky throw the ball 50 times and not run the ball once. I don’t even like the Bears and it pisses me off to have to watch them play offense. With this game being in Lambeau, in the freezing cold, this is a perfect set up for the Packers to create turnover after turnover, all night long. Roll them out there and make sure to practice your Lambeau Leap, so you have it ready after this defense wins you your playoff game.
