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Michael Florio's deeper-league waiver wire pickups and fantasy football sleepers for Week 15. His top free agent options for 14-team fantasy leagues or deeper.
The fantasy football playoffs are officially underway - congrats to those reading this! Hopefully you are a part of the playoffs and not just a fan of deeper waiver wire targets. And hopefully you are not in a consolation bracket! Nothing wrong with it if you are, but we want all of our readers to win their championship. Even more so, I believe the first waiver wire run of the week should go to teams that are still alive in the playoff race, but that's a conversation for another place (Twitter).
With it being the fantasy playoffs, the byes are now behind us -- and with that, your starting lineup should mostly be intact. I'm not saying you cannot still stream, but you will have all your weekly regulars, meaning you need your bench spots even less. So go ahead and stash your handcuff RBs if you haven’t already. Have you been streaming QB, TE or defenses this season? Cut a fringy player that you only roster for depth to grab a player or defense with a good matchup in the upcoming week. The playoffs are all about doing everything you can to make sure your starting lineup is as strong as possible each week you are still alive.
And to that point, there is no longer a “consensus” top waiver wire pickup for Week 15. Sure, most people may be pointing to a RB this week -- but if you have your starting RBs set and have been streaming QBs, then your top target this week is a QB. Forget depth at this point in the season. Not that you want no depth, but your starting lineup is vastly more important. At the end of the day, you need your starters to outscore your opponent, or your season is over. So grabbing that top streaming QB does your team a whole lot more good than getting that RB. Also, for you teams on a first round bye, your homework is not over this week -- you just have to look past Week 15 and grab those Week 16 streamers a week early.
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Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Targets for Week 15
Taysom Hill is the top QB add if he remains out there in any leagues. In deeper formats he is definitely rostered, but he is available in enough leagues that I had to include him just in case. He scored over 26 fantasy points in Week 14 as he threw for just 175 passing yards and no touchdowns, but he rushed for 73 yards and two touchdowns. In Week 13 he topped 20 fantasy points despite throwing four interceptions because he ran for over 100 yards. He has now made six career starts and averages 21.87 fantasy PPG, with at least 17.5 in every game. It may not always be pretty with Hill, but for fantasy, it is always effective. He is a QB1 moving forward.
Tua Tagovailoa was let go in some leagues when he was on bye in Week 14, and if one of those is your league and he remains out there, grab him. Tagovailoa has shown to be a safe floor option, but he could showcase some upside this week against the Jets. Since Week 5, QBs have averaged 20.78 fantasy PPG against the Jets, with all but three topping 20 fantasy points. Of those three, they all topped 15 and two topped 17.5 fantasy points. Every QB who faced them in that span finished with multiple touchdowns -- including Tagovailoa who faced them in Week 11 and scored 17.52 fantasy points, throwing for 273 yards and two scores. He is a strong streaming option in Week 15.
Justin Fields was back in our fantasy lives in Week 14 and played well, throwing for 224 yards and two scores with a team-high 74 rushing yards. The one knock was he had three turnovers, but it was against a tough Packers defense. Fields has now topped 18 fantasy points in his last three full games and faces a Vikings defense that gives up the third most fantasy PPG to QBs this season. In fact, four of the last six QBs to face the Vikings topped 19 fantasy points, with two topping 30. Fields is a good streaming option next week, and to make things more fun, he plays on Monday Night.
Rashaad Penny was featured here last week, but if he was not added he definitely should be now. He would be the consensus top add this week, all things in a vacuum. He is healthy and showing that explosiveness we had to wait years to see. In Week 14 Penny played 58 percent of the snaps, carrying the ball 16 times for 137 yards and two touchdowns. He was targeted just once, catching it for one yard. It was a great matchup, but players are supposed to take advantage of those. He faces the Rams next week, but due to the volume and burst he showed, he remains a flex option. Things get better with the Bears and Lions after that.
Jeff Wilson Jr. disappointed in Week 14, but Elijah Mitchell remains banged up and the 49ers have a great upcoming schedule facing the Falcons, Titans and Texans in the fantasy playoffs. If Mitchell misses more time, Wilson would be an RB2 with upside in those favorable matchups. Also, use this as a lesson for the value of having your RB handcuffs on the roster. So many of the top waiver wire claims are backup running backs whose starter goes down to injury. You do not want to be in a position where you cannot get your starter.
That is why you want to grab D'Ernest Johnson if you have Nick Chubb or Kareem Hunt. Hunt is already banged up, and Johnson has shown us he is a stud whenever he gets the chance to start. That is the type of back you want to stash.
Also, in Los Angeles Austin Ekeler exited early due to an ankle injury. It was a blow out and they are saying he is okay, but its worth mentioning that they have the short week playing the Chiefs on Thursday night. In his absence last week, Justin Jackson and Joshua Kelley each played 27 percent of the snaps. Jackson logged nine carries for 35 yards, while catching his lone target for seven yards. Kelley ran for 33 yards on 10 carries while catching his only target for five yards. It was basically the pointing-Spiderman-GIF for these two backs. There is also the possibility Larry Rountree III is utilized if Ekeler misses time. I would rank them Jackson, Kelley, Rountree for fantasy purposes, just in case.
Malcolm Brown, a forgotten man for much of the year, is eligible to return from the IR this week. And it couldn’t come at a better time for Miami as currently, Myles Gaskin, Salvon Ahmed and Phillip Lindsay are all on the COVID list. All three of these Dolphins running backs are reportedly vaccinated and have a shot to play, but it's all heavily up in the air. That noise you hear is also Duke Johnson arising from 2015 waiver wire articles like the Undertaker out of a casket. If none of the Dolphins active backs can suit up, we likely see a committee of Brown and Johnson -- meaning both would be streaming options in deeper formats, solely because they face the Jets who allow by far the most production to RBs. Stash these two just in case, with Brown being the preferred add.
Craig Reynolds played 45 percent of the snaps and lead the Lions with 11 carries for 83 yards. He also caught both his targets for 16 yards, giving him 99 total yards and double-digit fantasy points. Godwin Igwebuike also played 45 percent of the snaps and had eight carries for 25 yards. Both of the Lions backs would be in play as deeper streaming options, with Reynolds as the preferred add, if both D'Andre Swift and Jamaal Williams were to miss Week 15 against the Cardinals.
Amon-Ra St. Brown is no stranger to this column, in fact he may be pushing Russell Gage for the player included in it the most this season. ARSB saw 12 targets in Week 14, catching eight for 73 yards. It is his second straight game with 12 targets, scoring 15.3 and 24.8 fantasy points in those two. Plus, he has been used in the red zone more, with three red zone targets in his last two games combined. The increased volume means he is definitely worth being rostered in deeper formats. If you need a wide receiver and he is out there, he would be my top target this week.
Rashod Bateman always finds a way to drag me back in, even when I think I am out. Bateman saw eight targets, catching seven of them for 103 yards -- his best fantasy day of the season. Bateman has shown he can play, but the volume had disappeared as of late, so it is great to see a concentrated passing attack once again between Andrews, Bateman and Brown. The one thing worth pointing out is that all of the production came with Tyler Huntley in the game. I do not love trusting Bateman in the fantasy playoffs, but if you are going a little deeper, he is a flex option with upside.
Speaking of upside, if you are in need of it in a deeper format then you can take a shot on one of two inconsistent receivers: Robby Anderson or Donovan Peoples-Jones. Anderson led the Panthers with 12 targets and seven catches in Week 14, going for 84 yards and a touchdown. It was the most targets Anderson has seen in any game this season. Anderson had eight targets, four catches, 45 yards and his touchdown from P.J. Walker, while he had four targets, three catches and 39 yards from Cam Newton. We have seen him have some big volume games before and not build off it, but he has been more involved as of late. DPJ on the other hand led the Browns with 90 receiving yards on five catches. His seven targets were tied for the second-most on the Browns. Peoples-Jones has seen at least five targets in three straight games and remains Cleveland’s best deep threat. He is a boom-or-bust option each week, but if you are diving deeper for some upside, he is a name for you. Be sure to also keep an eye out on the COVID news for the Browns this week. Jarvis Landry has been placed on the COVID list as of Tuesday, which would likely increase the targets volume for DPJ if Landry can't play.
Austin Hooper saw seven targets, catching five of them for 30 yards and a touchdown. The seven targets were tied for the second most on the Browns. It was also his second time with seven targets in the last three weeks. He now has five or more targets in three of the last four games, with over nine fantasy points in all three of those games. He is the top streaming tight end against the Raiders who allow the second-most fantasy PPG to tight ends. Similar to Landry, just be sure to monitor the COVID news for Hooper as he was also placed on the COVID list on Tuesday.
Speaking of great streaming matchups, can I introduce you to Ricky Seals-Jones? He gets the Eagles this week and then again in Week 17. Philly allows the most catches (6.8) and yards (67.2) per game to the position, a league-leading 11 touchdowns, and the most fantasy PPG (18.72). If you have been streaming tight ends, take a shot on the matchup here.
Gerald Everett only saw two targets in Week 14, but he caught them both for 15 yards and a touchdown. He is a big factor for Seattle in the red zone, as he has at least one red zone target in each of his last four games (and five total in that span). He has also scored a touchdown in two of his last three games. He always has a chance of scoring a touchdown for those streaming tight ends.
Defenses to Stream in Week 15: Dolphins, 49ers, Jaguars, Texans
Defenses to Stash to stream in Week 16: Falcons, Chargers, Eagles, Jaguars, Jets
Make sure to follow Michael on Twitter @MichaelFFlorio
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