LAST-MINUTE Week 15 Fantasy Football Start 'Em, Sit 'Em, Advice, Actives/Inactives & Q/A! (12/14 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

Fantasy Football Today – LAST-MINUTE Week 15 Start 'Em, Sit 'Em, Advice, Actives/Inactives & Q/A!

Date: December 14, 2025
Hosts: Adam Aizer, Heath Cummings, CBS Sports analysts

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Episode Overview

This fast-moving episode delivers critical, last-minute fantasy football insights for Week 15, including weather effects, lineup decisions, injury news, and a rapid-fire listener Q&A. The crew sorts through tricky start/sit choices, highlights trending running backs, and braces managers for late-breaking actives/inactives to maximize their chances at playoff victory. The conversational, occasionally irreverent tone keeps high-stakes fantasy decisions both approachable and actionable.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

Impact of Weather on Lineup Decisions

• Cold & Precipitation: Most games in the Northeast and Midwest are extremely cold, but there's little precipitation expected that will seriously disrupt passing games.

  • “It’s cold, Heath.” (Adam Aizer, 02:13)
  • “Any changes to your rankings based on weather?” (Adam Aizer, 02:15)
  • “I do not see a place where I think precipitation is going to change the passing game. … [but] several teams have over/unders much, much lower than you would anticipate.” (FF Analyst, 02:22)
  • “The Northeast is very cold and the Midwest… It’s really cold today.” (Heath Cummings, 03:43)

• Games of Note for Weather:

  • Chicago, Philadelphia, New York: Very cold, but precipitation shouldn't play a big role.
  • Seattle: Rain possible, but not a major concern.

Key Player Updates and Start/Sit Advice

• Devon Achane expected to play.

  • Start him. (Adam Aizer, 04:38)

• Josh Jacobs expected to play at Denver (tough matchup).

  • Ranking drop: RB18, with several RBs (Woody Marks, Quinton Judkins, RJ Harvey, Ashton Genti, Travis Etienne) preferred over Jacobs in PPR.
  • “If you have a Kyle Pitts on your team, just go ahead and play the guy with the better floor. If you're playing against Kyle Pitts, … aim for a little upside this week.” (FF Analyst, 05:34)

• Washington RBs:

  • Chris Rodriguez (groin) – if out, “Bill” (assume Brian Robinson Jr. or Antonio Gibson) gets a bump and becomes flex viable.
    • “Bill would be ranked higher if Rodriguez is out…” (FF Analyst, 06:20)

• Chargers RBs:

  • “Ride the hot hand." No clear favorite, proceed cautiously.

• Judkins (OL Miss), upgrade after Jerome Ford and Dylan Sampson ruled out.

  • "Wind chills below zero… wouldn’t really want to try to tackle Quinshon Judkins when the wind chill is below zero.” (FF Analyst, 07:15, 07:24)

• Arizona RBs:

  • “If you’ve been riding the BAM train, you might want to consider hopping off… D. Mercado has been much, much, much more efficient running the football… Knight is down to RB35 for me. D. Mercado is RB45.” (FF Analyst, 07:45)

Wide Receiver & Quarterback Injury News

• Brady Cook starts for the Jets – Start the Jaguars DST

  • "Start at the Jaguars DST." (Heath Cummings, 09:41)

• Philip Rivers (COLTS) expected to start

  • More upside for pass-catchers Pittman, Pierce, Downs
  • “This could be disastrous… but I think there’s more potential upside for the pass catchers with Rivers at quarterback” (FF Analyst, 10:53)

• Marvin Harrison Jr., T. Higgins both out.

• Romo Odunze (Bears) possibly in, would still view Luther Burden as a borderline WR3.

  • “Roma Odunze right around wide receiver 27, high-end WR3. I would start him over the Colts.” (FF Analyst, 11:11)

• Debo Samuel – questionable with illness, but expected to play.

• Quentin Johnston – questionable, truly up in the air.

• Devante Adams – expected to play.

• Jake Ferguson (Cowboys) expected to play, but not a preferred fantasy TE.

  • “He’s not a top 12 tight end for me anyway, so I’d really rather not.” (FF Analyst, 12:10)
  • Preference for Theo Johnson at tight end.

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Notable Listener Q&A (Rapid-Fire Advice)

QB/Flex Decisions

• J.J. McCarthy or Marcus Mariota?

  • “Mariota, for sure.” (FF Analyst, 12:29)

• Caleb Williams or Sam Darnold?

  • “Very, very close one. I’ve got Caleb.” (FF Analyst, 13:26)

RB Start/Sits

• Kamani Vidal or Blake Corum?

  • “Back to back, slight lean towards Corum for me.” (FF Analyst, 12:38)
  • Heath prefers Vidal for PPR formats.

• Breece Hall or Roma Odunze or Luther Burden? (PPR)

  • “I would go Breece Hall.” (FF Analyst, 13:34)

• Breece Hall vs. Jordan Addison or Ricky Pearsall

  • “Well, you guys are making me say start Breece Hall a lot more than I was.” (FF Analyst, 13:41)

Defense

• Browns at Chicago vs. Panthers vs. Saints
  • “If you wanted to get away from the Browns, I would… I don’t really like the Saints… I would definitely start the Browns.” (FF Analyst, 14:09)

Final RB Choices

Pick two: Javonte Williams, Rico Dowdle, Travion Henderson, Devin Neal, Quinshawn Judkins

• “Definitely starting Javonte and Dowdle.” (FF Analyst, 14:34)

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “Wind chills below zero… I wouldn’t really want to try to tackle Quinshon Judkins when the wind chill is below zero...” (FF Analyst, 07:24)
• “This could be disastrous… but I think there’s more potential upside for the pass catchers with Rivers at quarterback.” (FF Analyst, 10:53)
• “Roma Odunze right around wide receiver 27, so high-end WR3. I would start him over the Colts.” (FF Analyst, 11:11)
• “Adam always knows that because I don’t memorize [defensive rankings].” (FF Analyst, 14:03)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Topic | |-----------|-------| | 02:00–04:03 | Weather analysis and its impact on fantasy lineups | | 04:33–07:45 | Key RB news: Achane, Jacobs, Rodriguez, Judkins, Arizona RBs | | 09:41–12:10 | QB/WR news: Jets, Colts, Marvin Harrison Jr, Debo Samuel, Jake Ferguson | | 12:21–14:37 | Lightning round: Listener Q&A (start/sits, defenses) | | 14:34 | Last major question—RB start/sit |

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Episode Tone

Conversational, insightful, and occasionally tongue-in-cheek. The hosts balance fast-paced advice with detailed rationale, aiming to instill confidence for playoff-bound fantasy managers making difficult, last-minute lineup choices.

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Summary

This episode delivers dense, actionable Week 15 fantasy football advice for managers scrambling with weather concerns, injury shakeups, and start/sit dilemmas. The nuanced takes, willingness to adjust based on weather and depth charts, and unfiltered real-time Q&A make this a must-listen for anyone seeking scoring edges in fantasy football’s most critical week.

Transcript

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[Adam Azer]

Can we trust Josh Jacobs today? Can we trust Philip Rivers today?

[Heath Cummings]

Do we care about the weather? Let's find out right now on Fantasy Football Today Express. All right, it is week 15, it is Sunday and we are ready to set those lineups. Welcome everyone.

[Adam Azer]

Adam Azer.

[Heath Cummings]

Heath Cummings.

[Adam Azer]

All right, so it's gonna be. It's cold, Heath.

[Heath Cummings]

It's really, really cold. Any changes to your rankings based on weather?

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

The weather outside is frightful. Yeah, for sure. And I have mostly just let the over under speak to the temperature because those do often go down when the. The what? The Air gets colder. I do not see a place where I think precipitation is going to change the passing game. I don't see a place where I think wind is going to change the passing game. But we, it probably should be said that we have several teams that have over unders much, much lower than what you would anticipate. And that game in Chicago is going to be brutal. I think the Chargers are going to be very cold in Kansas City Packers, Bears is. That's not, it's not Packers, Bears this week. Where else is it cold? Philadelphia is. I think it's really.

[Heath Cummings]

Well, I mean I Woke up at 4:30 in the morning to the sound of a snowplow. So it is, it's snowing here apparently in New York. Apparently it's going to stop before the game starts. But New York, Philadelphia, cold as heck. Probably no snow during the game. You know, if you have to in a super flex league I. He is so bad in cold weather throughout his career and it's going to be really cold there on Monday. So it's the Northeast essentially. Could be a little rainy in Seattle. It's been some bad weather there.

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

It's raining there before.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah but like it's been really rainy there. But I would just say the Northeast is very cold and the Midwest, I mean it's cold. It's, it's. It's really cold today. We'll see. I thought the weather was going to have more an effect lat. More of an effect last week it didn't at all. So I guess not much to say. Heath.

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

I mean no, I, I don't really think so. Like I think that the one that looks the most concerning is the, the Commanders and the Giants which is a little bit concerning for me because I'm extremely high on Jackson Dart. But that's also the one where the over under hasn't really changed that much. It's still 46 and a half. We've got games in the 30s this week. All right, so they don't seem to be concerned the. The odds makers or the, or the betters at least that Jackson Dart's not just going to have a great day.

[Heath Cummings]

All right, let's fly through the news now. Devon Hn expected to play.

[Adam Azer]

Start him.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay. Josh Jacobs is expected to play at Denver. It's a tough matchup and they've got a game. As Adam Schefter pointed out, they're mindful that they have a game on Saturday next week. Starters at Josh Jacobs.

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

So I think I was earlier in the week a little lower on him than consensus. I've lowered him a little bit more. He's, he's going to be right around RB18 for me. So I, I think if you have a Woody Marks, I'd start him over Josh Jacobs. If you have a Quinton Judkins or an RJ Harvey, I would start them over Josh Jacobs in full ppr. I'd rather start Ashton Genti. I'd certainly rather start Travis ctn. We love him this week, but I can't quite get to the point of starting Ken Walker, who, who knows how many touches he's gonna have even when he's healthy. Or Kyron Williams or Trayvon Henderson or DeAndre Swift or Tyrone Tracy. Now, I think, I think with all of those guys, they have higher floors than Jacobs does. So it might be as simple as if you play, if you have Kyle Pitts on your team, just go ahead and play the guy with the better floor. If you're playing against Kyle Pitts, you probably had to aim for a little upside this week.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay. I think Jacobs is the toughest call of the week and we'll talk about him a lot on the Sunday morning live stream, 11am to 1pm eastern. YouTube.com fantasy football today Christian McCaffrey is expected to play. You can start him. Coach Chris Rodriguez, one o' clock game, so we'll know. But he's going to test his groin injury pregame. He may not play. And we, we know, you know, it's the best matchup in fantasy, but we're not super high on a commander's running back. But if he's out, would you, would you start, would you think about starting Bill?

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

So Bill would be ranked higher if Rodriguez is out than Rodriguez is right now, partially because Bill might actually catch one or two passes, partially because they won't have to split the work up in the running game quite as much if Rodriguez isn't. I think I'd probably have Bill somewhere right behind the Tony Pollard, Kyle Menon guy. I, I still might like both Giants running backs more, but certainly I'd like Tyrone Tracy more. He'd be in the flex conversation, not in the starting running back conversation.

[Heath Cummings]

All right, a few more running back notes. The Chargers are going to ride the hot hand at running back. Would you start Tyrone Tracy Jr or Amari and Hampton?

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

I've got Hampton one spot higher than.

[Heath Cummings]

Tracy, but behind Jacobs.

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

I've got Tracy one spot higher than Hampton. I'm sorry, both behind Jacobs.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay. Jerome Ford and Dylan Sampson are out. Was that an upgrade? And Jerome Ford's on ir. But is that an upgrade for Judkins?

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

That, that is certainly an upgrade for Judkins. I also think wind chills below zero.

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Yeah.

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

Probably mean that. I, I wouldn't really want to try to tackle Quin Sean Judkins when, when the wind chill is below zero. So yeah, it should be a little more work in the passing game in a decent day for him to run.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, that, that one's gonna be really cold. That Chicago, Cleveland at Chicago. Nick Chubb is not expected to play and Amari D. Mercado is expected to play Heath. And what does that mean at Houston?

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

That means if you've been riding the, the BAM train, you, you might want to consider hopping off. Looking at their last two full games that they played together, I think it was weeks nine and 10. It was about a 37% rush share for BAM and 31% for DeMarcado. And if you remember, DeMarcado has been much, much, much, much, much more efficient running the football than. Than BAM has. Bam's a 3.2, 3.3 yards per carry guy. D. Mercado is averaging 7.8. He's broken several long ones as of right now. And, and this will be updated throughout the morning. Knight is down to RB35 for me. D. Mercado is RB45. So I, I'd really like to not start an Arizona running back if I could.

[Heath Cummings]

All right, we're going to take a break. Wide receiver news, quarterback news when we come back on Fantasy football Today Express.

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[Heath Cummings]

All right, we're back. Brady Cook is going to start for the Jets. Start at the Jaguars DST Philip Rivers is expected to start for the Colts. He averaged 260 yards passing per game in his last season in the NFL. So Michael Pittman, Alec Pierce, what are you doing with Tyler Warren? Josh Downs?

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[Heath Cummings]

What are you doing here?

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

I I think it's I Tyler Warren I feel just a little bit better about and we were starting him anyways. He's always been in our top 12. This week he's probably going to be closer. Really tough decision for me between Juwan Johnson, Theo Johnson and Tyler Warren this morning and earlier in the week when we thought it was Riley Leonard, it was definitely for me going to be the Johnsons over Warren. I think he's right in that tight end seven eight range and I think most people who are starting Michael Pittman or Alec Pierce are doing so because I have to and this gives you a little bit more hope for them as wide receiver threes. This could be disastrous. Like it might just go horribly wrong. But I think there's more potential upside for the pass catchers, particularly just in terms of catches and completed passes with Rivers at quarterback.

[Heath Cummings]

Marvin Harrison Jr. Is out. Oh, by the way, Kenny Pickett starting for the Raiders today at Philadelphia. Marvin Harrison Jr's out. We've been going the whole week based on that. T. Higgins is out. Again, not a surprise. The Bears are optimistic about Romo Dunze. Would you consider starting him? And, and is this if he plays, is that is that the the end of the Luther Burden show?

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

I wouldn't quite say the end of the Luther Burden show because he was getting five or six targets when Odun was playing earlier. They had already started to play Burden more. Maybe it's the end of the DJ Moore show. I currently have Roma Dunes a right around wide receiver 27 so a high end wide receiver 3. I would start him over the Colts. I've got Burden behind Pittman, but still a borderline wide receiver. Three.

[Heath Cummings]

All right. And Pat Bryant is out for Denver so that could mean Troy Franklin gets his role back. Debo Samuel is questionable with an illness, but I think he is expected to play. Quentin Johnston is questionable that one he might not play. Keep an eye on that. Devonte Adams is expected to play. Brandon Iuk is out for the season and Jake Ferguson is expected to play. It's. That's a Sunday night game. Are you cool starting Jake Ferguson?

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

He's not a top 12 tight end for me anyway, so I'd really rather not. Theo Johnson, I think, is still available on the waiver wire. I'd much rather start Theo Johnson than Jake Ferguson.

[Heath Cummings]

All right, let's answer some questions now for a minute or two. J.J. mcCarthy or Marcus Mariota?

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

Mariota for sure.

[Heath Cummings]

Michael Wilson or Juwan Jennings? Michael Wilson, Kamani Vidal or Blake Corum?

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

I. Those guys are RB40 and RB41 for me. So back to back, slight lean towards Quorum for me.

[Heath Cummings]

I'll. I'll take a lean toward Videl. Corum almost never catches a pass, so that would be my tiebreaker there.

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

It's just. I. I could see. And it might be like the third running back again, but this should be a game. I. I think. I think we're still gonna have a bunch of running back touches for the Rams.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, I mean, Lions have the best, you know, they.

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

They do.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah. They're the number one team against running backs, and they had. Their secondary is. Is just torn apart right now. But the Rams always run the ball. Doesn't matter who they're right? Caleb Williams or Sam Darnold?

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

Another very, very close one. I've got Caleb.

[Heath Cummings]

All right. Full ppr. Breeze hall or Romo Dunesay or Luther Burden?

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

I would go Bristol.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah. Okay. Another Breeze Hall. Breeze Hall. Jordan Addison or Ricky Pearsall?

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

Well, you guys are making me say start Bruce Hall a lot more than I was.

[Heath Cummings]

I know we really don't want to, but this case, we will. Defense here. The Browns at Chicago. The Panthers or the Saints in their.

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

Matchup, I think those are all good options. I have to pull my defensive rankings up. Adam always knows that because I don't memorize.

[Heath Cummings]

I don't like the Browns. The Browns haven't been that good lately, and the Bears are one of the worst matchups.

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

I don't really mind the Browns. I don't like the Panthers. So if you wanted to get away from the Browns, I would. I would definitely go. I don't really like the Saints. Yeah, I would definitely start the Browns.

[Heath Cummings]

Maybe I go to the Browns. All right, let's go.

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

Yeah, I don't like any of them.

[Heath Cummings]

I don't like any of them. Last one, start. Two. Javante Williams, Rico Dowdle, Travion Henderson, Devin Neal, Quinshawn Judkins.

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

I definitely am starting Javante. And double.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay, thank you, everybody, for watching. You need more help? Tune in at 11am Eastern. YouTube.com fantasy football today.

[Fantasy Football Analyst]

We'll see you there.

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