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FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast
6 Must-Start Players for Week 15 | The Primer (Ep. 1894)
00:19:35
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This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
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Fantasy pro's fantasy football podcast is brought to you by Grainger. If you work as a maintenance manager, your facility is your home turf and your home field advantage is having a partner like Grainger. They offer trusted professional grade products for every industry from lighting and electrical to safety and everything in between, plus next day delivery. Which is why they always come through in the clutch. Just like you. Call 1-800-granger. Click granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. All right, and welcome into the fantasy pros fantasy football podcast. We've officially arrived at the fantasy postseason, so throw it in park for the week 15 primer episode where we'll give you our top six sleeper starts with matchups to target. I'm your host, Seth Wilcox, and surviving and advancing is what I'm all about. This go around as I have no first round buys in any of my leagues. So dude or die still. And someone who I'm sure has at least a couple of first round buys because, well, that's what he does, man. He's Derek Brown. He is working to the bone every single week to bring you the primer. Debro, how are you? As we get into the win or get home territory of the year, baby.
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Trying to keep the battery recharged as much as we can, dude. But this, we're in the thick of it. We're in the end game. This is the go time, the crunch time. And I, we're all into it, dude. So right now I have three teams I know that have first round buys, but the rest of them, I'm right with you, man. We are living in this world of injuries and uncertainty and we might get Philip Rivers this week. We might get Brady Cook. We don't know what's going to happen, dude. But we're all here for the sleeper starts to get W's and to move on to next week.
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If we're in the end game, Derek, does that make me Peter Parker? And if so, are you Tony Stark? Are you? Who are you? If I'm Peter Parker, I'm just assuming I'm Peter Parker.
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You were definitely Peter Parker. And dude, the quote that I always think of with those movies is he's like, hi, I'm Peter Parker. And he goes, I'm Dr. Strange. And he goes, oh, oh, sorry, we're using our made up names. Okay. I'm Spider Man. I love that. I love that quote so freaking much. I think you could be a doctor. I was fixing to say for the pomp and the sarcasm. I think Strange is probably the closest to me. Now if we're going with favorite Marvel superhero, bro, Thor's Undefeated. And I, I don't care if we're talking about Dunkin Donuts Thor. I don't care if we're talking about like, like 12 pack Thor. I wherever it is, Thor's undefeated. Dude, I love Thor.
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All right, let's give you the Dunkin Donuts Thor. I like that one. That's probably my favorite version.
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So strong. Still a mighty avenger.
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Yes.
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He just likes the Krispy Kremes. It's okay.
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And before we jump into things, folks, shout out to everyone who's joining us either on the Fancy Pros YouTube channel or the audio feed. Thank you so much for all the support this season, especially as things get busy during the holidays. Please give this video a thumbs up and make sure you subscribe to the channel. Help us reach 300,000 subscribers before the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve. We'd really appreciate that. And also if you want a chance to win a sign Bijan Robinson and Drake London on autograph mini helmet for free courtesy of our friends over@pristineauction.com all you need to do is head to fancypros.com contest complete the form either a Go ahead and download the free Fantasy Pros app today, B leave a review for this podcast or C follow us on x Instagram or TikTok. We are at Fantasy Pros. The more actions you complete, the more entries you're going to receive and we will announce a winner right here on the podcast nearing the beginning of next month. So if you're watching on YouTube, be sure subscribe ring the bell so you don't miss any of our shows and so you can be alerted when new episodes are up. And to claim your prize if you are that lucky winner. And Derrick Brown, let's go ahead and jump into the sleeper starts for Week 15, the fantasy football playoffs. Who do you have at your signal caller position?
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So I know he's QB13 in ECR right now, but I think a lot of people are maybe shying away or dealing. Okay, do I start? Marcus Mariota versus whatever name that's right around him in ecr. And I love Mariota this week, man, you know you're getting the rushing equity. Like in his starts this season he's averaged 35.6 rushing yards. We've gotten three quarterback one outings. So he's shown the upside of QB6, QB9, QB3. So like he has flashed a ceiling and a high floor, Seth. And the matchup is fantastic, man. The Giants can't cover anybody. And I know a lot of the picks just looking at our outline today are coming from that game. And I just want to tell everybody, I think this game is a shootout. I think this game is a quiet shootout. Both these defenses are horrible, and if that happens, Marcus Mariota is a top 10 quarterback in fantasy this week. And getting back to it, the giants since week 10, 13th most yards per attempt, highest CPOE out there allowed to quarterbacks in the 11th most passing yards per game. So all the parts are pieces. Rushing equity, the. The weapons are healthier, the defense is bad. Mariota can provide for people this week.
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Yeah, he's the type of quarterback I want to be invested with this time of year. Right. Because we have a little bit of a rushing floor. And he also has QB1 upside with everything going on for the Commanders. And like, I love Terry McLaren being back out there, Derek. To me, that makes a huge difference for this offense. We've already seen it in the. The few matchups that he's been active for this year that we. When Terry's out there, it kind of looks like a little bit of a different team. So I'm with you on Marcus Mariota, and I think the Giants are just gonna be the gift that keeps on giving this holiday season. And speaking of giving, you have a running back in this very game that you're giving to us. Yeah, dude.
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And I'll talk about both these guys together because again, we're staying in the same game. So Tyrone Tracy at RB28, Chris Rodriguez at RB29. Both of these guys, like, dude, Tyron Tracy should be ranked as an RB2 this week. And I think it's just ECR hasn't caught up. So maybe by the time you're watching this, he has bumped up a little bit in the rankings. Right now he's RB28. And I just talked about Rodriguez, RB29. So back to back. But both of these guys are solid starts, man. And Tracy, it's the volume, floor and ceiling. Like, dude, yes. Week 12 before he got hurt. In week 13, this guy got 23 touches and had 130 total yards. He should be ranked as an RB2. Especially when you match up that the Commanders can't stop running backs. Since week 10, they're giving up the second most rushing yards per game and the fourth highest explosive run rate. So Tracy can get it done. And moving over to the other side of the aisle, Chris Rodriguez, man. Like he's an RB3 with RB2 upside if he gets a touchdown this week. Since week 11, he's averaged 12.3 touches, almost 60 total yards per game. I know that there's no pass game utility to be had with him. I get that. But then it's like you're talking about him and versus a lot of other guys in that same area code where you're basically looking at that 12 to 15 touches per week, somewhere in the range of 50 to 70 total yards and do they score a touchdown? Okay, Chris Rodriguez versus the Giants run defense, which since week 10 is top three in everything. They've allowed the most rushing yards per game to running backs, the highest explosive run rate and and the third highest missed tackle rate. So I mean, dude, like all that. This game should provide a lot of fantasy scoring on multiple fronts this week.
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Yeah, I think I'm with you. Especially Seaw. It's been an interesting case because the floor can be low when he's not out there scoring touchdowns. You pretty much need him to get into the end zone. But I think that's definitely a possible scenario here against the Giants where we're only a week removed from or I guess with the bye week, I guess two weeks removed from that three touchdown game from Jameer Gibbs when he went for 50. Like, not that Sea Rod is on that type of level, but this is the type of struggling defense right now, especially against the run that I think he can take advantage of. That Giants front seemed to slow down a little bit as the seasons progressed. Derek, like I was really afraid with sexy dexy Brian Burns Thibodeau and of course my boy Abdul Carter from the the Penn State nitty Lions coming in. They seem to have taken a little bit of juice off that a little bit. So I'm here with both your calls at the running back position and Tracy, it just feels safe this week. It just feels safe. And I don't know how many more running backs would you say are going to get more receptions or targets than him this week? I would say 10, 11. Like he's up in the upper echelon of pass catchers right now with no cam scattered.
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Well, you're dealing with so many split backfields. Like who do you feel better about playing Tracy in a great matchup versus Amaran Hampton or either one of the Steelers backs or anybody from Seattle or Carolina? It's like we are dealing with so many split backfields right now where it's like Tracy, it looks like he's operating in a split backfield. But he go back to week 12, he wasn't. So he could be the guy where it's like people are like, oh, it's a split backfield. Okay. But most recent evidence says he has the upside to not have to deal with that and be a clear workhorse. I'm definitely, I want to grab a hold of that upside and and take it to W's this week, man.
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Yeah, the the only question with Tracy for me, and maybe you have more insight, is who's going to get the work inside the 20. Right. Because Devin Singletary has been a bit of a vulture since Cam Scatter's been gone. He has.
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And to that point I will say Singletary could be the Charbonnet here and he vultures touchdowns. But the other the flip side of that coin, Seth, this run defense has been bad enough that Tracy could break off a long run for a touchdown anyway.
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Okay, yeah, good point. Good point there. And before we keep it moving to the wide receiver sleeper starts dominate your fantasy football league with Fantasy Pros Premium now available for absolutely free on the house for six months when you deposit and place your first wager at any of our partner sportsbooks. This is the easiest way to get full access to our top fantasy football tools all season long. Just go to fancypros.com premium to get yourself started. Started. Now let's go ahead and get to the wide receiver position, Derek, and keep us in this game one more time because I know how you like the Commanders and Giants. You're expecting it to shoot out and not only benefit Marcus, Mario and the running backs, but maybe also one particular wide receiver who's being a bit disrespected in this week's ECR rankings. He is.
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Dude, why in the ever loving heck is Darius slayton at wide receiver 46? Like the. It's. It's the freaking Commanders, dude. They're bad versus wide receivers. They're bad versus deep passing. The role that Darius Slayton operates in should definitely pay off this week. Like since week five I get he's only had a 13.9 target share, but he's at a 14.5 a dot in the six games since week five that he's played in, he's had eight deep targets. He's also shown that he can be a wide receiver two slash wide receiver three. He has three top 36 weekly finishes at wide receiver. 34, 27 and 19. In those six games. You have a Washington pass defense that sucks versus deep passing. They've allowed the third highest completion rate and second highest pass rating to deep passes as well as they cannot stop wide receivers on the perimeter since week 10. 5th most PPR points per target to that position. So fire up your Giants, fire up your commanders. I again think this is going to be a shootout. So, yes, you're starting your Jackson Darts and Wanda Robinsons, but also you got to be considering Darius Slayton. Especially with so many wide receivers out there in the ether that have, like, whether it's rough matchups or questioning quarterback play. Like, yeah, do you feel good about starting any Chargers this week? Do you feel good about starting any freaking Colts this week? Considering the quarterbacks and the matchups and all of those guys, do you feel good about any of those options? You know, and so, like, that leads me back to. Yeah, you need to be really seriously considering the upside and floor of Darius Slayton this week.
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Mm. It's one of those situations where, you know, maybe we can go back to the Marvel endgame reference where Thanos snapped his fingers and all of a sudden, like, complete offenses are gone off the table. The jets, the Colts, like you've named them, they're so gross. You can't get invested with them and feel any type of confidence. I think what is probably deterring people and Derek, I'm sure you had an ear to the ground with this game is that we didn't see a big game from Justin Jefferson. Addison was just okay last week against this commander's defense. I think part of that's just the game script. And the Vikings, when they looked up, they were up, you know, multiple scores and just didn't have to really throw it through the air and. And test J.J. mcCarthy under center.
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Yeah, I think a lot of that comes down to the Vikings trying to, like, ease JJ in and let him have a good game. You know what I mean? Because you saw them, like, once they really up, they started. That's when they started throwing the ball, like, late in the game. So a lot of the game plan for the Vikings last week was just absolutely strangle them and run the freaking ball and kill the clock and walk out with a win and a positive game for J.J. mcCarthy. So, yes, I. I agree with you on that. Like, the other thing is you get a lot of these fringy guys where it's like, the Darius Slaytons, the K, the Khan bout, the guys that are in this type of role, and. And then people are like, but the volume's not there. If he hits, fine, it buries me. But is he going to hit? I don't know. Well, we shall see. And I'm more likely to embrace the upside and ride the lightning with these guys because here's the thing. In a win or go home, it. I mean that's where we're living in right now. Seth do or die it is. Do or die it is. There is no tomorrow if you do not capitalize on today. So for me it is. I want to actualize the ceiling because if the ceiling hits, you're moving on to the next round of the fantasy playoffs. If the floor is not there, screw it, you're losing anyway. So give me the ceiling plays this week, man.
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Maybe you're Captain America. That was a very inspired speech there from our guy Derek Brown. Go ahead, round us out with another receiver play before we get to the sleeper tight end start.
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Chris Evans has more hair than me. I digress.
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But you could be the new. You could still be one of the new new guys.
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Speaking of which, another shout out to one of my favorite Marvel characters that does get enough. Jurax is is a top three character for me. Always has been. Love his character. Fantastic. But again, leading to superpowers and you know, players that could hulk up and give you a lot a ton of points. This week it's Jaden Higgins. Dude, he's wide receiver 41 and I again disrespect in the rankings. Since week 10, Jaden Higgins has been the wide receiver 27 in fantasy points per game.
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Wow.
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He is produced when called upon last week. Again we're talking about game script and understanding context there. Houston was just trying to get out with a win. D' Amico Ryan's played safe in the entire second half of that with Stroud under pressure and it took the ceiling in the floor away from Jaden Higgins. I think we see that come back this week. Arizona Cardinals past events has been God awful since week 10. They're giving up the most PPR points per target to perimeter wide receivers. I think this is another really good spot where Jaden Higgins, I have no problem starting him as a confident flex player wide receiver 3 and I think he can provide wide receiver 2 upside for you this week.
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Yeah, I'm all over Jaden Higgins. I'm certainly playing him in the leagues. I have him specifically my league of record, my home league. I need him to come through for me. Derek. And the interesting thing I think about the Texans that goes a little bit unmentioned sometimes is while this team has one of the best defenses in football, maybe the best right now, they also pass at the Fifth highest rate right now. So, like they're slinging it around and not afraid, whether it's Big neck Mills or C.J. stroud under center to let him uncork it. And so, so I'm, I'm here for. And specifically, like, I love the efficiency that Higgins has had right now. Right now you go out and you look at the quarterback rating per target, 101.6. That is the 27th best. So him and Shroud or Dougie Mills have had a really good connection to Evolate. So now I'm here with you on Jaden Higgins. I don't think the Cardinals put up much of a fight in this game. Hopefully game script doesn't get too far the other direction. And that's the only way. I think maybe he or some of these other Texans pass catchers could have a down week. But Jacoby Reset's been frisky, right. And maybe he protects the ball more than some of the these other quarterbacks Houston's played.
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Yeah. And I think the other side of this is this is one of those games where if Houston wants to like, this is one of those matchups where the other thing that Houston could do is with the up and down nature of this offense of the last few weeks, this is one of those opportunities to where they could just like d' Amica Ryan says, save like, look, press the foot down on the, on the pedal. Let's press the gas and walk out with one of those feel good performances where Houston's offense as a whole feels really good, like going down the rest of the stretch, you know. So I think this is one of those where like they could just honestly just run up the freaking score, man. And I don't think they're wrong in that, so. Or Jacoby Brissette could keep it closer than what we think here. So all signs point to Jaden Higgins. And shout out to Turtle. Turtleneck Mills.
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Shout out Derek. Let's go to the tight end position where fantasy tight ends this season, unless you've had one of these sit or forget options, they've really been, you know, kind of like your background characters, right? The. The people, you might build them out, you might give them a little side movie, but really they're not the people bringing you to the theaters. They're kind of like the Black Widow, if you would. So who is your black widow? Who is your Hawkeye in that vein? Who. Who do you like at the tight end position here in week 15? All or nothing.
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Well, my red guardian for the week will be Juan he is tight end 14 in ECR. I think he's a top 12 tight end for the week and because honestly, that's how he's been producing seth since week nine with Tyler Shuck under center tight end eight in fantasy points per game, he's gotten a 17.3% target share. He's had 1.94 yards per route run. I just don't think that people understand. Like everybody kind of got caught up in all the Devon Val of last week and week before and Juan Johnson's kind of going under the radar this week and he gets a wonderful matchup with the Carolina Panthers, who've given up the six most receiving yards per game and the 10th most fantasy points per game to opposing tight ends. Juan Johnson outside the top 12 in ECR. Lock it in. He's a tight end one week TW tight end one for this week.
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Do you think he is more of a floor play or more of a ceiling play? Derek I only asked that Just because we've only seen three touchdowns doesn't get a ton of red zone targets this season. But the first read Target share among the best at the position, right? 5th 23.1 First Read Share so whether Shuck or Rattler under center, the quarterback has preferred to target Juwan Johnson often and early. It's just often not in the red zone where a lot of these fancy points are coming for the big men.
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No, that's fair. And and I guess I'll take option C here. Seth I think he's a good mix of both, man. I think you're getting a high floor on a weekly basis based off the volume that he gets, right. I think the ceiling is definitively there based off of the matchup this week, so I think it's a good mix of the two.
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Okay, well Derek, I appreciate all the the super information you brought for us today, man. That is going to do it for us in this episode of the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast. Comment down below your favorite week 15 sleeper starts. Maybe your favorite Avengers as well. We want to hear from you. And while you're here, make sure you're smashing that like, button and subscribing to the channel. If you're new for Downtown Derrick Brown, I'm Seth Wilcock. Take care, y'. All. Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast. If you love the show, the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on apple podcasts@fantasypros.com review or on Spotify. Follow us on X Instagram and TikTok antasypros and subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube.com fantasypros. If a Lenovo computer for your business is on your holiday list, don't shop around, just go directly to the source lenovo.com it's your last chance to get exclusive deals on the PCs you want for your business like the ThinkPad X914 Aura Edition and Yoga 7i 2in1. So avoid all that shopping chaos and price comparing and just go directly to the source Lenovo.com where PCs are up to 35% off. That's Lenovo.com Lenovo Lenovo.
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- [22:01]
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