The Week 15 waiver wire is full of pickup options thanks to injuries and favorable matchups for widely available free agents. If you're still alive in the fantasy football playoffs and play in a FAAB league, it's not the time to be stingy with those dollars. You should be able to plan your lineup out for the next few weeks and know what you need. if you have a need and it's easily available, use those FAAB dollars to go make that pickup. The last thing you'd want is FAAB money sitting in your coffers unused before a season-ending loss.
As such, we won't be highlighting how much of your budget to spend on these players because you either shouldn't have any money left or you should just be spending whatever you have to secure the player you need. Let's get to it!
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Week 15 Fantasy Football FAAB targets: Quarterback
Ryan Tannehill (TEN): He just keeps on producing. Part of the reason it’s so hard to believe that Tannehill is doing so well is because he isn’t throwing the ball that much. He’s been incredibly efficient, with multiple touchdown passes in six of his past seven games. On top of that he has three rushing touchdowns, as well. Next week should be no different. The Texans' secondary is incredibly weak and their pass rush was non-existent last week, save for one sack. Drew Lock made the Houston secondary look terrible, and Tannehill, with how well he’s playing, is a good start next week in the semifinals for most fantasy football leagues. Tannehill will be a popular streamer this week and the following week against New Orleans.
Mitchell Trubisky (CHI): This is a massive risk. I’d much rather prefer Tannehill than Trubisky, but Trubisky’s playing better of late. He has nine total touchdowns in his past three games with at least 240 passing yards in each contest. Unlike the other quarterbacks on this list, Trubisky is throwing it often. He has at least 31 pass attempts in four straight games. The matchup this week against the Packers is a little difficult, let’s be transparent on that. It’s in Lambeau Field for a rematch of the Week 1 snoozefest where the Packers won, 10-3. But if you can get away with Trubisky this week, he gets a home matchup next week against the Chiefs that is more favorable.
Drew Lock (DEN): Denver’s rookie quarterback looked very impressive last week against the Texans. I mentioned David Blough over him last week, and that was a big mistake, as I was concerned about Lock’s pass attempts. And to be fair, he still only threw it 28 times. However, you can’t argue against 300-plus passing yards and three touchdowns. Lock now has five touchdowns in two starts and he gets a matchup against the Chiefs in Week 15. Arrowhead Stadium is difficult to play in, but he proved last week that he could pick apart a secondary, and the Broncos will likely be playing from behind. I wouldn’t recommend him in a 12-team league, but he’s viable in deeper leagues.
WEEK 15 NON-PPR RANKINGS:
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | D/ST | Kicker
Week 15 Fantasy Football FAAB targets: RB
Raheem Mostert (SF): For the second straight week, and in a week where Matt Breida returned, Mostert was the featured back in the 49ers offense. Breida still looked good when he did carry the ball, but this bodes terribly for Tevin Coleman, who has carried the ball just eight times in his last two games. Next week it might all be up in the air again. Sure, Mostert has led the team the past two weeks and he’s scored four times in his past three games. But Breida might get a few more carries, as he's presumably healthier. It’s a mess, but Mostert is definitely worth adding at the moment.
Adrian Peterson (WSH): Derrius Guice (knee) has already been ruled out for Washington’s Week 15 matchup against the Eagles. This presents a tremendous opportunity for Peterson, who has scored in back-to-back games with at least 75 rushing yards in both contests. The good news is that he’ll be fed. The bad news is that he faces the Eagles. Philadelphia allows the third-fewest rushing yards per game, although they have allowed eight rushing touchdowns on the year. It’s not a great matchup, and you still can’t feel great about deploying Peterson, but if you lost Guice or you’re a Josh Jacobs owner, you might be turning to AP in Week 15 with the hopes he finds the end zone once or twice.
DeAndre Washington/Jalen Richard (OAK): Speaking of Josh Jacobs (shoulder), if he’s unable to play again this Sunday then the Oakland backfield is in line for a phenomenal matchup against a terrible defensive line. The Jaguars recently allowed three straight opponents to run for over 200 yards, and last week the Chargers totaled 195 yards and a pair of scores. Washington and Richard likely won’t combine for 200 yards, nor will they likely even get to 150. But it’s still a great matchup for the Oakland running game, especially for Washington, who saw a large amount of the work in Jacobs’ absence.
Patrick Laird (MIA): A week after averaging 0.5 yards per carry, Laird improved to 3.2 YPC with 48 yards on 15 rushes. It also helps his PPR value that he’s caught at least four passes in back-to-back games and three of his past four. The Dolphins will play in their second-straight game in the Meadowlands after playing the Jets last week in New Jersey. Now it's the Giants, and with nobody else really getting touches in the backfield, Laird is an intriguing FLEX play in deeper leagues.
Boston Scott (PHI) – This is primarily a deep-league suggestion. Miles Sanders briefly left Monday night’s game against the Giants, and Scott was featured a little more. Scott finished with 128 scrimmage yards on 16 touches with a touchdown. The injury to Sanders isn’t serious. He was dealing with some cramping due to dehydration, but Carson Wentz became a pretty big fan of Scott in the second half. Again, this is just a deep-league addition. This was also Scott’s first career game with more than 10 touches, but he made the most of them.
MORE WEEK 15:
Waiver pickups | Stock watch | Snap counts | Fantasy playoff tips
Week 15 Fantasy Football FAAB targets: WR
Zach Pascal (IND): I whiffed on mentioning Pascal last week. He left a bad taste in my mouth after putting him in this article a month or so ago. But we won’t be making that mistake again. With T.Y. Hilton (calf) potentially done for the year, Pascal could be the top receiver in the Colts offense. It’s not official that Hilton’s out, but it’s a possibility. In his past two games, Pascal has 12 catches on 19 targets for 183 yards and a touchdown. The Colts get a pretty tempting matchup next week against the Saints on the road in prime time. While it’s a great matchup for the Saints, the Colts offense could put up some points. The Saints secondary has been pretty bad against wide receivers as of late. Pascal is a low-end WR2 for Week 15 and easily the wide receiver you should be looking to add since Hilton might not play again next week.
Anthony Miller (CHI): He didn’t get the target share that we’ve seen from him in recent weeks, but he found the end zone in Week 14, so he remains involved in the offensive gameplan. On four targets, Miller caught three passes for 42 yards and the aforementioned score. He had 33 targets in the three games leading up Thursday, and I like to think they try to keep him involved, especially with a pair of big matchups on the horizon against the Packers and the Chiefs. Do not keep sleeping on Miller -- his ownership is still too low.
A.J. Brown (TEN): Brown looks like he is Ryan Tannehill’s favorite target. Tannehill isn’t throwing it a ton, but he’s a big-play threat as we’ve seen the past couple weeks. In two of his past three games, Brown has recorded more than 130 receiving yards and scored. He’s a solid candidate to score again on Sunday against the Texans at home. He’s fast and very elusive, and it’ll be fun to see him match up against the weak Texans secondary.
Darius Slayton (NYG): With Eli Manning under center on Monday night, Slayton stood out. He finished with a pair of touchdowns and 154 receiving yards. Slayton came into the game with 30 targets in his previous three games, and he’s becoming a weapon that is being featured more and more in the Giants offense. Slayton and the Giants play Miami next week, and he’s definitely a FLEX play, even in shallower leagues.
Diontae Johnson (PIT): This isn’t necessarily a league winner right here, but Devlin Hodges targeted Johnson eight times on Sunday. Johnson caught six of those for 60 yards and a touchdown in a winning effort on the road in Arizona. Now the Steelers get a very difficult matchup next week against the Bills, but it’s a home game, and Johnson now has 19 targets in his past three games. That’s nowhere near the workload of Pascal, Slayton, or Miller, but in deeper leagues he might be worth picking up.
WEEK 15 PPR RANKINGS: Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end
Week 15 Fantasy Football FAAB targets: Tight End
Tyler Higbee (LAR): The ownership is still just too low for Higbee. He now has back-to-back games with seven catches for 100-plus yards. As long as Gerald Everett (knee) remains sidelined, what reason do the Rams have to take targets away from Higbee? Next week the Rams face the Cowboys, and while Dallas has been better against tight ends of late, they struggled mightily earlier in the year and you can’t deny the workload Higbee has been getting lately. The players listed below have better matchups, but Higbee’s been very impressive the past couple weeks and is startable in 12-team leagues.
Ian Thomas (CAR): Thomas stepped in as the starting tight end over Greg Olsen (concussion) and assumed all his targets and then some. Thomas ultimately finished with five catches on 10 targets for 57 yards and a touchdown. Assuming Thomas fills in for Olsen again next week, he gets a great matchup against the Seahawks, who have struggled against TEs all year. Over their past three games, the Seahawks have allowed tight ends to catch 33 passes for 303 yards and two touchdowns.
Hayden Hurst/Nick Boyle (BAL): Assuming Mark Andrews (knee/thigh) is inactive for Thursday’s matchup against the Jets, then Hurst and Boyle could likely benefit from more targets. Andrews did not practice on Monday, but head coach John Harbaugh downplayed the injury and said it wasn’t serious. The two players listed above are better options. Hurst and Boyle are mostly deep-league suggestions, and figuring out who would score between the two would come down to a coin flip.
Week 15 Fantasy Football FAAB targets: D/ST
Cleveland Browns: The Browns defense hasn’t done much since they lost Myles Garrett for the season. They have just three sacks in their past two games, but they’ve held those opponents to a total of 39 points. This week they’ll face the Cardinals, who have been struggling a little bit offensively. It looks as if defenses have figured out Kyler Murray, so this is a good matchup for the Browns secondary. I’d feel better about this game if it were home for the Brownies, but that is not the case. Tread carefully with the Browns in shallower leagues.
Tennessee Titans: The D/ST streamers this week are not great based on availability across a majority of formats. The Titans have one of the better matchups this week, and even it's a little worrisome. The Texans will be out for blood after being embarrassed at home by the Broncos. The Titans, however, have recorded a defensive/special teams’ touchdown in back-to-back games (which isn’t something you can predict), while also forcing four turnovers and five sacks in their last two games. They’re a very sneaky defense and at home we’ll take a gamble on them.