Week 15 Fantasy Football Start/Sit Sleepers for Playoffs (2024)

It’s officially the fantasy postseason, or for those unlucky ones, you’re playing to not finish in last place and suffer the punishment. Every decision is more critical, so how about I offer some players who can guide you past the first week of fantasy football playoffs?

As always, I’ll recap last week’s “Shore Thing Sleepers.” On the bright side, I broke my zero-point tight end curse with Pat Freiermuth scoring 6.4 points over projection. KaVontae Turpin joined in on the fun and scored 1.3 points over projection. However, that’s where the bright side stopped, as Geno Smith, Cam Akers, Kimani Vidal and Jalen Nailor all scored 1.2 points or more under projection. The total for the week was 3.7 under projection.

We’ve survived 14 weeks of this 2024 NFL season, so why not survive and last another round with a new edition of “Shore Thing Sleepers” to help with your tricky start/sit decisions?

Fantasy Football Start/Sit Consideration: Week 15 Sleepers

Quarterback

Baker Mayfield (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

Well, Baker Mayfield is definitely baking. It’s just that the former No. 1 overall pick is cooking defenses while also causing turnovers. He’s gone two straight games with a passing touchdown and two interceptions. However, that isn’t stopping him from providing fantasy points.

Ever since Mike Evans returned (with the assist of an easier schedule), Mayfield and the Buccaneers have gone on to win three straight games and lead the NFC South. In the last three games, Mayfield has averaged 290.9 total yards, 1.6 total touchdowns, 1.3 interceptions and 17.3 fantasy points.

Hopefully, the interceptions stop here because he faces the Los Angeles Chargers, who have only intercepted one quarterback in their last five games. That quarterback was Kirk Cousins, who is struggling heavily with his turnovers. In those four games where the Chargers did not record an interception, the quarterbacks are averaging 254.7 total yards, 2.2 total touchdowns and 21.2 fantasy points.

Running Back

Kendre Miller (New Orleans Saints)

We may never find out why Dennis Allen hated Kendre Miller so much. The good news is we don’t need to know after what Miller did last week! In his first game active without Allen as the Saints’ head coach, Miller exploded for 10 carries, 32 rushing yards and a touchdown, good for 9.2 Points Per Reception (PPR) fantasy points!

Instead of check-downs, the original Saints’ offense is currently checking out the nearest medical facility. Derek Carr, Chris Olave and Taysom Hill are out with injuries. Plus, Juwan Johnson popped up on the injury report with a foot injury and was limited in Wednesday’s practice. Even Miller himself got off of the Injured Reserve (IR) with a hamstring injury before last week’s game.

The TCU standout will be with a backup quarterback in Week 15. However, with injuries all around, you could see the Saints using their running back corps to the maximum. Alvin Kamara and Miller are among the healthiest and best playmakers the Saints are putting out on the field this week.

Luckily, they face the Commanders, who are showing signs of struggle against running backs lately. The Commanders have gone two of their last four games allowing a running back duo to both have five or more opportunities. In those games, the RB2 has gone for 43+ rushing yards and 5.9+ fantasy points. Miller must make up for lost time!

Sean Tucker (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

One key piece on why I sneakily like Sean Tucker this week is that Bucky Irving left the game last week with a back injury and did not return. I am not expecting the standout rookie to play on Sunday after not practicing again on Thursday.

Tucker has flashed here and there with the Buccaneers’ going with a “hot-hand” approach for the running back position. Who could forget that 192 scrimmage-yard, two-touchdown and 34.2-fantasy point game in Week 6 against the Saints? How about Week 12, when the whole Tampa Bay running back trio scored a rushing touchdown against the Giants?

It might not even matter if Tucker’s hand is the hottest because in every game this season where he’s had four or more carries, he’s scored at least 4.8 fantasy points. Now, he faces the Chargers this week, who’ve allowed a running back duo to score 8.1+ fantasy points in two of their last five games. Both backs saw 44+ rushing yards and 51+ scrimmage yards in those two games.

I think Tucker and this Buccaneers’ offense are due for another big game.

Wide Receiver

Quentin Johnston (Los Angeles Chargers)

It’s safe to say that I think there are a lot of sneaky fantasy points to be scored in this Buccaneers-Chargers game. Quentin Johnston bounced back from a two-game slump in Weeks 12-13 with five receptions, 48 yards and a touchdown on “Sunday Night Football” in Week 14.

It won’t matter whether Ladd McConkey plays in this game. If you pull up the receiving touchdown leaders this season, you’ll find some surprising names who have scored seven to eight touchdowns this year, including Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Demarcus Robinson and – yes – Johnston.

The Buccaneers are in the middle of the pack for receiving touchdowns allowed to receivers this season with 12. Yet, in three of the last four games, Tampa Bay has allowed a receiver duo to score nine-plus fantasy points! Even better, in two of those games, a receiver trio has scored nine-plus fantasy points! Oh, and that’s with only three wide receivers scoring a touchdown in that span. I think Johnston will be fine without a touchdown, but I won’t complain about a touchdown, especially when he’s already scored seven of them this season.

Ray-Ray McCloud III (Atlanta Falcons)

There’s been a dark cloud over the Falcons, as they are currently on a four-game losing streak. While cloud-watching might not be a hobby of yours, if you look closely enough, a ray of light is gleaming through. It’s Ray-Ray McCloud III! This journeyman might be on his fifth different team of his career, but he’s found a role in this Falcons offense.

During this four-game skid, McCloud III is averaging 5.2 receptions on 6.7 targets for 67.2 yards and 11.6 fantasy points. Although he has the fewest receiving yards of the Falcons receiver trio with Drake London and Darnell Mooney, he is averaging the second-most receptions behind London and more fantasy points than Mooney in this span. McCloud III has also been the highest or second-highest scorer of this trio in three straight games. This is all without scoring a touchdown since Kirk Cousins has apparently lost that endzone touch.

The matchup just makes it that much sweeter. In the last three weeks, the Raiders have allowed the fourth-most fantasy points to the receiver position. The Raiders are also tied with the most receiving touchdowns to receivers in this three-game span with five. Simply put, it does not look great on paper when you face a trio all averaging double-digits in that four-game span. That’s especially true when you’ve allowed a receiver trio to score 7.2+ fantasy points in three straight games.

It sounds like it’ll be “McCloudy With a Chance of Touchdowns” on Monday.

Tight End

Cole Kmet (Chicago Bears)

I don’t know what is going around the NFL, but Cole Kmet is just the latest victim of a starting tight end putting up a goose. He didn’t even get a single target against the San Francisco 49ers last week! That sounds like an outlier game to me.

Kmet has been pretty reliable in his divisional games this season, averaging 4.3 receptions on 5.3 targets for 44 yards and 8.7 fantasy points per contest. Due to a scheduling quirk, all these games happened after Chicago offensive coordinator Shane Waldron was relieved of his duties.

It’s also starting to become a trend to target your tight ends against the Vikings. Minnesota has allowed the most receptions to the tight end position among all teams in the last five weeks. A tight end has seen eight-plus targets in three games during this span, including Kmet’s 10 in Week 12. Those eight-plus target tight ends have averaged 8.3 receptions for 66.6 yards and 15 fantasy points!

He already did it three weeks ago! Why can’t he repeat a similar performance on “Monday Night Football”?

Check out all of our Week 15 fantasy football content:

Thanks for reading this week’s “Shore Thing Sleepers.” If you’re looking for more fantasy content like this or need help with the last-minute fantasy football start/sit decisions for your roster, you can find me on Facebook at “Fantasy Sports Start or Sit’Em Questions,” Twitter/X @FSSOSEQ or on BlueSky!

*Photo Credit: Kirby Lee – USA TODAY Sports*

Ben Siebert

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Week 15 Shore Thing Sleepers (2024)