“Shore Thing Sleepers” isn’t your ordinary fantasy football Week 15 start/sit article. Instead, our analyst duo of Seth Woolcock and Nate Polvogt highlight lower-valued players that can provide starting-caliber production for a specific week. These are usually players near the end of your bench or even on the waiver wire/free agency. You can catch an additional sleeper pick live at the end of our weekly in-season Friday podcast episode.
Rostership percentages are based on ESPN Points Per Reception (PPR) redraft fantasy football leagues.
Week 15 Start/Sit Consideration: Shore Thing Sleepers
Hunter Henry (TE, New England Patriots) | 30.4 Percent
It hasn’t been a boom year for Patriots tight end Hunter Henry. After finishing 2021 as the PPR TE10, he’s managed to finish as a TE1 only four times this season. However, last week, in the absence of wide receivers Jakobi Meyers and DeVante Parker, Henry had one of those weeks, catching all three of his targets for 70 receiving yards. While he didn’t manage to find the endzone, he finished Week 14 as the PPR TE10.
The Patriots travel to Las Vegas this weekend to play an improving Las Vegas Raiders. They have won three of their last four and are averaging 26.3 points per game in that stretch. New England has playoff aspirations and will need to score to stay in this game. Likely without Parker again to stretch the field, quarterback Mac Jones will turn to Henry against a defense giving up an average of 10.3 PPR points to tight ends over the last three weeks. He can finish as a top-12 tight end in Week 15. His boom potential is top-five upside for the first round of your fantasy playoffs. – Nate Polvogt
Aaron Rodgers (QB, Green Bay Packers) | 73.9 Percent
It hasn’t been a great season for Aaron Rodgers in real life or for fantasy football. However, he’s had a safe floor, finishing worse than the QB20 just once. Over the last month, the back-to-back NFL MVP has averaged two passing TDs and 193 yards per game. This includes the injury-shortened game against Philadelphia.
Rodgers comes off the bye week and should be as healthy as he’s been in a while. He will also have his full disposal of weapons back, with Allen Lazard, Christian Watson, Randall Cobb and Romeo Doubs all active. He’ll face the Rams’ defense that has returned to being a plus-matchup in the last month. Before Derek Carr’s Week 14 “Thursday Night Football” stinker, the Rams had surrendered three straight QB1 finishes to Patrick Mahomes, Geno Smith and Andy Dalton. With possibly no Aaron Donald and multiple injuries in the linebacking corps, I like Rodgers to put up a surprising QB1 finish to kick off the fantasy football playoffs. – Seth Woolcock
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