Week 15 Fantasy Football Sneaky Starts & Sleepers

Dec 11, 2024

Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

All but the luckiest fantasy owners at some point need to find the proverbial diamond in the rough—a waiver wire or bench player capable of putting up some points in a pinch. This weekly feature is dedicated to that part of fantasy football. It's not pretty, but it's part of the game.

I’ll put the defense’s aFPA (adjusted fantasy points allowed) rank in parentheses below. As of Week 4, we are now using only 2024 data for our signature strength of schedule metric, which makes it a great apples-to-apples comparison of each defensive matchup.

Quarterbacks

Jameis Winston, Browns (vs. CLE, 23)

It’s not always pretty, but Winston is the fantasy QB12 since taking over as the starter in Week 8. (He’s the QB8 on a per-game basis.) He’s averaging 315 yards in six starts, and the Chiefs are very good against the run and so-so against the pass. The Browns have had trouble running the ball all year, so Winston should approach (or surpass) 40 pass attempts again.

C.J. Stroud, Texans (vs. MIA, 11)

Stroud’s sophomore season has been disappointing, but he’s relatively safe to deploy at home against a Dolphins defense that is going to put up some points. In the last four weeks, the Dolphins have yielded 339/1 to Aaron Rodgers, 274/2 to Jordan Love, 221/1 to Drake Maye, and 282/2 to Gardner Minshew. In 12 home games with a healthy Nico Collins, Stroud has averaged 306 yards and 1.92 pass touchdowns per game.