Week 15 Quarterback Starts & Sits: Daniel Jones, Tom Brady & More!
Welcome to Week 15. Whether you're in starting your fantasy playoffs or still trying to qualify, this is easily the most important week of the fantasy football season to date. And that means the importance of our start/sit decisions is magnified more than it's been all year. No pressure!
In case you’re new to the column, here’s a quick explainer of what we’re trying to do here (skip down if you’ve been here before). We’re here to wrestle with the decisions that are keeping us up at night. Do you bench a struggling player you took in the second round? Do you take a chance on the guy who has seemingly been playing over his head? Do you sit the high-floor/low-ceiling player for the low-floor/high-ceiling player? We won’t know the “correct” answers until the games are over. But we’re going to do our best to talk through it.
With that said, let's dive into the Week 15 quarterback start/sit decisions that are keeping us up at night.
Start ‘Em
START OF THE WEEK: Daniel Jones, New York Giants
We’ve ridden the Daniel Jones train all year and this week is no time to stop. While I don’t love the matchup against an improved Commanders defense, Jones has put up fantasy points all season and is currently QB10 on the year. Is he a good real-life quarterback? Probably not. But that doesn’t matter much for our purposes. He’s cut down on his mistakes and his legs have provided us a high floor from week to week. Jones just put up a QB1 week against a tough Eagles defense last week and should be able to do similar damage against a lesser Commanders squad this week.
Mike White, New York Jets
It feels weird to trust Mike White at this point in the year, but here we are. While the rib injury worries me, it sounds like White is going to play this week and he’s got a great matchup against a Lions defense that gives up fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks. White finished as QB22 against a tough Bills defense last week, but he should be able to get back on track against Detroit and has a shot at finishing as a top-12 quarterback this week.
Derek Carr, Las Vegas Raiders
Carr has been a bit Jekyll and Hyde this year so I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t trust him. But he’s also been relatively good (minus last week’s game) as of late and has finished as a top-10 fantasy quarterback in four of his last six games. There’s a bit of a game-within-the-game this week as Raiders head coach (and play caller) Josh McDaniels faces his former team, and that familiarity could go either way. With the Patriots issues on defense this season, I’m going to lean the way of thinking that McDaniels (and Carr) will be able to exploit New England’s weaknesses.
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Sit ‘Em
SIT OF THE WEEK: Deshaun Watson, Cleveland Browns
I get it. You’ve waited all season for Watson and finally get to put him in your starting fantasy lineup. But do you want to? In my humble opinion, the answer to that question is a resounding no. Watson looked better against the Bengals last week, but he didn’t do much until late in the game and still only finished with 276 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. He’ll face an improved Ravens defense this week and it just way too risky to rely upon in such an important fantasy week.
Tom Brady, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tom Brady is my favorite football player ever (I’m from Massachusetts. Don’t hold it against me), but I think his days as a fantasy football force have come to an end. While I’ll never bet against the guy, he’s looked like a shell of himself all season, and the Bucs offense has looked like a mess for much of the year. Brady has just as many interceptions in his last two games as he does touchdown passes and has only finished as a top-10 fantasy quarterback three time this season. Brady isn’t an automatic bench (it depends who your other options are), but I’d be looking for another fantasy quarterback this week.
Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers
Rodgers has been on this list for much of the season and for good reason. He has exactly one week this season as a top-10 fantasy quarterback and that finish was QB10. He’s thrown for just 322 yards TOTAL over his last two games and has yet to top 19 fantasy points in a game all season. While the Rams have more or less packed it in for the year, they still have a tough defense so Rodgers has his work cut out for him. Like Brady, Rodgers isn’t an automatic bench, but he’s not even remotely close to an automatic start.
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