Week 15 Thursday Night Fantasy Football Takeaways: Aidan O'Connell, Davante Adams, Jakobi Meyers, Tre Tucker, Easton Stick, Joshua Palmer and More

Thursday night football continues to puzzle fantasy football owners. The week 15 matchup between the Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers looked like a snoozefest, but instead 84 total points were scored.

Let’s break down some of the numbers from the Raiders 63-21 win and what it means from a fantasy football perspective.

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Raiders’ Top Performers

It really wasn’t a crazy offensive game from the Raiders. Five Los Angeles turnovers led to some short fields, so Las Vegas only finished with 378 total yards of offense.

Quarterback Aidan O’Connell, who was nearly benched before the game, completed 20-of-34 passes for 248 yards and four touchdowns. He wasn’t intercepted, only was sacked once and did not fumble.

It was easily the best game of the quarterback’s first season. He matched his season total in touchdown passes in the contest. It was just his third game without an interception. 

O’Connell’s completion percentage was still poor, but that’s really nitpicking. These type of performances aren’t going to happen often, but O’Connell should have secured himself the starting role for the rest of the season at least. 

By the time the next round of waivers happens, not many fantasy teams will still be alive. I’d only add O’Connell to my team if you have been streaming quarterbacks all year, because he’s got a pretty favorable schedule. O’Connell is definitely worth an add in dynasty leagues, if he’s somehow still available.

With Josh Jacobs out with a quad injury, Zamir White and Ameer Abdullah led the Raiders’ backfield.

White went for 69 rushing yards and a touchdown on 17 attempts, while catching 3-of-4 targets for an additional 16 yards. Abdullah was held to 45 total yards on eight touches.

If Jacobs is forced to miss additional games, White is the guy you want to pick up. Abdullah can be added in deeper leagues, but he’s not likely to get many touches, meaning he shouldn’t be starting.

Davante Adams ended up suiting up after missing practice on Wednesday, and he led the Raiders’ pass catchers. He caught 8-of-12 passes for 101 yards and a touchdown.

Adams is a pretty safe starting option for fantasy purposes, and this effort should ease fantasy owner’s minds and allow them to confidently start him in the final few weeks of the season. 

Jakobi Meyers also caught a touchdown, but it was a passing touchdown that allowed him to post a good fantasy score. He hauled in half of his four targets for 32 yards and a score, while completing two passes for 12 yards and a score.

Seeing Meyers score is great for his fantasy outlook, but I’d still play matchups when determining whether or not to start him the rest of the season.

Tre Tucker, a third-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, easily had his best game on Thursday. He caught 3-of-4 targets for 59 yards and two scores. 

He’s owned in just 1% of fantasy leagues, so he’s going to be a big-time waiver wire option for the fantasy owners still in the hunt for a title. Dynasty owners should also add him if they have a roster spot to play with.

Michael Mayer, another rookie, had a solid outing too. The tight end caught 4-of-5 passes for 39 yards and a score.

It was Mayer’s best outing in about a month, and first touchdown since mid-November. At a weak tight end position, Mayer might be worth a waiver wire add for the rest of the season.

Chargers’ Top Fantasy Players

While the scoreboard wasn’t pretty, several Chargers actually had OK fantasy showings. The defense/special teams was the one that really had the poor showing.

New starting QB Easton Stick had a tough go of things, but had some garbage-time fantasy points to put up a decent number. Stick was 23-of-32 for 257 yards and three touchdowns. He threw a pick-six and lost two fumbles.

Stick put up good yardage, and the three touchdowns were certainly nice for the fantasy owners that needed to start him, but the turnovers were costly. Stick should remain on the waiver wire unless you are in a deep, deep league.

The Chargers’ running game was bogged down. Isaiah Spiller ended up leading the team, while Joshua Kelley and Austin Ekeler got several touches each.

Spiller went for 50 yards on 16 carries. Kelley had 28 total yards on six touches, while Ekeler went for 38 total yards on nine touches. There was talk of a split backfield a couple weeks ago, and now fantasy owners that roster one of those three are wondering if that’s what’s going to happen the rest of the season, or if it was just a product of the lopsided game. It’ll be hard to start any of those guys in standard leagues in week 16.

With Keenan Allen out, not many pass catchers stepped up.

Joshua Palmer returned from his injury and caught all four of his targets for 113 yards and a touchdown. His numbers were boosted by a 79-yard touchdown.

Quentin Johnston also caught a touchdown, but only finished with 23 yards on two catches and three targets. Alex Erickson also caught a touchdown, but had just one grab for 13 yards on two targets.

Tight end Gerald Everett was targeted eight times and made five catches, but for only 41 yards.

While the team’s run game is going to be hard to trust, there’s multiple pass catchers that could be valuable the rest of the season - mostly because Los Angeles might be a pass-heavy team that’s playing from behind a bunch. Allen would obviously be the No. 1 option, but the team could also look to play things safe with his injury and shut him down for the season. 

Palmer is going to be a borderline starter the rest of the way, so I’d try to play matchups with him. Everett will be another borderline starter, but probably should be started in PPR leagues. 

Johnston - and Erickson if Allen misses more time - will be options in deeper leagues. Johnston would obviously be the favorite over Erickson, as the team will likely try to get him rolling to end his rookie season.