Week 15 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Waiver Adds: Adam Thielen, Jalen McMillan, Joshua Palmer, Calvin Austin

Welcome to FantasySP’s Week 15 fantasy football wide receiver waiver wire breakdown! After a few hot weeks of available WRs, I’m not quite as enthusiastic about this week’s top options. With that said, there are still multiple players available in over 50% of leagues who could be real assets to your team during the fantasy football playoffs. Let’s break them down!

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Week 15 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Waiver Adds

Adam Thielen, Carolina Panthers (43.4% Rostered)

This is Thielen’s third straight week being mentioned in this article, and probably the final week that he will remain under the 50% rostered threshold. Since his return from the IR in Week 12, Thielen has comfortably been a top-20 fantasy receiver in the league. He ranks 17th in Half-PPR points per game, 18th in targets per game, and 24th in air yards per game. 

Last week, I mentioned that he was still the Panthers’ WR3 in terms of route participation rate, and that changed on Sunday, as he leapfrogged David Moore to a very solid 86% route participation rate. Meanwhile, Bryce Young has clearly taken a massive step forward, averaging 212 passing yards per game since returning from the bench. That may not sound like much, but it’s a huge step forward from what this Carolina passing offense had to work with before. 

We saw Thielen have a similar hot run to start 2023, in which he ranked as the WR11 in Half-PPR points through the first 11 weeks of the season. With some solid upcoming matchups for the fantasy playoffs (Cowboys, Cardinals, and Buccaneers), I see no reason that the 34-year-old can’t finish strong as a weekly WR3 option for fantasy managers.

Jalen McMillan, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8.4% Rostered)

We move from a 34-year-old veteran hopefully finding one last spark to a 23-year-old rookie who may be breaking out. McMillan was a third-round pick in this year’s draft, and he frankly hasn’t done much for Tampa Bay all season. That changed on Sunday, as he finished with 19.9 Half-PPR points by catching four of six targets for 59 yards and two touchdowns.

Along with having the “rookie wide receiver late-season breakout” narrative on his side, McMillan also had very solid usage in his breakout game. He trailed only Mike Evans with a decent 77% route participation rate, tied for the team lead with a 21% target share and added 27% marks in both air yards share and first-read target share to boot. Baker Mayfield has been cooking all season, and he needs a second target with Chris Godwin done for the season. McMillan won’t score two TDs every week, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the rookie finishes strong and becomes a flex option. 

Joshua Palmer, Los Angeles Chargers (16.6% Rostered)

It wasn’t pretty, but Palmer did lead the Chargers’ receiving offense on Sunday night with Ladd McConkey sidelined. He saw nine targets (a 30% share), catching six for 78 yards. He also easily led the team with an 83% route participation rate, a 47% air yards share, and a 35% first-read target share. That is all excellent usage. 

Of course, McConkey’s return would change this. The last time we saw the talented rookie, he essentially became the entire Chargers’ receiving corps with an absurd 50% target share. However, I’m a little worried that McConkey’s injury situation (he is dealing with both a knee issue and a shoulder issue) is worse than it appears. It’s not a good sign that he was ruled out well in advance of this game, and Jim Harbaugh has been vague about injury situations all season. He may have said that McConkey is just “working through a couple things,” but that’s exactly what he said about J.K. Dobbins just before the running back was placed on IR. Hopefully McConkey is fine, but if he’s not, Palmer will have value as Justin Herbert’s top target.

Cedric Tillman, Cleveland Browns (47.2% Rostered)

He’s gotten lost in the hype of Jerry Jeudy’s back-to-back big games, but Cedric Tillman was arguably the Browns’ WR1 before being sidelined by a concussion. In his four healthy games without Amari Cooper, Tillman led Cleveland in target share (21%), air yards share (31%), first-read target share (26%), and good old-fashioned points per game (15.6). 

Even if he doesn’t reclaim a lead role over the suddenly ascendant Jeudy, Tillman can have value in this Browns offense with the way Jameis Winston is chucking the ball around. If Tillman popped up on your waiver wire over the last two weeks while he was sidelined, now is the time to add him before he returns in Week 15. 

Calvin Austin, Pittsburgh Steelers (2.8% Rostered)

George Pickens missed Week 14, and it wasn’t pretty for the Steelers’ passing offense. Tight end Pat Freiermuth led the team in route participation rate and receiving yards … with 62% and 48. No player saw more than four targets (Mike Williams and Scott Miller), and no receiver posted a route participation rate higher than 52%.

But Pickens is reportedly dealing with a Grade 2 hamstring strain, so he may miss more than just the one week. The Steelers will need someone to step up in their wide receiver room, and the player I’m most excited about is Calvin Austin. Austin, a third-year player out of Memphis, currently leads healthy Pittsburgh WRs in yards per route run and targets per route run, and he is second to only Miller (who has a very small sample) in PFF Receiving Grade. Now, I should note that Austin's marks in all three of those numbers are not exactly inspiring — without Pickens, this is probably the league’s worst receiver room. But someone has to catch Russell Wilson’s moon balls, and Austin is my favorite bet to be that guy. He’s worth considering in deep leagues. 

Ted Chmyz is a fantasy football contributor for FantasySP. Find him on Twitter @Tchmyz for more fantasy content or to ask questions.