Fantasy Football Week 15: Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em

Welcome to The Big Lead’s weekly start ’em, sit ’em column. We are here to dig into the toughest decisions you may be facing for your fantasy matchup in Week 15 of NFL action and give you answers. Some of those answers may even be right!

Presenting our Week 15 start ’em, sit ’em calls.

Moore has put forth three straight games of quality fantasy production, with 15-plus points in each of those contests with a bye mixed in there. Justin Fields has gone his way constantly, with Moore receiving at least nine targets per game during this stretch. It took a while but Fields and the Bears’ coaching staff finally realized they should be getting the ball to Moore constantly; the fact that Fields has decided to play football well at the same time is a happy accident. However it does feel like they’re due for a down week and a matchup with the Browns in Cleveland is a guarantee for a low-scoring game. SIT ‘EM

Adams’ fantasy statline this week was underwhelming but actually quite impressive when you take into account that the Raiders scored zero points. His fantasy stock has a much lower ceiling with Aidan O’Connell throwing him passes but there’s also a much higher floor because O’Connell is smart enough to know that he should be throwing it to Adams as often as possible. This is evident by Adams averaging nearly 10 targets per game over the last five weeks. His statline should look a lot better against a soft Chargers defense on Thursday. START ‘EM

Mixon has been unleashed as a fantasy contributor after Joe Burrow went down for the year and had an excellent 20-point showing this past Sunday. However, the game also showed the Bengals are making a clear and concentrated effort to rotate in plenty of snaps and touches for backup RB Chase Brown. Can Mixon be trusted down the stretch run? Probably, but the combination of the rotation Cincy is putting him in and an extremely tough Vikings front waiting next week means we’d suggest going with a different option. SIT ‘EM

Mahomes has avoided this list all year because most fantasy players do not have multiple quarterbacks on the roster to choose from and, well, he’s Patrick Mahomes. We’ve spent months assuming water would find its level or Mahomes would explode for some obscene point total despite the jokesters the Chiefs are trotting out there at receiver. And yet Mahomes has only topped 20 points twice in the last 10 weeks. He’s put up 13 points two weeks in a row. All of us are staring down the barrel of fantasy football playoffs. Can you afford to keep rolling with him? We believe so. Mahomes is going to play angry against the Patriots on Sunday and New England is a bad team, even if their defense remains decent. Bet on the frustration an all-time great QB will take out on a worse team. START ‘EM

Elliott had a resurgent performance against the Steelers last week, taking over No. 1 back duties after Rhamondre Stevenson went down and capitalizing big-time. Expectations were low because the offense as a whole is extremely incompetent up in New England but they looked like a normal football team for the first time in months and Elliott did the rest. While nobody should expect another game with nearly 30 touches, the Pats have nobody to spell Elliott and it seems Bailey Zappe is a fan of the checkdown pass to the running back. All that means he’s in line for another week with plenty of opportunities against Kansas City. START ‘EM