850: Week 15 Sleepers

JJ Zachariason (0:02)

This is the Late Round Podcast with your host, JJ Zacharissa.

What's up, everyone? It's JJ Zachariason, and this episode, 850 of The Late-Round Fantasy Football Podcast, sponsored by FanDuel. Thanks for tuning in. Last week's Sleeper Show, it had its typical hits and misses, but it was one of the stronger ones of the season. On the wrong side of things was Josh Dobbs. He ended up getting benched. Dontavi and Wicks didn't really come through, though he did get hurt in the fourth quarter. And Roshan Johnson didn't have the role that I thought that he would have. Elijah Moore also didn't see a great target share with Amari Cooper active. But Jake Browning and Joe Flacco, they were both good streaming options at quarterback. Juju Smith Schuster had his best outing of the year. Tajay Spears scored 17.8 PPR points, Isaiah Leichli and Kay Dotton both found the end zone, and Chase Brown had a big day.

I'd honestly take that kind of result each week, and I hope that I can get those results for you during these very, very important playoff weeks. Let's get to it.

We'll kick things off by looking at players rostered between 10 and 50 percent of Yahoo! Leagues, and as usual, we'll start at quarterback. I'll just be real with you guys. I don't think the quarterback streaming choices this week are very good. I don't think they're in amazing spots. Everyone will understandably want to play Jake Browning, and I think he's a fine enough play, like a mid QB2 play. But I have some concerns. So instead of just sitting here and saying, hey, Jake Browning's been great the last couple of weeks, I want to give you the downside of Browning, just so that you have both sides when making your decision. Browning faced two top 10 advantageous matchups over his last two games, and that's by adjusted points allowed.

He also scored a rushing touchdown in both of those games. That's not something that we can confidently bank on. He's also seen a high number of yards come on screens.

Minnesota hasn't allowed a QB1 performance since week five. That's who Browning gets this week. They're a bottom 10 opponent by adjusted fantasy points allowed. Browning has the weapons. He has a good offensive environment, but I don't think that it's all butterflies and rainbows. I've seen him disgust with like Matthew Stafford and Sam Howe this week. I'm far more comfortable with those two quarterbacks, more so than Browning. He's still an okay streamer though, because there's really not a ton out there.

Gardner Minchew is another one who's sure, he's fine. He can come through with an okay performance, but like I said on 15 Transactions, I'm not sure the ceiling's there. Regardless, Minchew gets Pittsburgh, the cult of the 11th best implied team total on this week's slate, and the Steelers are coming off a game where Bailey Zappi finishes the QB7. Again, I don't love Minchew necessarily, but I think he's fine if you're struggling at the position.

Next up, Joe Flacco. I think all three of these quarterbacks are sort of in the same tier this week. Chicago is the best matchup on paper of the group, ranking 15th and adjusted points allowed for quarterbacks this year, but they've looked better defensively over their last few games, so there's a little bit of a concern there. Flacco has been competent in this offense, and Cleveland has an implied team total, according to Fandl's sportsbook, that's above 20 So it's not a horrible situation in today's landscape. Now moving on to Running Max, at the time in this recording, Ty Chandler's percent roster number on Yahoo is still well below 50%. Alexander Madison's banged up, though. He may not go this week. At the time of this recording, I don't know for sure if Madison's gonna go or not. But if he doesn't go, Chandler will be in store for a potential 15-touch day. And he gets the bangles, and that rush defense ranks in the bottom 10 this season, and rushing yards over expected per rush allowed. I'd anticipate some receiving work for Chandler, too. So he's a good play if there's no Madison.

Now, moving on, let's talk a little bit more about Deontay Foreman. I had mentioned on the 15 Transaction Show on Tuesday that Foreman was the one and that Chicago backfield this past week, and that's true. He had a 73% running back rush share and almost a 10% target share. Foreman's route participation was at a season-high 44% in Week 14 He obviously has a tough opponent this week against Cleveland, but from a volume perspective, he might be okay enough in the flex.