Fantasy Football: Week 15 Sunday Sleeper Squad
The Sunday Sleeper Squad is a team made up of players that might be hanging around on waivers, someone sitting on your bench or offer a contrarian approach and can offer you a helping hand this week if you’re a team in need. Or maybe you have rostered one of these guys and now is the time to unleash them. And at this point in the season, you are probably in need of some kind of fantasy help. These factors could be matchup, injuries, both, or something totally off the wall leading us to our conclusion as to why these players could pay off. Of course, these are the ultimate boom-or-bust plays so may the odds be in your favor if you’re playing someone on this list. Let’s take a look at who made my Week 15 Sunday Sleeper Squad.
QB/ Mitch Trubisky/ Chicago Bears: Dare I say Twitchy Mitchy is ballin’? He put up 30 fantasy points last week and 24 the week before that. Next up the Vikings and the Vikings bleed QB fantasy points. They have allowed 6 QBs this season to hit at least 24 fantasy points. While the Bears offense struggled against Minnesota the first time around Mitch didn’t play. I am not saying Mitch is the answer but he could be a very serviceable streamer for the Semi-Finals. Since their bye in Week 11, the Chicago Bears have scored at least 25 points in each game. It’s a big improvement over the previous 7 games when they averaged just below 17 points under Nick Foles.
WR/ Rashard Higgins/ Cleveland Browns: All of a sudden Rashard Higgins is being mentioned in contract extension talks due to his emergence as the WR2 in Cleveland after the injury to Odell Beckham. And why not? He showed up on Monday Night Football and registered 6 catches for 68 yards and a score on 10 targets; which were a team-high. Higgins scored and had 95 yards the week before. He gets the New York Giants and their starting CB James Bradberry as has been deemed a close contact encounter with COVID-19. Bradberry is the best Giants DB and not having him is a major green light for Higgins and his outlook this week. Higgins is a solid part of the passing game and it seems he and Baker Mayfield have a nice little thing going on. In the past 2 weeks, Higgins has seen 19 total targets and nabbed 2 touchdowns. Even though the game script could certainly favor the Browns running backs, Mayfield has been eyeing Higgins in the red zone.
WR/ Tim Patrick/ Denver Broncos: Patrick has turned in 2 nice weeks in a row, with 3 TDs in that span. However, he has been the Broncos WR1 for a minute, as he has the most yards, TDs, and 2nd most receptions on the team. Now Patrick faces the Bills, which should be a strong game script for Patrick. Patrick has been a really solid WR this year who has been overlooked for bigger names, but that could change if Drew Lock continues to look competent down the home stretch.
WR/ Russell Gage/ Atlanta Falcons: Another word for throw is Atlanta Falcons. All they do is throw and they get the Tampa defense this week which is much better against the run than the pass. Julio Jones is out once again. Jones sat out last Sunday with a hamstring injury, opening up an opportunity for Gage. Gage had 5 catches for 82 yards on 7 targets. Gage flashed early in the season then faded, but perhaps Gage will see more targets and finish the season on a high note. He might be something of a long shot, but Gage has reached double digits (half-point PPR formats) in each of the last 2 games.
RB/ Salvon Ahmed/ Miami Dolphins: He practiced this week making him on track for Sunday against a Patriots defense that had a leak the last time we saw them that they couldn’t fix. That leak was named Cam Akers. Myles Gaskin will be out for the Dolphins. The last time we saw Ahmed, with no Gaskin as well, was in Week 10 against the Chargers and Week 11 against the Broncos. Ahmed scored 12+ PPR points in both outings. Ahmed had at least 17 total touches in each game, and hopefully, that will continue again this week. There have been 9 RBs with at least 14 carries against the Patriots, and all of them have at least 80 total yards this year, including Cam Akers and his 171 rushing yards in Week 14.
RB/ Jeff Wilson JR/ San Francisco 49ers: Kyle Shanahan has been really been outdoing himself as of late. Even with Raheem Mostert returning, Shanahan has continued to split the carries across multiple backs. Mostert saw 14 carries on 49% of snaps last Sunday, while Wilson received 11 carries of his own to go along with 3 targets in the passing game on his 48% snap rate. It is an even split, but don’t think that means there’s no value in 49ers RBs this week. The 49ers run-heavy approach will be in play against a Dallas Cowboys defense that ranks near the bottom against the run, 25th against the run, and have allowed the 6th most fantasy points per game to the position. Wilson remains a strong consideration for those teams that are facing injuries.
TE/ Irv Smith Jr/ Minnesota Vikings: Good news for TE desperate squads as Kyle Rudolph will be out this week. Rudolph and Smith both take a hit when they are both active but if one sits it usually leads to a decent fantasy day at the TE position. So fire up my guy Irv Smith. Irv Smith Jr. had a massive Week 14 game, turning 4 targets into 4 receptions, 64 yards and a TD. The Bears have allowed 9 TDs to opposing TEs this season.
FLEX/ Logan Thomas/ Washington Football Team: If you have Logan Thomas on your roster, then you’ve been waiting all season for him to hit that sleeper label from the preseason when he was a popular sleeper pick at TE. Over the last 2 games, Thomas has a total of 15 catches, 141 yards, and 1 touchdown on his 16 targets. Equally impressive is that he has done that against the Pittsburgh and San Francisco defenses. This week, he draws the Seattle Seahawks, who are just terrible against anything through the air.
FLEX/ Gabriel Davis/ Buffalo Bills: Rookie WRs this time of year win your team fantasy championships and Gabriel Davis could fit the bill for that. John Brown will be out again in Week 15 against the Broncos, which is a great situation for Davis. In the past 3 games without Brown, Davis has scored a TD in all of those outings. Now, he only has 16 targets over that span with 9 catches for 166 yards, but he could be useful in deeper leagues based on how well Josh Allen is playing.
