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Fantasy Football: Week 15 WR matchups to exploit

sal vetri
Yahoo Fantasy Contributor
·5 min read

Dominate your Week 15 fantasy football matchups with these favorable WR matchups.

Thielen has been great since returning from a hamstring injury in Week 12. During this span of three games, Thielen is averaging a 25% target share, but that includes his first game back from injury where he was limited and only earned 13% of the targets. Over the past two games, Thielen has run more routes and earned 30% of the Panthers targets. This had led to back-to-back top-12 finishes at the position where he’s averaging eight catches for 100 yards and 17.3 fantasy points per game.

The entire Panthers offense is playing better as of late. Bryce Young is a top-10 graded QB the past four weeks according to PFF. Young and Thielen have found success even in difficult matchups against the Eagles and Chiefs the past few weeks. This week, however, Carolina gets a much easier task against the Cowboys. Dallas allows the fourth-most passing yards per play this season, having just given up 369 yards and three touchdowns to Joe Burrow on Monday Night Football. In that game, Ja’Marr Chase erupted for 177 yards and two touchdowns. Continue to start Thielen this week.

Addison has been on fire the past month. Over his last four games, Addison is averaging 20.6 fantasy points per game which ranks fourth amongst all WRs. Only Ja’Marr Chase, Puka Nacua and Jerry Jeudy have been more productive than Addison since Week 11. Addison is averaging an elite 29% target share during this time which leads the Vikings — ahead of Justin Jefferson. After a slow start to the season that was hampered by injury, Addison is finally hitting his stride just in time for the fantasy postseason.

This week he’ll face the Bears for the second time this season. In their first matchup, just a few weeks ago, Addison posted 162 yards and a touchdown. He finished as the overall WR1 on the week catching eight of his nine targets from Sam Darnold. In that game, Chicago dedicated plenty of resources to taking away Justin Jefferson which left Addison in some favorable matchups. It seems unlikely the Bears will do this again, since it went poorly the first time, but it’s still a good matchup for Addison. Chicago allows the third-most passing yards per play according to NFL Pro. You probably don’t need me to tell you this, but make sure Addison is in your lineups again this week.

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Sutton returns from his bye and has quietly put up one of the better WR seasons this year for fantasy. Sutton is the only receiver in the NFL to earn at least 70 receiving yards in six straight games. During this six-game stretch, Sutton ranks fifth in WR points per game, averaging 16.5 points, which is more than Cooper Kupp, CeeDee Lamb and just behind Puka Nacua. He’s been an alpha receiver and I’m not sure many people view him this way.

Sutton is dominating the cheat code targets for fantasy. The WR fantasy cheat codes, as I like to call them, are your ability to earn red-zone targets and deep targets of 20+ yards. Sutton ranks top five in both of these categories according to Player Profiler. These targets lead to explosive plays and create a strong floor and ceiling for fantasy receivers.

This week Sutton and the Broncos will face the Colts. Indy allows the seventh most receiving yards per play this season. The Broncos are projected to score 24 points this week according to Vegas betting lines. In four games with a 24+ point team total, Sutton averages 94 yards on 7.3 catches per game. This is truly a matchup for Sutton to exploit in Week 15.

There were high expectations for Ridley entering his Week 14 matchup. He was facing the Jaguars who allow the most receiving yards per game, and it was a revenge spot for Ridley. He ended up producing 59 yards on seven catches and finished with 9.4 fantasy points. It was overall a fine day, but it certainly didn’t live up to any high expectations fantasy managers had for him. But the important takeaway is Ridley once again dominated the targets for Tennessee. He earned a whopping 38% target share in Week 14 and has now earned 30% of the Titan’s targets since DeAndre Hopkins was traded away before Week 8.

Ridley will continue to see favorable matchups the rest of the season and that includes this week against the Bengals. Cincinnati allows the sixth-most receiving yards per game and the fourth-most receiving touchdowns this year. The Bengals just gave up 93 yards and a touchdown to CeeDee Lamb in Week 14 and 74 yards and a touchdown to George Pickens in Week 13. Expect Ridley to bounce back with a strong day this week; start him in this favorable matchup.

McConkey missed his Week 14 matchup against the Chiefs due to knee and shoulder injuries. This left fantasy managers in a tough spot since the Chargers played on Sunday Night Football with limited players to swap to. But if you were able to survive this dilemma and make your fantasy playoffs you are going to be rewarded with an awesome Week 15 matchup. Assuming he’s able to play, McConkey will take on the Bucs who allow the third-most receiving yards per game this season.

McConkey has been a star all season for the Chargers. He leads the team with a 26% target share and ranks ninth in the NFL in yards per route run this season. This is an efficiency metric that does a good job at showing how productive and efficient a receiver has been. Typically, we see elite rookies rank in the 20s or 30s in this metric, but McConkey ranks in the top 10 through 14 weeks; that’s how good he’s been.

McConkey was able to practice in limited fashion all last week, so he’s trending in the right direction to suit up in Week 15. Track the injury reports closely but if McConkey is active he must be in your lineups this week.