Welcome to Week 15, where we’d prefer to play seven running backs with our kicker and defense. Okay, eight running backs and a defense. The typical lineup construction will likely be heavy in the backfield and light in other spots to make it fit. Fortunately, there are enough lower-priced players in advantageous matchups with (hopefully) palatable ownership — some of whom we’ll discuss below — to tie it together.
As always, forcing an alternate lineup construction by paying up at another position is a viable tournament strategy. So are team- and game-stacks. With Saturday night’s contest erasing one from the main slate, several others potentially threatened by weather, and low projected point totals a theme of the week, finding a blow-up spot to leverage with a handful of players can rocket us up a leaderboard.
At receiver, we can pay up to be contrarian with Odell Beckham Jr. or Antonio Brown. Tyler Eifert offers the same dynamic at tight end. Aaron Rodgers and — if you’re feeling frisky — Drew Brees will likely have severely reduced ownership relative to their typical ceilings. However, this week we will take a different approach at those positions, and discuss lower-cost options who enjoy strong matchups.
The running back position is again the most pivotal. We can fit in David Johnson and Le’Veon Bell, but so can everyone else. LeSean McCoy will have high ownership as well. Paying down from there, even a little bit lower, still offers strong running backs in good spots — while differentiating tournament lineups and allowing us to gain an edge at other positions. Or we can jam in the studs and hope the cheap guys hit. It worked last week.
Most of the time, however, there is more than one way to skin this cat. Good luck in Week 15, everyone!
Quarterbacks
Tyrod Taylor, Buffalo Bills, $7,600
Coming off of a month of low-ceiling outings, Taylor doesn’t jump off the page despite checking boxes in the matchup and pricing columns. The most attractive player in Buffalo with the Browns in town is LeSean McCoy, given his recent performance and Cleveland’s accommodative stance toward running backs (second-most fantasy points allowed). Versatile on the field and in DFS, Taylor can be used when fading McCoy, in conjunction with McCoy, or as part of a team stack featuring McCoy and Sammy Watkins. The Bills’ uber-concentrated touch distribution makes that third choice viable.
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