Fantasy Football Week 15: Insider Notebook and Preview

While the NFL remains unpredictable from week-to-week, game-to-game and player-to-player, you have to at least love the fact a huge rookie class of wide receivers has given you a plethora of options at that position in fantasy crunch time.

Sure, the wideout you start can go Josh Gordon circa Week 14 (two catches for 15 yards), but the best you can do is set a lineup you feel good about. That is easier to do when you have the rookie wideouts who have emerged as big-time threats. 

Mike Evans, Kelvin Benjamin, Odell Beckham Jr., Sammy Watkins and Jordan Matthews are all among the top 26 wide receivers in fantasy scoring to date, per FFToday.com. Jarvis Landry—the rookie reception leader—and Martavis Bryant—one of four NFL players with at least seven TD receptions in his first seven career games, per the NFL—have also helped make this one of the best rookie wide receiving classes in history.

Evans is the leader of the class for the season, but Beckham Jr. is sure pushing him of late. The New York Giant is the first rookie in NFL history to record at least 90 receiving yards in six consecutive games. He has 723 receiving yards in his past six games and is one of only two rookies in NFL history with at least 700 receiving yards in a six-game span.

Beckham is well aware of his and these rookies' place in history, as he told the NFL's Kimberly Jones:

"

I definitely knew they were talking about (this becoming) one of the best rookie classes at receiver, and that was extra incentive. It got to the point where I had to declare, to prove that I could compete with those big-name guys.

"

Some more tidbits on this rookie receiving class, thanks to the NFL's Jones:

• The 2014 rookie wideouts have the most receiving touchdowns (76) by any rookie class in a season.
• It is just 15 receptions from surpassing the 2009 record of 782.
• It has equaled the all-time mark of 100-yard receiving games by rookies in a season (20, set in 1960).
• There are only 12 rookies in NFL history with 1,000 receiving yards, but three are on pace to do so: Evans, Benjamin and Beckham. Watkins is not far off the pace either.

RK	Player	TM	Rec	Yds	Avg	Yds/G	TD
1	Jarvis Landry	MIA	63	573	9.1	44.1	5
2	Odell Beckham	NYG	59	829	14.1	92.1	6
2	Kelvin Benjamin	CAR	59	848	14.4	65.2	9
4	Sammy Watkins	BUF	58	822	14.2	63.2	5
5	Mike Evans	TB	57	935	16.4	77.9	10
6	Jordan Matthews	PHI	56	709	12.7	54.5	7
7	Brandin Cooks	NO	53	550	10.4	55	3
8	Allen Robinson	JAC	48	548	11.4	54.8	2
9	Allen Hurns	JAC	40	566	14.2	43.5	6
10	John Brown	ARI	39	569	14.6	43.8	5

Yours truly makes specific note of these stats because of the colossal mistake(s) of telling folks via Twitter to sit Beckham for Gordon this past weekend:

Hopefully those folks stayed alive in their fantasy postseasons, despite the Sunday morning advice...or ignored it. We have to give these rookie receivers their due...and regular starting spots in fantasy lineups, regardless of their shaky quarterback situations and inexperience.

Johnny Football's Impact on Gordon

Speaking of rookies and the aforementioned Gordon, we cannot ignore the media nightmare that is Johnny Manziel and his first NFL start, which might be officially announced Tuesday, as ESPN.com's Pat McManamon chronicled Monday.

We wouldn't dare play Manziel in crunch time of the fantasy postseason, but you have to weigh his prospects when considering Gordon and Jordan Cameron in a crucial Week 15, the fantasy semifinals in standard formats.

The Plain Dealer's Mary Kay Cabot reported there has been a disconnect between Hoyer and Gordon, something that should be noted by fantasy owners of the potentially elite wide receiver. Hoyer has thrown three interceptions forcing the ball to Gordon, who also dropped a 55-yard pass from Hoyer on Sunday with seconds left in the game, couldn't reel in a third-down pass in the fourth quarter and was even off the field on third down in the middle quarters, according to Cabot.

Head coach Mike Pettine said:

"

I think at times (Gordon's errant route running) has shown up, I don't know whether there's some uncertainty there where he's supposed to end up. I just know that across the board in the pass game, Josh included, that there needs to be more precision.

"

A gambling, scrambling rookie quarterback like Manziel is unlikely to provide that precision, but anything has to be better for Gordon's fantasy prospects than Hoyer at this point. Gordon is just too talented to sit unless you have a collection of top 15 fantasy wide receivers.

Waiver-Wire Favorites

Every Monday of the season, FantasyPros.com publishes a survey of fantasy analysts' favorite additions off the waiver wire. We reprint the consensus rankings from them here to help you weigh your alternatives and prioritize your waiver lists.

RK	Player	POS	TM	Consensus	Best	Worst
1	Jonathan Stewart	RB	CAR	1.2	1	2
2	Charles Johnson	WR	MIN	2.7	1	6
3	Matt Asiata	RB	MIN	4	3	5
4	Malcom Floyd	WR	SD	4.8	4	7
5	Marqise Lee	WR	JAC	5.8	3	11
6	Stedman Bailey	WR	STL	6.7	4	12
7	Kerwynn Williams	RB	ARI	8.2	2	16
8	Nate Washington	WR	TEN	8.8	6	15
9	Mychal Rivera	TE	OAK	9.5	8	11
10	Doug Baldwin	WR	SEA	9.5	9	11
11	Marquess Wilson	WR	CHI	9.8	9	12
12	Donte Moncrief	WR	IND	10.8	6	13
13	Jared Cook	TE	STL	10.8	8	13
14	Tavon Austin	WR	STL	14	12	16
15	Jarius Wright	WR	MIN	14.3	14	15
16	Cole Beasley	WR	DAL	15	14	16
17	Chris Hogan	WR	BUF	17.3	17	18
18	Kamar Aiken	WR	BAL	17.8	17	18

Note: All of the fantasy scoring against position data comes from FFToday.com.

Thursday Night Start 'Em, Sit 'Em

Arizona Cardinals

Start: Michael Floyd, Cardinals D/ST

Sit: Drew Stanton, Stepfan Taylor, Kerwynn Williams, Marion Grice, Larry Fitzgerald, John Brown, Jaron Brown, John Carlson, Chandler Catanzaro

The St. Louis Rams are the hottest team in football, pitching back-to-back shutouts. You cannot trust anyone in the Cardinals offense, particularly since the Rams have given up the third-fewest touchdown passes to quarterbacks and are in the top eight against fantasy running backs.

If there is an opportunity here, it will be with Floyd. He is Stanton's leading downfield threat with Fitzgerald (knee) less than 100 percent. The Rams have given up the fourth-most receptions to fantasy wideouts to date.

Defensively, the Cards have remained steady, and the Rams have been the second-worst team in fantasy against defense/special teams.

St. Louis Rams

Start: Tre Mason, Rams D/ST

Sit: Shaun Hill, Zac Stacy, Benny Cunningham, Stedman Bailey, Kenny Britt, Tavon Austin, Chris Givens, Jared Cook, Lance Kendricks, Greg Zuerlein

This should be a tough week for both offenses. Mason is a low-end No. 2 fantasy starting running back, despite facing the second-best team in fantasy against backs. He leads all NFC rookies with 628 rushing yards, and in his past three games at home, he has 363 scrimmage yards (315 rushing, 48 receiving) and has scored four touchdowns (three rushing, one receiving), according to the NFL.

PLAYER	TEAM	RUSH	YARDS	AVG	TDs
Tre Mason	St. Louis	142	628	4.4	3
Jerick McKinnon	Minnesota	113	538	4.8	0
Andre Williams	New York Giants	158	524	3.3	6
Carlos Hyde	San Francisco	77	278	3.6	4

He and the Rams D/ST might be the only pieces to trust in crunch time in this matchup, if any. All of the others are replacement pieces, particularly with the Cardinals being a top-10 team in fantasy against quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers in the past five weeks.

If you want a sleeper, go with Cook at tight end, against which the Cards are seventh-worst. Cook is coming off a two-touchdown week and he had seven receptions for 141 yards and two touchdowns in the past home meeting between the teams, per the NFL data link above.

Follow @EricMackFantasy

Eric Mack, one of the giants among fantasy writers, is the Fantasy Football Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, where you can ask him endless questions about your team, rip him for his content and even challenge him to a head-to-head fantasy game.