Fantasy Football Week 15: Biggest Takeaways from Sunday

Week 15 of the fantasy football season is wrapping up, which means the championship round is on the horizon. This article will take a look at some of the biggest takeaways from Sunday’s action.

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton continued to roll in Week 15, and his impressive performance might have been the icing on the cake for not one, but two MVP awards.

The quarterback Newton faced this week—New York Giants signal-caller Eli Manning—is on a bit of a hot streak himself. He was late to the party in Week 15, but Manning’s final numbers were eye-popping.

We also (re)learned two valuable lessons in Week 15: You should always start your studs, and you should always leave confusing backfields alone.

We’ll go over all of these takeaways and more, starting with Newton’s dominance.

Cam Newton: MVP in Fantasy Football as Well

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Cam Newton

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton all but wrapped up the NFL MVP award in Week 15, and the case could legitimately be made that he’s the MVP of fantasy football this season as well.

The true MVP of the fantasy season won’t be known until the season actual comes to a close, but Newton’s resume is strong. He has three five-touchdown games over the past five weeks, and he has a three-touchdown game wedged in there as well. He failed to throw for a touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving, but he did run one in to make up for it.

Adam Schefter tweeted out this impressive Newton statistic after the game: “How to spell MVP: Cam Newton is 1st player in NFL history with at least 300 passing yards, 100 rushing yards and 5 TD passes in same game.”

That is fantasy gold, and in some scoring formats, Newton racked up over 40 points. Considering he has thrown for eight touchdowns in the first two weeks of the fantasy playoffs (and threw for 10 in the three weeks leading into the playoffs), Newton’s surge couldn’t have come at a better time for fantasy players.

Big stats in clutch moments means Newton is on his way to being both the NFL MVP and the fantasy MVP.

OBJ Reminds Us to Never Bench Our Studs

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Odell Beckham Jr.

New York Giants second-year wideout Odell Beckham Jr. had a strong—not spectacular, but strong—game against the Carolina Panthers in Week 15. He ended the game with six receptions for 76 yards and a score.

He had a wild day, as he could have scored another touchdown, but he also could have been ejected well before he gained respectable fantasy numbers.

Fantasy players will be happy with production like that on any given week. There are some, however, who benched Beckham in Week 15 because of his tough matchup against Carolina cornerback Josh Norman, who is currently the league's best corner.

To be clear: The majority of fantasy players started Beckham. But if you were among those who sent him to the bench, let Week 15 serve as a reminder to never bench your studs.

Playing matchups is smart; it’s what separates good fantasy players from average fantasy players. There's a line, however, where "playing the matchup" becomes "getting cute."

Benching your studs—unless there’s a legitimate injury, of course—shouldn’t be a question. It’s creating a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist, and it has the potential to create a problem on its own.

RBs Seattle, New England Show the Dangers of Guessing Backfields

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Brandon Bolden

The Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots have messy backfield situations. Both teams saw their starters and backups get injured throughout the year, and they are now rolling with the backfield-by-committee approach.

This has led to confusion in the fantasy community as well.

There was chatter heading into Week 15 that Brandon Bolden of the Patriots and Bryce Brown of the Seahawks would be in for big games, and if you gambled on either one of those players, there’s a good chance you lost and won’t have a chance to right the wrong next week.

James White ended up being the Patriots running back to own despite the fact he only carried the ball one time for six yards. (He had seven receptions for 71 yards and a touchdown.)

In Seattle, it was Christine Michael who came through for the Seahawks, carrying the ball 16 times for 84 yards.

Bolden mustered 36 yards on just 10 attempts. He ended up behind even Joey Iosefa, who carried the ball 14 times for 51 yards for New England.

For his part, Brown notched 43 yards on nine carries for the Seahawks.

In short, we all came into Week 15 talking about Brown and Bolden. Instead, Michael, White and Iosefa scored more points than them.

White is the New England back to own in PPR leagues, and Michael is the back to own in Seattle. Neither, however, is a safe bet moving forward.

Don’t Sleep on DeSean Jackson Anymore

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DeSean Jackson

Washington Redskins wideout DeSean Jackson can be difficult to trust in fantasy football, but he has proven over the past five weeks that he shouldn’t be overlooked anymore.

He has four touchdowns in that span and has at least 40 receiving yards in each one of those games as well. He had his best outing of the season in Week 15, racking up six receptions for 153 yards and a score.

He will play against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 16—his old team, and the team that has given up the second-most fantasy points to wideouts so far this season, per ESPN.com (as of this writing). Jackson should be in starting lineups next week.

With that said, you are playing with a bit of fire should you roll with Jackson next week. He has just two catches in two of his past five games, which gives him a low ceiling and decreases his value in PPR leagues. Because he typically catches long passes, however, two receptions for Jackson is usually good for a decent amount of yardage. It’s a risky proposition nonetheless.

But facts are facts, and the fact of the matter is, Jackson is on a roll when it comes to scoring fantasy points, and he has a fantastic Week 16 matchup.

Javorius Allen’s Fumble Struggles Muddy His Week 16 Value

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Javorius Allen

Baltimore Ravens running back Javorius “Buck” Allen strung together a few nice games earlier this season, but he bottomed out in a major way in Week 15, carrying the ball just four times for 18 yards and losing a fumble before being shown the bench.

Allen finished the game with minus-1 fantasy points. You would have been better off starting Ravens running back Justin Forsett, who is on IR.

Allen never had a great game on the ground this season—the most rushing yards he had in a game came in Week 11, when he gained 67 yards—but he had proven himself to be a reliable target through the air.

According to FoxSports.com, Ravens “head coach John Harbaugh said after the game that [Allen's] benching probably won’t carry over into next week.”

That’s obviously good to hear, but it’s not exactly a ringing endorsement. Harbaugh also said: “You play the best players, and at running back, the best players don’t fumble.”

Ouch.

Allen was a solid RB2 option, but he is now sliding into flex territory, and he's risky either way.

Eli Manning a Must-Start Quarterback

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Eli Manning

New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning has been playing well, but his performance has flown somewhat under the radar because the Giants are a 6-8 football team. Over the past two weeks, however, Manning has racked up eight passing touchdowns against just one interception.

He threw for four of those touchdowns in Week 15 against the mighty Carolina Panthers, and while the vast majority of that damage came late in the game, points are points regardless of when they are scored.

Manning has averaged 303 yards and three touchdowns per game over his last seven games. He should reach those milestones again in Week 16.

Up next are the Minnesota Vikings, who have been average against fantasy quarterbacks so far this season, per ESPN.com. But the Vikings have allowed quarterbacks to throw for multiple touchdowns on five of their past six games. Another multi-touchdown game is almost a certainty for Manning, and making three scores isn’t an unrealistic expectation.