Week 15 Waiver-Wire Pickups: Sleepers Available in Majority of Fantasy Leagues

Fantasy football league winners (and losers) are rarely the ones anyone expects.

Derrick Henry, Ryan Tannehill, and Kenny Stills hardly typified strong options entering Week 14, but the few managers who started them sizably bolstered their chances of fighting another week. If anyone advanced because of Josh Johnson or Brandon Bolden, demand to see their copy of Grays Sports Almanac.

Managers who started scrubs such as Cam Newton, Todd Gurley and Antonio Brown, meanwhile, may no longer have any interest in reading waiver-wire columns. For those still competing for a championship or simply pride, let's run down some of the hottest players available in over 50 percent of Yahoo Sports leagues to grab before the pivotal Week 15 slate.

Waiver-Wire Adds

Josh Allen, QB, Buffalo Bills (15 Percent Owned)

Derek Carr, QB, Oakland Raiders (19 Percent Owned)

Kenneth Dixon, RB, Baltimore Ravens (9 Percent Owned)

Damien Williams, RB, Kansas City Chiefs (17 Percent Owned)

Elijah McGuire, RB, New York Jets (8 Percent Owned)

Dante Pettis, WR, San Francisco 49ers (46 Percent Owned)

Curtis Samuel, WR, Carolina Panthers (31 Percent Owned)

Robby Anderson, WR, New York Jets (19 Percent Owned)

Zay Jones, WR, Buffalo Bills (19 Percent Owned)

Chris Conley, WR, Kansas City Chiefs (15 Percent Owned)

Ian Thomas, TE, Carolina Panthers (9 Percent Owned)

Vernon Davis, TE, Washington (5 Percent Owned)

Detroit Lions D/ST (19 Percent Owned)

Atlanta Falcons D/ST (17 Percent Owned)

Josh Allen, QB, Buffalo Bills (15 Percent Owned)

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Josh Allen has registered 335 rushing yards over the last three games. Saquon Barkley is the only player to produce more over that small sample size.

Just a friendly reminder: Allen plays quarterback.

The passing results remain bleak for the Buffalo Bills rookie, who has completed 52.4 percent of his throws with five passing touchdowns and nine interceptions. That stinks for his real team, which fell to 4-9 after losing 27-23 to the New York Jets on Sunday.

Per the team's Twitter account, Allen is not focused on stockpiling fantasy points:

Yet his putrid passing is not a deal-breaker for fake-team investors if he keeps flirting with triple-digit rushing tallies.

There are, of course, valid reasons to not trust the first-year passer anchoring the NFL's second-worst offense. While the Detroit Lions have yielded 8.2 yards per pass attempt, they just earned a 17-3 victory over the Arizona Cardinals, the game's worst offense.

And yet, per FantasyPros, no quarterback has engineered more fantasy points than Allen (73.3) since the start of Week 12. He could make the Blake Bortles comparisons particularly prescient, as the maligned signal-caller caught fire as the premier fantasy quarterback from Weeks 12-16 last season.

This may sound like heresy, but playoff contestants should consider streaming Allen to avoid a brutal matchup for Jameis Winston (at Baltimore Ravens) or even Aaron Rodgers (at Chicago Bears).

Kenneth Dixon, RB, Baltimore Ravens (9 Percent Owned)

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Kenneth Dixon has amassed eight carries and one catch in consecutive contests since returning from a knee injury that sidelined him from Weeks 2 to 12. That workload could rise at an opportune time:

The 24-year-old running back, who opened the season with 44 yards and a rushing score before landing on the injured reserve, tallied 80 yards and a score in Week 14's overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. While the touches stayed the same, his snap rate increased from 21.0 to 32.4 percent.

Gus Edwards, meanwhile, saw his snap rate dip for the third game in a row. Having caught one pass all season, the undrafted free agent is a one-dimensional player without the talent to run away with a bell-cow role.

Dixon has established permanent sleeper-list residency since entering the league in 2016. Although health woes have blocked him from meeting the hype, he has averaged 4.5 yards per carry over 117 career rushes. He would flourish if given more reps against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who have allowed 4.8 yards per run and 16 rushing touchdowns.

While he's far from certain to suddenly handle 15-plus touches, remember how quickly Edwards usurped the spotlight from Alex Collins. The Ravens have shown a willingness to ride the hot hand, so Dixon is at least worth adding. 

Curtis Samuel, WR, Carolina Panthers (31 Percent Owned)

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Devin Funchess played on Sunday. Those who didn't watch the Carolina Panthers endure a 26-20 loss to the Cleveland Browns wouldn't know it, as he did not draw a single target in a season-low 29 snaps.

Weeks after D.J. Moore emerged as a strong add, Curtis Samuel joins him as a promising player to pluck off the waiver wire.

In two games since Funchess returned from a back injury, Samuel has corralled 10-of-19 targets for 168 yards. He had not recorded more than a 40 percent snap rate in a 2018 game before partaking in 88.7 percent of Carolina's offensive plays over the last three contests.

His early scoring prowess—he found the end zone six times in eight games—was unsustainable while averaging three touches per bout. Yet a volume uptick has secured his floor, and the touchdown upside remains present after receiving a red-zone target in each of the last four contests.

It's fair to wonder if his schedule qualifies as a feature or a bug. While no team has permitted more fantasy points per game to wide receivers than the New Orleans Saints under Yahoo's half-point-per-reception scoring system, a remarkably improved defense has held wideouts out of the end zone in three of the last four bouts.

They're no longer a dream matchup, but there's still hope for Cam Newton to throw often in a high-scoring Monday Night Football showdown. Grab Samuel if seeking a WR3 with upside.

Note: All snap rates courtesy of Pro Football Reference. Ownership rates obtained from Yahoo Sports as of Tuesday evening, before most leagues commence their waiver period.