Fantasy Football Week 15 Rankings: Matchups We Love and Player Stat Projections

Thursday night's dramatic AFC West showdown between the Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs unleashed an adrenaline rush powerful enough to carry the football world through the weekend.

It also rewarded the NFL fantasy owners who pounced on a favorable matchup with Kansas City's generous defense.

If you played Philip Rivers (313 yards, two touchdowns) or Mike Williams (seven receptions for 76 yards and two touchdowns, one carry for 19 yards and a score, plus the game-winning two-point conversion), congratulations on your head start to the pivotal Week 15.

If not, no worries. There's plenty of football to be played and a slew of enticing matchups to exploit.

Here's a look at the top 10 rankings at each offensive position, followed by a player at every spot with a matchup we love.

Quarterbacks

Michael Zagaris/Getty Images

1. Ben Roethlisberger, PIT (vs. NE)

2. Drew Brees, NO (at CAR)

3. Jared Goff, LAR (vs. PHI)

4. Cam Newton, CAR (vs. NO)

5. Andrew Luck, IND (vs. DAL)

6. Deshaun Watson, HOU (at NYJ)

7. Tom Brady, NE (at PIT)

8. Russell Wilson, SEA (at SF)

9. Matt Ryan, ATL (vs. ARI)

10. Dak Prescott, DAL (at IND)

Wilson needs a bounce-back in the worst kind of way. Fortunately, the football gods seem to have scheduled him one.

Last week, Wilson was forced to deal with a dominant Vikings defense that's tied for first in passing touchdowns allowed (15) and fifth in passing yards against (216). Only five clubs have surrendered fewer fantasy points to quarterbacks, a stat Wilson surely helped with his anemic 72-yard passing performance.

But another ranking he contributed to is the 49ers allowing the ninth-most fantasy points to the position. The week before the Vikings debacle, Wilson toyed with the Niners to the tune of four touchdown passes on only 17 attempts. It was the fifth time this season a quarterback has thrown for at least three scores against this defense.

Week 14 aside, Wilson was earning weekly consideration as a starter. He seems well on his way to having a career year under center—personal-best 111.0 rating, 65.6 completion percentage, 29 touchdowns against six interceptions—and he might be saving his best for his NFC rivals.

We're projecting he passes for 262 yards and three scores, plus adds 27 yards on the ground.

Running Backs

Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images

1. Todd Gurley, LAR (vs. PHI)

2. Ezekiel Elliott, DAL (at IND)

3. Christian McCaffrey, CAR (vs. NO)

4. Saquon Barkley, NYG (vs. TEN)

5. Alvin Kamara, NO (at CAR)

6. Leonard Fournette, JAX (vs. WAS)

7. Joe Mixon, CIN (vs. OAK)

8. Nick Chubb, CLE (at DEN)

9. Phillip Lindsay, DEN (vs. CLE)

10. Aaron Jones, GB (at CHI)

Think of Week 14 on the Lindsay hype train not as a derailment, but rather a momentary pause. And even then, he helped offset the sting of his disappointing 30-yard rushing output—his lowest since Week 6—with both a rushing score and another 21 yards through the air.

Denver's rookie revelation has given both his real-life employer and his fantasy owners a welcome lift. He leads the entire AFC with 967 rushing yards—a tally that puts him behind only Elliott, Gurley and Barkley.

"He has really good vision," Cleveland coach Gregg Williams said. "You have everything stoned up pretty well and he can find (the opening). There (are) several examples where the defenses were pretty gap sound and he has enough vision to press it to the one leak or one area. Then he has the speed and the open-field burst to make chunk plays."

Lindsay looks ready to race past the 1,000-yard mark with his Week 15 matchup against a generous Browns defense. Cleveland ranks 28th against the run (133.3 yards per game), tied for 30th in rushing touchdowns allowed (17) and allows the sixth-most fantasy points to the position. We're forecasting 115 scrimmage yards and a score for Lindsay.

Wide Receivers

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

1. Michael Thomas, NO (at CAR)

2. DeAndre Hopkins, HOU (at NYJ)

3. Julio Jones, ATL (vs. ARI)

4. Antonio Brown, PIT (vs. NE)

5. Davante Adams, GB (at CHI)

6. JuJu Smith-Schuster, PIT (vs. NE)

7. Adam Thielen, MIN (vs. MIA)

8. Amari Cooper, DAL (at IND)

9. Robert Woods, LAR (vs. PHI)

10. Odell Beckham Jr., NYG (vs. TEN)

While you can find more dynamic receivers than Woods, you'd be hard-pressed to find many capable of matching his consistency.

He's essentially had one dud all season, and it came all the way back in Week 1 when he caught three of his nine targets for 37 yards. Since then, he's never had fewer than four receptions or 61 yards.

As ESPN's Field Yates noted, Woods is one of only eight players with more than 50 catches and one or zero drops. Woods has 71 of the former and just one of the latter.

Woods, who recently surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for the first time in his career, should be in line for another big performance Sunday.

"Since Week 4, the Eagles are allowing a league-high 43 receiver points per game," ESPN's Matthew Berry wrote. "Woods is coming off a season-high 13 targets last week. Since 2012, here's a list of players with at least 12 straight games of 60-plus receiving yards: Antonio Brown, DeAndre Hopkins, Julio Jones and now—Robert Woods."

We have Woods conservatively penciled in with six grabs for 93 yards and a score.

Tight Ends

Ron Schwane/Associated Press

1. Zach Ertz, PHI (at LAR)

2. George Kittle, SF (vs. SEA)

3. Eric Ebron, IND (vs. DAL)

4. Rob Gronkowski, NE (at PIT)

5. Jared Cook, OAK (at CIN)

6. Cameron Brate, TB (at BAL)

7. Ian Thomas, CAR (vs. NO)

8. David Njoku, CLE (at DEN)

9. Vance McDonald, PIT (vs. NE)

10. Austin Hooper, ATL (vs. ARI)

Like most of the non-elites at this position, Njoku's season has been a sprinkling of a few towering highs amid some ground-floor lows.

But Week 15 should be one of his better performances.

For starters, he's been targeted at least four times in each of the last three games. That might not sound like much, but it's encouraging for a player with previous target totals this season of two, one and zero. Plus, he's drawing one of the more favorable matchups in the league, as the Broncos have surrendered the fifth-most fantasy points to tight ends.

We're counting on Njoku providing four receptions for 54 yards and a touchdown.

Statistics used courtesy of NFL.com and ESPN.com. Fantasy scoring obtained via Yahoo Sports.