Fantasy Football Week 15: Arian Foster, Drew Brees and 5 Fantasy Locks

The NFL playoffs are still a couple weeks away, but the fantasy playoffs have already begun.

If you're still alive in your league's playoffs, my hat is off to you. Times are tense, and only those who have wisdom and patience will prevail.

It helps to have a stacked lineup at your disposal too. All you have to do is set it and forget it, then hope that your stars play well when the time comes.

Sadly, not all stars can produce star-like performances every week. Some are bound to disappoint. 

But in an effort to ease your restlessness, I'd like to tell you about five players who are absolute, stone-cold locks to put up numbers in Week 15. Read on, if you please.

5. Ray Rice, RB, Baltimore Ravens

Ray Rice tends to spoil his owners. He doesn't always have a great day running the football, but he usually produces enough receptions and receiving yards to make up for it. He just very rarely has a bad game.

I don't foresee Rice having a bad game against the San Diego Chargers on Sunday night. Rice is coming into the game on a roll, as he's rushed for over 300 yards and scored two touchdowns in the last two weeks, and the Chargers defense isn't going to give him much trouble.

The Chargers' rush defense is at best decent, and we've seen them struggle this season when they've had to go up against top-shelf running backs. Willis McGahee has burned the Chargers twice, Maurice Jones-Drew killed them in Week 13 and Michael Bush annihilated them in Week 10.

Rice is a better fantasy producer than all three of them. The Chargers are in for a rough night on Sunday.

4. Calvin Johnson, WR, Detroit Lions

Calvin Johnson exploded out of the gate this season, but it didn't take long for teams to start clamping down on him. Megatron's production has not been helped by Detroit's subpar rushing attack.

But there is plenty of hope for Johnson owners in Week 15. The Lions are going up against the Oakland Raiders, whose defense is lacking against both the run and the pass. If Kevin Smith can keep the Raiders honest, Johnson is going to find things opening up for him.

The other reason I like Megatron's chances is simply because he's due for a big game. He hasn't gone over 100 yards receiving since late October, and he's had just one touchdown catch in that same span. He's in a slump, and the Raiders are the perfect team for him to break out against.

3. Percy Harvin, WR, Minnesota Vikings

What the heck has gotten into Percy Harvin?

After being largely invisible for much of the season, Harvin has been on fire in the last four weeks, hauling in 32 receptions for 393 yards and five touchdowns.

The one thing that has helped Harvin has been Adrian Peterson's absence, but the Vikings should be getting him back on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints. Per Tom Pelissero of 15000ESPN.com, Leslie Frazier is expecting to have Peterson back.

Even still, the Vikings are not going to be able to run the Saints to death. The only way to beat them is to pass against them and hope like hell that Drew Brees struggles.

Teams have been passing on the Saints pretty successfully this season, as they're 30th in the league against the pass. It is, therefore, not surprising that they are among the league leaders in terms of points allowed to wide receivers.

Harvin will add to that total.

2. Drew Brees, QB, New Orleans Saints

Despite what I previously mentioned, Drew Brees is definitely not going to have a bad game against the Vikings. On the contrary, he's poised to have a great game.

We know this for a couple of reasons. The first and most obvious is that Drew Brees is Drew Brees. The Saints offense doesn't do anything unless he says so, and he's having perhaps the finest season of his career in 2011.

The second is that the Vikings just aren't very good against the pass. They rank 26th in the league in that category, and it doesn't help that they haven't intercepted a pass in many weeks. Their secondary just kinda stands around and hopes for the best.

That strategy has failed them this season. It will fail them again against Brees and the Saints.

1. Arian Foster, RB, Houston Texans

If there is one thing to worry about regarding Arian Foster, it's that the Texans don't have much left to play for, and the last thing they want to do is risk an injury to their star running back. Goodness knows they've suffered enough injuries as it is.

That said, it's impossible not to like Foster's matchup against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. They've been routinely gutted by opposing running backs all season, and big-name backs in particular have done big things against them.

The Texans may cut Foster's workload down a little bit, but you can expect him to get somewhere around 20 touches. All he has to do is make his way through Carolina's defense, preferably towards the end zone.

For a back as talented as Foster, making his way through Carolina's defense will be like William Wallace making his way through an English army. It's going to be brutal.