Fantasy Football 2017: Start or Sit for Week 15

With Week 15 of the regular season set to kick off tonight, who are the players fantasy football owners should want to start and sit?

Let me tell you some things that will happen to plenty of owners in Week 15:

1. A few of the most productive fantasy football players so far this season will be a bust this week.
2. A player or two in your opponent’s lineup who has been less than stellar this season, will go off.
3. A productive fantasy starter will go down with an injury and not return to the game.

I can’t tell you who these players will be but I promise it’ll happen. In case you haven’t figured it out, fantasy football is unpredictable and cruel. The best advice I can give you in this critical week? Start the players who you feel confident in and bench the players you don’t trust. If your gut tells you to start a player who the “experts” suggest you bench, start that player. Trust me, you’ll have a lot easier time living with yourself if you roll with the players you trust compared to players who you don’t like but started them anyways because of what someone else suggested.

Got it? Good. Now let’s look at some players I believe owners should consider starting or sitting for the fantasy football semifinals.

Quarterbacks

Start

Case Keenum, Minnesota Vikings vs. Cincinnati Bengals – Since Week 8 Keenum has been the fourth-best fantasy football quarterback and has not scored less than 17 points in any game during that span. With the Bengals giving up 17.7+ fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks in four out their last five games, Keenum is a solid QB1 for Week 15.

Nick Foles, Philadelphia Eagles vs. New York Giants – No team has given up more fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks this season than the Giants and since Week 4, six opposing quarterbacks have scored 20.8+ fantasy football points while facing them. I believe Foles has a legitimate shot at finishing Week 15 as a top-10 quarterback.

Sit

Alex Smith, Kansas City Chiefs vs. Los Angeles Chargers – Smith might be going into Week 15 as the third-best fantasy quarterback but he has been far from reliable. Even if you include Smith’s 37.6 fantasy performance in Week 13, he has only been the 15th “best” quarterback since Week 8. With no quarterback scoring more than 13.2 fantasy points against the Chargers over the last four weeks, Smith is not a player owners can trust this week.