Fantasy Football Waiver Wire: Early Must-Adds For Week 15
With the playoffs starting in many leagues, here's your early start on fantasy football waiver wire for Week 15.
Week 14 on the NFL schedule is winding down, with Sunday night and Monday night games to be completed. Week 15 is the start of the playoffs in many fantasy football leagues, and for managers who don’t make the playoffs there may be a consolation bracket in play to still win.
Here are your early must-adds off the fantasy football waiver wire for Week 15.
Yahoo! scoring is the scoring cited unless otherwise noted.
Sincere McCormick, RB, Las Vegas Raiders
With Alexander Mattison (ankle) and Zamir White (quad) out again Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, McCormick clearly took over as the Raiders’ lead back (15 carries for 78 yards, two catches for 11 yards). He has topped 60 rushing yards and averaged more than five yards per carry on double-digit carries in back-to-back games.
Week 15 against the Atlanta Falcons is not the easiest-looking matchup, but they have allowed more than 80 total yards to a running back in seven of their last eight games. After that McCormick gets very favorable matchups against the Jacksonville Jaguars (Week 16) and New Orleans Saints (Week 17), and the Raiders should not be forced into a negative game script in either of those games.
Head coach Antonio Pierce’s profession to get McCormick more work on Sunday came to fruition, and even if they’re healthy none of Las Vegas’ other backs should dampen his workload that much for the rest of the season. The top of the waiver wire heap in Week 15, rooted in how widely available he is, is the former
ESPN Ownership: 11.2%
Yahoo! Ownership: 15%
Tank Bigsby, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars
Bigsby had 18 carries for 55 yards and a touchdown against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, along with one catch for seven yards. More importantly, he significantly out-carried Travis Etienne (four carries for 20 yards) and played more snaps (31, to 28 for Etienne, according to Nathan Jahnke of Pro Football Focus).
In the four games this season he has double-digit carries, Bigsby has no less than the 55 yards he had on Sunday with a touchdown in three of them (five total). There’s no reason he shouldn’t see similar work going forward, in matchups against the New York Jets (Week 15), Las Vegas Raiders (Week 16) and the Titans again (Week 17). None of the three matchups are especially tough.
Etienne is clearly the preferred passing situation back for Jacksonville, which is a fly in Bigsby’s fantasy ointment and caps his upside to some extent. Still, the second-year man seems to have taken over as the lead runner and he’s a top waiver wire add as the fantasy playoffs start.
ESPN Ownership: 35.7%
Yahoo! Ownership: 46%
Braelon Allen, RB, New York Jets
Allen became an easy late-week waiver wire add when Breece Hall (knee) was listed as doubtful, then downgraded to out, for Sunday against the Miami Dolphins. It ended up being a nearly-even workload split between Allen and fellow rookie Isaiah Davis, with Allen getting 81 total yards (43 rushing) on 15 touches (four catches) to Davis’s 67 total yards (40 rushing) and a rushing touchdown on 13 touches (three catches).
If Hall were to miss more time, the Jets have the best playoff schedule for running backs (Jacksonville Jaguars-Week 15, Los Angeles Rams-Week 16, Buffalo Bills-Week 17). Even in a clear workload split with Davis, or getting work in place of Hall, Allen would be fantasy viable.
At worst, Allen is a viable add-and-stash. But he has a path to being flex-worthy if Hall is not 100 percent healthy, or being an RB2 in 12-team leagues if Hall missed more games. In any case, the rookie out of Wisconsin has to be rostered in far more fantasy leagues.
Davis (11% percent rostered in Yahoo! leagues, 3.4% rostered in ESPN leagues) is also worth a look on the waiver wire this week, especially in deeper leagues, but Allen is the priority if he’s available in your league.
ESPN Ownership: 48.7%
Yahoo! Ownership: 59%
Adam Thielen, WR, Carolina Panthers
Thielen had nine catches (on 11 targets) for 102 yards against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. Over the last two games he has 17 receptions for 201 yards with a touchdown on 21 targets, and he has topped 55 yards in three straight games since Carolina’s bye week.
From Week 15-17, Carolina faces the Dallas Cowboys, Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. All three entered Week 14 no better than middle of the pack in fantasy points allowed to wide receivers, with Tampa Bay entering the week in the bottom-10 against the position.
A long injury absence knocked Thielen completely off the fantasy radar through most of this season, which made it easy to forget he topped 1,000 yards with more than 100 catches last year. In leagues with at least 12 teams, with a tilt to PPR formats, he’s a viable WR3 for the fantasy playoffs.
ESPN Ownership: 38.7%
Yahoo! Ownership: 53%
Jameis Winston, QB, Cleveland Browns
Winston went 24-for-41 for 212 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, along with 28 rushing yards, against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. Interceptions are just part of the experience with him (five over the last two games), but he also has multiple passing touchdowns in three of his last four games. If not for a snowstorm during the first matchup against the Steelers (Week 12), he would surely have more than 40 pass attempts in all six of his starts since Deshaun Watson went down.
In Week 15 Winston gets the Kansas City Chiefs, who entered Week 14 allowing the 11th-most fantasy points per game to quarterbacks. Then comes the Cincinnati Bengals, who entered the week allowing the third-most fantasy points per game to the position. Week 17 against the Miami Dolphins is not nearly as favorable, but they have allowed multiple passing touchdowns and/or more than 290 passing yards in six of their last seven games.
Winston is an absolute must-add in two-quarterback/superflex leagues, and he’s a viable streamer for fantasy managers who go that way in one-quarterback leagues.
ESPN Ownership: 19.9%
Yahoo! Ownership: 34%
Juwan Johnson, TE, New Orleans Saints
Johnson had five catches for 50 yards with a touchdown on Sunday against the New York Giants. He has scored in two of his last three games, with five catches on seven targets in the other. Splitting time with Foster Moreau was not ideal, but the Saints are so depleted for pass catchers they both were able to produce a bit.
Saints quarterback Derek Carr was unable to finish Sunday’s game, as he was checked for a concussion along with suffering a hand injury. But if Jake Haener (who finished Sunday’s game in Carr’s place) or Spencer Rattler has to start in Week 15 against the Washington Commanders, Johnson could be the recipient of ample targets. Then comes favorable matchups against in Week 16 and Week 17, as the Green Bay Packers and Las Vegas Raiders entered Week 14 allowing the ninth and third-most fantasy points per game to tight ends this season.
With Taysom Hill (torn ACL) out for the season, Johnson landed somewhat on the radar as a waiver wire add heading into Week 14. He’s still there this week, bumped up to our must-add list for Week 15.
ESPN Ownership: 13.9%
Yahoo! Ownership: 10%
Jerome Ford, RB, Cleveland Browns
Ford had 10 carries for 28 yards and three catches for 19 yards on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Hardly earth-shattering numbers, but he also had just one fewer carry than Nick Chubb. As Chubb hasn’t quite gotten back to his previous form since returning his major knee injury last year, Ford has gotten 19 carries over the last two games to Chubb’s 20.
Week 15 against the Kansas City Chiefs is as tough a matchup as there is for running backs, and it’s made worse for Chubb and Ford by the prospect of a fairly even workload split. But then the matchups are far better in Week 16 (Cincinnati Bengals) and Week 17 (Miami Dolphins).
Ford is clearly the pass-catching/negative game script back for the Browns over Chubb. As noted by Nathan Jahnke of Pro Football Focus, Chubb did not see a single snap in the final 15 minutes on Sunday with the team trailing by 20 points at the start of the fourth quarter. With that in mind, the next three games could go similarly in terms of the Browns’ defense giving up a lot of points.
Ford is most worth adding in leagues with at least 12 teams, with a path to noticeable production if things go a certain way in the coming weeks. There are a lot worse ways to fill a bench spot at this point in the season.
ESPN Ownership: 30.7%
Yahoo! Ownership: 42%
Jalen McMillan, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
McMillan had four catches (on a team-high seven targets) for 59 yards and two touchdowns (15 and 29 yards) on Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders. It was clearly the rookie’s best game of the season, and the first time he has scored since Week 1. But he has also had at least a 75 percent snaps share in three of his last four games, and the one he didn’t was a 30-7 win for Tampa Bay. He also has at least seven targets in three of his last five games.
Week 15 against the Los Angeles Chargers isn’t the greatest matchup, but the prospect of a high-scoring game lands favorably for McMillan. Week 16 against the Dallas Cowboys is a good matchup, as is Week 17 against the Carolina Panthers.
If McMillan is able to finish his rookie season strong, he’ll be a name to stash away for 2025 fantasy drafts. But he is now on the low-end WR3/flex radar in leagues with 12 or more teams during this year’s playoffs.
ESPN Ownership: 8.5%
Yahoo! Ownership: 5%
