Waiver Favors™: 2020 Week 15 Fantasy Football Pickups
By Ha Kung Wong Week 15 Fantasy Football Pickups
Twitter: @FBGarbageTime
As I do every year over the last 8 years, I’m here to help with waiver wire adds via my weekly Waiver Favors article! And I’m assuming if you’re reader right now, you’re in your fantasy football playoffs, so congratulations!I’ll make a couple suggestions for after Week 15 of the 2020 fantasy football season that hopefully will keep your team running. You’re welcome. Again.
As usual, all pickups are available in at least 50% of Yahoo standard fantasy football leagues (with some minor exceptions) as of Sunday evening.
Marcus Mariota
QB – Las Vegas Raiders – 1% Owned
Yikes. Derek Carr came down with an uncomfortable looking groin injury in the second quarter of the game. In stepped former second overall draft pick, Marcus Mariota, and he arguably looked as good as he ever was playing for Carr, completing 17 of 28 passes for 226 yards and a TD and an INT, adding nine carries for 88 rush yards and a rushing TD. His INT was unfortunately ill timed at the end of the game, but it’s hard to fault a guy who hadn’t really played in about a year. Carr looks like he’ll miss at least one more game, which is just in time for most of your fantasy championship games. You have to be pretty desperate to play Mariota in a championship game against the Dolphins, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers, particularly in two QB leagues.
| Year | Tm | G | Cmp | Att | Cmp% | Yds | TD | Int | Rate | QBR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | TEN | 12 | 230 | 370 | 62.2 | 2818 | 19 | 10 | 91.5 | 53.3 |
| 2016 | TEN | 15 | 276 | 451 | 61.2 | 3426 | 26 | 9 | 95.6 | 59.4 |
| 2017 | TEN | 15 | 281 | 453 | 62.0 | 3232 | 13 | 15 | 79.3 | 58.8 |
| 2018 | TEN | 14 | 228 | 331 | 68.9 | 2528 | 11 | 8 | 92.3 | 50.6 |
| 2019 | TEN | 7 | 95 | 160 | 59.4 | 1203 | 7 | 2 | 92.3 | 33.2 |
| 2020 | LVR | 1 | 17 | 28 | 60.7 | 226 | 1 | 1 | 83.3 | 97.9 |
| Care | 64 | 1127 | 1793 | 62.9 | 13433 | 77 | 45 | 89.5 | ||
| 5 yr | TEN | 63 | 1110 | 1765 | 62.9 | 13207 | 76 | 44 | 89.6 | |
| 1 yr | LVR | 1 | 17 | 28 | 60.7 | 226 | 1 | 1 | 83.3 |
Le’Veon Bell
RB – Kansas City Chiefs – 53% Owned
Clyde Edwards-Hilaire went down late in Week 15 had to be helped off the field. It’s been noted that he was forced into the “splits” but that x-rays were negative. Of course, any forced “splits” could mean soft tissue or ligament damage, so who knows how that would sort out. Meanwhile, Le’Veon Bell racked up 15 carries for 62 yards and a TD. So in the meantime, everyone should pick up Bell in all 10-team leagues or deeper, in case he’s the starter for the explosive Chiefs offense going forward.
Tony Pollard
RB – Dallas Cowboys – 45% Owned
With Ezekiel Elliott ruled out due to a calf injury, Tony Pollard stepped in was arguably better than Zeke’s been the entire year, at least post-Dak Prescott, carrying 12 times for 69 yards and 2 TDs, adding 6 catches on 9 targets for 63 yards. Not a bad day, and the Cowboys have no reason to rush Zeke back in what looks to be a lost season, so maybe we’ll see more Pollard moving forward. The Eagles are up next, and they’ve been vulnerable on defense. If Pollard is in, he makes for a solid RB2 play in all leagues.
Dare Ogunbowale
RB – Jacksonville Jaguars – 0% Owned
Listen, you have to be pretty desperate to consider Dare Ogunbowale in your fantasy football playoffs, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. James Robinson went down with an ankle injury in Week 15 and never returned. If he doesn’t return, Ogunbowale should get first crack at taking over the backfield against the Bears in Week 16. He only rushed twice for 17 yards, adding one catch for 8 yards last week, but he should get plenty of opportunity if Robinson is out. The Jaguars are unlikely to rush Robinson back seeing as how they’re in the lead for the Trevor Lawrence sweepstakes so long as they don’t win anymore games, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he were out and Ogunbowale were in. He’s particularly good catching passes, so could be more helpful in PPR. Just keep your expectations in check.
UPDATE for Monday Night Football
Check back for the update after Monday Night Football!
And here’s who I’ve recommended in previous weeks that I still think deserve a look. I’ve highlighted in Orange the previous pickups that stood out again in Week 15:
10-Team Leagues
QB – Justin Herbert
WRs – Justin Jefferson
12-Team Leagues
QB – Kirk Cousins, Jalen Hurts, Mitchell Trubisky
RBs – Salvon Ahmed, Cam Akers, Wayne Gallman, J.D. McKissic (PPR)
WRs – Robby Anderson, Brandon Ayuik, Chase Claypool, Keke Coutee, Corey Davis, Russell Gage, Curtis Samuel
TEs – Dalton Schultz, Robert Tonyan
14-Team Leagues
QBs – Drew Lock, Philip Rivers, Tua Tagovailoa
RBs – Mike Davis, Chase Edmonds (particularly leagues that count return yards), Gus Edwards, Damien Harris, Darrell Henderson, Nyheim Hines (PPR), Ty Johnson, Jerick McKinnon, Benny Snell Jr., James White (PPR), Jordan Wilkins, Jeff Wilson Jr.
WRs – Nelson Agholor, Cole Beasley, Kendrick Bourne, Lynn Bowden, Keelan Cole, Gabriel Davis, KJ Hamler, Chad Hansen, Tee Higgins, Alshon Jeffery, Collin Johnson, Allen Lazard, Zach Pascal, Tim Patrick, Breshad Perriman, Michael Pittman Jr., Josh Reynolds, Henry Ruggs, Laviska Shenault, Sterling Shepard, Sammy Watkins
TEs – Jimmy Graham, Jacob Hollister, Cole Kmet, Irv Smith Jr., Logan Thomas
16-Team Leagues
RBs – Kalen Ballage, Devontae Booker, Malcolm Brown, Carlos Hyde, Justin Jackson, Duke Johnson, Alexander Mattison, Scotty Miller, Boston Scott
WRs – Deonte Harris, Rishard Higgins, Denzel Mims
TEs – Harrison Bryant, Drew Sample
Check back every week for more Waiver Favors!