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John's fantasy football streamers and start 'em, sit 'em lineup picks for Week 15 of 2025. These waiver wire pickups and emerging players could win matchups.
Fantasy playoffs always remind me of that famous cockpit scene with all the turbulence from Airplane, "Just want you to know, we're all counting on you". Every single point is so crucial, it's only human nature to obsess incessantly over every lineup slot for the slightest edge.
You want to start those studs, but at the same time avoid any true buzz saws that could send us packing. That's why to start every high-leverage week, I lay out my favorite replacement streamer at each position just in case our situation calls for breaking open the emergency glass.
This is it. Now or never. Go, or get off the pot. Maybe apropos for John Cena's retirement week, but the last time is now. Good luck!
Be sure to check all of our fantasy football rankings for 2025:- 2025 fantasy football rankings
- Running back (RB) rankings
- Wide receiver (WR) rankings
- Quarterback (QB) rankings
- Tight end (TE) rankings
- Defense (D/ST) rankings
- Kicker (K) rankings
- FLEX rankings
- Dynasty rankings
Quarterback: Sam Darnold, SEA vs. Indianapolis Colts
First things first, discard those priors! In the words of history's greatest Jedi master, you must unlearn what you have learned. Sam Darnold has experienced ups and downs like every other quarterback in the league, yet he seems to be disproportionately punished by the fantasy community. Sure, earlier on in the season, it made sense to dock Darnold's projections for Mike Macdonald's league-low pass rate. However, we're deep enough at this point to identify prevalent trends — the NFL's current 36.6 dropbacks per game is the lowest in 15 seasons. Time to recalibrate.
In their defense, the Seahawks started airing it out a bit more relatively as of late — three of their four highest pass rates have come in the last month alone. Long story short, volume's great but there's a place for quality over quantity as well, which is clearly Seattle's wheelhouse. I'll be first to admit some of Darnold's 2025 ranks among the 37 starting quarterbacks with +160 attempts took me by surprise...
- 3,162 Passing Yards: 6th
- +0.25 EPA/Attempt: 7th
- 8.9 Yards/Attempt: 1st
- 68.1% Completion Rate: 8th
- 7.3% Off Target Rate: 3rd
- 103.8 Passer Rating: 6th
- 39.3% First Down/Attempt: 5th
- 22 Passing TD: T-5th
Seattle's hosting the run-funnel Colts, who despite the presence of star CB Charvarius Ward have struggled mightily against the pass for a month — Indy's dead last in EPA/dropback (-0.23) and passing yards allowed per game (283.0) in that timeframe. I'm expecting the Seahawks to follow recent tendencies by abandoning a scuffling ground game for the league's most efficient aerial attack. Wheels up for the Hawks' pass game Sunday!
Sam Darnold showing off his elite pocket presence
SEAvsWAS on NBC
Stream on @NFLPlus + Peacock pic.twitter.com/6nwYgfRjn4— NFL (@NFL) November 3, 2025
Running Back: Chris Rodriguez Jr., WAS at New York Giants
If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results, then call me crazy — I'm back on the Chris Rodriguez Jr. train. In spite of exactly zero top-15 positional finishes in 2025, there are still some data points worthy of our fantasy attention.
For starters, even with no Week 15 byes, the state of RB availability is in absolute shambles. All the top draft picks not only continue to perform at a high level, but they also stay healthy! In fact, you'd have to get all the way down to fantasy's preseason RB18 (Alvin Kamara) to hit the first tailback not scheduled to play this weekend. So just in case you thought something was different but wasn't quite sure, rest assured — it's not only in your head.
With my sad excuses and apologies out of the way, Rodriguez still represents the best of the bad backfield options. He's easily the Commanders' best runner since reassuming the starter's role Week 9, well evidenced by team leads in RB touch share (53.0%), EPA/attempt (+0.08), yards/rush (4.6), success rate (54.0%), explosive rush rate (9.3%) — and most importantly more than doubling teammates Jacory Croskey-Merritt and Jeremy McNichols in goal-to-go carries combined.
Washington heads into its softest matchup in two full months, against a Giants' defense literally at or scraping the bottom of the board in anything related to stopping the run — EPA/attempt (-0.17), success rate (51.9%), rushing yards/game (154.2), yards/carry (5.8), +20-yard carries (16), and explosives rush rate (12.4%). The worm's about to turn...
Chris Rodriguez Jr. rips off a 49-yard run for the @Commanders
WASvsATL on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXnxV pic.twitter.com/z875X7V00w
— NFL (@NFL) September 28, 2025
Wide Receiver: Chimere Dike, TEN at San Francisco 49ers
In fantasy content, you either die the hero or last long enough to recommend streaming Titans and become the villain. Enter Chimere Dike, Tennessee's rookie WR, who was actually selected 33 picks in front of more widely known Elic Ayomanor. Between rookie QB mistakes and a generally impotent offensive scheme, it took some time to get going. With that, Dike's currently leading the pass-catching room in fantasy points, despite not seeing the majority of snaps in any game until Week 8.
Since then, Titans' brass fully incorporated Dike into the offense, who has led all WRs in targets, catches, yards, and scores since. While he's still missing out on a few 2-WR snaps each game, I'm not too worried. For starters, Tennessee's perpetually trailing and whether it's the chicken or the egg at the root, they lead the NFL in 3-WR% this season (73%). As a locked-in weekly slot man, Dike's formed a nice battery with Cam Ward, earning 14 inside opportunities over the last three weeks alone. Nothing like a nice PPR scam when you're desperate.
Ward's been better underneath when taking less time to throw, which in theory could even boost future deep ball success. He's currently bottom-10 among all starting QBs in anything to do with attempts over 20 air yards — leaving me pretty confident interim HC Mike McCoy continues attacking defenses closer to the line of scrimmage. Believe it or not, this lines up as a perfect schematic match for San Francisco.
Maybe it's the laundry list of key injuries, but Kyle Shanahan's essentially removed blitzing from the team's defensive lexicon. As a result, the 49ers stand dead last in total sacks and sack/pressure rate, choosing to instead run a myriad of preventative 5-DB, Cover-3 zone looks. Focusing attention on disallowing receivers behind the secondary opens up space underneath, where SF's been constantly attacked — the Niners are dead last in defensive slot EPA (-70.8) and slot receptions per game (8.2), allowing more than 91 yards per contest to the position.
Can't forget the chance for a special team TD either — Dike leads the entire NFL in kickoff return yards (1,323) and yards per punt return (19.9) with a pair of scores.
Cam Ward finds Chimere Dike for a touchdown
SEAvsTEN on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/CiQTyMIFT0
— NFL (@NFL) November 23, 2025
Tight End: Isaiah Likely, BAL at Cincinnati Bengals
Things are obviously getting strange when the top streaming recommendation in the highest leverage spot of the season is a second-string TE. A backup, you say? Have you gone mad? Well, maybe... but that's another story for a different day. Back to the point at hand, a bullish pivot toward Baltimore's Isaiah Likely shouldn't take an arm twist. He's a top-5 fantasy TE over the last two weeks — and that's including a pair of terribly unfortunate end zone instances, each costing a score (the referee's incomplete call against Pittsburgh was especially egregious in my opinion).
Generally, an available starting TE's a risky enough proposition to stream, though in Baltimore's particular case, an exception is in order — they've run the second-most 2-TE plays (345) and boast the fourth-highest rate of targets to the position (29.3%). Likely's earning looks frequently enough over the last two weeks (27.3 target/route) to compensate for the suppressed route totals, and I don't see this usage stopping anytime soon. Baltimore's back is up against the wall, and it's all hands on deck for a playoff push.
Plus, the Ravens play in Cincinnati this weekend? No one's allowed even near the amount of fantasy points to TEs that the Bengals have in 2025 — their 16.6 points per game surrendered is an astonishing 52% higher than the next closest defense. Let's go!
Vintage backyard football play from Lamar to Likely
CINvsBAL on NBC
Stream on @NFLPlus + Peacock pic.twitter.com/OdE2KmEm2N— NFL (@NFL) November 28, 2025
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