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Justin's fantasy football start 'em, sit 'em picks for Week 15 of 2025. He looks at surprising performances from Shedeur Sanders, Tony Pollard, Blake Corum, Ryan Flournoy, Josh Oliver.
Welcome back to Fact or Fiction, RotoBaller's weekly look at some of the NFL's most shocking performances, and boy, did we have some Week 14 shockers! The Browns' offense came alive! The Titans' run game did too! What's going on here???
Week 15 likely marks the beginning of the fantasy football playoffs in your league, so this week's analysis — as well as the analysis for the remainder of the season — is focused on winning right now. There's no time to stash guys. It's either you win your fantasy matchup, or you're done.
Let's talk about some Week 14 performances and project if they mean anything for the rest of 2025. We'll be looking at performances from Shedeur Sanders, Tony Pollard, Blake Corum, Ryan Flournoy, and Josh Oliver.
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Shedeur Sanders, QB, Cleveland Browns
Week 15 stats: 23-for-42 for 364 yards and three touchdowns, three carries for 29 yards and a touchdown -- overall QB2
The Browns lost to the Titans on Sunday in a battle of rookie quarterbacks, but you can't blame the rookie on the Cleveland side, as Sanders had by far his best game since taking over as the Browns' starting quarterback. It was a performance so strong that head coach Kevin Stefanski went ahead and named Sanders as the starter for the rest of the season.
(That means if you picked Deshaun Watson up off the waiver wire in a deep league in hopes that Cleveland would give him a short look, then you've wasted a roster spot.)
Shedeur Sanders is the first @Browns QB with 300+ pass yards, 3+ pass TDs, and a rush TD in the same game since 1950 👏#DawgPound pic.twitter.com/FO6AKeujzE
— NFL+ (@NFLPlus) December 7, 2025
Sanders needed this performance because his first two starts and his extended action against Baltimore had all been somewhere between "mediocre" and "awful." While Sanders only completed 54.8 percent of his passes in this game, he showed an ability to push the ball down the field, something Dillon Gabriel lacked. Gabriel's aDOT this season is 5.8, which ranks 38th among quarterbacks per PlayerProfiler. Sanders hasn't thrown enough passes to qualify for the leaderboard, but his aDOT is 7.8, a decent bit ahead of Gabriel.
I'm not sold that Sanders can do this consistently, but the Browns are about to face a Bears defense that allows the ninth-most fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks. If you're desperate at quarterback, Sanders is a strong streaming play, though there's plenty of downside considering he's only looked good in one of his three starts.
Verdict: Fiction, but you can do worse if you need a streamer
Tony Pollard, RB, Tennessee Titans
Week 15 stats: 25 carries for 161 yards and two touchdowns -- overall RB2
It's been a rough season for Pollard, who came into Week 14 with just two touchdowns on the season. Over the first 12 games of 2025, Pollard was averaging 48.5 yards per game, a sizable drop off from his first season in Tennessee.
But with Tyjae Spears struggling as well, the Titans handed the ball to Pollard a season-high 25 times against Cleveland. He responded with by far his best showing of the season, rushing for 161 yards and two touchdowns.
Tony Pollard 65-yard TOUCHDOWN.
TENvsCLE on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/UZ9c5ifvfN
— NFL (@NFL) December 7, 2025
Now, 65 of those yards came on a single run, which is always something that brings up some alarm bells. Long touchdown runs are fun, but they aren't necessarily replicable. Of the 17 runs in the NFL this season of at least 60 yards, only Jonathan Taylor and Jahmyr Gibbs have done it multiple times. Those are two of the league's elite backs. Pollard's not that.
The usage was encouraging, but Pollard's overall body of work this season makes it risky to trust him as anything more than an RB3 for the rest of the season. If you're forced to start him, then this performance should make you feel better about that, but there's still immense risk here considering his other 2025 performances.
Verdict: I think it's Fiction, but you can play Pollard as an RB3 going forward
Blake Corum, RB, Los Angeles Rams
Week 15 stats: 12 carries for 128 yards and two touchdowns, one catch for three yards -- overall RB3
It's happening. It's finally happening.
There are a number of fantasy managers who have been low on Kyren Williams for the last couple of years. The primary reason is that Williams' fantasy numbers have received a major boost from touchdowns, but he hasn't actually been very efficient outside of that.
I'm not necessarily on that train, but I do believe that Williams has been blocking Corum from the field in a way that probably hurts the Rams at least a little bit. The 2024 third-round pick ranks eighth among all running backs in yards per touch, sixth in juke rate, and 15th in true yards per carry. When he touches the ball, good things tend to happen.
Will Corum's two-touchdown game ensure that he'll get consistent touches going forward? It should, but this was also the first time since Nov. 9 that he had double-digit touches, so let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. From a talent perspective, Corum deserves to get opportunities, but the Rams love Williams, so there's a cap on just how many touches Corum is capable of getting each week.
Verdict: This should be a Fact, but we know that Sean McVay loves Williams, so...proceed with caution
Ryan Flournoy, WR, Dallas Cowboys
Week 15 stats: nine catches for 115 yards and a touchdown -- overall WR6
CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens have been great in this Dallas offense, but on Thursday night, it was Flournoy who stood out, as he caught nine of his 13 targets for 115 yards and a touchdown.
Flo on the go 💨
📺: #DALvsDET on Prime Video
📲: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/RmDxAeCG4M pic.twitter.com/o8FXEHB15R— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) December 5, 2025
What happened? Well, part of it was that Lamb exited the game with a concussion, opening up more opportunities for Flournoy. Lamb's last target before exiting was early in the third quarter. Flournoy was targeted on the next two plays, and overall, 10 of his 13 targets came after Lamb's final target.
That makes the analysis here pretty simple. If Lamb is still in concussion protocol by Sunday, when Dallas hosts Minnesota, fantasy managers who need a wide receiver should happily play the second-year receiver. If Lamb suits up, then Flournoy is too risky for fantasy managers to trust.
(Now, if we're talking about long-term stuff, I would be pretty aggressive this offseason in trying to acquire Flournoy in dynasty leagues. He's positioned to be a big part of this offense down the line.)
Verdict: Fiction if Lamb plays this week, but a Soft Fact if he's out
Josh Oliver, TE, Minnesota Vikings
Week 15 stats: two catches for 24 yards and two touchdowns -- overall TE3
It would be easy to just write Oliver's two-touchdown performance as a fluke. Entering Week 14, Oliver had just one game all season with more than one reception. He has finishes of TE10 and TE11 on his resume this season, but those were both because he caught touchdowns. His best finish in a game where he didn't find the end zone was TE42 against the Eagles.
But, should you just write this off?
Yeah, probably. Sure, Oliver's 62.5 percent snap rate was his highest of the 2025 season, but his main role in Minnesota is to block. He'll occasionally find his way into the end zone when the Vikings go with big personnel down near the goal line, but fantasy managers can't bet on that during the fantasy football playoffs.
Maybe there's appeal if you need a cheap play in DFS contests, but his next three games are all against teams that rank in the top 12 for fewest fantasy points allowed to tight ends, so even that's a stretch. Ignore Oliver in season-long formats.
Verdict: Fiction
Who Should I Start Tool
Not sure who to start? Check out the Who Should I Start tool:
Compare up to four players and we'll tell you who to start...
Who Should I Start? Who Should I Sit? Some common Week 15 fantasy football lineup decisions are regarding players like Shedeur Sanders, Tony Pollard, Blake Corum, Ryan Flournoy, and Josh Oliver. But not to worry, we are here to help make these decisions and build winning lineups in Week 12. Set your optimal fantasy football lineups for Week 15 of the 2025 NFL season. Our free Who Should I Start? tool will help make your fantasy football lineup decisions. Compare up to four NFL players, and we tell you who to start... all free! Get your winning lineups set, and make the right decisions.
Week 15 Player Decisions. Today's focus is on specific players - Shedeur Sanders, Tony Pollard, Blake Corum, Ryan Flournoy, and Josh Oliver. These are some of the most common searches for fantasy football lineups in Week 15.
Using The Tool. This is a simple tool, but very powerful. The first step is to enter the player names that you want to compare. In the first box, search for the first player's name. In the second box, search for the second player's name. Compare up to four NFL players at once, and then click the Who To Start? button to see who the recommended starts are based on weekly fantasy football matchups.
Improvements For Who Should I Start? You may have noticed that our 'Who Should I Start?' tool has gotten an overhaul. We've added lots of great features for you to give you as much information as possible to win your fantasy football matchups each week. You'll see NFL player tiles with headshots and bye weeks, stats, projections, strength of schedule, player news, and enhanced search results with data to compare with a slick new interface. We hope you enjoy!
How It Works. Each week, our RotoBaller staff puts together their weekly fantasy football rankings and projections based on their research. That information is the core data that is powering the decision-making in this tool. When you search for player names, you will only see those players who are ranked. If someone is out for the week, they will not appear in the search results.
Scoring Formats. Fantasy football managers play in various types of leagues, and this tool allows you to choose whether it's PPR scoring, Half-PPR scoring, or Standard (Non-PPR) scoring. The second thing you want to do is to select the scoring format. There are three small radio buttons (small circles), so click on the scoring format you prefer. The results may vary based on the scoring format you select.
Popular Week 15 Searches. Curious to see some tough lineup decisions for Week 15 (2025)? Below you will find a list of some popular Who Should I Start? searches that RotoBaller readers are looking at this week. Click any of the links to see the result and recommendation.
Popular Week 15 Searches - Start/Sit Player Comparisons
Below are some popular searches and comparisons from our Who To Start tool for Week 15 for Shedeur Sanders, Tony Pollard, Blake Corum, Ryan Flournoy, and Josh Oliver:
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