Recommended Fantasy Football Week 15 Waiver Wire Pickups

Week 15 signals the beginning of the fantasy football playoffs for a majority of leagues. If you’ve made it this far, congratulations is in order, as you’ve navigated the marathon known as the regular season. The playoffs are a sprint to the finish, and it’s important to boost your roster as much as possible in a do or die matchup.

Raiders starting running back Josh Jacobs left Week 14’s game with an injury, which will be closely monitored by teams in the fantasy football playoffs. Las Vegas will either turn to White or Ameer Abdullah to absorb the bulk of his carries. With the Raiders on the outside of the postseason picture, it wouldn’t be surprising for them to feature White, the younger of the two backs.

At various points this season, Minnesota starting running back Alexander Mattison has been banged up. It remains to be seen whether he will miss time moving forward with an ankle injury, but Chandler is a must-add if available. He’s arguably been the most explosive runner on the team this year, and could be a week-winner.

New York looked considerably better on offense in Week 14 than they have for most of the season. It’s hard to say whether this progress can continue, but quarterback Zach Wilson seemed to look Conklin’s way early and often. The tight end logged six targets against the Texans, and has had a reliable source of opportunities even in a difficult year for the team.

Fantasy managers who were thrilled to deploy Justin Jefferson again were sad to see him leave with injury once more. We’ll learn more about the chest ailment Jefferson is dealing with, but it might once again be time to turn to Osborn in fantasy. It seems likely that Minnesota will stick with Nick Mullens under center next week, which should upgrade the fantasy prospects of Vikings receivers.

It didn’t seem like it was going to happen for Johnston in his rookie year, but he might be making a late season surge towards fantasy relevancy. He caught a long pass from Los Angeles quarterback Easton Stick in Week 14, and the Chargers might look long and hard at a youth movement with their playoff hopes slipping away.

For the same reasoning, it could also make sense to take a flier on Kelley as a bench stash. Reports indicated that the Chargers were going to divide up carries, but their ratio might tweak in Kelley’s direction if Ekeler gets nicked up. He might be another young player the organization chooses to evaluate down the stretch.

Joe Mixon isn’t going anywhere as Cincinnati starting running back, but Brown has opened a few eyes in the last couple of weeks. He was a solid contributor as a receiver against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 14, which is an interesting wrinkle for the Bengals offense. Brown might get more work on third down as a result of his recent hot play.

There’s something to be said for how hard it is to bounce back on a short week for a road game, which is something the New York Giants will be dealing with in Week 15. They’ll head to New Orleans to face a sturdy Saints defense. While they have been better recently, New York is still limited in the talent department on offense, which makes the Saints a strong fantasy play this week.