Sit/Start 2023 Week 15: Reviewing All Fantasy Relevant Players In Every Single Game

Game Info

Kickoff: Thursday, December 14th, 8:15 PM ET

Location: Allegiant Stadium, Paradise Nevada

Betting Odds: LV -3, 34 total via Odds Shark

Network: Prime Video

Writer: Justin Mello (@JustinMelloNE on Twitter)

Los Angeles Chargers

Quarterbacks

Easton Stick (Sit)

With Justin Herbert out for the rest of the season after undergoing surgery, Easton Stick should log his first career start. Stick had only thrown one pass his entire career before he entered the game last Sunday. It’s fair to say that his experience, or lack thereof, is a concern. When he did enter the game on Sunday, he completed 54 percent of his passes for 179 scoreless yards while also losing a fumble. The Raiders have been surprisingly respectable against the pass this season, and I wouldn’t put my money on Stick turning around an offense that has struggled even with Herbert at the helm. Especially with zero byes in Week 15 and a full slate of quarterbacks available, I can’t imagine any scenario in which you’d want to start Stick in your playoff matchup.

Running Backs

Austin Ekeler (Start, RB2), Joshua Kelley (Sit)

We may be just about at the end of Austin Ekeler’s multi-year run of elite fantasy production. It took playing Denver’s bottom-of-the-league run defense for Ekeler to finally reach 100 yards from scrimmage (barely, might I add) for the first time since Week 10; it was only the fourth time all season he crossed that threshold. From an efficiency standpoint, it certainly doesn’t help that Justin Herbert won’t be leading the offense in Week 15. To play devil’s advocate, there is some hope that Brandon Staley and Kellen Moore will draw up a game plan that relies heavily on their dual-threat running back if they don’t trust Stick to push the ball downfield. Another glimmer of hope comes from the fact that the Raiders have allowed the sixth most fantasy points to opposing running backs this season. All of this keeps Ekeler in the RB2 conversation, but the ambiguity and overall pessimism around this whole situation removes the perennial fantasy star from RB1 consideration. Joshua Kelley can be safely waived or benched while operating as the second running back in this bad offense.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

Keenan Allen (OUT), Joshua Palmer (Sit), Quentin Johnston (Sit), Gerald Everett (Sit)

Quentin Johnston seems like he may finally be coming around, but it’s a little too late for fantasy relevance this season; the number two option for Easton Stick is not a desirable start. Joshua Palmer seems likely to return on Thursday night from the knee injury that landed him on IR, fortuitous timing for a team that will be without Keenan Allen. From a fantasy perspective, Palmer’s return adds further ambiguity to the pecking order in Los Angeles; this further solidifies my stance that no receiver aside from Allen should be started in normal circumstances. In his absence, Johnston or Palmer could serve as a desperation flex play. Johnston offers a slightly higher ceiling, but Palmer brings a much steadier floor to the table.

Gerald Everett has only caught 34 passes on the year and his situation just got worse; there isn’t any reason to start him in Week 15. The same can be said for the touchdown-dependent Donald Parham Jr. and any other tight end on the roster who could end up seeing the field thanks to the Chargers’ myriad of injuries.

Las Vegas Raiders

Quarterback

Aidan O’Connell (Sit)

The fourth-round rookie has looked like…well.. a fourth-round rookie. Aidan O’Connell has only one game this season in which he’s thrown for over 250 yards, and he has compiled a miserable touchdown touchdown-to-interception ratio of 4-to-7. O’Connell has great weapons at his disposal, but that unfortunately has not translated into great production. The Chargers have allowed the fifth-most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks this season, but to be honest, I don’t care. O’Connell has shown no reason to trust him in your starting lineup, even if the matchup is favorable. With fewer teams scouring the wire and no teams on bye, there are certainly better options available for quarterback-needy fantasy playoff teams.

Running Backs

Josh Jacobs (Start, Flex), Zamir White (Sit), Ameer Abdullah (Sit)

Last year’s rushing champion left last week’s contest early with a knee injury. I’m skeptical that Josh Jacobs will be active on Thursday night; it is a situation to monitor closely, especially on a short week. If he does suit up, he’ll be playing against a defense that has allowed the seventh-most fantasy points to running backs this season. The bad news: he’ll be playing on an injured knee and could see a decrease in both efficiency and usage because of it. That said, there aren’t many better options at the running back position than a workhorse like Josh Jacobs, even a gimpy one. It’s difficult to bench him, but he’s probably more likely to offer flex value than produce like a RB1 or RB2.

If Jacobs is inactive, which is very possible, the backfield will be left to Zamir White and Ameer Abdullah. Abdullah has out-snapped White on the year, 139 to 51, but that is largely because Abdullah is used in passing situations. I’d expect White to see the bulk of the early down work if Jacobs is inactive, but it should be a split backfield, nonetheless. I personally don’t want anything to do with a committee back on a bad offense, so I’d stay away from both White and Abdullah, regardless of Jacobs’s status on Thursday.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

Davante Adams (Start, WR2), Jakobi Meyers (Start, Flex),  Hunter Reonfrow (Sit), Michael Mayer (Sit)

Maybe leaving Aaron Rodgers wasn’t the best career move. It’s clear that Davante Adams still has all the talent in the world. It’s just tough to put up elite numbers in such a putrid offense. He still has a whopping 31 percent target share and has been targeted on 28 percent of his routes run, but those targets haven’t always translated into production. He’s only topped 100 yards once this season. This could potentially be a get-right game for Adams, who’s playing a Chargers defense that has allowed the seventh-most fantasy points to opposing wide receivers this season. Then again, Asante Samuel Jr. has been great in coverage and typically plays on the outside, where Adams lurks. There will always be upside with a receiver as talented as Adams, but it’s difficult to project him as anything more than a WR2 while playing with Aidan O’Connell and the Raiders.

Jakobi Meyers has been relatively reliable while averaging almost seven targets per game this season. He started off the year red-hot but has seen his target share decrease significantly since the firing of Josh McDaniels and the benching of Jimmy Garoppolo. Nonetheless, Meyers has played at least 80% of offensive snaps in every game since Week 1, and the matchup is appealing enough to keep him in your flex spot.

The tight end situation has been somewhat of a mess for the Raiders this season, and nobody at the position has even accumulated an 8 percent target share. Michael Mayer may be an exciting prospect, but it’s clear that he should not be started regardless of matchup for the time being.