It’s the most wonderful time of the year — we have NFL football four days this week! While the kids are all yelling and presents are selling, NFL DFS enthusiasts are filled with good cheer! With three games scheduled for the rare Week 15 Saturday slate, we’ve assembled a FanDuel lineup that we think will hit as big as Gabby’s Dollhouse with 3-year-old girls (that’s a big hit, trust me).
You don’t have to play your lineup exactly as we do — we never expect the total faith of our readers — but our goal is to let you into our DFS mindset and share our different FanDuel strategies when constructing lineups. Hopefully learning about alternative approaches to daily fantasy helps unlock a cheat code in your mind and in turn makes you some holiday shopping money!
Our ‘Saturday Special’ strategy was four-fold:
- Mind the weather
- Load up on elite RBs and find sleepers elsewhere
- Stack our QB with his top receiving option
- Be willing to leave money on the table.
Take a look at how our roster came out, and good luck this weekend!
Before we break down our strategy and picks, here are the most notable scoring rules for FanDuel contests: four-point passing TDs and half-point PPR. FD does not feature point bonuses for 300-yard performances by QBs or 100-yard efforts by flex players.
MORE SATURDAY DFS: DK lineup
DraftKings Picks Week 15: NFL DFS lineup for GPP tournaments
Saturday main slate — $60,000 budget
QB Deshaun Watson, Browns vs. Ravens ($6,800)
We considered Josh Allen in the snow, but $9,000 seems heavy for a QB in a bad-weather game. That would also effectively price us out of studs at other positions and turn this into a stars-and-scrubs build. Instead, we’re going for more of a value with Watson. He appeared to shake the rust off last week against a strong Bengals defense, finishing with 276 passing yards, 33 rushing yards, and a TD. That was good for a hair under 18 FanDuel points — not too shabby considering his modest cost. With two games under his belt, we like Watson to put it all together this weekend in his first regular-season home game in front of the Dawg Pound. Baltimore has allowed the 11th-most FD points to QBs this season, and Cleveland’s forecast on Saturday is calling for cloudy and 35 degrees but only a 10 percent chance of precipitation. That paves the way for Watson to make it rain.
WEEK 15 DFS LINEUPS: DraftKings | FanDuel
RB Jonathan Taylor, Colts at Vikings ($9,000)
If you’re going to spend $9,000 on a player in a three-game December slate, spend it on the best running back of the six teams. Taylor has been utilized early and often since Jeff Saturday relieved Frank Reich of head coaching duties. Hey, it’s the only facet of offense that actually works for Indy, so why knock it? Against the Vikings, who have allowed 127.4 scrimmage yards per game and 12 total TDs to running backs this season, this seems like a no-brainer. JT has touched the ball 24 times per game over the past month, and he should be in for another heavy workload on Saturday afternoon.
WEEK 15 DFS: Best values | Best stacks
RB Dalvin Cook, Vikings vs. Colts ($8,200)
Look here, dueling RBs! Cook has underwhelmed in three of Minnesota’s past four games, but the Colts have allowed the eighth-most FD points to RBs this season and Cook is always a threat to serve up a touchdown or two. While Indy’s stout passing D is worried about Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen, and T.J. Hockenson around the red zone, expect Cook to benefit the most.
WEEK 15 FANTASY PICKS: Sleepers | Busts | Start ’em, sit ’em
WR Amari Cooper, Browns vs. Ravens ($7,200)
We can’t complain about this modest price for a bona fide stud receiver who has already displayed some chemistry with his new QB, and now we have a QB-WR stack, meaning we get double the pleasure, double the fun every time Watson and Cooper connect for a big play. We understand if you’re ambivalent after the veteran receiver managed just 82 combined receiving yards over the past two weeks, and if you can’t stomach it, maybe you’re better off using Kirk Cousins ($7,500) and Cooper’s teammate Donovan Peoples-Jones ($6,500) instead of Watson and Cooper. But we’re sticking with the duo that has a better track record, higher ceiling, and juicier QB matchup.
WR Alec Pierce, Colts at Vikings ($5,700)
Pierce has been lauded by Colts QB Matt Ryan since the future Hall-of-Famer arrived in Indy, and their rapport was clear as day two weeks ago in Arlington. Against a usually dominant secondary, Ryan and his rookie pal connected on four-of-eight targets for 86 yards and a highlight-reel TD catch. There is no doubt in our minds he can at least replicate his 16.6 FD score from Week 14, as the Vikings have surrendered the second-most fantasy points to wideouts this season. Eat up, rook.
WEEK 15 PPR RANKINGS:
QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/STs | Kickers
WR Isaiah McKenzie, Bills vs. Dolphins ($5,600)
With heavy snow and temperatures expected in the low 30s, downfield passing will be at a premium in Buffalo this weekend. This is a perfect time to feature the speedy McKenzie, Ken Dorsey’s go-to gadget guy in bad-weather games. McKenzie has been used in reverses, direct snaps, end-arounds, and various screens — basically any way Josh Allen can get him the ball to let him do his thing. The Dolphins may rank as one of the more electric offenses in football, but their defense has also been prone to getting zapped by big-play speedsters. Watch McKenzie give Tyreek Hill’s squad a taste of their own medicine with some highlight-reel YAC plays.
TE T.J. Hockenson, Vikings vs. Colts ($6,300)
If the Saturday slate featured no stud tight ends, I’d probably just dive into the bargain bin, but with Hockenson, Mark Andrews, and David Njoku all in action, we feel obliged to put up solid production at the position so we don’t get crushed. Hockenson is the play here. As we mentioned earlier, the Colts defend wide receivers well but can be beaten by other skill positions. The Colts allow more fantasy points to TEs than the Browns and the same amount as the Ravens, so we’re getting the best of all worlds here.
WEEK 15 STANDARD RANKINGS:
QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/STs | Kickers
Flex RB JK Dobbins, Ravens at Browns ($6,600)
Flex baby, flex baby, 1-2-3! We thought maybe Dobbins would be eased back into the Ravens offense last week after a lengthy absence due to lingering knee issues, but as it turned out, John Harbaugh let the back loose against the Steelers for 15 carries, 120 yards, and a tuddie! Now Dobbins draws another AFC North foe in the Browns, who have served up the third-most FD points to RBs this season. With Lamar Jackson (knee) sidelined, Dobbins is the captain of this run-first ship, and the captain gon’ get some end-zone booty this Saturday (yarr).
DEF Minnesota Vikings vs. Colts ($3,900)
We came very close to using the Ravens here, but we value the Vikings as an even better play against Matt Ryan. Indy frequently struggles with turnovers and moving the chains, and it has scored the second-fewest points in the NFL. Even more important, it allows the most fantasy points to D/STs. So, even though we’re leaving $700 on the table, we feel confident we have assembled the optimal lineup with this strategy.