Fantasy Football NFL Week 15 Target Report: Who Can We Trust For Fantasy Football Playoffs?

The time for fooling around is over. No more stashing unproven players. We need to figure out who we can actually trust in a lineup - not just for one week but for three straight (two if you have the bye). One bad week spells the end of your season at this stage in the game. We’ve been building up all year just for this - fantasy football playoffs.

So that’s our focus today. We may need to drop speculative players to play matchups at positions like tight end or defense. This week, more than ever, we are going to dial in on who we can trust and who we can’t. And, where necessary, who has enough upside to throw those darts. So let’s dive in!

2025 Fantasy Football NFL Week 15 Target Report Preview

Why do we do the target report? Well, we have a pretty good indication historically of how many fantasy-relevant pass-catchers can come from each team. The short and sweet is that the vast majority of teams will have one, maybe two fantasy-relevant pass-catchers. And there will almost certainly be more teams with zero than there are with three. Most meaningful fantasy players get at least 100 targets - here is a look at how players on each team over the last decade have hit that milestone. 

In the chart below, what we will do is attempt to take each team, and project A. the target pecking order, and B. what target range the players will likely fall into. At the bottom, we’ll include some notes as far as what went into the rankings and color-coded chart. So let’s dive in!

Fantasy Football Target Chart 2025 NFL Week 15

Fantasy Football Week 15 Target Report Advice & Takeaways

If a team has a ** next to them, it means they moved to a new section. If a team has a note, it means there is something we should monitor or some sort of change. If there are no notes, we can assume it is business as usual. After the first week of football, there are a lot of notes!

Clear Top Two

Cincinnati Bengals

• Ja'Marr Chase
• Tee Higgins
  • Gesicki is not to be trusted. He still only ran 17 of a possible 38 routes. Drew Sample played 27 snaps while both Gesicki and Fant each played 25. 

Cleveland Browns

• Harold Fannin
• Jerry Jeudy
  • With a three-game sample size of the Shedeur Sanders era, it’s become clear that these are the top two options. Fannin and Jeudy both ran 40+ routes this week, and no one else cracked 30. It’s still dicey with a young QB, but Fannin especially is appealing with his TE eligibility.

Kansas City Chiefs

• Rashee Rice
• Travis Kelce
  • No real change here, the Texans are just the toughest pass defense in the league right now by a wide margin. 

Los Angeles Rams

• Puka Nacua
• Davante Adams

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

• Emeka Egbuka
• Chris Godwin
  • Both Egbuka and Godwin ran 32 routes so we now trust Godwin again. He’s led the team in yards in two straight weeks. The question is what happens if/when Mike Evans gets back. Do they go heavy 3 WR sets? Who is odd man out?

Washington Commanders

• Terry McLaurin
• Deebo Samuel
  • With the serious injury to Zach Ertz, Terry McLaurin and Deebo Samuel are likely the clear top two options rest of the way. In very deep leagues like SFB15, we might add Ben Sinnott just to see if he can take over that Zach Ertz role. John Bates is a slow inline blocker so we have no interest there. 

High Consolidation

Arizona Cardinals

• Trey McBride
• Marvin Harrison Jr*
• Michael Wilson
  • As long as Marvin Harrison Jr is out, Michael Wilson is absolutely a must-start player.

Atlanta Falcons

• Drake London*
• Darnell Mooney
• Kyle Pitts
• Bijan Robinson
  • Julian Love only played 20 snaps, which certainly helped Kyle Pitts here. As long as Drake London is out, we’re willing to roll Pitts out there, though the Week 17 Rams matchup is a tough one. Mooney and David Sills remain the top two WRs, with Dylan Drummond operating as the WR3.  

Dallas Cowboys

• CeeDee Lamb
• George Pickens
• Jake Ferguson
  • The only change here would be if CeeDee Lamb were to miss with a concussion. But early reports are good. If he does miss, Ryan Flournoy would be on the spot start radar. 

Los Angeles Chargers

• Ladd McConkey
• Quentin Johnston
• Keenan Allen
• Oronde Gadsden
  • At one point, Oronde Gadsden was leading this team in routes run. The targets followed. Over the last few weeks, though, he’s been relegated to part-time work. In this game, Ladd McConkey ran 40 of 41 routes, Quentin Johnston ran 38, Keenan Allen ran 30, and Gadsden ran 29. We can pretty much only trust McConkey with QJ being the high-risk, high-reward upside play if you need it. 

Indianapolis Colts

• Michael Pittman
• Tyler Warren
• Alec Pierce
• Josh Downs
  • The Daniel Jones injury certainly could affect the quality of targets. But it’s still Pittman and Pierce on the outside, with Tyler Warren also playing full-time from the inline TE spot. Josh Downs remains a part-time guy out of the slot. Pittman and Warren are likely still guys we start every week with Pierce as a spot start option. 

Miami Dolphins

• Jaylen Waddle
• De’von Achane
• Darren Waller
  • Out of only 22 possible routes, here were the leaders in routes run: Jaylen Waddle, 18; Malik Washington, 13; Darren Waller, 13; Greg Dulcich, 12. Kind of a nightmare situation at tight end with each of them getting 3 targets. Can’t trust either of them in Week 15, have to just hope one can separate themselves for Week 16 vs. the Bengals. 

Minnesota Vikings

• Justin Jefferson
• Jordan Addison
• T.J. Hockenson
  • Hockenson still ran 20 routes to 8 for Josh Oliver, but Oliver scored. It’s still Jefferson (24 of 29), Addison (24), and Hockenson (20) running the most routes, but the QB player does not leave room for them all to be fantasy relevant. Or sometimes any of them.

New Orleans Saints

• Chris Olave
• Devaughn Vele
• Juwan Johnson
  • Three players lead this team in routes and targets virtually every week. And, based on the game scripts they have been finding themselves in, they all can be used depending on league depth. Olave is a must-start, assuming the back holds up; Vele and Juwan are on the start/sit radar.

Philadelphia Eagles

• A.J. Brown
• DeVonta Smith
• Dallas Goedert
• Saquon Barkley
  • We know who the main characters are here, as always. In any given week, one of them could go off, in any given week, one could disappear. You are starting Barkley, DeVonta Smith, and AJ Brown. But we’d rather not trust Goedert where we can avoid it. 

San Francisco 49ers

• Christian McCaffrey
• Jauan Jennings
• George Kittle
• Ricky Pearsall
  • Week 14 Bye

One Stud, Then Uncertainty

Baltimore Ravens

• Zay Flowers
  • Realistically, no one but Zay Flowers is coming anywhere close to 100 targets. Flowers has 95, and Andrews is next with 57. Mark Andrews ran 36 of 42 routes but only got 2 targets, while Isaiah Likely only ran 22 routes but got 5. Just not a situation you can really feel good about, but it’s still Andrews over Likely for me.

Carolina Panthers

• Tetairoa McMillan 
  • Week 14 Bye

Detroit Lions

• Amon-Ra St. Brown
• Jameson Williams
  • All that speculation, then ARSB just ended up playing. It’s ARSB and Jameson Williams as guys you can actually start, then Isaac TeSlaa and maybe Anthony Firkser as dart throws in DFS. Firkser got his first start since 2022 and ran 21 of 36 routes.

Houston Texans

• Nico Collins 
  • The Texans refuse to fully unleash Jayden Higgins here, even if he’s clearly the second-best pass-catcher on the team. So it’s still Nico as a must-start guy with Higgins and Schultz in our start/sit conversation. Nico ran 33 routes, Schultz ran 31, and Higgins was next with 19. Nico got 8 targets, Higgins got 5, and Schultz got 3.

Las Vegas Raiders

• Brock Bowers
  • Tre Tucker continues to operate as the top WR, though we saw a bit of a switch this week with Jack Bech playing over Tyler Lockett. Maybe worth a look in super deep leagues, but Kenny Pickett is set to be the QB likely. Bowers is a guy you just start and cross your fingers the Raiders can sustain some drives.

New England Patriots

• Stefon Diggs
  • Week 14 Bye

New York Giants

• Wan’Dale Robinson
  • Week 14 Bye

New York Jets

• Garrett Wilson*
  • John Metchie and Adonai Mitchell are the clear top two WRs. Metchie is the “safe but boring” option, while Mitchell is the high-risk, high-reward play. Mason Taylor is equally difficult to predict, as sometimes he’s asked to stay in and block, but not always. For instance, against the Falcons, he blocked on 10 pass plays. This week, he only blocked on one. The fluctuation from week to week creates uncertainty. It’s worth noting that the Dolphins have one of the worst graded pass rushes, so we may need to view matchups that way. 

Pittsburgh Steelers

• DK Metcalf
  • Adam Thielen, in his first game, played the second-most snaps to DK Metcalf. Granted, Metcalf played 43 of 52, and Thielen played 25 of 52. I’m not saying this is something, but it’s not nothing, so in those very deep leagues, Thielen is an add. Darnell Washington suffered a concussion, so monitor his health - one more TE injury, and maybe we’ll start one of these guys. Muth ran almost twice as many routes as Jonnu, so he’s the guy if you need it. 

Seattle Seahawks

• Jaxon Smith-Njigba
  • Elijah Arroyo hurt his knee in this one, which saw more snaps for AJ Barner - he still only ran 24 of 35, however. Rashid Shaheed also ran 24, while Cooper Kupp ran 29 and JSN ran 31. Hard to trust anyone after JSN, but at least Barner is TE eligible. 

Wide Open

Buffalo Bills

• Khalil Shakir
• Dalton Kincaid
• Gabe Davis
  • For fantasy football, it’s Khalil Shakir and Dalton Kincaid that we are willing to use. Gabe Davis is your next best bet for a DFS dart if you want to go there, as he ran 27 routes, which technically led the team this week. Dawson Knox was utilized here as the Bengals are terrible vs. TE, but he only ran 16 of 36 routes. Keon Coleman only ran 8 of 36. 

Chicago Bears

• Rome Odunze*
• DJ Moore
• Luther Burden
• Colston Loveland
  • With Rome Odunze out, the Bears insisted on having Olamide Zaccheus play over Luther Burden (33 routes to 27). But that didn’t stop Burden from having a more productive day. It seems clear that Luther Burden and Colston Loveland are the players of the future, and it’s only a matter of time before they are fully unleashed. Loveland still ran 23 routes to 24 for Kmet, so his day has not quite come yet. 

Denver Broncos

• Courtland Sutton
• Pat Bryant
• Evan Engram
• Troy Franklin
  • We talked about this last week, so hopefully you grabbed him. Pat Bryant has been the better blocker than Troy Franklin. And, for two weeks in a row, he’s played over him. In fact, Franklin’s 17 routes were behind Sutton (36), Bryant (29), RJ Harvey (26), Evan Engram (25), and Adam Trautman (21). Franklin might be droppable at this stage, while Bryant is an add. 

Green Bay Packers

• Christian Watson
• Romeo Doubs
• Jayden Reed
  • We are back to the old setup. Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs are full-time guys on the outside. Jayden Reed comes in for three WR sets to play slot. Watson has been the most productive and is your best bet, while Reed is more of a PPR spot start if you need it. Romeo Doubs just doesn’t offer much upside. Neither do the tight ends with their rotation. 

Jacksonville Jaguars

• Jakobi Meyers
• Brian Thomas Jr
• Brenton Strange
• Parker Washington*
  • BTJ led the team in routes here as the primary split end. Jakobi Meyers operated in the “Chris Godwin” slot/flanker role. Tim Patrick was the WR3 playing both flanker and slot and delivered a decent game. Brenton Strange played his inline, “Cade Otton” role for Liam Coen. Meyers has the best role for fantasy, but BTJ is an intriguing high-risk, high-reward type play. Strange is a “safe but boring” option. 

Tennessee Titans

• Elic Ayomanor
• Chimere Dike
• Van Jefferson
• Chig Okonkwo
• Gunnar Helm
  • It’s fairly unlikely at this stage that any of these guys crack 100 targets for the season. But it’s also clear that Elic Ayomanor and Chimere Dike are the top options if you want to throw a dart. We like Dike for his added chances of a special teams TD. The tight ends rotate too much, but an injury to one could be a boon to the other.