As always, we have our main waiver article that covers every position at the surface level. But Fantasy Alarm members often play in deep leagues that require additional levels of research and nuance. That’s where this article comes in. We take things a step further to look at those deep streamers you might need to keep your team afloat. And we also look at the top stashes who might not be able to help us right now, but could contribute to a championship down the road!

Best Fantasy Football Streamers and Stashes For Week 15

What is a Streamer?

A streamer is a player that you can actually start in your lineup currently. They might not be the flashiest players, but they won’t get you a zero. In deeper leagues with a lot of starting spots, you may need to call on them from time to time - especially when bye weeks and injuries come around.

What is a Stash?

The stashes are players that have appealing upside for one reason or another, but aren’t reliable guys you can start now. Maybe they are injured, and you can put them in an IR spot. Maybe they are handcuffs that could have big upside if the starter gets hurt. Maybe they are rookies who need time to develop and carve out a role. Whatever it is, we want to keep an eye on them. And stash them on deep benches. 

 

 

 

NFL Week 15 Quarterback Streamers

JJ McCarthy  - Minnesota Vikings Yahoo: 30% | ESPN: 28% | Sleeper: 23% 

Our top streamer has been Trevor Lawrence, and if he’s out there, we’ll go with him again. But he’s rostered in a lot of leagues all of a sudden. JJ McCarthy just delivered in a great matchup with Washington, who is the 4th best matchup for QBs in fantasy. This week, he gets Dallas, the best matchup. In fact, his next matchups after that, the New York Giants and Detroit Lions, are also top-five matchups. We’re basically leaning into the schedule and the weapons here, hoping that McCarthy himself can just not screw it up. 

Tyler Shough - New Orleans Saints Yahoo: 8% | ESPN: 6% | Sleeper: 16% 

The Panthers aren’t exactly a cake walk matchup these days. But Tyler Shough had arguably his best game of the season last time he faced them, throwing for 282 and 2 TDs. Almost more importantly for fantasy, Shough has been willing to run the ball 6 or 7 times in each of his last three games. And, after this matchup, Shough DOES have cake walk matchups against the Jets and the Titans. So he might be more than just a stream.

NFL Week 15 Quarterback Stashes

J.J. McCarthy - Minnesota Vikings Yahoo: 31% | ESPN: 30% | Sleeper: 23%  

We’d still rather not start McCarthy if we can avoid it. But he does have an incredibly easy schedule the rest of the way. So, if you are keeping a quarterback in your back pocket in case your starter gets hurt or runs across a tough matchup, McCarthy doesn’t have any bad ones. The same goes for Tyler Shough after this week. 

Shedeur Sanders - Cleveland Browns Yahoo: 8% | ESPN: 7% | Sleeper: 18%   

We’ve mentioned it a couple of weeks in a row - in terms of upside, uncertainty is your friend. And Shedeur Sanders is kind of the last bastion of uncertain upside. This week he went out and threw for 364 and 3 TDs while rushing for another one. We’re not banking on him running a ton, but in super deep leagues, he’s kind of appealing, especially superflex.

 

 

 

NFL Week 15 Running Back Streamers

Chris Rodriguez - Washington Commanders Yahoo: 37% | ESPN: 31% | Sleeper: 60%

If Trey Benson isn’t activated by tomorrow, Bam Knight will be a great streaming option as well. But Chris Rodriguez doesn’t require the guesswork as he’s already the leading running back for his team. He doesn’t get a lot of the pass downs but he does get goal line. So you could do a lot worse for a streaming option, especially in standard or half PPR. 

Tyjae Spears - Tennessee Titans Yahoo: 28% | ESPN: 33% | Sleeper: 44%

You won’t find a much better floor in full PPR than Tyjae Spears. Is the ceiling great? No. But he has gotten at least four targets in four straight games. In fact, he’s gotten at least three targets in every single game since he got back from injury. This was the first time over those 8 games that he didn’t catch at least 3 passes, but he did get 8 carries. Spears plays more than Tony Pollard in a lot of these negative game scripts, and when you are 2-12, you encounter a lot of negative game scripts. This Browns game was their first win since Week 5. 

NFL Week 15 Running Back Stashes

Blake Corum Los Angeles Rams Yahoo: 33% | ESPN: 22% | Sleeper: 49%

Blake Corum continues to be our number one stash. Not only does he have handcuff upside if Kyren Williams gets hurt, but he also gets 30% of the snaps every week and always mixes in a few carries. At this stage, he’s more of a handcuff plus than a pure handcuff. 

Brian Robinson RB, San Francisco 49ers, Yahoo: 22%| ESPN: 19% | Sleeper: 30%

Brian Robinson is the best pure handcuff. Christian McCaffrey has one of the best roles in football. He catches a ton of passes, he runs behind a great offensive line with one of the best blocking tight ends, and they use a fullback. If anything were to happen to CMC, Brian Robinson would immediately be a guy we are starting in fantasy leagues. 

 

 

NFL Week 15 Wide Receiver Streamers

Jayden Higgins - Houston Texans Yahoo: 42% | ESPN: 40% | Sleeper: 47%

Same situation for us with Higgins. We love him as a stash in case his workload continues to grow. But he’s also producing on a weekly basis. So we’re willing to load him up into lineups, too, where we need him. This week, he gets Arizona, which should be a good matchup.

Devaughn Vele - New Orleans Saints, Yahoo: 19% | ESPN: 8% | Sleeper: 44%

Devaughn Vele has gotten at least five targets in each of the last three weeks. And, with Jaycee Horn trending to clear concussion protocol for the game this week, Chris Olave could have his hands full. So you could do worse than Vele right now if you need a spot start. 

Kayshon Boutte - New England Patriots, Yahoo: 29% | ESPN: 27% | Sleeper: 43%

In terms of deep field stretchers, Darius Slayton also has a decent matchup with the Washington Commanders. But Boutte has more staying power in the better offense with the better quarterback. When healthy, Boutte has led this team in routes run, even over guys like Stefon Diggs and Hunter Henry. And, when his number is called, it’s usually called for a deep ball where Drake Maye has had a ton of success. If you are going to stream, go big. 

NFL Week 15 Wide Receiver Stashes

Jayden Higgins - Houston Texans Yahoo: 42% | ESPN: 40% | Sleeper: 47%

Top steamer, top stash. 

Pat Bryant - Denver Broncos, Yahoo: 3% | ESPN: 3% | Sleeper: 9%

You can honestly stream Pat Bryant if you need to, and we’d even roster him over Vele or Boutte if you had to drop someone. It is only a two-game sample size, but it looks like he has passed Troy Franklin on the depth chart, and he might not give it back. We don’t love the matchup vs. the Packers here, so we’d like to keep him on the bench in case we need him in the final two rounds. 

Luther Burden - New York Jets Yahoo: 17% | ESPN: 16% | Sleeper: 37%

Luther Burden is clearly a good football player. He’s also clearly not a full-time player just yet. Even with Rome Odunze out, DJ Moore and Olamide Zaccheaus played more. We wish they would just fully unleash the talented young rookie. And we are holding in case they finally just decide to shake things up. He can be started in a pinch.

 

 

 

NFL Week 15 Tight End Streamers

Theo Johnson - New York Giants Yahoo: 42% | ESPN: 43% | Sleeper: 33%

Again, double-check for Harold Fannin He’s probably rostered, but if not, he’s a must-add. He’s been the top target for the Browns since Shedeur Sanders took over.

There are other options, though. The Washington Commanders have been a team we’ve streamed tight ends against all year. Bobby Wagner is still a fine run stuffer, but he’s been struggling to keep up in the pass. Just go look at what Evan Engram did the week before last. The Vikings' tight ends just scored 3 touchdowns on them. So Theo Johnson is absolutely on the table for us this week.

Isaiah Likely - Baltimore Ravens Yahoo: 7% | ESPN: 8% | Sleeper: 13%

We don’t usually love starting Isaiah Likely. He doesn’t even run the most routes of any tight end on his team. But that’s not really a problem against the Bengals. The Bengals are the worst team vs. the tight end that we’ve ever seen. Everyone knows it, and they can’t stop it. Likely himself just had five catches for 95 yards against them and what SHOULD have been a touchdown, had he not fumbled at the one-yard line. So he’s on the streaming radar. 

NFL Week 15 Tight End Stashes

Darren Waller - Miami Dolphins Yahoo: 38% | ESPN: 22% | Sleeper: 42%

Darren Waller scares us. We were hoping he would take a step forward in his second game back. But he regressed a little, running 13 routes to 12 for Greg Dulcich. And they both got three targets. Waller’s schedule is so good we want to hang on to him. But we would rather watch this week to see if he can get a better role here. If he does, he’s a smash against the Bengals in Week 16. 

Ben Sinnott - Washington Commanders, Yahoo: 0% | ESPN: 0% | Sleeper: 2%

This is a long shot, and you certainly can’t start him first game out. But the season for Zach Ertz is done. They might rotate John Bates and Ben Sinnott. But Bates is an inline plodder. He blocks on more than 30% of his pass plays and runs a 4.89. And we do have a VERY small sample size that suggests Sinnott could pick up the important part of the role for fantasy.

Last year in Week 15, Zach Ertz entered the blue tent mid-game with a concussion. In that game, the WR snaps for John Bates did not increase - he remained the inline blocking tight end. Instead, Ben Sinnott jumped into Ertz’s “big slot” role and ran a bunch of routes from the WR spot. He didn’t produce much, but he got the job. This week, we’ll see whether they throw Sinnott into that Ertz role or not. It’s easy to forget that Trey McBride was stuck for a full year and 7 games behind Ertz, too, so a full year and 13 games for Sinnott isn’t far off.