Fire & Ice: Top starts, sits and sleepers in fantasy football for Week 15

• Chuba Hubbard has top-5 upside in Week 15: Hubbard should see close to 30 touches this weekend against a Dallas Cowboys defense that has allowed the fifth most fantasy points to the running back position in 2024.

• Don’t sleep on Tee Higgins: No one should be worried about Higgin’s poor Week 14 performance. Higgins was averaging 22 fantasy points per game over his previous five games played before this past Monday.

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Are you struggling to set your fantasy lineups? Maybe I can help… Below you can find my top fire (boom) and ice (bust) players at each position for Week 15. I also include my sleeper of the week at each position in case you are in a deeper league or in need of a replacement for an ice player.

Don’t miss my Fire & Ice chart at the bottom of this page. There, I have listed out all of my fire, good, sleeper and ice plays for Week 15 of the 2024 fantasy football season.

Quarterbacks

Fire QB Start of the Week: Tua Tagovailoa (at HOU)

Typically, it is hard to trust Tagovailoa to perform well on the road … but this is a great matchup and at least the game will be played in a dome and not in cold weather. The Houston Texans have allowed a league-high 26 pass touchdowns in 2024, while Tagovailoa ranks second in the NFL with 12 passing touchdowns since Week 10, behind only Joe Burrow (13). The Texans even let Mac Jones throw two touchdowns and put up 20 fantasy points against them in Week 13 before their bye.

Tagovailoa has scored at least 23 fantasy points in four straight weeks and he is bound to make it a fifth straight this week in Houston.

Sleeper QB of the Week: Anthony Richardson (at DEN)

Richardson has started to be a solid fantasy producer after a disastrous start to his sophomore season. Since getting grounded/benched for multiple weeks, Richardson has stepped up his play now that he is back under center. Richardson has scored 21-plus fantasy points in two of his last three games while scoring three rushing touchdowns in that span.

In the Denver Broncos‘ last game, they let Jameis Winston put up 497 passing yards, four touchdowns and 33 fantasy points against them … in their own home. Sure, they also picked him off three times and brought two back to the house, but Winston still had a stellar fantasy day. Richardson has a similar mindset to Winston when making decisions as a passer — “screw it, I am going deep … someone will be there.”

Ice QB Start of the Week: Jordan Love (at SEA)

Love’s touchdown rate was absurd for the second half of last season through the start of this season, but it has come back down to reality as of late. Over his last six games played, Love has scored just six touchdowns and has put up fewer than 15 fantasy points in four games during that span.

The Seattle Seahawks have allowed opposing quarterbacks to score just 15.2 fantasy points per game since their Week 10 bye. Plus, it is never easy to play in Seattle, and with the team fighting to stay in first place in their division, the “12th man” will be extra loud on Sunday night.

Running Backs

Fire RB Start of the Week: Chuba Hubbard (vs. DAL)

Only Alvin Kamara, Saquon Barkley and Kyren Williams have had more scrimmage touches than Chuba Hubbard since Week 3. As if he wasn’t already getting a ton of work, Hubbard’s workload is bound to increase with the Panthers' backfield injuries pilling up — Hubbard is the only healthy running back left in Carolina. He had 30 touches last week and was the only running back to touch the ball in Week 14 after Jonathon Brooks tore his ACL early in the game. Hubbard has scored over 20 fantasy points in three of the last five weeks and gets a great matchup against the Dallas Cowboys, who have allowed the fifth-most points to the running back position in 2024.

Sleeper RB of the Week: Braelon Allen (at JAX)

Breece Hall is still out of practice due to an injured knee, which means the New York Jets will have to rely on their rookie RB duo again this weekend. Braelon Allen started in Week 14 but didn’t get as much work as fantasy managers would have preferred, as he split snaps and touches with fellow rookie Isaiah Davis. However, Allen outproduced Davis in yardage and had two red zone carries to Davis’ one — it just so happened that Davis brought his one red zone carry 17 yards to the house. I still believe that Allen is the guy to play in this backfield and if goal-line opportunities arise, it will be he who is called upon.

The Jets get a juicy matchup against a Jacksonville Jaguars defense that has allowed the second most fantasy points to running backs this season. They have allowed six running backs to score 22-plus points against them this season and at least one running back has hit 12-plus fantasy points against them in each game since Week 3.

Ice RB Start of the Week: Alvin Kamara (vs. WAS)

The Saints will have either Spencer Rattler or Jake Haener under center this weekend — it will come down to whichever one wins the “who is the least bad” battle in practice this week. Fantasy expectations for any Saints player should be tempered in Week 15, even Alvin Kamara’s. When Derek Carr missed three games earlier this season from Weeks 6-8, Kamara was OK — scoring 14.7 fantasy points per game in that span. However, the vast majority of those points came from the 26 targets he saw for a whopping 93 yards.

This is not a favorable matchup for Kamara to pad his fantasy numbers in point-per-reception leagues as the Washington Commanders have allowed the fewest receptions to running backs this season. Saquon Barkley is the only running back who has scored more than 11 fantasy points against the Commanders over their last five games, and it’s because he dominated them on the ground.

Wide Receivers

Fire WR Start of the Week: Tee Higgins (at TEN)

Tee Higgins put up a big stinker in Week 14 with Dallas Cowboys’ CB DaRon Bland doing a great job blanketing him most of the game … but don’t let that lose faith in him as we move into the fantasy playoffs. In his previous five games played before last week, Higgins was averaging 10 targets, 92 receiving yards and 22 fantasy points per game — he is a stud. He will have many opportunities to get into the end zone in Week 15 and the Tennessee Titans’ corners are going to be much easier to win against than the Cowboys. The only player in the NFL who has more red zone targets than Higgins in his last three weeks played (Weeks 11, 13-14) is his teammate Ja’Marr Chase.

Sleeper WR Start of the Week: Joshua Palmer (vs. TB)

Last week with Ladd McConkey out, Joshua Palmer led the team with nine targets, six receptions and 78 receiving yards against the Chiefs. This Sunday, the Los Angeles Chargers will face a very weak Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ pass defense, who are especially bad at covering slot receivers this season. The Buccaneers have allowed the most receiving yards out of the slot in the NFL in 2024, while Palmer ran a team-high 23 routes from the slot in Week 14.

As long as Justin Herbert plays and McConkey does not, Palmer is a top flex option with incredible upside and a safe floor in Week 15. If McConkey can suit up, he would be a top-12 play of the week, while Palmer would fall out of flex consideration.

Ice WR Start of the Week: Tank Dell (vs. MIA)

Despite being so successful at it in his rookie year, it seems that C.J. Stroud just cannot support two good fantasy wide receivers this season. Since Nico Collins returned from his long-term hamstring injury, Tank Dell has zero touchdowns and has averaged just 2.7 receptions and 7.8 fantasy points per game. The Dolphins' pass defense has been leaky against wide receivers over the last couple of weeks but the reward is not worth the risk when it comes to plugging Dell into your starting lineups … especially in the fantasy playoffs.

Tight Ends

Fire TE Start of the Week: David Njoku (vs. KC)

David Njoku has finished as the No. 2 overall tight end scorer in back-to-back week and has scored at least 17 fantasy points in five of seven games played with Jameis Winston. He gets a super favorable matchup this Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs who have allowed the most targets, receptions, and receiving yards to tight ends this season — they have allowed nearly 100 more receiving yards to tight ends than any other team.

Note: Unfortunately, Njoku is dealing with a hamstring injury that popped up on the injury report on Wednesday – so keep an eye on that before Sunday’s game. Jordan Akins would become a solid sleeper option if Njoku is inactive.

Sleeper TE of the Week: Jake Ferguson (at CAR)

It was a disappointing return for Jake Ferguson, who scored just 6.2 fantasy points in Week 14 after missing the two prior games in concussion protocol. Many were worried about Luke Schoonmaker taking a big chunk of his role as he performed well in Ferguson’s absence, but that actually was the case last Sunday. Ferguson played double the snaps as Schoonmaker and saw four more targets than him in Week 14. Ferguson is the man you want to start if you are going with a Cowboys’ tight end in your fantasy lineup.

This is Carolina Panthers matchup gives Ferguson a great opportunity to bounce back. No team has allowed more fantasy points to tight ends than the Panthers in 2024.

Ice TE Start of the Week: Zach Ertz (vs. NO)

Zach Ertz has hit 12-plus fantasy points in three straight weeks due to finding the end zone in each of those games. However, his receiving yard production is less than impressive — Ertz has not hit 50 yards in a game since Week 8, and has averaged just 31 receiving yards per game since Week 9. He needs to score a touchdown to provide a good fantasy day, but unfortunately, the Saints have allowed just one touchdown to a tight end all season long.

Fire & Ice Fantasy Football Plays

Here, I categorize every relevant fantasy player into five different buckets: (1) fire starts (best starts of the week); (2) thumbs up (good starts); (3) Risky players with upside (sleepers); (4) Ice starts (predicting bad performance from good player); (5) Stop (must sits).

Note: If a player/defense is not listed, I am not considering starting them in Week 15. Also, I did not include Rams/49ers players as they play on Thursday night.