Ten Things We Learned in Week 15 (Fantasy Football)
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! At least for those who made, and are advancing in, the fantasy football playoffs. It’s a fickle time of the NFL season, as some teams jockey for playoff position, while others try not to look too obvious as they tank for better draft picks. Things we would have never imagined back in August are coming to fruition, and we need to do our best to stay on top of the ever-changing NFL landscape down the home stretch.
Before diving in, let me remind you that this article is meant to help everyone who loves fantasy football! Congratulations if you are still chasing that #FootClan Title. I hope the information here can help lead you to it (except for Chad. He knows who he is). You are also in the right place if you’ve been eliminated, as keeping up with the end of the season will give you an advantage over those who check out early.
With that being said, here is what we learned in Week 15 of the NFL season.
Note: All fantasy finishes are before the Monday night game between Miami and Pittsburgh.
League Winner (Checks Notes) Kyle Pitts?
Pitts entered Week 15 as the TE12 on the season. Not bad, considering that he hadn’t finished better than TE13 over the previous three seasons. Then all he did was go out and score more fantasy points than any other TE in the modern fantasy football era.
Kyle Pitts just had the best fantasy football game in half PPR scoring for a TE since at least the year 2000 pic.twitter.com/76v7kHl1Nn
— Matt Harmon (@MattHarmon_BYB) December 12, 2025
After that historical performance, he vaulted up to TE2 on the season. If you made it to the fantasy playoffs with Pitts, welcome to the semi-finals. Apologies to those who got “Pittsed” in the first round.
Jacoby Brissett is Unstoppable
The Houston Texans hadn’t allowed a QB to score 20 fantasy points once this season, until they faced Brissett in Week 15. The career backup has now finished as a top-12 fantasy QB in all nine of his starts this season. He may not have led Arizona to a victory, but he did throw two TDs to Trey McBride and another to Michael Wilson. Hopefully, the tough matchup on paper didn’t scare you off these studs, and you can continue to play them all as the Cardinals face the Falcons and Bengals in the coming weeks as the fantasy playoffs roll on.
Another Lost Season for Burrow and the Bengals
The Bengals entered Week 15 with optimism, clinging to playoff hopes as they hosted a Baltimore team they had soundly defeated just a few weeks earlier on Thanksgiving night. Those hopes were crushed as the Ravens shut out Cincinnati 24-0 and officially eliminated them from playoff contention. Joe Burrow only played four full games this season, finishing as a top-12 QB in just two of them. He, along with arguably the best WR duo in the league of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, all have long-term contracts with the Bengals. That is great for our fantasy teams, but believe it or not, Burrow will enter next season at 30 years old without making the NFL playoffs for three consecutive seasons.
Never Doubt Josh Allen
If you were following along on social media during the first half of the Patriots-Bills game, you likely encountered some overconfident New England fans sounding off. Let’s just say that it didn’t end well for them. For the second week in a row, Josh Allen put the Bills on his back and led his team to a comeback victory. Buffalo currently sits as the six seed in the NFL playoffs, which is good news for Allen managers, as the current overall QB1 on the season, and the Bills, will continue to push for a division title and improved playoff position in the coming weeks.
The Collapse of Chiefs Kingdom
To the despair of Chiefs’ fans and the delight of everybody tired of their dynasty, Kansas City was eliminated from the playoffs for the first time in the Patrick Mahomes era. Even worse, Mahomes suffered a torn ACL in the closing minutes of the game, ending his season and putting the start of his 2026 campaign in question. He was in the midst of his best fantasy season since 2022, sitting as the QB2 and averaging 20.4 fantasy points/game. Not only will Mahomes’ managers who survived round one, if there are any, need to find another QB option, but those with Rashee Rice and/or Travis Kelce on their rosters will need to decide if they trust Gardner Minshew to deliver them the ball in meaningless games for the rest of the season.
Trevor Lawrence (Finally) Looks Like a Number One Overall Pick
It may have taken four and a half seasons, but Lawrence is looking like the QB Jacksonville expected when they took him with the first overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. He exploded for six total TDs and 44.3 fantasy points to finish as the QB1 in Week 15, boosting him to QB8 on the season. He has now finished as a top-12 QB in six games this season, including five of his seven games since the bye week. He also has the Jaguars locked into a playoff spot and in the driver’s seat for a division title after six consecutive wins. T-Law and the Jags will face their toughest test of the season as they head to Denver to face the AFC’s top-seeded Broncos in Week 16.
Bo Nix and the Broncos are Legit
Speaking of those top-seeded Broncos, they passed another test on Sunday as they dominated the Packers in the second half to take home their 11th straight victory after starting the season 1-2. Bo Nix put on a clinic, throwing for 302 yards and four scores to finish as the QB2 on the week behind only Trevor Lawrence. His performance also resulted in top-12 fantasy finishes for both Courtland Sutton and Troy Franklin in what was an intimidating matchup on paper against the Packers.
Old Man Rivers Survived, and Almost Pulled Off the Upset
Philip Rivers, noted father of ten, only scored 6.3 fantasy points in Week 15, but it is hard to be disappointed after it took a last-second 56-yard field goal for the Seahawks to knock off the Colts. Unfortunately for any fantasy managers relying on the Colts, Rivers only threw for 120 yards. He did throw a TD, but it went to Josh Downs, who probably wasn’t started in many fantasy playoff matchups. It will be tough sledding the rest of the way for Rivers (or Anthony Richardson?) and the Colts as they finish up the season against the 49ers, Jaguars, and Texans.
The Rams and Lions (Mostly) Lived Up to the Hype
The matchup in LA was billed as the game of the year by those in the DFS streets, and fantasy managers confidently slotted nearly every skill position from these two teams into their playoff lineups. The game closed with a 54.5 point over/under, and the 75 combined points blew that out of the water. Amon-Ra St. Brown exploded to finish as the WR1 on the week, while Jameson Williams and Puka Nacua also each topped 100 receiving yards and finished as WR2 and WR3, respectively. Colby Parkinson scored 22 fantasy points, which would be the TE1 performance in most weeks when Kyle Pitts and Trey McBride don’t have generational games. Kyren Williams scored two TDs, and even Blake Corum found the end zone. Unfortunately, it wasn’t all good, as Jahmyr Gibbs struggled to get going and finished as just the RB31 on the week, while Davante Adams failed to find the end zone for the second straight week and finished as the WR32 before exiting early with a hamstring injury.
J.J. McCarthy‘s Best Game as a Pro Didn’t Matter for Justin Jefferson
McCarthy played his best game as a pro, finishing with career highs in passing yards (250) and fantasy points (23.5). He’s now finished as a top-ten fantasy QB in consecutive weeks, combining for 413 passing yards, six total TDs, and one turnover in the past two games. Despite his turnaround, Justin Jefferson continues to struggle. He’s been outside of the top-20 fantasy WRs for six consecutive weeks, including outside of the top-70 in three straight. There aren’t likely many, if any, Jefferson managers left in the fantasy playoffs, and it will be fascinating to see where his 2026 ADP settles if there isn’t a significant turnaround for the All-Pro WR over the final three games of the season.