Here’s a few standard preface notes:
^ Notwithstanding the claims of any website to be your “home for Sunday morning injury report news,” nothing beats Google News – nothing. Entering a player name into this search engine trumps any other means of gathering information because it culls the data from an unbelievably wide variety of sources.
^ Especially earlier in the season, it’s always good to refer to a strong baseline of where players should have been drafted – and nothing beats FANTASY FOOTBALL DRAFTOLOGY 2009.
^ Unless there are any injury questions, we never discuss “gimme” players. Such core players should be started week in and week out unless there is any question surrounding their playing status. Winning teams only need to worry about “playing the matchups” with one, two or (at the most, during bye weeks) three spots in the lineup. Some websites promise you a crystal ball for how to manage high-risk, high-reward juggling during the season. We don’t. We play the percentages. That approach may be boring, but it’s highly effective and much more intellectually honest in what we promise you.
^ By the way, here are your core players who should not be benched if healthy
QB: Brady, Brees, P Manning, McNabb, Rivers, Rodgers, Romo, Warner
RB: M Barber, R Brown, Forte, Gore, Grant, S Jackson, Jacobs, C Johnson, Jones-Drew, Peterson, Portis, Slaton, Tomlinson, Turner, Westbrook, D Williams
WR: Boldin, Bowe, Colston, Fitzgerald, Jennings, A Johnson, C Johnson, Houshmandzadeh, V Jackson, Marshall, Moss, Ochocinco, S Smith (Carolina), Wayne, R White
TE: Clark, Gates, Gonzalez, Witten
^ Here are the players added to that list since the start of the year:
RB: Benson
WR: Burleson, Driver, S Smith (NY Giants)
TE: H Miller, V Davis
^ And here are the players who were on our list, but have been removed from it:
RB: Lynch
WR: Owens, R Williams
^ Links for each game take you to the CBS Sports home page for each game, with stats, analysis and even video previews.
^ All times listed are EDT.
^ Of the non-gimme players we like this week, the stronger plays are the ones in all caps.
Week 15
Saturday, Dec. 19
Dallas at New Orleans, 8:20 p.m. RB F Jones, WR Austin, all-in for marginal Saints
Sunday, Dec. 20
Chicago at Baltimore, 1 p.m. All-out on marginal Bears, RB RICE
New England at Buffalo, 1 p.m. RB Maroney, WR Welker, RB Jackson
Arizona at Detroit, 1 p.m. RB WELLS, WR Breaston, all-out on marginal Lions
Cleveland at Kansas City, 1 p.m. All-out on marginal Browns, RB Charles
Atlanta at N.Y. Jets, 1 p.m. All-out on marginal Falcons, RB Jones, WR Cotchery, TE Keller
San Francisco at Philadelphia, 1 p.m. WR Crabtree, RB McCoy, WR Jackson
Houston at St. Louis, 1 p.m. QB Schaub, WR Walter, all-out on marginal Rams
Miami at Tennessee, 1 p.m. QB Henne, RB Williams, WR Britt
Oakland at Denver, 4:05 p.m. All-out on marginal Raiders, QB Orton, RB Moreno
Cincinnati at San Diego, 4:05 p.m. QB PALMER, RB Sproles
Green Bay at Pittsburgh, 4:15 p.m. All-in on marginal Packers, WR HOLMES
Tampa Bay at Seattle, 4:15 p.m. QB Hasselbeck, TE Winslow
Minnesota at Carolina, 8:20 p.m. QB Favre, RB Stewart
Monday, Dec. 21
N.Y. Giants at Washington, 8:30 p.m. QB Manning, WR Nicks, RB Cartwright
NFL Week 15 Best Waiver Wire Pickups
NOTE: We only recommend plausible pickups; our threshold is 40% or less ownership in CBSSports.com leagues. As such, players may show up on our list multiple weeks if they fall below that percentage and if we still believe in their upside potential.
1 Chris Jennings
2 Maurice Morris
3 Arian Foster
4 Greg Camarillo
5 Josh Cribbs
Fantasy Drafthelp: Week 15 NFL Fantasy Advice
