Fantasy Football Stock Watch: Week 15
Published: Dec 13, 2021
Despite both dealing with injuries, Josh Allen (foot) and Aaron Rodgers (toe) both threw for over 300 yards and multiple touchdowns in their respective matchups in Week 14 of the fantasy football season. Dalvin Cook, Najee Harris and Alvin Kamara had big performances in Week 14 and were joined by Rashaad Penny in the grouping of top running back performers for the week after he ran for 137 yards and two scores. Penny was actually able to stay healthy unlike Austin Ekeler and Lamar Jackson who had to exit their games after suffering Ankle injuries. The Washington Football team didn’t go un-scathed either as Taylor Heinicke injured his knee and Terry McLaurin got a Concussion. With bye weeks finally behind us, it all comes down to health and staying on top of the waiver wire and news is imperative in order to stay one step ahead of your competition. Here is the latest Fantasy Football Stock Watch Report featuring trendy players when it comes to fantasy football production potential.
RISERS
Hunter Renfrow, WR LV
Renfrow has been in this piece before trending up, but over the last month, his production has skyrocketed to the Stratosphere. In PPR leagues with six points per touchdown reception, Renfrow has compiled nearly 95 fantasy points in the last four weeks. The only receivers to outperform him during this stretch are Justin Jefferson, Diontae Johnson and Davante Adams. He’s tied for fifth for most receptions for Wide Receivers and he’s caught eight or more passes for over 100 yards in three straight games. He catches over 81 percent of the passes thrown his way and he’s received 23 percent of the Raiders targets or more in four of his last five contests. Renfrow has over 100 targets and received 24 collectively in his last two games. Even though Renfrow’s next two matchups aren’t going to be easy, the Raiders have allowed the second most points in the AFC and have surrendered at least 32 points in four of their last five matchups and Derek Carr has thrown 38 or more passes in his last three games. He’ll have to continue to throw a lot to keep the team in the game.
Mike Williams, WR LAC
Williams has been on the other side of the Stock Watch Report trending down and even though he was able to benefit from Keenan Allen being out in Week 14, Williams has produced double figures in PPR leagues in three of his last four games. We’ve seen Williams get targeted more since Week 10 and we’re seeing more production from him. Only 11 receivers have posted more receiving yards than Williams in the last four weeks. He’s contributed 60-plus yards receiving in three of his last four battles. Justin Herbert has been very accurate over his last handful of games completing at least 73 percent of his passes in three of his last four outings. Even when Allen returns, Williams still has received 19.6 percent of the Chargers targets and if Austin Ekeler needs to sit on Thursday because of his ankle injury, it could land Williams even more targets as Ekeler accounts for 15 percent of the Chargers targets.
Leonard Fournette, RB TB
He’s scored six touchdowns total in his last three weeks and even though his effectiveness on the ground has been up and down, Fournette is finding himself being utilized more in the Buccaneers passing attack. He’s caught six or more passes in four of his last five games after being targeted six times just once in his first eight battles on the season. Fournette has caught 62 passes, the most for any running back, and ranks fourth among running backs with 421 receiving yards. As much as we want to focus on what the running back can do on the ground, Fournette has a safe enough floor when it comes to catching passes that it makes his inconsistent work on the ground easier to stomach. He’s still getting the volume receiving 13-plus carries in his last three contests.
FALLERS
DeVonta Smith, WR PHI
With Jalen Hurts and his 60 percent completion percentage back in action for the Eagles divisional matchup against the Washington Football team, it’s hard to expect an enormously high ceiling for Smith because Hurts has thrown more than 24 passes one time in his last five games. While Smith owns 21.6 percent of the Eagles targets, we’ve seen him receive four targets in both of his last two games with two different Quarterbacks under center. He caught two passes in both games. We’ve seen Smith receive seven or more targets in five of the Eagles first seven games and he hasn’t received seven targets since Week 7. The Eagles aren’t afraid to throw to their Running Backs either and that’s going to take away more from Smith. Hurts himself has run the ball 10 or more times in five of the Eagles last seven contests and has had more success running than throwing and unfortunately all of this works against Smith’s production potential.
Hunter Henry, TE NE
Mac Jones threw three passes in Week 13 and Henry put up a zero. The Patriots have an effective ground-game and Mac Jones, despite completing over 70 percent of his passes for the year, he’s thrown more than 26 balls 1 time in the Patriots last five games. While Henry does have seven touchdown receptions this season, he’s caught more than two passes once in his last seven contests. He’s the dictionary definition of boom or bust because all of his production depends weekly on if he gets into the end zone and yes, he’s been targeted a lot in the red zone this year, but Jones just threw three passes last time out and when in the fantasy football playoffs, he’s a hard player to hang your hat on. He’s hit double figures in PPR once in his last six outings. Even though the Colts have surrendered a lot of yards to Tight Ends this season, Henry is still a very risky option as the Patriots look to rely on their rushing attack more and more.
Alex Collins, RB SEA
It was nice being able to turn back the clock to 2017 and seeing Alex Collins get volume, but, it’s not Week 7 anymore and we’ve seen Collins lose carries in recent weeks and now being given just seven in both of the last two games he was active for. The Seahawks rushing attack continues to be banged up and as I pondered in this piece last week, at what point does Russell Wilson start running the ball more himself? He ran the ball 83 times last season. Seattle will likely go with the hot-hand if one can even heat up for more than a week and a lot of focus will be put on the oft-injured Rashaad Penny after his monstrous week 14 performance in which he out-carried Collins 16 to seven. Penny was on the field for 57 percent of the Seahawks snaps while Collins was out there for just 23 percent. Collins hasn’t run in a touchdown since Week 6, he’s barely used in the passing attack and he’s run the ball for at least four yards per carry four time since week 10.