NFL

4 Daily Fantasy Football Matchups to Exploit in Week 15

Miles Sanders is having his best season yet and has a great matchup against a struggling Bears' run defense. Which other matchups should we take advantage of this Sunday?

When playing daily fantasy football, we should be matchup sensitive when rostering players. One star player can go from a great play to a horrible one based on his opponents and the specific individual matchup might play a huge role in that. Since we can play any player we want on a given slate, it makes sense to pick players in the best matchups. This will raise both their floor and their ceiling and should lead to us having some winning lineups.

With 14 weeks under our belts, we should know which matchups we like to target by now. Let's take a look at four that set up nicely this week.

Chargers' Passing Game vs the Titans' Pass Defense

The Los Angeles Chargers were expected to be in contention as one of the best teams in the AFC. A lot of injuries have slowed them down, but at least they have a chance to make the playoffs.

The fun thing about Chargers' games is that they run so many plays. They are second in the league in offensive plays per game with 68.4, and in the last three weeks, they've increased that number to 72.

The weapons in the passing attack were lacking for several weeks but now seem to be fully healthy for Justin Herbert ($8,300). He's been clicking with Keenan Allen ($8,000) a lot since he's been back, especially over the last two games. Allen has seen a massive 14 targets in each of those games -- even with Mike Williams ($7,200) returning last week. Williams returned with a really nice game, catching all 6 of his targets for 115 yards and a touchdown. He's the big play threat this offense needed.

There are other targets you can use with Herbert. Austin Ekeler ($8,700) is heavily involved in the passing game, so playing him in a stack is a reasonable strategy. Gerald Everett ($5,600) has caught five passes in the last two games and fills the tight end position that can be difficult to find a player we want to roster.

The Chargers are playing against the Tennessee Titans at home this week. The Titans have become an extreme pass-funnel defense; teams attempt passes against them at the highest rate in the league. They are fresh off allowing the Jacksonville Jaguars and Philadelphia Eagles to pass all over them in back-to-back weeks. They now rank 23rd in adjusted fantasy points per drop back to quarterbacks and 29th in adjusted fantasy points per target to receivers.

L.A. has an implied team total of 24.75 points this week and can do damage against this weak pass defense.

Derrick Henry vs the Chargers' Run Defense

This game is one of a few with a high total and a close spread, making it ripe for a game stack. So we'll look at Derrick Henry ($8,900) on the other side of it.

It looked like Henry was on his way to a huge game last week; he almost reached 100 yards with a touchdown in the first quarter. He petered out in the second half and only finished with 121 rushing yards. This week, he'll be in an even better spot to potentially blow up.

Henry isn't a realistic threat to hit 2000 yards again as he did in 2020, but he's still having a solid season. He's the RB4 in half-PPR points per game. He's already set a career-high in targets and receptions, including having five last week. The Titans are running the ball at the fifth-highest rate in the league, so the plan seems to be just to feed Henry as much as possible.

The running game seems like a good plan for Tennessee against the Chargers this week. They rank 30th in schedule-adjusted rush defense, according to numberFire's metrics. They also allow the second-most adjusted fantasy points per carry to opposing backs. Chargers coach Brandon Staley has spoken about sacrificing run defense to better defend against the pass, and it has resulted in the Chargers being one of the easiest teams to run against in his two years as their coach.

Henry has huge upside against the Chargers this week and is a fun play to use with a Chargers' stack if you can fit it into lineups.

Miles Sanders vs the Bears' Run Defense

We all remember in the offseason when Miles Sanders ($7,800) got tired of people complaining about his fantasy performance and told people to just not draft him.

That was coming off of a season where he did not score a touchdown, so it was understandable that fantasy managers would be frustrated. Everything this season has gone much better for those who did draft him.

Sanders has five touchdowns in his last three games and is up to 11 total on the season. He's also rushed for over 1000 yards for the first time in his career. Even with Jalen Hurts taking up a lot of carries in the money areas, Sanders still ranks sixth in red zone rushing attempts. He's been an underrated part of this elite Eagles offense and can continue his great season this week.

The Eagles will face the Chicago Bears this week. Chicago has been struggling in all aspects of defense lately -- and defending the run has been one of them. They've allowed at least 149 yards rushing in each of their last three games. The Bears are 29th in adjusted fantasy points per carry allowed to backs specifically.

Most of the focus on the Eagles has gone to Hurts, A.J. Brown, and the passing game, but Sanders shouldn't be overlooked here. He's a great pivot off of what could be a popular stack this week.

CeeDee Lamb vs. the Jaguars' Secondary

An under-the-radar wide receiver this week could be CeeDee Lamb ($8,100). He's coming off of a disappointing outing last week, and the entire Dallas Cowboys did not live up to expectations despite getting the win. This week could be a nice bounce-back opportunity for Lamb.

CeeDee is quietly having a very good season with great usage. He's scored the seventh-most half-PPR points among receivers this season and played a decent amount of time with a backup quarterback. He's seeing close to 30% of the team's targets and 37.8% of the air yards. He's certainly quieted some people who thought that he couldn't handle being the number one receiver; these numbers are all consistent with what we see from teams' top options.

The Cowboys will face the Jaguars on the road this week. Jacksonville's defense ranks 29th against the pass, and they are 25th in adjusted fantasy points per target allowed to receivers. They really don't have a cornerback that can shadow Lamb, and he can really get cooking if he sees enough volume.

The danger with a lot of Cowboys' games is that they go run-heavy, and that players in the passing game won't see enough opportunities. However, they are only a four-point favorite on the road this week and many need to keep throwing into the fourth quarter. The Jaguars also rank 10th against the run, so they will funnel opponents toward passing the ball, which could lead to a big game for Lamb on Sunday.



Nicholas Vazquez is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Nicholas Vazquez also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username hbyanksman. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.