Draftkings Reignmaker Core Strategy: Week 15

There are no more team byes in the 2022 NFL season, Saturday games are coming our way, and time for the Reignmakers Core strategy rundown for this Sunday's games. On Make It Reign, our pack-opening video show that includes some early-week Reignmaker strategy, Matt Price and I opened a Pixel Vault pack and scored a Rare Stefon Diggs to go along with Core cards for Kareem Hunt, Donovan Peoples-Jones, Gabriel Davis, Alec Pierce, and Jaylen Waddle. We'll open up a new pack each week on Make It Reign, which drops every Wednesday on our YouTube Channel.

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For Week 15, 15 players are designated as "SuperStars," and only one SuperStar card is allowed in each contest lineup:

Core SuperStar Strategy

Week 15 SuperStar Strategy

There may not be any byes in Week 15, but there are plenty of off-slate games (and injuries) that take SuperStars out of the mix for the Fiat Frenzy.

Christian McCaffrey played on Thursday night. Josh Allen, Justin Jefferson, Tyreek Hill and Nick Chubb play on Saturday night, and Saquon Barkley plays on Sunday night. Cooper Kupp definitely won't play as he remains on IR, while Lamar Jackson has already been ruled out with a knee injury he suffered in Week 13.

First, let's deal with the SuperStar QBs. Patrick Mahomes faces the Texans, who are allowing the 2nd-fewest aFPA to QBs, Jalen Hurts will be staring down a Bears defense allowing the 9th-most QB aFPA, Joe Burrow has a soft matchup with the Buccaneers, who allow the 10th-most aFPA to the position, and Justin Herbert faces a Titans defense allowing the 4th-most aFPA. Excluding off-slate players, 4for4 projects them in the same order as the QB1, QB2, QB3, and QB4 respectively.

Among SuperStar QBs, only Herbert's Chargers are home favorites, in a game with 46.5 projected points. Even so, Hurts' rushing contributions include 4 rushing touchdowns in his last 5 games, and 157 rushing yards in the one game in which he didn't run into the end zone, which makes him a more interesting ceiling play.

Austin Ekeler and Derrick Henry are the main-slate SuperStar RBs, and their teams play one another in a game projected for 46.5 points. Both are viable options, with Ekeler ranked as the week's RB4 and Henry as the RB2, but Henry has a drastically better matchup. The Chargers rank 20th in aFPA to RBs in PPR scoring, while the Titans rank 5th.

Davante Adams is the lone SuperStar WR option. He's the PPR WR2 on the year, averaging 10.7 targets per game over the last 12 games, and he ranks as 4for4's WR1 for Week 15 despite a tough matchup with the Patriots' secondary. The Patriots defensive gameplan is often predicated on removing the opposing team's #1 option, and as such they have allowed a total of 900 yards and 3 TDs to the opposing team's WR1s through 14 games, and Justin Jefferson is the only opposing primary receiver to cross 19 PPR fantasy points against New England's defense. That being said, Adams is almost uniquely capable of matching Jefferson's performance.

Ultimately, I lean toward Henry as the best SuperStar option, given his inviting matchup against the Chargers and his 244.1 PPR fantasy points scored over the last 6 games, which ranks 4th among RBs. There's also just more non-SuperStar enticing WR options on the main slate as well.

Core Marketplace Values

Justin Fields, QB CHI - $7.25

Yes, Fields does have a challenging matchup against the Eagles, but they have allowed the 12th-most rushing yards to QBs, and Fields has 481 rushing yards over his last 4 games, he's coming off of a bye week's rest, and he's currently on a 6-game streak of rushing touchdowns. He also faces the Bills, the Lions, and the Vikings to close out the season.

Alvin Kamara, RB NO - $3.75

Kamara comes off of a bye to face the Falcons this week, who are allowing the 11th-most aFPA to RBs. Kamara's price is depressed because of the 5-game stretch prior to the Saints' bye in which he failed to score more than 12.9 fantasy points in any game. He did face a fairly brutal slate of defenses by aFPA to RBs in those weeks, which included the Ravens (5th), the Steelers (19th), the Rams (10th), the 49ers (1st), and the Buccaneers (16th). It's smooth sailing for Kamara from here on out, as New Orleans faces the Falcons (22nd in aFPA), Browns (32nd), Eagles (15th), and Panthers (24th) to close out the season.

Keenan Allen, WR LAC - $5.00

It's taken quite some time for the Chargers' offense to live up to preseason expectations, but that time has arrived. Since his return in Week 11, Allen's 43 targets tie him with Davante Adams for the league lead among WRs over that span. He's also 5th in PPR points with 70.3 in the last 4 games, and he'll line up against a Titans defense allowing the 2nd-most aFPA to WRs.

Week 15 Tournament Strategy

RMF Classic - CORE - $50K Fiat Frenzy [$5K to 1st]

Let's focus on the largest Core tournament, the $50K Fiat Frenzy that includes the 10 Sunday afternoon games, excluding the SF@SEA Thursday night game, the MIA@BUF and BAL@CLE Saturday games, the NYG@WAS Sunday night game, and the LAR@GB Monday night game. The payout structure awards $5,000 to first place, payouts down to $5 for 4,150th place, and a Core Plus pack prize all the way down to 6,150th place. As of late-Thursday there are 4,320 entries in the Week 15 contest, you can expect the contest to draw between 20,000 to 24,000 entries by kickoff.

Top Options at Each Position

QB: Justin Fields, CHI

Fields is 4for4's highest-projected QB that isn't a SuperStar on the Week 15 main slate. As I mentioned earlier, he faces an Eagles team that's allowed the 12th-most QB rushing yards, but allows the 11th-lowest aFPA overall to QBs. Since Fields cranked up his rushing attempts in Week 6, he's scored the 4th-most PPR points among all quarterbacks, and that includes a missed game in Week 12. Fields is averaging 158 passing yards and a passing touchdown per game, but those 10 fantasy points are just icing on the rushing cake. If you remove all of Fields' passing statistics and look only and his rushing from Week 6 through Week 14, he's the equivalent of the RB15 over that span, just behind Nick Chubb.

RB: Derrick Henry, TEN

Derrick Henry is the PPR RB4 through 14 games, an impressive feat by Henry considering he has 26 total receptions. Henry takes bad run defenses and eats them for breakfast, averaging 22.5 PPR fantasy points in games this season against the Giants, Raiders, Colts, Texans, and Packers, all among the bottom-10 in RB aFPA. He faces the Chargers this week, who rank 26th in RBA aFPA, in a game projected for a healthy 46.5 points. The Titans run the ball at the 5th-highest percentage, and Henry has the 2nd-most touches among RBs despite his meager reception total. Henry has also scored 10 red-zone rushing touchdowns, behind only Jamaal Williams.

WR: CeeDee Lamb, DAL

The Cowboys hit the road to play the Jaguars in Week 15, and CeeDee Lamb must be excited. Jacksonville ranks 30th in aFPA to WRs, and with a 28.9% share of Cowboys targets, he'll have plenty of opportunities in a game with a projected point total of 48. In addition to Dak Prescott frequently targeting Lamb, Dallas also operates at the 9th-fastest pace, a big part of why Lamb is 5th in targets among WRs despite passing on the 11th-lowest percentage of plays. 4for4 projects Lamb to score 17.4 PPR fantasy points this week, which ranks him as the main-slate WR3.

WR/TE: Keenan Allen, LAC

Keenan Allen

has struggled with injuries in 2022, playing in just two games through the first 10 weeks of the season. He returned from injury in Week 11, and promptly resumed his pre-injury share of Chargers targets. Over the last 2 games, Allen's 28 targets are the most of any player and represented 30.8% of Dak Prescott's targets. Now Los Angeles hosts Tennessee, a team that's allowing the 2nd-highest WR aFPA. There's certainly nothing wrong with a 46.5 projected game total for this game, and the Titans defense doesn't so much lightly suggest that opponents pass the ball as it does scream it inches from your face with a giant neon sign flashing PASS behind it. The disparity between their run defense and pass defense is massive; they're allowing the 5th-fewest aFPA to RBs and the 2nd-most aFPA to WRs.

FLEX: Travis Kelce, KC

Kelce is indeed a TE, but for all intents and purposes, he's a WR1. His 24.5% target share on a Chiefs offense that passes at the 4th-highest rate has resulted in 117 targets, 5th among all players including WRs, TEs, and RBs. His red zone usage is gigantic, and his 9 touchdowns on 28 red zone targets lead the league. The Chiefs visit the Texans in Week 15 for a game projected to result in 48.5 points, with Kansas City projected for 31.25 of those points. Houston's defense has been extremely stingy against QBs and WRs, allowing the 2nd-lowest aFPA to both positions, but they're noticeably weaker against TEs, giving up the 11th-highest aPFA to them. 4for4 projects Kelce to score 19.3 PPR fantasy points, the 3rd-highest among all non-SuperStar WRs, RBs, and TEs on the main slate.