Week 15 in the NFL was all about rostering four key players, Cam Newton, David Johnson, Antonio Brown and Jordan Reed. Those four players blew away the field at their respective positions this week.
Using DraftKings points, Newton outscored the 2nd place QB (Kirk Cousins) by about 10 points and the 5th place QB by 20 points. Johnson outscored the 2nd place RB (Danny Woodhead) by about 12 points and the 3rd place running back by over 24 points. Brown put up 10 more points than the 2nd place WR (Emmanuel Sanders) and 20 more points than the 8th place WR for the week. And finally, Jordan Reed scored almost 6 more points than the 2nd place TE (Zach Ertz) and over 10 more points than the 5th place TE.
The most remarkable was Johnson who scored more than twice as many points as the 3rd place running back. If you didn’t have Johnson this week you likely lost. Luckily, all four players were all listed on the Industry Consensus picks, including three of them in the Highly Touted section. So if you followed the expert’s advice this week you had a shot at rostering, at least, three of these players in your lineups.
Be sure to check out the season long scores for all of the experts that we are tracking at the NFL Industry Expert Grading page.
On to the Week 15 grades, class is in session!
Week 15 Consensus Recap
Each week I will recap the top consensus picks that were posted to review how they graded out. The Industry Consensus picks had a solid week finishing in 12th place out of 26 experts graded this week.
Quarterbacks
Highly Touted
A+ – Cam Newton – Another big game for Cam with 5 TD passes for the 3rd time in the last 5 weeks
B – Russell Wilson – Has put up 3 or more TD passes in 5 straight games
F – Carson Palmer – The only highly touted QB to disappoint fantasy owners
Recommended
C – Blake Bortles – Decent game, but he was expected to do more
D – Tom Brady – With the game in control Brady didn’t need to air it out much
D – Matthew Stafford – Put up some good numbers, but there were a lot of QBs who performed even better this week
Suggested
A – Drew Brees – A lot of garbage time production made for a good fantasy day
B – Tyrod Taylor – Had a season-high 79 rushing yards to help propel him to a “B” grade
F – Matt Ryan – Has not thrown for more than 1 TD pass since Week 11
F – Aaron Rodgers – Only threw for just over 200 yards and 1 TD
F – Alex Smith – Had a good matchup, but the Chiefs don’t pass enough
Running Backs
Highly Touted
A+ – David Johnson – You likely needed him at RB this week to cash
F – Adrian Peterson – Hasn’t topped 70 rushing yards in 3 weeks
Recommended
C – Denard Robinson – His 8 receptions made it a respectable day
F – LeSean McCoy – Wasn’t very productive then left with an injury
F – Lamar Miller – I think the Dolphins hate Miller and fantasy players
Suggested
A+ – Devonta Freeman – Had 100 total yards and a TD which was good enough at RB this week
B – DeAngelo Williams – His 5 receptions and TD run elevated him over other RBs
C – Charcandrick West – Looked like he was in for a big day with a 38-yard TD run early, but didn’t do much after that
D – Tim Hightower – Put up decent numbers for a low price tag
D – Jeremy Hill – Had 2 TD runs, but only 31 yards
Wide Receivers
Highly Touted
A – Julio Jones – Finally got back in the end zone and over 100 yards
C – Doug Baldwin – You must be hot when 45 yards and 2 TDs is a “down” game
D – Jeremy Maclin – Scored, but only had 50 receiving yards
D – DeAndre Hopkins – His 8 receptions were the most since Week 8
F – Calvin Johnson – Back-to-back one catch games
Recommended
A+ – Antonio Brown – Matchup-proof target monster
C – Odell Beckham Jr – End up putting up a decent stat line, but it was ugly
D – Michael Floyd – It was all about the running game for Arizona this week
F – AJ Green – Only 1 catch on 3 targets
F – Allen Robinson – Scored, but only 3 catches in a week where a lot of WRs had good games
F – Alshon Jeffery – Only 1 catch, at least, it was for a TD
Suggested
A – Sammy Watkins – Has scored at least 1 TD in 4 straight games
B – Golden Tate – Taking over as the #1 receiving option in Detroit recently
B – Demaryius Thomas – Two first half TDs then the Broncos offense went dormant
F – Randall Cobb – Just not much production out of the Packers passing game
F – Larry Fitzgerald – See Michael Floyd
Tight Ends
Highly Touted
A+ – Jordan Reed – Back-to-back big games for Reed
A – Greg Olsen – Solid game for Olsen with 79 yards and a TD
B – Rob Gronkowski – Scored, but only 54 yards
Recommended
A+ – Delanie Walker – Only 2 catches, but he sure made the most of them for 2 TDs
A – Benjamin Watson – Garbage time TD made it a good day for Watson
B – Julius Thomas – Didn’t score for the first time in 5 weeks, but still had 6 catches for 79 yards
C – Gary Barnidge – Scored in the second straight game with Johnny Manziel at QB
Suggested
A – Eric Ebron – Was close to a TD but had to settle for 4 catches for 79 yards
B – Antonio Gates – Has 6 catches in 3 straight games, but hasn’t scored
C – Zach Miller – Continues to get targets with Martellus Bennett out
Head of the Class for Week 15
Each week I will highlight a few of the top experts for the week. Here are the experts that deserve a “gold star” for Week 15 based on their cumulative grades for all players they touted this week.
#1) VenoDFS-Derek (Score: 4.69) finished in the top spot by a wide margin this week receiving 5 “A+” grades out of 13 selections. Derek selected the top play at every position this week with Cam Newton, David Johnson, Antonio Brown and Jordan Reed.
#2) DK Playbook – Peter Jennings (Score: 3.86) comes in second place this week with 11 out of his 22 selections finishing with a grade of “B” or better. Key selections included Cam Newton, Devonta Freeman, David Johnson, Antonio Brown and Jordan Reed.
#3) RotoGrinders Consensus (Score: 3.82) rounds out the top three this week with 10 selections receiving a “B” grade or better out of their 22 selections. Their picks were led by the usual suspects this week, Cam Newton, David Johnson, Devonta Freeman, Antonio Brown and Jordan Reed.
Study Time for Week 15
If we are going to give a gold star to the top experts of the week, we also need to determine which experts might need to put in some extra study time to pull up those grades. Here are the Week 15 experts that didn’t make the grade this week.
- FakePigskin (Score: 1.56) struggled this week with 6 “F” grades out of 16 selections. They were let down by players such as Carson Palmer, Alex Smith, LeSean McCoy and Richard Rodgers.
- Razzball (Score: 1.75) had 6 picks that received a grade of “C” or lower out of their 8 selections this week. Picks that didn’t pan out were Adrian Peterson and Fozzy Whittaker.
Extra Credit for Week 15
In this section, I will look to give some extra credit to experts that received an A+ grade on a player that they recommended when very few other experts did. Week 15 extra credit goes to the following…
A+ – Kamar Aiken (FantasyPros)
A+ – Ted Ginn Jr. (ESPN–Matthew Berry)
A+ – Emmanuel Sanders (DailyRoto-Mayo)
A+ – DeSean Jackson (VenoDFS-The Cap Room)
Overall Leaderboard
To see the full leaderboard through Week 15 head over to the NFL Industry Expert Grading page.
#1) VenoDFS-Derek (Score: 3.53) moves into first place this week in the overall standings with his first place finish in Week 15.
#2) Moxyball-Matt (Score: 3.50) drops from the top spot down into second place, despite a solid 5th place finish in Week 15.
#3) Moxyball-Marcel (Score: 3.27) remain in a distant third place in the overall standings following a middle of the pack finish in Week 15.
#4) RotoGrinders Consensus (Score: 3.26) continues to climb up in the standings to fourth place this week, up from fifth place last week thanks to their strong 3rd place showing in Week 15.
#5) VenoDFS-Rob O’Connor (Score: 3.22) breaks into the top five this week for the first time with a solid 11th place finish in the Week 15 standings.
The Industry Consensus picks hold steady this week in the overall standings remaining in 16th place out of 28 experts listed. Only two weeks left for the Industry Consensus picks to break into the top half.
Let’s see who can make the grade in Week 16!
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