Fantasy Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame member Bob Harris and Gary Davenport have well over 40 years of experience as fantasy football analysts, with three Football Writer of the Year Awards between them. They know their stuff—or at least that's what they tell themselves.
Each week during the 2025 season, Harris and Davenport are going to come together here at Footballguys to answer five of that week's biggest fantasy questions.
It's Week 15 of the 2025 fantasy football season, and in most leagues that means the postseason has begun. From here out, it's single elimination all the way. No more losses can be had. No more mistakes can be made. Fantasy managers need the best advice possible.
Well, at least half the analysts in this column are capable of providing that.
Madness Under Center
Last week's clunker from Jalen Hurts of the Eagles was just the latest debacle for fantasy managers under center in a year filled with them.
Who will be the latest top-12 signal-caller who will let fantasy managers down at the worst possible time in Week 14? Which lower-end quarterback will do the opposite and ride to the proverbial rescue?
Harris: Patrick Mahomes II is going to have a great game soon. The odds are with him. After all, he's fallen outside QB1 territory in four of his last five games: He was QB25 against the Bills in Week 9, scoring just 8.5 points; Mahomes was QB15 against the Broncos in Week 11, with 13.3 points; and QB14 against the Colts in Week 12, with 15.1 points.
Last week, in a game against the most formidable defense in the league -- the Texans, Mahomes finished the game as QB24 -- yes, outside QB2 territory -- with just 5.3 fantasy points. Mahomes is going to have a big game. But will the inevitable eruption come against the Chargers this week, or against the Titans in Week 16?
I suspect we're a week away.
To be clear, his QB9 ranking is understandable. And I'm not suggesting the Chargers defense is going to hold Mahomes to the 2.7 fantasy points they held Jalen Hurts to last week. But the only success Mahomes and this offense have had in the last five games came against a generous Cowboys defense. The Chargers ain't the Cowboys.
Last week in this very spot, I gifted you Tyler Shough, who finished the Week as QB6. You're welcome.
This week, the answer is J.J. McCarthy.
Why?
Well, it's not just because he's coming off a QB9 outing against the Commanders, with his second-highest point total of the year (20.4). It wasn't crazy impressive. McCarthy hit 16 of 23 passes for 163 yards. But he also tossed a career-high three touchdowns, all of which went to tight ends.
So, it wasn't like it was the best game ever.
It's also worth noting he benefited from a Commanders defense that rarely blitzed him. On plays in which the Commanders sent a standard four-man pass rush, McCarthy was 11-of-14 for 106 yards and two touchdowns. To his credit, however, McCarthy averaged 2.56 seconds to throw, his quickest in any game this season by more than a quarter of a second. He completed 10 of his 11 quick throws for 85 yards and two touchdowns.
While the Cowboys have gotten better at pressuring opposing QBs, they haven't significantly improved in terms of stopping them. As Fantasy Pros notes, since Week 10, Dallas has allowed the second-most passing yards per game, the tenth-highest yards per attempt, and the third-highest passer rating to enemy field generals.
For the season, they've given up the most fantasy points to quarterbacks -- 24.1 points per game. The increased pressure since Week 2 has made a slight difference; they've allowed the second-most points to the position over that five-game span.
McCarthy is QB18 in our rankings this week.
Davenport: There are a number of higher-end quarterbacks who have been mired in a funk of late—a list that includes Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens. Jackson was the first quarterback drafted in more than a few fantasy leagues this summer. It's understandable that Jackson is ranked third among quarterbacks this week. His rushing upside is off the chain—and he had his best game in a while in last week's loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
But Jackson isn't right physically—and hasn't been for some time. Since Week 10, Jackson is 16th in fantasy points among quarterbacks—the same number he has for the season. Fantasy managers can't reasonably bench Jackson, but last time out against the Bengals (all the way back in Week 13), Jackson had his worst fantasy outing of the season.
The Cowboys are fair and away the best fantasy matchup for quarterbacks this year, but the No. 2 matchup is also an NFC East team—the New York Giants. That bodes well for Washington's Marcus Mariota, who sits one spot above McCarthy in this week's rankings.
Two weeks ago, against a Denver defense that's among the best in the league, Mariota threw for 294 yards and two scores while adding another 55 yards on the ground. Mariota may not be a top-three quarterback like he was in Week 13, but he has an excellent shot at cracking the top-10 in Week 15.
Running It Back
At this point in the season, the list of reliable running back options isn't getting any longer. Which back outside the top-25 in this week's rankings at Footballguys has the best chance of smashing expectations this week? Which higher-end running back is going to smash the hopes and dreams of fantasy managers?
Harris: If we're looking to smash, we need some touchdown potential. If that's one of the prerequisites, I'm going to go with the Patriots' "other" running back, Rhamondre Stevenson.
I know. We all want it to be TreVeyon Henderson. I want it to be Henderson.
Unfortunately, the opinions that matter most, those of head coach Mike Vrabel and coordinator Josh McDaniels, have not aligned with our desires.
When we last saw New England in Week 13, Stevenson led the backfield in his second game back from injury. He took 58 percent of the snaps, got 15 touches, and 80 yards from scrimmage. Henderson was outsnapped 38-32, with 11 carries and four targets. Henderson split the red-zone opportunities with Stevenson, with each player getting two red-zone carries.
While there are no guarantees, I suspect we'll see a similar split again this week, with Henderson getting close to half the workload.
If so, it's a great matchup against a Buffalo defense that's given up the most rushing TDs, sixth-most rushing yards, and seventh-most fantasy points per game to opposing running backs. Over the last eight weeks, the Bills have allowed 10 total touchdowns and an average of nearly 24 points per game to the position.
I'm not sure he'll smash my dreams, but Breece Hall has already wrung out most of the hope I had in him. If there was a piece of the Jets' offense I was confident in heading into the season, it was Hall. And on the surface, it appears he's delivered. Hall is currently RB16 on the season, which doesn't seem all that bad. But over the last four games? He's been RB25, averaging 11 points per game.
Last week was a prime example of the issues. Hall went up against the same Dolphins that he ran wild on in Week 4, when he delivered 111 yards from scrimmage. He could not duplicate that feat on Sunday, as the Jets' offensive struggles continued to hold him back. Hall's 4.3 fantasy points represented a season low.
Has he hit rock bottom?
I don't think so. Injuries at the quarterback position are clearly a problem. Still, Brady Cook running the offense might be the least of Hall's concerns this week as he goes up against the league's stingiest run defense in the Jaguars, who just limited Colts superstar Jonathan Taylor (who was also dealing with quarterback issues) to an RB20 finish last week.
Davenport: Woody Marks of the Houston Texans has quite a bit of fantasy appeal this week against the Arizona Cardinals, but he's sitting right at RB25 this week, and this idiot is all about following the rules. Yep. That's me. By the book. Always.
Devin Neal of the New Orleans Saints sits a bit farther down the list at RB30, in part because he's been limited in practice this week with an abdominal injury. But there's been no indication that Neal is in real jeopardy of missing Sunday's game, while Alvin Kamara still has yet to practice.
That sets Neal up for another game as the Saints' lead back this week against a Carolina Panthers team that has allowed the ninth-most PPR points to running backs. Neal isn't tearing it up on a per-touch basis—the rookie has averaged just 3.6 yards per carry this season. But he saw 20 touches last week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, turning them into 84 total yards and a touchdown.
At the opposite end of the matchup spectrum, no team in the NFL has surrendered fewer PPR points to the running back position than the Detroit Lions. Kyren Williams of the Los Angeles Rams remains inside the top-10 running backs for the season despite ceding some touches to Blake Corum of late. But Williams also hasn't carried the ball 15 times in a game in over a month, and that shared workload in a bad matchup is going to rise up and bite fantasy managers this week.
