The Houston Texans will face the Miami Dolphins in Week 15. Here’s fantasy football start-sit advice for every Texans skill player who has the potential to make a fantasy impact during the game.
Looking for more lineup advice? Head over to our Week 15 Fantasy Start-Sit Cheat Sheet, where we cover every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
C.J. Stroud, QB
I was as guilty as anyone in assuming that the return of Nico Collins would return C.J. Stroud to elite form.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
The man has one top-12 finish this season and it came back when the Raiders were a .500 football team (Week 4). Yeah, it’s been a minute. With just one multi-pass-TD game since mid-October and more interceptions (five) than touchdown passes (four) over the past month, there’s plenty of risk we have to account for in this profile.
The Dolphins are an average defense by pressure rate (15th), but they rarely actually get home (29th in sack rate), and that has allowed them to be gashed in consecutive weeks.
- Jordan Love (Week 13): 21-of-28, 274 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions
- Aaron Rodgers (Week 14): 27-of-39, 339 yards, one touchdown, and zero interceptions
I think Stroud has a good chance to replicate those levels of success. His passer rating when out of the pocket this season is 29.6% higher than a season ago, a strength that figures to come into play given Miami’s defensive profile.
Both QBs in this game are locked inside of my top 10 this week, and I actually prefer Stroud to Tua Tagovailoa in what could be a very fantasy-friendly game where you’re starting all of your pieces.
Joe Mixon, RB
- In Week 13, Joe Mixon ran 20 times.
- In Week 13, Joe Mixon ran for a touchdown.
It’s a simple game. Mixon has done both of those things seven times this season, two more than any other player in the NFL this season and the most in an entire season by a Texan this millennium.
C.J. Stroud and Nico Collins are as capable as any duo of taking over a game and stringing together highlight plays. However, by providing balance and versatility, I don’t think it’s hard to label Mixon as the most valuable member of Houston’s offense.
The man has been a top-eight RB in six of his past eight games and is as good as it gets outside of the two backs battling for Offensive Player of the Year honors.
The age curve is a guide, not a gospel. Mixon is a reminder that the only rule to follow blindly in the world of fantasy sports is that no rule is to be blindly followed.
You’re riding Mixon until the wheels fall off. The next two weeks are brutal matchups, but if you ran scared from prohibitive trends, you’re not enjoying a career season from this 28-year-old.
Nico Collins, WR
Puka Nacua is great, right? We can’t agree on much, but that feels like a pretty universal take at this point.
- Nacua’s last month: 30.7% production over PPR expectation
- Nico Collins since the start of 2023: 31.1% production over PPR expectation
What Nacua has done for a month, Collins has been doing for two years with a quarterback whose best football is ahead of him. Despite missing five games, he leads the Texans in targets, catches, receiving touchdowns, and receiving yards … by 289 yards.
Why do I mention that? Collins is basically Houston’s first and second option in the passing game, and we’ve seen a pair of receivers combine for 30+ PPR points against the Dolphins with some regularity this season:
- DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, Week 3: 30.0 PPR points
- Marvin Harrison and Michael Wilson, Week 8: 37.2 PPR points
- Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp, Week 10: 33.8 PPR points
- Davante Adams and Garrett Wilson, Week 14: 44.3 PPR points
Am I suggesting that Collins scores 30 points on Sunday? Of course not, that would be irresponsible. Is he a staple in my DFS lineups coming out of the bye?
You bet.
Tank Dell, WR
Tank Dell has just two top-30 performances this season (Weeks 6 and 9), coming up well short of expectations after a strong rookie season. I mentioned the productive duos within the Nico Collins write-up, and if you think Miami will devote all of its resources toward him, Dell could snap out of his funk against a defense that is the last remaining unit in the league without a deep interception.
If you’re backing Dell, you’re doing it based on opinion more than anything we’ve seen on the field lately.
- Week 9 at New York Jets: six catches on nine targets
- Week 10 vs. Detroit Lions: five catches on nine targets
- Week 11 at Dallas Cowboys: four catches on seven targets
- Week 12 vs. Tennessee Titans: three catches on five targets
- Week 13 at Jacksonville Jaguars: one catch on four targets
Dell hasn’t earned a red-zone target in three straight games, and that has subtracted from the upside in his overall profile. Jameson Williams (vs. Bills) and Darnell Mooney (at Raiders) are receivers that fill a similar role in their respective offenses but have shown more recent life and, thus, rank higher for me this week.
Dalton Schultz, TE
It may not seem like much, but Dalton Schultz has been the better of the Dalton tight ends this season, and it hasn’t been close. Houston’s tight end has been a top-15 performer at the position in three of his past four games, a level of production that isn’t going to swing matchups, but can save you from complete disaster.
There is, of course, a risk profile here that you have to consider and that is why he is available in some spots and ranked outside of the top-10. Schultz has but one end-zone target this season (Week 6) and hasn’t reached 50 air yards in a contest since Halloween.
For me, I’m comfortable going in this direction if pushed. Tank Dell is averaging just 47 yards with a 52% catch rate over the past month, leaving the door open for Schultz to be, consistently, C.J. Stroud’s second option in a passing game with top-10 upside.
For me, he’s not much different than a Mark Andrews or Pat Freiermuth in that regard – a profile that ranks as a low-end TE1 in a game that could see plenty of points scored.