The Dallas Cowboys will face the Carolina Panthers in Week 15. Here’s fantasy football start-sit advice for every Cowboys and Panthers 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.
Bryce Young, QB | CAR
Bryce Young has taken some steps forward over the past month.
Bryce Young still has a long way to go.
Both things can be, and are, true. Over the past month, he’s cleared 15 rushing yards in all four games, taken just five sacks, and made some nice reads down the field that have put his team in position to be competitive. Also over that stretch, he’s yet to complete over 60% of his passes in a game or thrown for multiple scores in a contest.
His interception last week in Philadelphia was awful on all accounts — a bad decision, a poor throw, and a lack of game awareness as it flipped the game at the end of the first half.
The Cowboys defense isn’t what we hoped it would be, but I thought they looked fine on Monday night and all of their pressure metrics have spiked since the return of Micah Parsons. Young might be a deep sleeper in 2025 — not in Week 15.
Cooper Rush, QB | DAL
Cooper Rush has failed to clear 195 passing yards on 30+ attempts in consecutive games, first against the Giants and on Monday night against the Bengals. He is the only QB to check both of those boxes against either of those defenses this season — miss me with the “can I start Rush over insert established QB” questions.
Rush hasn’t proven capable of leveraging strong matchups, and I see no reason to think that changes with a short work week.
Chuba Hubbard, RB | CAR
Jonathon Brooks is done for the season with another ACL tear, leaving Chuba Hubbard in position to finish a great statistical season, even if there haven’t been many team wins.
He has seven RB1 finishes under his belt this year, and with game script not likely to be a major concern (Carolina is favored!), there’s no reason to shy away from the one piece on the Panthers’ offense with a consistent role.
Hubbard has authored his first 1,000-yard season of his career, and there is still production to be had down the stretch. He touched the ball 30 times in a losing effort last week — he should clear 20 with ease in this spot, which lands him as a strong RB2 for me this weekend.
Jonathon Brooks, RB | CAR
Jonathon Brooks’ rookie season was delayed due to recovery from a November torn ACL in his right knee and, less than 13 months later, he’s back in the same position.
This is a brutal blow for a talented kid that we are now going to have to wait longer to see what he can do with a reasonable workload. Given how recoveries work in the NFL these days, it’s reasonable to think that we see him in a Nick Chubb role next season, but that’s not going to make him a rosterable asset in redraft leagues with the well compensated Chuba Hubbard leading the way.
Rico Dowdle, RB | DAL
Rico Dowdle has run for 100+ yards in consecutive games, making him the first Cowboy to do so since Tony Pollard (Weeks 8-10, 2022). Between those two instances, a non-Cowboys RB registered consecutive 100-yard rushing games 31 times.
This team hasn’t valued the running back position all season long, but they’ve been backed into a corner with Cooper Rush under center, and Dowdle has stepped up in a big way.
The game script is a reasonable concern most weeks but not against the Panthers. Carolina owns the lowest defensive success rate against the run this season; with Dowdle projecting as a top-10 back in terms of touch count this week, he’s a must-start across all formats.
Adam Thielen, WR | CAR
Adam Thielen has reached 19 PPR points in consecutive games, the first player 34 years or older to do that since Larry Fitzgerald (2017). The storytelling stats are nice, but I have less confidence in the predictive ones.
Thielen has been thriving based on slot usage and extreme efficiency. The slot role is going to be his for the rest of the season, but once Jalen Coker returns, his volume of looks in that spot is destined to decline.
As for the efficiency, an 81% catch rate over the past two weeks is difficult to project to sustain in any situation, let alone a Bryce Young-led offense. The Cowboys’ defense has shown life since Micah Parsons returned to the mix in Week 10; if the Cowboys are afforded the opportunity to pin their ears back, Thielen’s fantasy stock could come crashing back to Earth this week.
Keep an eye on Coker’s status. If he sits again, Thielen will elevate into the Darnell Mooney tier of my ranks, a range in which I’m comfortable Flexing. If that’s not the case, he’s going to struggle to crack my top 40 at the position.
Brandin Cooks, WR | DAL
Brandin Cooks has scored in consecutive games and seems to have the inside track at WR2 honors in this offense. In his two games back, the veteran has earned 10 targets; that’s impressive — the 19 yards gained in those games, less so.
Cooks hasn’t reached 20 receiving yards in a game since the season opener, and even if he breaks that trend this week, that doesn’t mean he finishes as a Flex-worthy option. The Panthers are the worst defense in terms of creating pressure and, for me, that just gives Cooper Rush more time to lock on CeeDee Lamb or the tight ends.
If I’m hellbent on starting a veteran receiver with a limited ceiling, I’m going in the direction of JuJu Smith-Schuster every time.
CeeDee Lamb, WR | DAL
CeeDee Lamb is doing his best to keep this offense (and your fantasy team) afloat. Cooper Rush is limited in a variety of ways, but his WR1 has either scored or seen double-digit passes throw his way in five of six games under the backup, production that is above what most of us penciled in after Dak Prescott was lost for the season.
Dallas is doing all they can to get the ball in the hands of their difference-maker (one rush attempt per game during this stretch with Rush). While it’s fair to worry about the quality of opportunity, that might not matter this week.
Among the receivers to clear 20 PPR points against the Panthers this season are DJ Moore, Tre Tucker, and Jakobi Meyers. Lamb is a special talent — that allows him to retain top-10 WR status despite playing in an offense that is close to inept.
Jalen Coker, WR | CAR
Jalen Coker has missed three straight games with a quad injury. While there is some cautious optimism for this week after he practiced in a limited capacity last week, it shouldn’t impact your lineup in the slightest.
Adam Thielen has assumed control of the slot role in this limited offense, thus making Coker’s impact more likely to limit his veteran teammate’s sustainability than offer anything individually.
Jalen Tolbert, WR | DAL
The WR2 role in Dallas is begging for someone to assume control of it, and it would seem that Jalen Tolbert is trending out of consideration.
The third-year receiver was on the field for a season-low 64.4% of snaps on Monday night, and while I think there’s a discussion to be had about whether Brandin Cooks is the answer, there’s value to be had in knowing who is not the answer; that is the situation we seem to be in with Tolbert.
You can cut ties without much fear of it coming back to haunt you.
Xavier Legette, WR | CAR
The Panthers nearly pulled off the improbable upset in Philadelphia last week, and if Xavier Legette hauls in a deep pass late, they probably do.
If all near misses counted, we’d have a very different-looking season, both for fantasy and real life. In that alternate reality, maybe the Chiefs are 7-6.
But that’s not the world in which we live, and the fact of the matter is that Legette failed to make the most of his targets last week, something that has been the norm during his rookie season.
Performing for a spotty offense requires extreme efficiency to overcome a lack of scoring equity, and we’re not there right now. Legette has produced 35% under PPR expectations over his past three games, a run that coincides with an 80% catch rate for Adam Thielen.
Legette might well be the future of the position in Carolina and an asset for years to come if Bryce Young develops into a league-average signal-caller. Yet, when evaluating his value for the remainder of this season, there’s not enough here to roster, let alone start.
Ja’Tavion Sanders, TE | CAR
The potential is there for Ja’Tavion Sanders to develop alongside Bryce Young, and that’s going to have my attention in the 2025 redraft prep. I think there’s a lot to like in the rookie, but not with your season on the line.
This season, just one of his 233 routes has earned an end-zone target. With five instances in which a single-digit on-field target share was posted, the floor is too low to garner our serious interest as a streaming candidate.
Jake Ferguson, TE | DAL
Jake Ferguson returned to action on Monday night, and while a three-catch, 32-yard performance isn’t going to jump off the page, I thought he looked reasonably healthy — a 76.3% snap share indicates optimism moving forward.
Cooper Rush has thrown over 30 passes in four consecutive starts; while the plurality of targets goes in the direction of CeeDee Lamb, there’s plenty of room for a secondary pass catcher to assume enough of a role to matter.
Ferguson isn’t a lock to pick up that role, but I’d make him the favorite to do so. That makes him a low-end TE1 against the worst-scoring defense in the league (29.9 PPG).
Luke Schoonmaker, TE | DAL
Luke Schoonmaker saw streamable volume when Jake Ferguson was on the shelf (20 targets and a touchdown across three games), but his snap share cratered to 39% on Monday night with the starter back on the field, and that simply isn’t enough of a role in a bottom-10 offense.
You’re streaming the position, and that means not hesitating to move on — Schoonmaker shouldn’t be rostered in any formats.
