Every season, a handful of players stand out as fantasy football league winners. With Deebo Samuel (hamstring) ruled out of Week 15 and likely for the remainder of the regular season, San Francisco 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk has a terrific opportunity to top that list this year. With a matchup against a porous Dallas defense in Week 15, does Aiyuk become a must-start in your playoff matchups?
Brandon Aiyuk’s a rising star in fantasy football
Brandon Aiyuk might be a rookie, but that hasn’t stopped the 25th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft from establishing himself as a rising star in both the NFL and fantasy football. Before we look at Aiyuk’s winnable matchup against Dallas in Week 15, let’s first look at what the rookie has accomplished this season. Spoiler alert: Brandon Aiyuk is good. Like, really good.
Bradon Aiyuk’s 2020 season
After beginning the season as a secondary piece in San Francisco’s offense, it didn’t take long for Aiyuk to turn heads around the league. Since Week 3, Aiyuk has five or more targets in every game except one. He has looked like a legit WR1. Already showing a tremendous floor as a rookie, Aiyuk’s fantasy ceiling has reached new heights over the past month or so. He’s averaged 12.25 targets per game over the last four healthy contests and is the WR4 over the past two weeks. Not bad for a rookie.
Injuries to George Kittle, Raheem Mostert, and Deebo Samuel, certainly played a role in Aiyuk’s growth. The trio of 49er stars have missed 19 combined games this season. Even so, Aiyuk still had to go out there and produce in their absence. Plenty of wide receivers have received volume due to injuries over the years. Not many of them have actually produced as well as Brandon Aiyuk has.
Deebo Samuel’s injury means even more volume for Brandon Aiyuk in Week 15
Brandon Aiyuk had already started his ascension to number one WR on the 49ers depth chart. Deebo Samuel’s injury only intensified that. While Samuel is used as more of a gadget player, the 49ers have shown their hand with Aiyuk. With a more diverse route tree, the 49ers clearly see Aiyuk as a true number one.
Aiyuk has seen a steady amount of targets all season, but those numbers reached new heights in Week 14. He was peppered with a career-high 16 targets and finished as WR8 on the week. Even if his target share regresses to the mean, Aiyuk only needs half of those targets to have a productive day against this Dallas defense.
Brandon Aiyuk’s Week 15 fantasy football outlook
As most of us already know, the Dallas Cowboys defense is very bad at the game of football. From a fantasy football perspective, we want to take advantage of that ineptitude. Brandon Aiyuk’s ascension as the number one offensive weapon paired with a Dallas defense that bleeds production to wide receivers is a match made in fantasy football heaven.
Dallas Cowboys’ Defensive Points Allowed Consistency Score
According to Pro Football Network’s Defensive Points Allowed Consistency Score, Dallas is a bottom-ten defense against wide receivers this season. With a current Defensive CS of 18.1, Dallas is currently the eighth-worst defense against wide receivers in fantasy football. The only teams giving up more points to the position are the Jaguars, Vikings, Falcons, Chargers, Texans, Bills, Buccaneers. That’s not exactly good defensive company to be in.
Brandon Aiyuk’s Consistency Score
Over on the offensive side of the ball, Brandon Aiyuk has been a steady fantasy football producer. Aiyuk is WR22 on the season with a 4.46 Consistency Score. With the 49ers’ depth chart seemingly getting thinner by the day, expect that number to rise over the season’s final month.
Week 15 Fantasy Outlook
If you’re having any concerns about starting Brandon Aiyuk in your fantasy football lineups in Week 15, let me stop you now. Don’t overthink this. Aiyuk has scored single-digit PPR points just twice since Week 3. He has been averaging over 20 points per game over his past five healthy games.
I know the 49ers’ terrible quarterback play might scare you off, but I don’t think it should. We get that Nick Mullens isn’t a starting-caliber quarterback in the NFL. That isn’t really debatable at this point. However, bad quarterback play isn’t always a bad thing for wide receivers.
Mullens’ gun-slinging style of play actually tends to help pass-catchers around him. San Francisco is more likely to trail with Mullens under center. In turn, this opens up even more passing game opportunities for Aiyuk. As one of the only healthy wide receivers left standing, it will be difficult for the WR not to succeed in Week 15. Unless you have the greatest group of wide receivers ever assembled on one fantasy football roster, I can’t imagine leaving Brandon Aiyuk out of my starting lineup this weekend.