The Pittsburgh Steelers will face the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 15. Here’s fantasy football start-sit advice for every Steelers 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.
Russell Wilson, QB
I thought Russell Wilson showed fine for himself last week without George Pickens, notching his fourth multi-pass TD game of the season, but I’m not the least bit confident that he can prove worthy of our trust in this spot should his WR1 be at anything less than full strength.
Wilson’s yards per attempt were 27.4% lower last week than his season average. And with the Eagles posting the fourth-lowest YAC per completion this season, I have a hard time thinking that 200 yards or multiple touchdowns is in the cards for the veteran QB this week.
Like Mahomes and the Chiefs, this team doesn’t need fantasy-friendly QB numbers to win ball games. The less Wilson does in this game, the better I think Pittsburgh’s chances are of pulling off the upset, and I expect Mike Tomlin to share that line of thought.
Jaylen Warren, RB
Jaylen Warren is nearing Flex value in PPR formats. He’s not quite there yet, but with at least 9.8 expected points in seven straight games, there’s a reasonable floor to consider in the right situation.
He cracked the 50% snap share threshold on Sunday against the Browns (51.6%); that’s encouraging, even if the numbers weren’t all that impressive. The Eagles are the eighth-best defense at limiting yards per RB target and third-best in terms of passer rating on those attempts. This isn’t the matchup for me to rank Warren as a starter, but we aren’t far from that being the case.
Najee Harris, RB
Najee Harris has a rushing TD or 4+ targets in seven of his past eight games, and with the Steelers offense trending in a positive direction, that role is enough to lock him into lineups even with limited efficiency (season: 3.9 yards per carry).
Jaylen Warren is healthy but has yet to eat into Harris’ role in a significant way. Through six Pittsburgh drives last week, Harris had 103.1% of their RB rushing yards.
You read that correctly.
Harris is as good a bet for 15-17 carries and 2-4 targets as there is outside of the top tier at the position, and while the Eagles’ defense is moving in the right direction, Pittsburgh’s offense will be looking to drag out possessions. That puts Harris in a good spot to flirt with 20 touches again on Sunday.
George Pickens, WR
George Pickens missed the first game of his career last week. A hamstring injury resulted in a Friday status downgrade before he was officially ruled inactive pre-game. He will miss another game in Week 15.
Regarding his rest-of-season outlook, the upside is no secret (six finishes as a WR2 or better). But we can’t let that distract you from three finishes outside of the top 55 receivers, a floor that is at an increased risk of impacting future weeks if a compromised version of him is trying to play.
Generally speaking, I love the way this Russell Wilson-led offense looks for Pickens. With the veteran calling the shots, Pittsburgh’s WR1 has produced 17.2% over expectations and has eight end-zone targets in six games.
Stay close to the Pittsburgh beats — a proper read on this situation with Pickens in the coming weeks could very well be the difference in your playoff matchups.
Mike Williams, WR
Did you make a mad dash to your DFS lineups last week when news came out that George Pickens was ruled out ahead of Pittsburgh’s game with Cleveland?
Personally, I opted to bet unders on Russell Wilson’s longest completion, a path I will likely double down on again this year if the star receiver remains sidelined — something Mike Tomlin seems to be projecting at the moment. Whether you made a pivot or not, the general idea of lumping usage onto Mike Williams made sense. He’s a big-bodied receiver who is as capable of making plays down the field as anyone not named Pickens on this roster.
It didn’t work.
Williams was the target of a deep pass on Wilson’s second throw of the game and later made an impressive one-handed grab on the sideline, but that was about it. His target rates were strong, and that’s good to see. But until this team shows us comfort rolling out the former first-round pick on a consistent basis, there’s just no real path to starting him in any capacity.
Williams’ weekly snap shares with Pittsburgh:
- Week 11 vs. Baltimore Ravens: 31.1%
- Week 12 at Cleveland Browns: 28.4%
- Week 13 at Cincinnati Bengals: 24.2%
- Week 14 vs. Cleveland Browns: 27.4%
Might the Steelers be waiting to unleash a Williams-centric package for the playoffs? I guess that’s possible, but that doesn’t help us now. We figure to have more time to react this week than last, as I’m currently counting Pickens out and pivoting if news changes as opposed to the other way around. However, without any certainty that Williams can be on the field for even one-third of the snaps, this is an ultra-thin profile at best.
I like the idea of him in this offense, but at this point, I think it’s safe to say that redraft fantasy managers can stop holding onto hope. Even if Williams sees his role expand this week on your bench, we won’t have any way of knowing that it’ll sustain when Pickens returns. The Eagles own the seventh-highest pressure rate this season, a strength that has me thinking that Williams may not have time to shake free down the field even if his snap share were to explode out of nowhere.
Pat Freiermuth, TE
Pat Freiermuth pulled in a 20-yard touchdown up the seam last week, giving him a score in consecutive games after being held to a single TD in his six games prior. His role has looked a bit different this season and I think it actually enhances his fantasy profile.
Entering this season, seven of Patty Football’s 11 touchdown receptions came on end-zone targets, but none of his five have this season. Pittsburgh has been more creative in getting him the rock in space, and while asking him to convert those looks into touchdowns instead of simply having him post-up brings about the potential for scoring droughts, it also results in an increase in projectable target count.
I’m expecting George Pickens to return to the field this week and his field-stretching capabilities only open up room for Freiermuth to operate between the hashes against a defense that won’t discourage Pittsburgh from taking those layup short targets (0.4% interception rate on short passes this season, the third-lowest in the league).