Fantasy Football: Stefon Diggs poised to repeat revenge performance against Bills — Tale of the Take, Week 15

The fantasy football playoffs are here and scared money won't make money. Last week, we called Trevor Lawrence finishing as a top-10 quarterback and it cashed. We tagged Bucky Irving for multiple scores - he gave us one touchdown - solid process, room for more. Colby Parkinson found the end zone just as predicted.

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This week we tighten the screws. No fluff, no hedging, no panic pivots. We're banking edges, trusting workload and fading noise. Week 15 is the dance. Lock in, set your lineup and let's punch a ticket to Week 16.

Stefon Diggs shows up in the playoffs, repeats revenge spot

The Tale: Stefon Diggs does it again against his former team in Week 15 with a big-time performance versus the Buffalo Bills. It has been a down couple of fantasy performances for Diggs, but this spot lines up like a statement game. In the first Buffalo matchup this season, he had 10 receptions, 146 yards and was a top-five receiver on the week. Since then, he has only logged one top-12 week, which fuels the discount on what he can still do when the lights hit.

This is an AFC East showdown in Foxborough with real stakes. Drake Maye has been phenomenal, playing like an NFL MVP, and the bye in Week 14 gave New England a clean reset. The Bills defense has tightened over the last month, allowing around 175 passing yards per game with the sixth-best mark in total yards allowed, so this isn't a walkover. It doesn't need to be. Diggs knows the building across from him, the uniform he's facing, the noise around his recent box scores. He doesn't need twelve targets to break a game, he needs the right moments with a quarterback who will let it fly. He won't have that issue with Maye on Sunday.

This is a matchup Diggs has already called important before and the timing lines up. New England just came off the latest bye week in the NFL after grinding through 13 straight weeks, so the reset was real. Diggs probably needed a minute to get right, but now it's foot on the throttle. He's seen this team before, he punished them with 10 for 146, and nothing on tape suggests he's not capable. Maye is even more confident today than he was then, they've had time to game plan and it shouldn't be rocket science. Feed your stars in got-to-have-it moments. In Week 15, Diggs gets it done.

The Take: Stefon Diggs gets it done again versus Buffalo and delivers a top-10 fantasy week at wide receiver in Week 15.

It's Woody's time to reach for the sky (in a good way)

The Tale: Woody Marks just literally put the backfield on his back in a statement win over Kansas City. With Nick Chubb injured early in Week 14, the backfield flipped to Marks and he handled 26 rush attempts for a hard-fought 68 yards while adding a receiving score. That kind of workload tells you everything about how Houston wants to play down the stretch.

Now, he gets Arizona, a defense that has been bad against the run since Week 11. The Cardinals have allowed 144 rushing yards per game over the last month, fifth-most in the league. The Rams had their way with them a week ago. Blake Corum ripped 128 yards, two touchdowns and 10.7 yards per carry. Kyren Williams had 84 on 13 totes at 6.5 a pop and also scored. Ronnie Rivers chipped 41 on eight at 5.1 per carry. This isn't a unit holding the point of attack. It's a runway for a back who is poised to get a significant workload.

Arizona has been better against the pass at 222 yards allowed per game over the last month. CJ Stroud and Nico Collins are good enough that, even behind an offensive line that hasn't been perfect, they should be solid. What matters here is the commitment Houston has shown to the run game. The Texans showed it in Kansas City, and with Chubb potentially sidelined, the path is clear for Marks to operate as a bell cow at home so long as he can shake off his own knee injury. Short yardage, four-minute offense, red-zone touches - that's Marks' time.

The Take: Woody Marks scores again en route to a top-10 fantasy performance against Arizona in Week 15.

Travis Etienne Jr. tramples on Jets in big spot

The Tale: Travis Etienne Jr. walks into an elite spot against the New York Jets. Over the last month, the Jets have coughed up a league-high 16 runs of 10-plus yards, tied with Philly, and the sixth-most rushing yards per game. They've also allowed a league-high 27 rushing fantasy points per game to running backs. For the full season, they're giving up the third-most rushing yards per game. That run defense is giving it up right now at the exact moment Jacksonville has gotten it rolling.

The Jaguars are 9-4, sitting atop a very competitive AFC South and they still have two road games left against the Broncos and Colts. This is a big game. Trevor Lawrence is playing good ball, the offense has rhythm, and Etienne has answered every Scootin' Tuten" takeover whisper. Over his last four, he's posted 73 yards, 86 yards, then 74 this past week, and he's found the end zone three times in the last month with two coming against Indianapolis. Jacksonville's defense has been one of the best units over the last month, stingy against the run, which puts the Jets in a tough spot. If New York is leaning on Breece Hall, who is dealing with a knee injury, and potentially inexperienced rookie QB Brady Cook, that offense isn't a real threat to tilt game script.

The Jags can keep this simple. Lean on defense, keep the quarterback upright and let Etienne and the ground game dominate. Etienne is due for a monster fantasy playoff start.

The Take: Travis Etienne Jr. has two-TD day against the Jets in Week 15.

DeVonta Smith rejoins the party against Las Vegas

The Tale: Philadelphia comes home on a three-game skid and this tale is about DeVonta Smith. The past month hasn't felt like the early part of the season. A.J. Brown has been smashing at close to 18 half-PPR points per game, producing like a top-three receiver, while Smith sits at WR51 at 6.5 per game. He's still 10th in receiving yards on the season, yet, he hasn't cleared 100 yards in seven games, hasn't scored in five and has topped 10 targets just once in his last six. That's not what you want to hear when the opposite receiver has just gone for 100 yards three games in a row.

The matchup should be a "get-right" spot. Las Vegas has allowed 154.5 receiving yards per game to wideouts with a 68.5% completion rate and 7.0 yards per attempt, plus 15 receiving touchdowns in 13 games. That's bottom-10 pass defense territory. Jalen Hurts is still throwing it more than 35 times per game over the last month even with a sub-60% completion clip. Volume is intact. Efficiency can swing especially against this opponent.

Brown will command attention because he should but Philly doesn't want to limp into January. The Eagles have gone 1-3 since they've started force feeding Brown. The Eagles need to get back to making defenses account for their co-alphas. The drought has stretched long enough. The opportunity is perfect. In a home matchup, I fully expect the Eagles to show up against a Raiders team that might be starting former Eagle Kenny Pickett at quarterback.

The Take: DeVonta Smith scores and posts his best fantasy performance in six weeks against Las Vegas.

QBs could provide fantasy gold in Giants-Commanders

Washington vs. New York is an ugly spot for most skill players but it quietly sets up as a green light for the quarterbacks. If I'm streaming this week, the two names I'm comfortable plugging in are Jaxson Dart and Marcus Mariota. Both bring dual-threat juice, both draw defenses that leak rushing production and both can pay you back without needing pristine pass-game environments.

Start with the matchup. The Commanders and Giants sit bottom four in rushing yards allowed per game, each over 135 per contest. The Giants are allowing the third-most fantasy points per game to opposing offenses and Washington is fourth worst. That's a runway for quarterbacks who can run on designed runs but are sometimes more dangerous on off-script rush attempts.

Mariota has kept a fantasy floor with his legs. In his last stretch of full starts, he has run for 55, 49 and 22 yards and tossed multiple scores in two of those three. Over the last five weeks, Mariota sits as QB20, outscoring Baker Mayfield, Bo Nix, Lamar Jackson, CJ Stroud, Justin Herbert, Sam Darnold, JJ McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers. It hasn't been pretty in Washington but volume, plus designed keepers, equals viability.

Dart brings the ceiling. He cleared 56, then 66, then 20 rushing yards in his recent three-game sample with multiple rushing and passing touchdowns mixed in. With the concussion scare behind him, Washington's defense invites quarterback run production. Neither team is chasing the postseason but Mariota is auditioning for 2026 and Dart's staff is letting him rip. We'll take that this late in the season.

I won't plant flags on the ancillary pieces here but I will stream the legs and red-zone usage tied to these passers, prioritizing Dart.

The Take: Jaxson Dart is a must-play while Marcus Mariota is worth streaming in a pinch in Week 15.