Panthers in Fantasyland Week 15

Jeff “Tito” Thitoff works for Fantasy Draft Proxies, a service that assists people in drafts and decisions throughout the seasons on starting lineups, trades and waivers. Tito has played fantasy football since 1980, with his first pick ever being Cleveland QB Brian Sipe. He hosted a fantasy football radio show for eight years on the ESPN affiliate in Columbus, Ohio. Here are his Week 15 suggestions:

The Carolina Panthers are down a quarterback, fired their head coach and the season is over. 

There is a lot of talk about Dallas wasting the prime of Zeke Elliott and the Los Angelese Chargers having wasted the prime of Philip Rivers. 

But what about the prime of Christian McCaffrey being wasted? His number of plays, his number of touches are both troubling. The life of a running back isn’t long, and the Panthers need to start winning ASAP or they risk wasting CMC’s best years.

The winning won’t happen this week, as the Panthers host Seattle. McCaffrey and DJ Moore are the only must-starts this week. That’s it for Carolina.

And, if the Panthers were smart, they would shut CMC down for the season. He’s on pace for more than 400 touches this season. Go look up the history among players with that many touches. Walter Payton could handle it in following years, sure. But what about guys such as Larry Johnson and Arian Foster? Go ahead –look it up.

It will be an interesting week for quarterbacks and wide receivers as we head into Week 15 (the first round of playoffs for most leagues). Lamar Jackson has a quad injury, but says he will play Thursday against the Jets. Quad problem? Short week? You gotta play him, yet I’d be worried.

Which DeShaun Watson shows up at Tennessee? I would be concerned if he was my starting QB this week.

At wide receiver, Mike Evans is out for the year and a host of other perceived top guys are questionable. There is going to be a lot of luck involved this week. Here’s three names you can target if you are desperate: Robby Anderson, Terry McLaurin and Marquise Brown.

And congrats if you’re still reading – you are likely in the playoffs. Best of luck in Week 15.