Fantasy Football Week 15 Deep-Sleepers: CJ Stroud, Isaiah Likely and 5 Others

These are sleeper picks that project to have favorable, must-consider matchups in Week 15 Fantasy Football.

Dec 7, 2025; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely (80) reacts after scoring a touchdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers during the second half at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-Imagn Images | Peter Casey-Imagn Images

Nobody can ever fully predict what will happen on a Sunday afternoon of NFL football. Many storylines come and go and many of them tend to come as a surprise. Sleepers can take the world by storm and many times, we do not see it coming. However, sometime, we can see it coming, and that is the angle of our weekly deep-sleepers article. These are seven lowly-owned player with favorable outlooks in Week 15 Fantasy Football.

CJ Stroud, QB - 48% Available

This is just insane play making by CJ Stroud pic.twitter.com/GrexM6zdJT

— Houston Stressans (@TexansCommenter) December 13, 2025

Stroud can be a boom-or-bust player, but his big arm offers high upside, especially this week. The Cardinals are a mid-pack defense versus Quarterbacks, but they fare poorly in many factors this week.

The Cardinals are without top offensive weapons in Marvin Harrison Jr., Trey Benson, and Emari Demercado. They also face the best defense in the NFL that Houston fields. We expect the Texans to often have the ball and take shots in a game that they expect to win. We would much smarter expect a "boom" for Stroud rather than a "bust".

Marcus Mariota, QB - 82% Available

Mariota is another risk versus reward option to play. He has a TD:INT ratio of 9:7, but he does also have three games of >20 Fantasy Points in six starts. The Giants are 3rd worst against Quarterbacks and we expect MetLife Stadium to be absent of any energy, making this more of a neutral site game than a home field advantage for the Giants.

Mariota also runs the ball for >30 Yards per Game, and the Giants are 31st in Rushing Yards Allowed to Quarterbacks.

Emanuel Wilson, RB - 62% Available

The Packers are still wondering if they will have Josh Jacobs to play this week. If he does not play, Wilson works into a high snap-share. He averaged (21.0) Touches per Game when Jacobs was out.

If Jacobs does play, we can expect his workload to be limited. It would only be smart with a much more important game in Week 16 versus the Bears. I could still see over (10) Touches for Wilson in that case. The Broncos are a Top-10 Rushing Defense, but volume is king, and the Packers have it with their high-volume rushing attack.

Brian Robinson, RB - 80% Available

It is trending that Christian McCaffrey will play, despite injury concerns. However, the 49ers project to handily beat the Titans, and they may be smart to limit the touches on McCaffrey. Robinson is averaging close to (10) Touches per Game. If any game trended towards (15) Touches, this might be it. Robinson is surely a desperation play, but he may be worth it. Robinson has (8) Red Zone Touches over his last five games.

Luther Burden III, WR - 85% Available

Ryan Poles deserves an apology.

Colston Loveland: 35 rec, 435 yds, 4 TD
TJ Hockenson: 46 rec, 370 yds, 3 TD

Kyle Monangai: 648 yds, 5 TD
David Montgomery: 603 yds, 3 TD

Luther Burden III: 30 rec, 395 yds, 1 TD
Matthew Golden: 24 rec, 286 yds, 0 TD

Rookies already better than… pic.twitter.com/buv4xQ2ZhR

— Bears Facts (@DaBearsTakeOver) December 12, 2025

Burden is competing with DJ Moore for the WR1 job, and he is winning. We expect Burden to command a >20% Target Share in the absence of Rome Odunze. This makes him a must-roster. The Browns are 9th versus Wide Receivers, but as I like to say, volume is king, and Burden projects to have it.

Ricky Pearsall, WR - 49% Available

He has plummeted since his September form. Pearsall missed a great deal of time and has returned to just (5) Targets over three games. We are lead to believe that Week 15 offers a different story.

Many believe that Pearsall has not been playing at 100%. Logically, this would have to make sense. He has little competition in the depth chart and should be the WR2, if not WR1, at his best. After a bye week, I like Pearsall to bounce back against a bad Titans defense.

Isaiah Likely, TE - 77% Available

You should definitely start Likely for his upside this week. The Bengals are far-worst against Tight Ends, having allowed (15) Touchdowns, nine more than any other NFL defense. Likely only has (2.9) Targets per Game, but this game should favor his ceiling and the Ravens will absolutely look to leverage it.