Joe Burrow and Justin Jefferson Bottom Out Week 15 Fantasy Football Losers
In this story:
This first fantasy football playoff Sunday screamed through the train station and derailed all over the place. The good, bad, and ugly blended in a panoramic kaleidoscope that rivaled the imagination. The Baltimore Ravens shut out Joe Burrow. No one could have seen that coming. Now, the Las Vegas Raiders getting shutout? That's far more predictable.
Okay, what junked your playoff team more than anything else? Which players sent your team to an early demise? Let's get even colder!
Scoring for fantasy football losers is based on the standard PPR format.
Joe Burrow - Cincinnati Bengals
This one punched to the gut like few others in Week 15. Joe Burrow got shut out at home by the Baltimore Ravens. Granted, Tee Higgins was out of the lineup (concussion), but Burrow threw 39 passes, only gained 225 yards, and threw two interceptions. One pick resulted in a touchdown. Burrow was also sacked three times and hurried all afternoon.
It was the mental mistakes that impacted Burrow more than anything. These are mistakes like missed reads and assignments he normally would not make. While it can be classified as an outlier, fantasy football owners do not care about that. Taking a sack that cost points early only made things worse as the game went along. Little things truly make a huge difference.
Burrow will start the final three games of the season and it just seems that Week 16 is more likely to be a stud than a dud.
Justin Jefferson - Minnesota Vikings
Sitting Justin Jefferson was the right move no matter what and the same applies rest of season. Jefferson had a respectable eight targets on Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys. He caught two balls for 22 yards. That was it! Jefferson could not get separation against one of the worst secondaries in pro football.
Dallas even ranks 30th in red zone defense. It did not matter. A few plays were designed for Jefferson. It still did not matter. The struggle kept coming and there are no signs of it stopping.
Justin Jefferson is the WR #99 in the last 3 weeks - he averages 3.2 PPR per game and just over 12 yards per game.
— Start Sit 'Em - Fantasy Football (@StartSitEmFF) December 15, 2025
Noah Brown
Olamadie Zaccheaus
Jalen Brooks
Isaiah Williams
Gage Larvadain
All average more fantasy points in the last 3 weeks.
With all the dropped passes and even poorer route running, the question has to be asked. Does Jefferson even reach 1,000 yards this season. He is at 832 and his catch rate keeps dropping (41.67% the last four weeks). Staying away is the best course and has been!
Kenny Pickett - Las Vegas Raiders
This was why burn before reading was mentioned. Kenny Pickett was either going to do something crazy or something so ugly that it destroyed a few fantasy rosters. Pickett clearly chose the latter. The Las Vegas quarterback completed 15 passes for 64 yards on Sunday. It was that ineptitude that allowed Philadelphia to control the ball for nearly 40 minutes.
Fantasy projections suggested that Pickett might get around 12-13 fantasy points. He ended up with 1.26. Pickett was fortunate that two or three more passes were not picked off. By all rights, the quarterback should have ended up in negative territory.
The Las Vegas Raiders may just be the worst team for fantasy football and in football, period! Not even Brock Bowers can salvage this one.
