Fantasy Football Week 15 Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em: Darnell Mooney vs. Chris Godwin Jr.
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For most fantasy GMs, the fantasy football postseason is here, and with that, there are some borderline start and sit decisions at the WR position that some people will have to make as soon as Thursday night in week 15. Two Thursday night WRs that fall into this category are WR for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Chris Godwin Jr., and WR for the Atlanta Falcons, Darnell Mooney. Here is a breakdown on who to play between the two this week in fantasy football.
Darnell Mooney
Darnell Mooney has struggled to have production throughout the entirety of this season, and despite an increased role over the past few games, those fantasy football woes have continued. WR1 for the Falcons, Drake London, has been sidelined with a knee injury, as he has missed the last three games. Because of this, Mooney has been the acting WR1 for Atlanta. In these three games, Money has a combined six receptions for 105 yards. Within that production, he is coming off his worst game of the three, logging one reception for four yards against the Seattle Seahawks in week 14. London, as it stands now, looks likely to be out again this week, but whether that will actually lead to promising fantasy production from Mooney remains to be seen.
The Falcons' week 15 opponent, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has been a bad passing defense in 2025. In the year, they are allowing the sixth most passing yards per game. Also, this season in fantasy football PPR formats, they are giving up the 13th most fantasy points per game to the WR position. Over their last three games, opposing WR1s have done decent. They have combined for an average of 65.3 receiving yards per game and 5.3 receptions per game, but none of them scored a TD.
Chris Godwin Jr.
WR for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Chris Godwin Jr., status that has been up in the air pretty much all of the 2025 season. That has remained the case going into week 15 against the Falcons, but it looks like he is expected to play in this matchup. He was a limited participant in practice on Monday but was a full participant on Tuesday.
With this encouraging news, Godwin Jr. in week 14 had one of his best games of the handful of contests he has played thus far in the 2025 season. Against the New Orleans Saints, he had five receptions for 55 yards on eight targets. Looking to build off this performance, Godwin Jr. will have a fairly tough task with Atlanta being his opponent.
The Falcons this season are allowing the fewest passing yards per game. In that WR2s have not had great fantasy football production recently. In their last three games, the Falcons have allowed an average of 22.6 receiving yards per game and 2.3 receptions per game to opposing WR2s. Also, these three WR2s combined for one TD.
Final Verdict
When it comes to who should start and who should sit in fantasy football in week 15 between Mooney and Godwin Jr., Mooney should start, and Godwin Jr. should sit. The main reason for this is strictly the matchup. Yes, Mooney has been extremely underwhelming in his role of WR1, but with him facing the Bucs’ defense and still holding this role, his ceiling in fantasy football is much higher than Godwin Jr.. With the two being borderline plays in fantasy, this makes Mooney the better play.
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Gray Deyo is a Nashville-based sportswriter who graduated with a sports management bachelor's degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He has covered prep sports, college sports, the WNBA, and the NBA for the past four years. In addition to writing for SI, Gray also currently contributes to Prep Girls Hoops