Fantasy Football Outlook: Tee Higgins, Jahmyr Gibbs, Adam Thielen, Rashee Rice

Every week we’ll bring you The Primer, a deep dive into every fantasy-relevant player from every NFL game of the week. You can find the full weekly Primer here. Below we dive into a few notable players ahead of this weekend’s games.

Fantasy Football Outlook

Tee Higgins: With Browning tossing the rock, it has been difficult to have any confidence plugging Higgins into a lineup. In his two games with Browning, he has averaged 54 receiving yards, but he has drawn only a 10.9% target share. He has been the downfield guy with a 13.4 aDOT and 42.3% air-yard share, so splash play upside is there but this isn’t the matchup to chase it. Since Week 9, Minnesota has allowed the 10th-lowest passer rating and the seventh-fewest deep passing yards per game. Sit Higgins. Week 15 Positional Value: WR4 / Sit

Jahmyr Gibbs: It has been a good year to be a running back on the Lions’ depth chart. Gibbs is the RB6 in fantasy points per game. He has averaged 13.8 touches and 83.2 total yards since Week 10. Gibbs’ pass game role has been alive and well, with at least five targets in three of his last five games. Gibbs is 17th in weighted opportunities and fifth in targets among backs. Gibbs has been on the wrong side of the red zone usage battle since Week 10, with only ten opportunities versus Montgomery’s 15. Since Week 10, Gibbs has ranked eighth in explosive run rate and 15th in yards after contact per attempt. This game profiles more as a Montgomery game, but Gibbs will still see plenty of work this week with the ability to break a long score anytime he touches the ball. Since Week 9, Denver has allowed the ninth-highest explosive run rate and yards after contact per attempt and the 12th-highest rushing touchdown rate. Week 15 Positional Value: RB1/2

Adam Thielen: After his miraculous start to the season, Thielen has cooled considerably as the Panthers’ passing attack has stalled. Since Week 8, he has seen a 23.0% target share and a 28.2% first-read share, which has amounted to 45.4 receiving yards per game and 1.25 YPRR. This is a solid matchup for Thielen to be considered a strong WR3/flex this week. Thielen will run about 69% of his routes against Dee Alfored (71.7% catch rate and 108.5 passer rating). Since Week 8, Atlanta has given up the seventh-most PPR points per target to slot receivers. Week 15 Positional Value: WR3

Rashee Rice: There’s no putting this magic genie back in the bottle. Rice has been on a tear and the Chiefs need to continue to feed him. Since Week 12, Rice has had a 26.4% target share, a 15.9% air-yard share, 2.79 YPRR, and a 33.8% first-read share. Over his last three games, he has finished as the WR3, WR22, and WR12 in weekly fantasy scoring. Fire up Rice as a WR2 this week. Since Week 8, the Patriots have allowed the ninth-highest PPR points per target to perimeter wide receivers (since Week 12 Rice 58% on the boundary). Week 15 Positional Value: WR2