5 breakout fantasy football stars to pick up for Week 15

The fantasy football playoffs are here and these five pickups can give you an edge if you’re hoping to win your Week 15 matchup.

Week 15 is here and (for most who play in sane leagues) that means the start of the fantasy football playoffs is upon us. The byes are over and done with so now every healthy player in the league is available to help you either advance toward glory or go out in flames.

As we’ve done all season long, we’ll take a look at the five top fantasy football pickups for teams looking to survive and advance in the playoffs. All rostered percentages referenced are based on Yahoo! leagues.

5. Top Fantasy Football Pickups For Week 15 – Arizona Cardinals D/ST

Defense wins championships in real life and the right streamer can make all the difference in the fantasy playoffs. Matchups is the name of the game in this case and one widely available defense that can make a difference is the Arizona Cardinals, who are rostered in just 24 percent of leagues.

Week 15 brings a matchup against the NFL’s worst offense, the Russell Wilson-led Denver Broncos, who scored fewer points in 12 games than the Dallas Cowboys had in their previous five contests entering Week 14. Arizona has been a solid fantasy unit on the year, racking up 23 sacks and forcing 14 turnovers, adding five defensive touchdowns for good measures.

Picking on Wilson seems like a good strategy here so if your primary defense has a tough matchup it makes a ton of sense to scoop up the Cardinals in this spot. Arizona also has the Buccaneers and Falcons on their schedule in the following weeks so this could be a sneaky-good playoff unit.