Week 15, and the 2025 Fantasy Football playoffs, have arrived. There’s no margin for error, including at the often-pesty tight end spot.
If you’re here, I assume you don’t have Trey McBride, George Kittle, or Brock Bowers. Hopefully, you didn’t face (or bench) Kyle Pitts. You probably lost the Harold Fannin sweepstakes too.
Thus, finding the right Week 15 Fantasy Football tight end streamer could be the difference between advancing to your semifinals vs. an early playoffs departure.
Thankfully, the Week 15 Waiver Wire is loaded with sleeper tight end streamers. But who’s the top choice?
Many fantasy owners are turning to Isaiah Likely vs. Brenton Strange. This might be the most asked question I’ve gotten this week. Yet, Mike Gesicki is available in 96% of leagues and might have the biggest ceiling of them all.
Isaiah Likely vs. Brenton Strange vs. Mike Gesicki: Who has the strongest Week 15 Fantasy Football outlook?
Let’s dive into the startability of each and determine the best Week 15 Fantasy Football TE Streamer.
Start or Sit Brenton Strange? Week 15 Fantasy Outlook
Brenton Strange is among the most-asked about tight ends in Week 15 fantasy football. He’s the most rostered of this bunch (65% owned), but fantasy owners are understandably skeptical after a 4 point dud & TE21 finish in Week 14.
Strange returned from injury in Week 12, and made an immediate impact. He ran 69% of the routes, logged an 18% target share, and ultimately racked up 5 catches for 93 yards. His 14.3 PPR FPs ranked as the TE4 on the week, and Strange’s 3.57 Yards per Route Run (YPRR) showcased elite efficiency.
Strange followed this up with a season-high 81% route share in Week 13. He wasn’t quite as efficient, but his 1.95 YPRR was still solid and Strange also found the end zone. His 13.5 PPR FPs ranked as the TE7, and Strange was the TE2 across those two weeks. He looked like a surefire Top-7 TE Streamer for the rest of 2025.
Then came the flop. With Brian Thomas back in the lineup, Strange still managed a healthy 20% target share. Unfortunately, he hauled in just 3 of his six looks for 27 scoreless yards, ranking as the TE21 on the week. On the positive front, Strange logged 2 red zone targets, but his YPRR dropped drastically to just 1.29.
Where does that leave Brenton Strange for Week 15 Fantasy Football?
On the positive, Strange will face a Jets defense that has surrendered the 6th most TDs to the tight end position. However, New York has allowed just the 17th in fantasy points allowed to TEs. Darren Waller posted just one catch against them last week, while the Jets also held Harold Fannin, Hunter Henry, and Mark Andrews under 7 FPs within their last six games.
In fact, since Week 5, the Jets have only allowed one TE to score over 10 FPs. That was the newly unstoppable Kyle Pitts in Week 13. According to FantasyLife, the Jets rank No.31 in defensive pass DVOA against TEs (21.2%). This sounds promising, but the on-field results haven’t been there.
Ultimately, with Brian Thomas back and Parker Washington also possibly returning, the Jaguars feature a crowded pie. They also should absolutely SMASH the Jets (9.5 point favorites), and might just run the rock all game.
In fact, since Week 8, no team has used the RB more than the Jags:
The Jaguars have won three of their last four games by 10+ points. In those games, Lawrence has thrown just 22, 27, and 30 times. In fact, in the most drastic blowout versus the Chargers, the Jags ran it 47 times compared to 22 attempts. I could see a similarly tilted affair vs. the Jets.
Despite the solid usage peripherals and decent TD odds, I expect the passing pie to be too small and the table to be too crowded, making Strange is a SIT for me in Week 15 Fantasy Football, at least compared to the other streaming TE options.
Strange is my TE13 in my Week 15 Fantasy Football Rankings, -3 spots below ECR.
Start or Sit Isaiah Likely? Week 15 Fantasy Outlook
Isaiah Likely is on a bit of a heater entering Week 15 Fantasy Football.
Likely has scored exactly 12.5 PPR FPs and finished as the TE10 in back-to-back weeks. While this is solid, a few key swings robbed him of legitimate Top-3 finishes.
On Thanksgiving Day, Likely hauled in 5-of-6 targets of 95 yards. More importantly, Likely was a handful of feet away from a TD, but unfortunately fumbled the rock right before crossing the goalline. He would’ve scored 20.5 FPs and ranked as the TE4 on the week.
Fast-forward to Week 14, and Likely again hits 6 targets, which he turned into 4 catches, 25 yards, and 1 TD. He was again involved with some controversy at the stripe, as Likely was robbed of what looked like a clear TD:
Had this TD stood, Likely would’ve finished as a Top-3 TE for Week 14.
Ultimately, Likely isn’t in consideration just because of his solid-but-near–massive last two weeks. Likely is so popular because he’s facing the Bengals.
Cincinnati is allowing the most FPs to TEs (20.38 HALF PPR!) by a whopping 7 more points than the next-closest Commanders (13.49). In schedule-adjusted fantasy points allowed, the Bengals afford opponents a whopping +9.2 more FPs than their season long average.
This is legitimately the most FPs allowed and largest boost to TE scoring we’ve seen in over a decade. In fact, via the School of Scott Podcast, it’s 50% worse than the next closest in the last 10 years! They have allowed 10+ FPs to a TE in every 11-of-14 games played this year. This includes 25.6 FPs to Pat Freiermuth, 26.8 FPs to Colston Loveland, and 21 FPs to Hunter Henry in recent weeks.
As such, Likely isn’t just in TE consideration. He’s a high-upside Flex Play too.
Indeed, trusting a part-time TE that’s trapped in a rotation can be nerve-wrecking, and does create a lower floor than we’d like. Likely has averaged just 57% of the routes this season, including recent route shares of 45%, 58%, and 52% over the past 3 weeks.
Comparatively, Mark Andrews is averaging 70% route share for the season, and is fresh off a season-high 86% of the routes in Week 14. Likely, however, has been far more efficient. He has tied or beat Andrews in target share for 3 straight weeks. Despite his massive route-share, Andrews scored just 1.9 FPs and commanded a target on just 6% of his routes. He’s dust.
Consequently, since Lamar’s return in Week 9, Likely has outperformed Andrews on nearly the same volume. Likely has amassed 26 targets & 222 yards, while Andrews has seen 27 targets, 5 carries, and 174 yards.
Indeed, the up-and-down production and usage creates real risk to Likely in Week 15. However, the matchup versus the Bengals raises the ceiling so high that it can’t be ignored.
As such, Likely is a near Must-Start in my Week 15 Fantasy Football Rankings. He is my TE10, +4 ECR and I have Likely two spots ahead of Andrews, my TE12 (-5 ECR). Even if I have your TE ranked ahead Likely, the Ravens’ seam-stretcher should be in flex consideration this week. Likely is massively under-owned at just 16% rostered.
Start or Sit Mike Gesicki? Week 15 Fantasy Outlook
Likely and Strange are firmly on just about every fantasy radar. Yet, if one TE is slipping past most Week 15 Fantasy Football watch lists, it’d be Bengals TE Mike Gesicki.
Gesicki is just 4% rostered in fantasy football, but could erupt in Week 15 Fantasy Football. That’s largely because Tee Higgins has been ruled out with a concussion.
In 5 games without Tee last year, Gesicki essentially became the clear-cut WR2. He averaged 7.2 targets, 5.2 catches, 62.4 yards, .4 TDs and 13.84 PPR FPs per game without Higgins.
This would’ve been a season-long pace of 122 (!) targets, 88 receptions, 1061 yards, and 7 TDs. His 235 FPs at this pace would’ve ranked as the TE4, behind only Brock Bowers, Trey McBride, and George Kittle:
If interested in the specific game-logs without Tee, Gesicki posted:
- Week 1: 4 tgts, 3 rec, 18 yards, 4.8 FPs, TE21, ew
- Week 2: 9 tgts, 7 rec, 91 yards, 16.1 FPs, TE5
- Week 8: 8 tgts, 7 rec, 73 yds, 1 fumble, 12.3 FPs, TE15
- Week 9: 6 tgts, 5 rec, 100 yds, 2 TDs, 27 FPs, TE1
- Week 10: 9 tgts, 4 rec, 30 yds, 7 FPs, TE22
This equated to over 30% targets per route run!
Granted, this was all last year; Gesicki’s impressive production minus Higgins is no guarantee to carry-over into the 2025 season. Gesicki is also only averaging a 45% route share and 11% target share this year.
Yet, Gesicki enters Week 15 with some momentous wind behind his sails. He is coming off his best game of the season, with 6 targets, 6 receptions, 86 yards, 1 TD — good for 20.6 FPs, TE2 for the week.
The Week 15 matchup isn’t great — the Ravens allow the 7th fewest points to the TE position this season. They haven’t allowed a TE to hit 10+ FPs in seven straight weeks, and that’s happened just twice all year against this defense.
Yet, Gesicki just smashed a Bills team that has otherwise surrendered the fewest points to TEs all year. The only other TE to hit 10+ FPs vs. the Bills all year was Travis Kelce, and he barely crossed the threshold at 10.7 FPs.
As such, my gut tells me Gesicki has a day on Sunday with Tee out. I’m expecting a season-high in routes and targets for Gesicki in a game that has massive shoot-out potential.
The Bengals have put up 34, 34, and 38 total points in their last three matchups vs. Baltimore. Gesicki could absolutely be part of the scoring should those points’ fests continue.
Gesicki ranks as my TE11 (+9 ECR) in my Week 15 Fantasy Football Rankings. I do slightly prefer Isaiah Likely, but if you’re desperate for a TE streamer, or nervous about Brenton Strange, Gesicki can be your guy.
Wondering what Tight End to stream in Week 15 Fantasy Football? Tune in to The Wolf’s Week 15 Start Sit Show on Sunday, 12/14 @ 8am to get all your questions answered!
