Who Should I Start? Philip Rivers or Sam Darnold

Monday, December 15, 2:46 PM

44-year-old quarterback Philip Rivers will once again draw the start for the Indianapolis Colts when they face the 49ers in a Week 16 Monday Night contest, according to head coach Shane Steichen. Rivers' Week 15 start against the Seahawks was his first since 2020, and despite throwing for only 120 yards, the Colts were a last-minute field goal away from gutting out the win. The Colts won the coin toss on Sunday and elected to start on offense, making their gameplan clear from the jump: run the ball, run the clock, and limit Seattle's offensive opportunities. Rivers ultimately attempted 27 passes, with his 5.2-yard ADoT ranking 28th out of 30 starting quarterbacks through Sunday and his 4.4 yards per attempt below everyone but Kenny Pickett for the week. With Indianapolis still mathematically alive for an AFC playoff spot, it seems unlikely they will deviate from that plan on Monday night, severely hurting the upside of all Colts pass catchers while leaving Jonathan Taylor in line for another huge-volume, likely low-efficiency outing.

Friday, December 12, 5:02 PM

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold is a potential streaming option in Week 15 against the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts have been middle-of-the-road against opposing quarterbacks in fantasy this season. Additionally, when Darnold is firing on all cylinders, he is virtually matchup-proof. Darnold should have no issues finding his top wide receivers in this game. If he keeps the turnovers down, Darnold has a great chance to hover around 250 passing yards and a pair of touchdowns. Darnold had faltered over the last handful of weeks before getting back on track in the second half of Week 14 against the Falcons. Perhaps he can carry that momentum into this week. Darnold is not a must-start by any means, but if you have a tough quarterback situation, you could do a lot worse than Darnold in Week 1 of the fantasy playoffs.