Derrick Henry or RJ Harvey: Who should I start in fantasy football? (Week 15, 2025 season)

Welcome to the first week of the playoffs! To win your matchup and advance to the semifinals, you may have to choose between Derrick Henry or RJ Harvey. Which player would Basement Brewed Fantasy Football recommend you start? Let's go through the details to find out.

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Game Scripts

The Ravens are entering this game as slim 2-point road favorites with a dominant projected team total of 27.5 points, the 4th highest among all 32 teams on the week 15 slate. The narrow spread suggests a balanced offensive approach while the dominant projected team total suggests endless touchdown opportunities. With a mouthwatering over/under of 52.5 points and both teams sporting top 9 projected team totals of 25+ points, Ravens @ Bengals looks like a possible shootout with no shortage of touchdowns and fantasy football fireworks. This is a game you want exposure to in your week 15 lineups.

The Broncos are entering this game as slim 2-point home underdogs with a subpar projected team total of 20.5 points, the 11th fewest among all 32 teams on the week 15 slate. The narrow spread suggests a balanced offensive approach while the subpar projected team total suggests limited touchdown opportunities.

Positional Matchups

The Bengals present the best possible RB matchup in all of fantasy football, hemorrhaging the most rushing yards (126.38 per game), 7th most catches, 3rd most receiving yards, 4th most touchdowns (1.31 per game), most PPR points per game (30.08) and 3rd most PPR points per touch (1.02). 18 RBs in 13 games have scored 11+ PPR points against the Bengals, including Derrick Henry in their previous matchup.

The Packers present a tough matchup for RBs, allowing the 8th most RB catches but otherwise holding them to the 14th fewest rushing yards, 9th fewest receiving yards, 7th fewest touchdowns, 9th fewest PPR points per game, and 4th fewest PPR points per touch (0.72). Just 10 RBs in 13 games have been able to reach 10+ PPR points against the Packers despite 17 of them handling 10+ touches against the Packers (13 of which handled 15+ touches).

Derrick Henry: Bottom Line

I expect Derrick Henry to finish, on average, around 15–19 PPR points on ~18–22 touches, ~85–105 scrimmage yards, 1–2 catches, and ~0–1 TD in the single best RB matchup in fantasy. He's a high end RB 2 with OVERALL RB 1 upside in this possible shootout and mouthwatering matchup.

RJ Harvey: Bottom Line

I expect RJ Harvey to finish, on average, around 14–18 PPR points on ~17–21 touches, ~75–95 scrimmage yards, 3–5 catches, and 0–1 touchdowns in a tough matchup where his growing passing-game role helps offset efficiency concerns. He's a high-end RB 2, albeit with some downside in this difficult matchup.

Should you start Derrick Henry or RJ Harvey?

It's time for the King to return. He's been disappointing in many matchups this season, but this doesn't look like one of them, and it wasn't two weeks ago, either. If you managed to get Derrick Henry into the playoffs, lock and load him into your lineups.

Week Winners + Discord = Winning your league in 2025

Portions of this article come directly from our Week Winner tool (formerly Heat Map), designed to help you make more confident decisions on your way to a championship. And our private Discord server features a specific Start/Sit channel where any questions you have can get answered in real time - plus our community of hardcore fantasy football players talking DFS, sports betting, dynasty, best ball, and more. From draft to trophy, we have you covered with every decision along the way.

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