Waiver Wire Wonders: Week 13
It’s hard to fathom, but most fantasy playoffs are just a week away. How is that possible?! It feels like the season just started a few weeks ago. Nevertheless, it’s time to start preparing for your playoff run. Bye weeks are no longer a factor, so you can dump all of the bye week fill-ins that are on your bench and start making some meaningful stashes. It’s important to have players on your bench such as a solid backup QB, handcuffs for your stud RB’s, some depth receivers, a backup tight end and maybe even a stashed defense. Make sure you hop on the Fantasy Life App around 9 p.m. EST, as I will be answering all of your fantasy related questions on a sponsored post at the top of the feed!
Like previous weeks, I’d like to point out a few players that won’t be in this article that need to be owned at this point in the season, but are owned in less than (or close to) 50 percent of ESPN leagues. Those players include: QB Jameis Winston, QB Lamar Jackson, RB Josh Adams, RB Gus Edwards, WR DJ Moore and TE Cameron Brate.
Additionally, I still believe that stashing one of these D/STs owned in 50 percent or less of leagues to get ready for the fantasy playoffs would be quite beneficial as they have pretty generous schedules. In order from my favorite to least favorite, they include:
- Denver Broncos D/ST vs. SF, CLE and OAK
- Washington Redskins D/ST vs. NYG, JAX and TEN
- Tennessee Titans D/ST vs. JAX, NYG and WAS
- Detroit Lions D/ST vs. ARI, BUF and MIN
Finally, as I said, the bye weeks are over which means your bench spots will be much more important for handcuffs of your star players. These handcuffs need to be owned as they either have a decent amount of overall talent or they’ll be thrown into a great opportunity immediately due to resting players or potential injury to the starter ahead of them. At this point, handcuffs that NEED to be picked up and owned over the next few weeks include (in order of importance): Austin Ekeler, Malcolm Brown, Spencer Ware, Rod Smith, Gio Bernard, Latavius Murray and Chase Edmonds.
As always, I will be listing my favorite waiver acquisitions of the week. If you haven’t been here before, there will be multiple sections to my article with the main parts including: Standard League Adds (my favorite adds of the week and players owned in approximately 50 percent or less) and Deep League Adds (players owned in less than 25 percent of leagues). Furthermore, there will be mini-sections that include guys you can cut ties with (The Droppables) and players that you shouldn’t drop just yet (Don’t Stop Believin’). So, without further ado, let’s get to it.
Standard League Adds
RB Austin Ekeler — LAC (54.7 percent owned)
Chargers’ running back Ekeler is by far my top pick-up of the week. For those of you in free agent auction bidding, do you know how you’ve been budgeting your money and saving it up a bit? Well, it’s time to break the bank. This is why I’ve been trying to explain to everyone that you need to HANDCUFF YOUR STARS. Melvin Gordon sprained his MCL on Sunday and is likely out for at least a few weeks. Enter Ekeler. He registered five carries for 35 yards and a touchdown, while adding 10 receptions for 68 yards this past week. I expect him to be a borderline Top 10 back going forward. Ekeler is a PPR beast and needs to be owned in all formats. Break the entire bank for Ekeler. Use that No. 1 waiver claim. And for those of you that didn’t handcuff Gordon and probably won’t get Ekeler, that is a brutal loss and hopefully you’ll learn your lesson for next time.
RB Carlos Hyde — JAX (38.8 percent owned)
As of 4 p.m. EST, Leonard Fournette is still suspended for this week’s game against Indianapolis after throwing punches in last week’s game. His hearing is sometime today, so a final decision will be made. If Fournette’s suspension is upheld, Hyde and TJ Yeldon will step up in his place. I believe they’ll let Hyde handle early down duties and bring in Yeldon for third down work, as he’s the superior receiver. Indianapolis has been in the middle of the pack against the run, allowing 106 yards per game on the ground. Hyde had plenty of success as the early down back in Cleveland. Despite his underwhelming performances in Jacksonville, Hyde is a solid pickup this week as a volume play, especially in non-PPR formats.
QB Baker Mayfield — CLE (42.8 percent owned)
Sometimes you just wake up feeling dangerous. Baker seems like he woke up feeling dangerous in consecutive weeks as he has seven touchdowns and zero interceptions in his last two games. Mayfield has been on a tear lately and is starting to look a lot more comfortable with his young receiving core, evidenced by his 78.2 percent completion percentage the past two weeks. Baker also has a cupcake schedule in the fantasy playoffs facing the Panthers, Broncos and Bengals. The three teams are 22nd, 24th and 31st in passing yards against this season. If you’re starting him in the playoffs, you’ll wake up feeling pretty dangerous about your team.
WR Josh Reynolds — LAR (33.8 percent owned)
Well, Reynolds did not disappoint in the Rams’ first game without receiver Cooper Kupp. Two weeks ago, Reynolds caught six of eight targets for 80 yards and a touchdown. He was third on the team in targets behind the obvious Brandin Cooks and Robert Woods. Additionally, Reynolds drew three Red Zone targets in the game. It seems as if Jared Goff may look for him and Woods the most in the Red Zone the rest of the season. With Todd Gurley banged up a bit, and the possibility of the Rams resting guys like Gurley, Cooks and Woods just to stay healthy, Reynolds could be a major force in the fantasy playoffs.
WR Adam Humphries — TB (28.2 percent owned)
The Tampa Bay Bucs receivers sure are hard to figure out. Just when I thought Chris Godwin might emerge, Humphries continues to shine. Humphries has scored four times in his past four games. Even more remarkable is the fact that he has scored 15 or more points in PPR leagues in three of his last four games. Winston has clearly favored him and Mike Evans more than others, such as DeSean Jackson. I’ll tell you this, I’m rolling with Humphries until his hot streak busts and he’s worth owning the rest of the way as a bench sleeper.
Deep League Adds
RB Rex Burkhead — NE (8.8 percent owned)
Look, I have no idea what Burkhead’s usage is going to be the rest of the year. Can you blame me? New England running backs are probably harder to figure out than any backfield in the league. I will say that I expect Sony Michel to be the guy going forward with James White and Burkhead acting as the passing/third down backs. His snaps may be limited and there’s a good shot he doesn’t have much fantasy relevance. However, he had eight touchdowns in 10 games just a season ago and with Dink-‘N-Dunk Tom Brady at quarterback, he could have some deeper league value. I think Burkhead is worth a bench stash at this point.
TE Gerald Everett — LAR (5.9 percent owned)
Another Ram I expected to step up in Kupp’s absence was Gerald Everett. Like Reynolds, he didn’t disappoint. Despite seeing just a few targets, Everett had three receptions for 49 yards and two touchdowns against Kansas City two weeks ago. Being in such an explosive offense and being a big Red Zone threat are two major advantages Everett has on a lot of tight ends. I’ve said it all year, but the tight end position is getting thinner and thinner each week. Here’s a short list of tight ends done for the season: Delanie Walker, Tyler Eifert, OJ Howard, Jeff Heuerman, Jack Doyle, Will Dissly and Hunter Henry. I mean sheesh…Everett needs to be added in most formats.
WR Mike Williams — LAC (21.3 percent owned)
Excuse me as I use one of Chris Collinsworth’s favorite phrases, but here’s a guy…who just has a knack for finding the end zone. Amid Philip Rivers near perfect day, Williams recorded four receptions for just 25 yards, but found the end zone twice. Williams now has four touchdowns in the past five games. Even more unbelievable is the fact that Williams has just seven catches in the last five games. That’s an asinine touchdown to catch ratio. Williams should continue to see Red Zone looks but understand that he will likely be touchdown dependent going forward.
WR Antonio Callaway — CLE (7.8 percent owned)
I’ve been a big Callaway fan most of the season, but he just hasn’t busted out the way I thought he would once Josh Gordon left. However, Callaway has shown promise as of late. This past week, he recorded four receptions for 62 yards and a touchdown. Additionally, Callaway has at least 50 yards or a touchdown in three of his past four games. We’ve seen Mayfield really grow his game over the past few weeks and as a result, Callaway has gotten better and better. I’d gladly stash Callaway on my bench for my playoff run.
TE Matt LaCosse — DEN (0.1 percent owned)
Another tight end bites the dust. Just as Jeff Heuerman was beginning to find fantasy relevance, he is done for the season with broken ribs and a collapsed lung. Despite only receiving four targets, LaCosse was actually second on the team in that category against Pittsburgh on Sunday. He finished the day with three receptions for 34 yards and a touchdown. There’s no telling if how effective LaCosse will be, but with how scarce the tight end position is, he’s at least worth a speculative add in deeper leagues.
The Droppables
QB Matt Stafford: He continues to have a very low ceiling and now Marvin Jones is out for the year? Welcome to Dumpsville Matt Stafford.
RB Ito Smith: After multiple duds in a row, unless you own Tevin Coleman, I’m fine with cutting ties with Ito.
RB Royce Freeman: This is Philip Lindsay’s backfield and if you haven’t cut Freeman already, you should feel more than comfortable doing so at this point.
WR DeSean Jackson: His targets are decreasing every week and Winston doesn’t like to throw the deep ball to him the way that Fitzpatrick does.
WR John Brown: If Lamar is starting at QB the rest of the year, there’s not a single receiver worth owning in Baltimore. It’ll be a super run heavy offense.
Don’t Stop Believin’
RB Dion Lewis: Despite the oddly high usage of Derrick Henry this week, I’m still in on Lewis. He’s still a solid PPR back and should be a decent option the rest of the way.
RB James White: He was a PPR stud a few weeks ago. His value has decreased with Michel back in the mix but he should still have flex appeal. I’m not overly worried about Burkhead.
WR Allen Robinson: Possibly one of the most frustrating guys to own this season. However, he’s capable of putting up big numbers on any given day. He’s more likely to put up dud numbers, but his potential alone makes him rosterable.
WR Jarvis Landry: While his targets and receptions are down lately, you have to think Baker eventually starts to look his way a lot more. He’s still their No. 1 receiver by far.
TE Jimmy Graham: You do understand how thin the tight end position is now, right? Broken finger, low targets, it doesn’t matter. He still has that massive potential with Aaron Rodgers at QB so you have to hold onto him.
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