Week 16 Fantasy Football: Waiver Wire Adds Guide
Wading through the waiver wire each week can be a daunting task, no matter what kind of league you’re in. Do you play in an eight-teamer with small starting lineups? Then there’s a plethora of options and it’s hard to figure out which to grab. Maybe you play in a 16-teamer with 12 starting spots; then it’s hard to figure out which flier is on the verge of breaking out.
Each week, I’ll help you find potential players to add off the waiver wire who will provide additional value to your fantasy football team. We’ll limit ourselves to players rostered in 40% of Yahoo! leagues or less, meaning these are players that should be available in most leagues.
Don’t force yourself to pick through the player pile alone; I can be your help in winning from the wire. Which players are must-adds, interesting options, and deeper sleepers for Week 16’s waivers?
Must-Adds
RB Ronald Jones II, TB (36% rostered)
At this point in the fantasy football season, it’s hard to find true three-down running backs. And, quite honestly, that’s not what Ronald Jones is for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. As we saw when Leonard Fournette suffered an injury in Week 15, Jones was the first up to spell him in the second half. That said, Ke’Shawn Vaughn — who has been in the Bucs’ doghouse seemingly since he was drafted — saw action in relief of Jones early on because, according to head coach Bruce Arians, Jones “got gassed really quick”. That’s not a stunning endorsement, and neither is Jones’ two targets only in the passing game. Still, with Fournette expected to miss at least one game, Jones is the best bet to earn a low-end RB2 fantasy workload going forward.
WR Amon-Ra St. Brown, DET (30% rostered)
WR Josh Reynolds, DET (10% rostered)
If you’ve followed this column, we’ve been banging the table for a Detroit Lions receiver for months: Josh Reynolds. In Week 15, Reynolds was great again, catching all six of his six targets for 68 yards and a touchdown, and operating a valuable deep threat role. What we hadn’t been banging the table for was mid-round rookie Amon-Ra St. Brown’s emergence as a target hog over the past three weeks. In that span of time, ARSB has earned 35 looks, caught 26 of them, and produced 249 receiving yards and two touchdowns. With dates against lackluster secondaries in Atlanta and Seattle (and then a daunting Week 18 tilt with Green Bay that at least guarantees lots of passing) to wrap up the year, St. Brown and Reynolds should both be rostered everywhere.
Interesting Options
RB Ameer Abdullah, CAR (8% rostered)
The receiving complement to Chuba Hubbard on the Carolina Panthers’ second-string, Ameer Abdullah has actually begun to work in as a rusher as well in the past few weeks. His real selling point still remains his passing game ability, with 14 targets over the Panthers past three games, but if he can maintain a vice-grip on that role and add more ground work, Abdullah will make for a serviceable FLEX or RB2 down the fantasy playoffs stretch. This past week he posted 13.5 half-PPR points, and there’s little reason to think he can’t do that again against the pass-funnel Tampa defense next week.
RB Dontrell Hilliard, TEN (37% rostered)
I’m not convinced that Dontrell Hilliard will get you to the fantasy promised land in his current iteration, but as a backup/change-of-pace back to D’Onta Foreman, he has been very successful in small doses. Over the past four games, Hilliard has averaged 8.5 rush attempts and earned 6.71 yards per attempt, while averaging five targets per game. He is worth rostering in deep leagues as a FLEX play for now, but he’s the most valuable as a handcuff in case of emergency for Foreman.
WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling, GB (40% rostered)
The Green Bay Packers have largely static roles for their wide receivers outside of Davante Adams, who is a do-everything star. Randall Cobb is the slot guy, Allen Lazard is the red-zone/jump-ball possession guy, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling is the dangerously fast deep threat. The difference for MVS of late is that the Packers have expanded his role from just seeing a few downfield targets per game to keep defenses honest, now including red-zone usage and more shots designed to succeed for him. MVS needs to be on every roster as a potentially explosive piece of one of the best passing attacks in the NFL.
WR Gabriel Davis, BUF (19% rostered)
You can think of Gabriel Davis as the Buffalo Bills’ MVS Lite. Davis has seen his own role expansion from speed threat to multi-use weapon since Emmanuel Sanders went down with an injury a few weeks ago. The routes run and first-team practice finally paid off in Week 15 with Davis securing five catches for 85 yards and two touchdowns. If Sanders continues to be injury managed for a playoff run, Davis should see plenty of work in the waning weeks of the regular season.
Deeper Sleepers and Streaming Options
QB Jimmy Garoppolo, SF at TEN (41% rostered)
QB Ben Roethlisberger, PIT at KC (25% rostered)
RB Ty Montgomery, NO (1% rostered)
RB Brandon Bolden, NE (16% rostered)
WR Rondale Moore, ARZ (27% rostered)
WR Tyler Johnson, TB (1% rostered)
TE Gerald Everett, SEA vs. CHI (37% rostered)
TE C.J. Uzomah, CIN vs. BAL (16% rostered)
