Fantasy Football Week 12 Waiver Wire Pickup Advice

Is your fantasy team in need of new blood? Each week I’ll bring to you the best pickups to make ahead of the waiver deadline. All the players I list will be rostered in fewer than 50 percent of leagues, with the roster percentages coming from Yahoo.com.

Quarterbacks

Jordan Love, Packers (46% Rostered): When it comes to QB waivers, the widely available QBs are atrocious. But the good news is that that means as a community, we have scooped up the good ones, and teams that got hit with injury probably have capable backups already rostered. Good job us! The one name that is mildly interesting is Love, who has shown his inexperience a lot this season, but has also had some impressive spike weeks. Love’s gone for over 280 yards in each of his last two games, and also thrown two touchdowns in those games. He has five multi-TD games on the season, and started the year with three each in his first two tilts. His WR corps is young, but improving. I wouldn’t be comfortable rolling with Love, but in comparison to the other names on waivers at under 50% roster share, his ceiling is way higher.

Running Backs

Zach Charbonnet, Seahawks (44% Rostered): Charbonnet will be the jewel of the waiver wire this week with Ken Walker’s injury likely to sideline him for at least the Thanksgiving game. Charbonnet will be on the field all game long, but he will be up against a newly rabid 49ers defense. The matchup stinks, and when Walker is back, Charbonnet will once again take a backseat. But if you need a RB and a W, blow the budget, because for at least one game (probably two or three), the Seatle backfield is his and that’s big volume.

Ty Chandler, Vikings (44% Rostered): Chandler has juice. He’s seen double-digit carries in back-to-back games and been pretty productive in both. Alexander Mattison is still the lead guy – Chandler only had 31% of the snaps on Sunday night – but Chandler is definitely the big play threat of this duo. His snap share limits the upside, and Josh Dobbs is a major threat to short yardage TD opportunity, so don’t go crazy with FAAB. The ceiling is capped for Chandler unless Mattison misses time. But Chandler does have clear standalone value.

Tyjae Spears, Titans (40% Rostered): Spears is a player I’ll keep beating the drum for, even though Tennessee’s offense looks worse every week. If he had the backfield to himself, Spears wouldn’t be as dominant a rusher as Derrick Henry, but he’d be more involved as a receiver and offer big play potential. As is, he remains fantasy’s most high-upside handcuff.

Kenneth Gainwell, Eagles (27% Rostered): The Eagles finally left D’Andre Swift on the field inside the 10-yard line and, shockingly, Swift scored! Gainwell is still seeing about 30% of snaps each week, an indicator that if Swift gets hurt, he’s still next man up behind the best run-blocking O-line in the NFL. Jalen Hurts swallows up most short yardage TD opportunities, but Gainwell is trusted near the goal line, and with this offensive line he would pile up yards if the job were his. Pure handcuff deal here, but he’d be an RB2 if he became “the guy.”

Wide Receivers

Noah Brown, Texans (49% Rostered): Brown missed this week with injury, and his status needs to be monitored, but what he was doing before missing Sunday was insane. He’d gone off for 150+ yards in back to back games with the ascendant C.J. Stroud just throwing all over every defense he faces. If he’s back, he’s playable for sure, even with Tank Dell and Nico Collins capable of eating up his targets. All three of these guys can eat it seems with Stroud playing the way he is, and, for what it’s worth, Brown is PFF’s highest-graded Texans receiver.

Tutu Atwell, Rams (22% Rostered): Atwell’s role has vanished from the Rams offense since Cooper Kupp returned, and they had some QB turmoil with Matthew Stafford injured. But now Kupp is nursing an ankle injury, and Puka Nacua has added a shoulder injury to his escalating list of nicked up body parts. Atwell isn’t as all-purpose as Kupp or Nacua, but he’s explosive as hell and he showed good production in those early games when he saw at least 8+ targets. If either Kupp or Nacua misses time, Atwell is a high-risk, high-reward FLEX play who can potentially get you 20.

Jayden Reed, Packers (36% Rostered): Reed’s rookie year has been a bit of a roller coaster, but that’s due to the ups and downs of Love rather than his own faults. Reed has gone for 80+ yards twice in his last four games and actually scored on a long running play on Sunday, his second TD in as many weeks. There’s no alpha these days in Green Bay, and while Romeo Doubs seems to be the preferred option in the red zone, Reed is the team’s most versatile pass-catcher.

Demario Douglas, Patriots (32% Rostered): Douglas is playing in one of the NFL’s most brutal offenses, but despite their popgun QB play and meager scoring, Douglas has scraped together useful games since Kendrick Bourne’s injury opened the door for regular playing time. The Patriots might be moving on from Mac Jones under center, which may or may not be a positive. The truth is Douglas has a clear role no matter who the QB is, and his floor and ceiling aren’t far apart. He’s not winning you any weeks, but he can serve as a trusty plug in when needed.

Tight Ends

Luke Musgrave, Packers (46% Rostered): Musgrave didn’t do much in Week 11, but he did see six targets, the second-highest target total of the year. His floor is low, and while in theory his ceiling is high, he only has one touchdown on the year. Still, he does get targeted on some deep shots, so connecting on just one of those makes him a Top 10 TE for the week. Using Musgrave is uncomfortable, but some managers really don’t have better options.

Jonnu Smith, Falcons (28% Rostered): Smith’s floor is zero. We know this. But he has also had a 100-yard, one-TD game this month, and four games with five or more receptions. That’s not that easy to find at this position, and it seems like Kyle Pitts is missing practice time dealing with a personal matter. You could do worse.

Michael Mayer, Raiders (11% Rostered): Mayer has seen five targets in back-to-back weeks, and scored a highlight-reel TD vs. the Jets in Week 10. He’s risky in a Raiders offense that’s very limited by Aidan O’Connell, their rookie QB, and we haven’t really seen much ceiling from him either, but he’s on the field all game long so his opportunities do have room to grow.

Isaiah Likely, Ravens (3% Rostered): Turning to Likely hasn’t been a fruitful proposition when Mark Andrews has been out in the past, but Andrews’ injury being long term means that Likely will be integrated. He’s maxed out at 42 yards and four targets this season, and in his career Likely has only seen more than five targets twice. If you’re the Andrews manager, adding Likely and immediately playing him is incredibly risky. If you can afford it, add Likely and a steadier hand for this week just to gauge how the Ravens mix him in. If the role grows significantly sans Andrews, then you might have yourself a very pleasant surprise.

Possibly Available

Romeo Doubs, WR, Packers (54% Rostered)

Josh Downs, WR, Colts (50% Rostered)

Drop Candidates – HODL or Say Goodbye?  

D’Onta Foreman, RB, Bears (61% Rostered): Say Goodbye. Foreman’s been great when he has the lead role, but he’s got an ankle injury now, and Khalil Herbert’s back. Without the volume, his floor’s too low to trust.

Darrell Henderson, RB, Rams (52% Rostered): Say Goodbye. Once Kyren Williams is activated, you don’t need to roster Henderson anymore.

Gabe Davis, WR, Bills (88% Rostered): Say Goodbye. The spike games are wonderful, but his floor has now plummeted to zero. He’s got two or fewer catches in three of his last four. You can’t take this level of risk at this point in the season.

Brandin Cooks, WR, Cowboys (55% Rostered): Say Goodbye. The Giants game was a mirage. Like Davis, his floor is too low for how rarely he blows up.