Fantasy Football 2021 Week 13 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 owned in fewer than 50 percent of leagues, with the roster percentages coming from Yahoo.com
Quarterbacks
Jimmy Garoppolo, 49ers (34% Rostered): Garoppolo wasn’t very helpful to fantasy managers on Sunday, snapping a three-game streak with two touchdown passes, but his upcoming slate is still promising. The first two are on the road, at Seattle and at Cincinnati, before a home game vs. Atlanta, but all three are pretty soft matchups. The injury to Deebo Samuel will affect my excitement level for his prospects, but even without Deebo he will still have George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk, as well as a strong running game to play off of. Jimmy G hasn’t had a ceiling game all season, so if you have been streaming all year he remains playable.
Tua Tagovailoa, Dolphins (33% Rostered): Unlike Jimmy G, we have seen a ceiling game from Tua, when he threw for 291 yards and four touchdowns against the Falcons in Week 7. He’s shown a very low floor as well, but things are looking up for him despite the persistent rumors of Deshaun Watson coming. Tua has completed more than 80% of his passes in back-to-back games, has a super soft slate coming up – vs. Giants, vs. Jets, at New Orleans – and has the mobility to make plays on the ground. It’s hard to imagine these defenses forcing a total dud out of him, so while a Top 5 outcome isn’t likely in the cards, a week-losing effort also is probably not happening either.
Running Backs
Chuba Hubbard, Panthers (40% Rostered): Hubbard will be the top add for everyone after Christian McCaffery was placed on IR, but beware. While Hubbard did well in CMC’s absence previously, Cam Newton is going to vulture a lot of his touchdown opportunities, and the upcoming slate includes a road game vs. Buffalo and a home game vs. Tampa Bay after his Week 13 matchup with Atlanta. Desperate managers may splurge anyway to feast on the Atlanta matchup, but this might be a long-term landmine.
Ameer Abdullah, Panthers (1% Rostered): Abdullah could sneakily be the add of the week. Abdullah saw 49% of snaps vs. Miami, and six targets in the receiving game. Hubbard will see the bulk of the carries, but Abdullah looks like he’ll be the passing downs guy, and those same negative matchups for Hubbard could lead to Abdullah seeing the field more. There’s more risk with Abdullah, but he’s going to cost less.
Matt Breida, Bills (23% Rostered): Breida has an ugly upcoming slate, and he hasn’t set the world on fire since entering the Bills’ RB rotation, but he’s easily been the most explosive of their three options of late. Breida’s sudden emergence relegated Zack Moss to healthy scratch status this past week, and he has a much better chance of breaking off big runs than Devin Singletary. Opportunity is an issue to this point, and he remains more of a desperation play than anything, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Breida was an RB2 by the time fantasy playoffs begin.
Ty Johnson, Jets (41% Rostered): Johnson didn’t see the snap percentage (34%) anyone hoped for this week with Michael Carter out, and he was out-touched by both Tevin Coleman and Austin Walter. Ouch. Johnson is a pure desperation play at this point, but he’s still the best receiving option on the team, and most weeks the Jets won’t have the luxury of playing in a close-ish game where they can pound the rock and rotate RBs in and out. He’s still the back I’d want from this team, but ideally you don’t have to play any of them.
Tevin Coleman, Jets (18% Rostered): Coleman saw 45% of the snaps in Carter’s absence, logging 16 carries for 67 yards and three targets, which turned into two receptions for three yards. Coleman is a plodder at this point, but if he’s going to see this type of volume, he is playable as a FLEX in deep leagues because there is some touchdown upside there. The usage of Walter was perplexing; until Sunday, I genuinely had never heard of him, and he scored a short yardage touchdown. Coleman’s probably got a non-zero floor in this offense, but his ceiling is incredibly low.
Ronald Jones, Buccaneers (19% Rostered): Jones has now scored in back-to-back games. While I absolutely don’t recommend chasing those points – he’s still seen fewer than 10 carries in all but one game this year – Jones has looked very explosive in his limited work. Jones is a very good pure rusher who is underutilized because Leonard Fournette has played extremely well. Fournette managers should make it their business to add Jones, because a Fournette injury will open up high-end ground production for Jones, and touchdown opportunity.
Sony Michel, Rams (27% Rostered): Darrell Henderson managers should take heed of what occurred in the Vikings-49ers game with Dalvin Cook going down. That should send a shiver down the spine of any Henderson manager who hasn’t already picked up Michel. Don’t be the guy that has to blow his entire FAAB budget on the backup on waivers. Get ahead of it, and grab him now.
Wide Receivers
Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Packers (26% Rostered): Valdes-Scantling is always a threat to submarine your entire week, but he’s seen 19 targets in two weeks, and seems settled in as the preferred No. 2 for Aaron Rodgers. That doesn’t make a guy a must-play anymore, but MVS is certainly someone you can play if he’s getting that kind of volume. He has big play potential and an amazing QB, but you must be wary that he’s fairly reliant on the big play to have an impact. He should still be treated as an emergency FLEX.
Laviska Shenault, Jaguars (42% Rostered): As expected, Shenault’s targets were back up with Jamal Agnew out of the picture. Shenault has the ability to break off big plays, and he’s an okay floor play if his target share remains in this range. Unfortunately, the Jaguars’ offense is just a dumpster fire that caps his ceiling. I would avoid playing him if I could, but at this point he seems somewhat safe if you’re just looking for someone to not goose you.
Kendrick Bourne, Patriots (23% Rostered): Bourne is quietly establishing himself as the primary target for the Patriots, and while this passing offense isn’t prolific, it is efficient. Bourne has caught four or more passes in three straight games, and four of his last five, hauling in three touchdowns in the past three weeks. He’s not the most targeted pass-catcher – that would be Jakobi Meyers – but he is seeing the highest-value targets. He’s probably got a lower ceiling than Valdes-Scantling or Shenault in a given week, but he may be safer. One should note, however, that he has two dates with Buffalo in the next three weeks.
Van Jefferson, Rams (48% Rostered): Jefferson was presumed dead when Odell Beckham arrived, but the immediate loss of Robert Woods has not only helped Jefferson stay relevant, it cemented him as a cog in the offense. With Beckham integrated, Jefferson is obviously the fourth fiddle behind Cooper Kupp, Darrell Henderson, and Beckham. But in this offense, that’s still a usable fantasy option. He has seen 16 targets since OBJ’s arrival, and scored on a bomb on Sunday. He’s not going to provide a lot of receptions all the time, but he can have big games like Valdes-Scantling, and there will be less competition for him.
Kadarius Toney, Giants (47% Rostered): Toney expectations have to be tempered, as the Giants’ pass attack is just painfully impotent. He also missed last week with an injury, so this is all moot if he’s not back on the field. But Toney’s talent is undeniable, and even in a garbage showing vs. Tampa Bay in Week 11 he saw 12 targets. Toney, when healthy, is the top target in this offense and he can do a lot with it if they find him with catchable opportunities. Stash him now, because with Jason Garrett gone, it’s possible he becomes a real factor in playoff lineups despite his quarterback.
Tight Ends
David Njoku, Browns (7% Rostered): If you need immediate help, I’m sorry, it is not widely available. But the roster percentages on the TEs means that almost everyone has rostered a playable option. Njoku is actually on bye in Week 13, so he’ll be free, but in Week 14 he gets a rematch with the Ravens, the NFL’s worst defense vs. TEs and on whom Njoku scored on Monday night.