Fantasy Football: Dynasty Waiver Wire Stashes (Week 12)

Peter Howard looks for dynasty league waiver wire stashes for Week 12.

This piece is part of our article program that features quality content from experts exclusively at FantasyPros. For more insight from this author, head to Dynasty League Football.

Welcome back to the Dynasty Waiver Wire! We are looking for under-owned or undervalued players in dynasty. I’m listing players you won’t hear about in most waiver wire columns until much later. As often happens when trying to predict the future, I get it wrong sometimes.

So I also try to give a brief but honestly description of the players potential range of outcomes. You can decide on whether they have enough to make them worth holding in your league, or if it’s just someone to put on your watch list.

I list every column in order of preference, but they are not ranked this way through the weeks. So, be sure to check out previous editions for other ideas. And now, here is the Week 12 Dynasty Waiver Wire.

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Ryan Grant (WR – WAS)
Ryan Grant caught all three of his targets for 59 yards and a touchdown in Week 11, so he is on the fringe of eligibility for the D.W.W. However, at 26 years old, some might be too ready to write him off in dynasty because he hasn’t been overly fantasy relevant before now. This is a mistake.

The main thing to recognize about Grant is that he is a perennial complementary receiver. I don’t think he will ever be a dominant player in the NFL. However, as Washington has found, he is a very useful real-life player who should consistently garner targets and snaps.

In good matchups and when situations occur that free up additional targets, he will continue to see added production. Even in this week in a game where Josh Doctson (who’s 25) caught four receptions for 81 yards, the loss of Chris Thompson saw Grant’s usage rise enough for him to be relevant. PlayerProfiler.com shows us that he was a highly dominant player at Tulane (90th percentile College Dominator) and has a 91st percentile Agility score which matches well with his 63rd percentile Catch Radius. His numbers are not a fluke, he is a good player with all the raw tools and experience he needs to take advantage of targets when he gets them.

Maxx Williams (TE – BAL)
So, here’s a hot take; Maxx Williams will not always be as irrelevant to fantasy as he is right now. At 23 years old, he probably will be irrelevant for a while to come. Still, I’m predicting that he has been written off too early in dynasty.

I can’t explain his early usage or his lack of production in the few spots he has seen opportunity. But I do know that we give up on tight ends too early in fantasy. In my offseason study at the position, I found that players who post top-five finishes at the position don’t do so until they are at least 26 years old. The few who do? They are named Rob Gronkowski, Jimmy Graham, and Tony Gonzalez.

To expect Maxx Williams (or Eric Ebron – 24 years old) to have done much more at this early stage of their careers is akin to giving up on Corey Davis already because he hasn’t become Odell Beckham yet. This is not a winning strategy in dynasty. While I think he is a difficult stash for most leagues, anyone who needs a tight end or plays in a tight end premium league should consider it. He posted a 99th percentile college dominator at Minnesota before being drafted in the second round and his Best Comparable Player – based on his metrics and athleticism – on PlayerProfiler.com is Zach Ertz (who turned 27 this year.)

Lance Dunbar (RB – LAR)
It’s time to admit that “pass catching running back” isn’t a sideshow in the NFL. “Satellite back” or whatever you want to call it, is a prominent feature of successful NFL offenses and that means that they should be prominent features of out dynasty rosters. These are not “less talented” or “limited players” players, they are players with a unique skill set.

The frequency of players who can incorporate both roles successfully, and sustainably, in one player are few and far between. So don’t think of Chirs Thompson, Theo Riddick and (maybe) Matt Breida as lesser running backs but as some of the best players at this position. Lance Dunbar looked primed to become one of those players in 2015 when he posted 52 PPR fantasy points in four weeks.

Unfortunately, he suffered an ACL tear that put him out for eight to 10 months. This injury history is a concern especially since he suffered a PCL tear in Week 14 of 2013. Further muddying his value is that Todd Gurley is one of those few running backs who embodies both roles, a true bell-cow back. Still, if the position is deep enough in a dynasty league, I’m willing to fill my last roster spot with someone who has already shown some ability to perform given opportunity and health.

Ryan Switzer (WR – DAL)
Ryan Switzer has managed two targets for two receptions and nine yards in his rookie season so far. He has also found a role on special teams, and in Week 10 he managed 62 combined return yards. He was a hype candidate in social media after being drafted in the fourth round by the Cowboys this year and for good reason.

He had a 93rd percentile Agility score which is impressive and his 34th percentile College Dominator at North Carolina is good enough to have interest in the 23-year-old rookie. However, he was overhyped in the offseason if for no other reason then he was drafted by a team who has one of the best inside receivers, Cole Beasley, in the NFL. Beasley’s not going anywhere for the time being. So, Switzer’s upside is extremely limited for the foreseeable future.

However, now that some of the hype has died down, it’s worth seeing if he has made it back to the waiver wire. He’s not a strong pickup, but if you have space and the inclination, he could be a someone with Ryan Grant-sized upside for fantasy in the future.

Isaiah Ford (WR – MIA)
I’ve mentioned Isaiah Ford as an “honorable mention” before but wanted to expand on him a little this week as none contending teams start to think more about the future. There’s also a history of Miami burying good receivers on their depth chart to waste away until they break free. They drafted Leonte Carroo (another member of the D.W.W) in 2016 behind Jarvis Landry and DeVante Parker. They also added to their fantasy-blocking when they added Ford in the seventh round of this year’s draft (not to mention the years Rishard Matthews spent wasting away in Miami without opportunity).

Ford is a player who fits a mold I like. Not very athletic, but highly productive in college. He posted a 68th College Dominator at Virginia Tech and a 96th percentile Breakout age. He was not only dominant in college but – more importantly – he was dominant at a very young age.

His athletic measurables are not as bad as other receivers I’ve mentioned in this mold either. Ford, at least, has a 65th percentile Burst and a 40th percentile Agility score. Still, he’s not someone you have to pick up in most leagues. It will likely take years for Ford to get targets in an NFL game.

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