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Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 13

Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 13

Week 12 served up several huge box scores, with the likes of Keenan Allen, Julio Jones, Alvin Kamara, Antonio Brown, and Robby Anderson making all who rostered them extremely thankful. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, though, as we saw Amari Cooper get concussed and suffer an ankle injury on the same play. Doug Martin also left his game with a concussion, while Damien Williams was carted off with a shoulder injury and will miss some time. Matthew Stafford‘s ankle likely isn’t 100 percent after he got rolled up on, but he’s played through worse.

And what would Thanksgiving weekend be without a fight?! I would’ve never sat Michael Crabtree and Aqib Talib anywhere near each other at my table, I’ll tell you that much. Both will miss two games as of now, which will have an immediate fantasy impact. And again, all handcuff RBs should be a focus with the bye weeks gone.

As usual, ownership levels discussed here are taken from Yahoo leagues.

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Priority Pickups – <30% Owned

Mike Davis (SEA – RB) 1% owned (20% FAAB)
Davis would be on far more rosters if he hadn’t injured his groin in Week 11, but luckily, all Eddie Lacy did in Week 12 was show why Davis should be starting. Thomas Rawls looks to be out of chances with Pete Carroll, as the coach said Davis should be ready to roll in Week 13 against the Eagles. That’s not a fun matchup, but Seattle got Davis involved in the passing game before he got hurt (two catches for 41 yards), giving him some gamescript-proof potential.

J.D. McKissic (31% owned) once again looked good in the passing game, garnering seven targets and collecting 46 total yards on eight total touches, but his upside remains limited compared to Davis.

Zay Jones (BUF – WR) 14% owned (12% FAAB)
Jones thrived on volume against Kansas City on Sunday, catching just three of his 10 targets for 33 yards and a touchdown to continue his hot streak. He has averaged eight targets per game over his last three contests and is the clear No. 1 receiver for Tyrod Taylor with Kelvin Benjamin on the shelf with a torn meniscus and Jordan Matthews barely registering as a shadow. LeSean McCoy will always be Buffalo’s go-to man, but Zay enters matchups against New England, Indianapolis, and Miami with some real momentum and should be owned in most 12-team formats.

Dede Westbrook (JAC – WR) 25% owned (12% FAAB)
Allen Hurns didn’t participate in any practices last week and missed Week 12, Marqise Lee was shut down by Patrick Peterson, and Keelan Cole is, well, Keelan Cole. This left Westbrook as Jacksonville’s best passing option, as he saw 10 targets in the 27-24 defeat. He wasn’t gaining huge chunks — he’d settle for 41 yards on six catches — but the usage is encouraging heading into a date with the Colts’ porous secondary that will now be missing its lone bright spot in Rashaan Melvin. His entire schedule is glorious, really, with games against Seattle, Houston, San Francisco, and Tennessee following this week. Blake Bortles is his only limit, though that’s a sizeable one. Consider him a WR4 for now.

Jacquizz Rodgers (TB – RB) 7% owned (12% FAAB)
Doug Martin left Week 12’s game to be evaluated for a concussion and that thrust Rodgers into the majority of touches in Tampa’s backfield. The Bucs were playing from behind against Atlanta — they’ll likely be playing from behind against most opponents — so Jacquizz only tallied eight carries for 31 yards. He’d add a six-yard reception before the final whistle, though many of you are likely eyeing Peyton Barber (1% owned) thanks to his pair of plodding touchdowns. Following goal-line carries is solid, but Barber has averaged less than three yards per carry on his 30 rushes this year and doesn’t offer more than a Mike Tolbert-esque profile as a ceiling right now.

Rod Smith (DAL – RB) 14% owned (10% FAAB in PPR)
One of the few promising fantasy bullet points coming out of Dallas in the last three weeks is that Smith’s versatility has rewarded him with 102 combined snaps compared to Alfred Morris‘ 67. The Cowboys haven’t topped 10 points in a single game over that span and the matchups don’t get much easier down the road, but matchups against offenses such as Washington, Oakland and Seattle should yield lots of work for Smith thanks to a Sean Lee-less defense that is getting exhausted and embarrassed in the second half.

Smith will be more TD-dependent than you’d like, but Washington did rank 26th against receiving RBs through Week 11 per FootballOutsiders’ DVOA metric. There’s some hope for a repeat in the end zone!

Seth Roberts (OAK – WR) 0% owned (10% FAAB in PPR)
In a game that yielded early exits for Michael Crabtree (fighting) and Amari Cooper (head, ankle), it was Roberts who led all Raider WRs by playing on 90 percent of their snaps against Denver. He would see only three targets for his troubles, catching two of them for a scoreless 26 yards, but the Raiders didn’t have to push it up thanks to an early lead and facing a struggling Denver offense. Roberts may not see much of a volume change compared to his fellow WRs (who we’ll touch on in a bit) but he’ll offer a familiar face out there for Derek Carr against a depleted Giants secondary in Week 13.

Marquise Goodwin (SF – WR) 15% owned (5% FAAB)
At this point, I have to assume that everyone who is going to add Goodwin has already done so. Well, I’m here to soften the hearts of you remaining 85 percent. Not just a speedster, Goodwin turned six targets into four catches for 78 yards on a day where no other San Francisco receiver topped four looks. Of course, Carlos Hyde saw 13 targets, but Jimmy Garoppolo could increase the verticality of this offense should he draw the start. You don’t need to love this offense, but perhaps those matchups against Houston and Tennessee in Weeks 14-15 will catch your eye. Then you can dump him for championship week before he faces Jacksonville.

Jimmy Garoppolo (SF – QB) 9% owned (5% FAAB)
Everyone’s going to ask about Jimmy G, so let’s talk Garoppolo. He entered the game very late after C.J. Beathard was forced out with an apparent leg injury and capped off a garbage-time drive by tossing a touchdown to Louis Murphy after buying some time with his mobility. With only speculation on Beathard’s status thus far, those in two-QB leagues can throw a few bucks at Garoppolo should he be under center for juicy matchups against Houston and Tennessee in Weeks 14-15. Week 13 against Chicago isn’t a great spot, but his athleticism in the pocket with an arm that can reach Marquise Goodwin deep could be enough for QB2 value.

Deep League Targets – <10% owned

Cordarrelle Patterson (OAK – WR) – 4% owned (5% FAAB)
We covered most of Oakland’s WR situation in the Roberts blurb, but Patterson is a playmaker that deserves his own shoutout. Patterson has actually drawn one more red-zone look (rush or target) than Roberts has on the year (only five to four, admittedly) and while Jared Cook remains the top target for Derek Carr at this point, Patterson’s potential is what led to a huge 54-yard gain on Sunday. This fueled his team-leading 72 receiving yards in Week 12, and anyone who plays in return-yard leagues will get some gravy on top of their turkey. The Giants don’t have anyone who can keep up with Cordarelle and have been regularly torched by big-play guys all season long (Goodwin’s 83-yard TD comes to mind) so this could be a sneaky add.

Ricky Seals-Jones (ARI – TE) 3% owned (5% FAAB)
So, it appears that Ifeanyi Momah‘s leg injury a few weeks ago has opened the door for a late-season spark. Seals-Jones had been inactive as the fourth-string TE behind Jermaine Gresham, Troy Niklas, and Momah, but has now combined for seven catches, 126 yards, and three touchdowns on 11 targets over the last two weeks despite logging just 25 total snaps. In other words, when he’s on the field Blaine Gabbert is throwing it to him nearly half of the time. Interestingly, Gresham netted an impressive seven targets in Week 10 before RSJ’s emergence, so Arizona may be realizing they’re allowed to use their tight ends.

While that half-target pace seems utterly unsustainable, there’s no reason that RSJ’s usage can’t continue to trend upward (15 percent in Week 11, 24 percent in Week 12,) though his Week 13 opponent (Rams) has only given up more than 50 yards to a TE twice this season. Overall, I’m buying in 12-team leagues at this point. TE isn’t a pretty landscape beyond the top plays anyhow.

Albert Wilson (KC – WR) 0% owned (5% FAAB)
After missing the majority of the previous three weeks with a hamstring injury, Wilson returned to action with his third touchdown of the season in Week 12 against Buffalo. Albert would only catch three-of-seven targets for 36 yards on top of the score, but it was encouraging to see him slide right back into his role as the third pass-catcher behind Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce. Now, Alex Smith and the Chiefs are struggling, but Wilson has big-play ability and we need to follow the targets when wading through deeper waters.

Josh Reynolds (LAR – WR) 1% owned (3% FAAB)
A fun Week 12 DFS “punt” play for a few tournament players, Reynolds stepped into the Rams’ three-receiver rotation with Robert Woods out. He would collect four of his six targets for 37 yards and a touchdown against the Saints, and could see a similar amount of looks in Week 13 against Arizona with Patrick Peterson presumably shadowing Sammy Watkins. Cooper Kupp and Todd Gurley will continue running the show, but Reynolds shouldn’t be an afterthought with the way Jared Goff and this offense is performing.

Kaelin Clay (CAR – WR) 0% owned (1% FAAB)
It likely went unnoticed, but Clay was the one to stand in as Carolina’s No. 2 receiver instead of Russell Shepard. Clay played on 77 percent of offensive snaps compared to Shepard’s 47 percent, though he didn’t convert any of his three targets. What he did do was take a punt to the house and rip off a 29-yard rush, as it seems Carolina is wise enough to get their playmakers on the field. This may not yield anything terribly fantasy-relevant, but he could be leaned on more in Week 13 against the Saints if their secondary gets healthy and can limit Devin Funchess.


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Nick Mariano is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Nick, check out his archive and follow him @NMariano53.

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