10 Fantasy Football Players to Drop or Hold (Week 12 Waiver Wire)

Let’s take a look at players our analysts consider on the fringe as you weigh your fantasy football waiver wire additions for the week. And here are all of our fantasy football waiver wire pickups for Week 12.

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Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Advice: Drop or Hold?

Drop Recommendations

Droppable

• J.K. Dobbins (RB – DEN)
• Calvin Ridley (WR – TEN)
• Keon Coleman (WR – BUF)
• Jonnu Smith (TE – PIT)

J.K. Dobbins was having a nice season, but he will reportedly undergo surgery to repair his foot injury and is expected to miss the rest of the season.

Calvin Ridley, who’s rostered in 58% of Yahoo leagues, returned from a hamstring injury on Sunday but broke his fibula and will miss the rest of the year.

Punctuality at team meetings is expected, Mr. Keon Coleman. The Bills’ second-year receiver was a healthy scratch in Week 11 for reportedly being late to a team meeting last Friday. Tardiness was an issue for Coleman last year, too, and he was benched for the first series of the Bills’ Week 5 game against the Patriots for unspecified disciplinary reasons. Coleman was having a disappointing season anyway, and with playing time now a concern going forward, there’s no reason to continue rostering him.

Jonnu Smith was held without a catch and was targeted only twice on Sunday against a Bengals defense that hemorrhages production to tight ends. Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith uses a confounding three or four tight end rotation. The consensus this summer was that Smith would be the top tight end in Pittsburgh. So far, he has 26 catches for 163 yards and two touchdowns. Smith is rostered in 18% of Yahoo leagues, and it’s hard to understand why.

Droppable With a Chance of Regret

• Garrett Wilson (WR – NYJ)
• Jayden Daniels (QB – WSH)
• Sam LaPorta (TE – DET)
• Jacory Croskey-Merritt (RB – WSH)
• Rachaad White (RB – TB)

We can group Garrett Wilson and Jayden Daniels under the heading of “players who could potentially return this season but play on teams with no incentive to bring them back.” Wilson is on injured reserve (IR) with a knee injury. He’ll be eligible to return in Week 15, but there’s no telling whether he’ll be ready to come back that early. The 2-8 Jets have little incentive to bring him back and could simply shut him down for the rest of the season.

Jayden Daniels dislocated his non-throwing elbow late in a November 2nd loss to the Seahawks. The injury didn’t require surgery, and the Commanders haven’t placed Daniels on IR. But with the Commanders now 3-8, will they bother risking the well-being of their franchise quarterback when they’re merely playing out the string?

Sam LaPorta has been placed on IR with a back injury and won’t be eligible to return until Week 15 — the start of the playoffs in most fantasy leagues. Going into Week 11, LaPorta had 40 catches for 489 yards and three touchdowns. He ranked TE7 in half-point PPR fantasy scoring and TE10 in fantasy points per game. That sort of production may or may not be worth waiting for, depending on your roster, the number of bench spots in your league and other variables.

Jacory Croskey-Merritt hasn’t lived up to the hype that was generated during late-summer BillMania. With 533 yards from scrimmage and four touchdowns in 10 games, Croskey-Merritt has been reasonably productive at times. But the Washington backfield is now tilting toward Chris Rodriguez Jr. In the Commanders’ Week 11 overtime loss to the Dolphins in Spain, Rodriguez played 30 of the Commanders’ 67 offensive snaps, Croskey-Merritt played 18 and Jeremy McNichols played 17. A 25.4% snap share in a struggling offense leaves little room for optimism. With the Commanders going on bye in Week 12, it’s easy to justify dropping Croskey-Merritt.

Rachaad White out-snapped Sean Tucker 43-31 in the Buccaneers’ Week 11 loss to the Bills, but Tucker out-touched White 21-12 and had the far more impactful performance, finishing with 140 scrimmage yards and three total touchdowns. Tucker was even more productive in the passing game, which is where White usually shines. Tucker had 34 receiving yards and a touchdown on two targets. White had 11 receiving yards on three targets. Starter Bucky Irving could return to the Buccaneers as early as this week. It seems as if Tucker, not White, will be the preferred handcuff.

Don’t Drop Yet

• Tez Johnson (WR – TB)

Tez Johnson had scored four touchdowns over a four-game stretch heading into Week 11, and he was WR18 in half-PPR fantasy scoring from Week 6 to Week 10. Johnson had just one six-yard catch on three targets Sunday in the Buccaneers’ loss to the Bills, but passing conditions were suboptimal in the brisk Buffalo winds. Johnson will lose some of his fantasy value if Chris Godwin returns from a leg injury this week after returning to practice on a limited basis last week, but Godwin’s status is still murky. Hold Johnson for now if you have the roster space.