Friday afternoons are my opportunity to connect with FantasyPros readers and the FantasyPros Discord community. If you haven’t already done so, be sure to join our Discord to get answers to your questions. I host weekly AMAs on Fridays, and other analysts also routinely answer questions. Below were three standout topics from Friday’s busy Week 14 AMA.
- Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups
- Weekly Fantasy Football Expert Rankings
- Fantasy Football Start/Sit Advice
- Fantasy Football Trade Tools
Discord AMA: Week 14
Is Darren Waller the Tight End to Stash for the Playoffs?
The Dolphins didn’t waste time easing Darren Waller back into the mix after his multi-week absence. Instead, according to the Fantasy Points data suite, Waller had a 65.5% route participation rate, a 16-yard average depth of target (aDOT) and a 22.9% air yards share last week. Waller’s 13% target share and 0.16 targets per route run (TPRR) were a bit underwhelming, but his vertical usage led to two receptions for 47 yards.
Waller also had an end-zone target in Week 13. In five games this season, Waller has a 12.6-yard aDOT, 18.8% air yards share, five end-zone targets and four touchdowns, all coming on his end-zone targets. Pairing vertical usage and targets in the end zone is about as good as it gets for a tight end who’s not in the elite tier.
Additionally, Waller has a dreamy schedule. In fact, Miami’s strength of schedule for tight ends is the only one with a five-star rating. Waller is a priority stash for tight end-needy gamers.
What is Luther Burden‘s Rest-of-Season Outlook?
Rome Odunze is out this week and considered week-to-week going forward. Since Week 9, Odunze’s 73.9% route participation rate is tied with DJ Moore‘s for Chicago’s team high. Luther Burden has been trending in the right direction, but his route participation was only 51.6% during that period.
The runway is clear for Burden to clear a 70% route participation rate as long as Odunze is out, even if Olamide Zaccheaus sees an uptick in usage or the Bears increase their rate of multiple tight end sets. Even in a limited role since Week 9, Burden’s 39.3 receiving yards per game were the most among wide receivers on the team, trailing only Colston Loveland‘s 58. Loveland also gets a bump in value without Odunze.
Burden is a viable WR3/Flex this week, and he’s a must-add player as at least a bench stash in 12-team or larger leagues. The dynamic rookie wide receiver could play well enough to warrant WR3 or WR2 deployment in the fantasy football playoffs.
Can Gamers Trust Jayden Daniels?
Jayden Daniels will return for the Commanders this week. He’s obviously been cleared for contact, but will he run as often in his first game back from suffering a gruesome elbow injury? That remains to be seen.
On the plus side, Daniels will have Terry McLaurin, Deebo Samuel, Noah Brown and Zach Ertz at his disposal. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of pressure on him to score fantasy points through the air if he runs less often, and the matchup isn’t ideal through a particular lens.
According to Pro-Football-Reference, the Vikings have blitzed at the highest rate (43.8%) this year. Per Pro Football Focus (PFF), among 37 quarterbacks with at least 50 dropbacks against the blitz this year, Daniels is the 30th-ranked passer. He has just a 52.5% completion rate, only 5.9 yards per pass attempt and just three touchdowns on 75 dropbacks against the blitz.
Daniels is a fringe starter in 12-team 1-QB leagues. I would start him over Tyler Shough, C.J. Stroud, Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert and Sam Darnold. However, I would start Baker Mayfield, Bo Nix, Jordan Love, Jacoby Brissett, Trevor Lawrence and Daniel Jones — QB9 through QB14 in expert consensus rankings (ECR) — over Daniels.
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Josh Shepardson is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Josh, check out his archive and follow him @BChad50.
