Week 13 Waiver Wire
Note: Every suggestion will be pulled from either the Yahoo or ESPN rostership, and everyone in these articles will be less than 50% rostered on at least one of those sites. Only some leagues are cut and dry the same so this is just a template for a 12 team full PPR league. There may be players that would have made this article but are rostered in over 50% of the leagues on both sites so they were not included because you’re either in a smaller league or bigger league. If you have questions, please get in chat and ask. Going forward, I will list the bye week schedule below as it is going to become more important as we plan for that moving forward.
Week 5: DET, LAC, PHI, TEN
Week 6: KC, LAR, MIA, MIN
Week 7: CHI, DAL
Week 8: NONE
Week 9: PIT, SF
Week 10: CLE, GB, LV, SEA
Week 11: ARI, CAR, NYG, TB
Week 12: ATL, BUF, CIN, JAX, NO, NYJ
Week 13: NONE
Week 14: BAL, DEN, HOU, IND, NE, WAS
QB
Caleb Williams (Chicago Bears) – 5%
Don’t look now but Caleb is looking like the #1 overall pick. Over the last two games since firing Shane Waldron, Caleb has scored 16.2 and 26.9 fantasy points with 103 yards on the ground and 571 yards in the air with two scores. In Week 13 the Bears travel to Detroit to play the Lions, a game they certainly will be playing catchup from the opening snap. I expect 50+ rushing yards and 250+ passing yards with the Bears scoring a few touchdowns in there.
Bryce Young (Carolina Panthers) – 0%
A fun one to target in dynasty but this week he will host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who have a bad pass defense. Young is coming off his best game of his career, standing in the face of the Kansas City Chiefs blitz happy defense and throwing dot after dot. He ended going 21/35 for 263 yards and a score with no turnovers, adding 20 yards on the ground and finishing with a 7.5 YPA.
Will Levis (Tennessee Titans) – 0%
Levis is playing very good football these last three weeks, scoring 15.6 in each of them and averaging 16.93. He will face the Commanders in Washington on Sunday with my only concern being that the Titans run it down the Commanders throats and control the game to the point Levis isn’t needed to pass.
RB
Ameer Abdullah (Las Vegas Raiders) – 3%
Perhaps I was a bit too low on Abdullah but he showed out with 17.5 PPR points in his first start for the Raiders. He carried the ball eight times for 28 yards while catching five of his six targets for 37 yards and a score. He had an 80% route participation with a 13% TPRR and ended up with 89% of the team’s offensive snaps while taking 57% of the rush share. He was a full blown bellcow with the Raiders without Alexander Mattison and Zamir White. There is a very real chance this workload continues when they return. They are expected to be down in almost every game going forward unless something changes and they play the Chiefs this week, in KC, on a shortened week on Friday afternoon.
Jeremy McNichols (Washington Commanders) – 0%
I’m not a huge McNichols guy but the Commanders are. They will host the Titans in Week 13 and there is a very, very real shot they will be without both Brian Robinson and Austin Ekeler here. I’ve been vocal that I do not trust Kliff Kingsbury and this offense moving forward and if they can’t get a ground game going, they will lose this game to the Titans. I expect McNichols to get all of the air work with some carries mixed in and Rodriguez to get the between the tackles work. Give me McNichols in that scenario.
Antonio Gibson (New England Patriots) – 0%
Gibson somehow out-snapped Stevenson in Week 12 which is something we shouldn’t ignore. The Patriots were down a lot in this game but Stevenson is also known for his consistent abilities as a pass protector and pass catcher. Unless he regressed in these areas, Gibson holds on to that role firmly regardless of any scenario it seems. The Patriots are likely to be in that situation moving forward and even if we have a glimmer of Gibson potentially flat out leaping Stevenson organically, we have to take it. The Patriots host the Colts in Week 13.
Tank Bigsby (Jacksonville Jaguars) – 0%
The same as last week. The Jaguars didn’t fire Doug Pederson but this is the only back available that can just take a backfield and be a productive FLEX without an injury. Unlikely, but possible.
Top RB Handcuffs
- Braelon Allen (New York Jets)
- Zach Charbonnet (Seattle Seahawks)
- Tyler Allgeier (Atlanta Falcons)
- Blake Corum (LA Rams)
- Ray Davis (Buffalo Bills)
- Cam Akers (Minnesota Vikings)
- Trey Benson (Arizona Cardinals)
- Emanuel Wilson (Green Bay Packers)
- Sean Tucker (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
- Roschon Johnson (Chicago Bears)
- Dameon Pierce (Houston Texans)
- Jalen Wright (Miami Dolphins)
- Antonio Gibson (New England Patriots)
- Dalvin Cook (Dallas Cowboys)
- Tyler Goodson (Indianapolis Colts)
WR
Xavier Legette (Carolina Panthers) – 5%
Legette keeps playing well and cementing himself as a top target for Bryce Young. He caught four of his six balls against KC for 56 yards and just barely missed a TD. He now has 13.4, 13.9, 7, and 9.6 PPR points his last four and gets to face the Bucs in Week 13, a defense giving up a league high 28.7 PPR PPG to opposing WRs the last four weeks.
Devaughn Vele (Denver Broncos) – 0%
It is no secret how much I’ve been in on this Broncos offense but I did not expect 27yo rookie Devaugn Vele to be one of the breakout candidates from it. Since Week 6 he now has a 62% route participation and 19% TPRR, hitting a year high in Week 12 with a 29% TPRR and 25% target share overall. He is second on the team behind Courtland Sutton now with a 17.6% 1st read target rate and has a respectable 2.21 YPRR. This offense is only going to keep getting better and the Broncos have a favorable end of the year schedule, starting with the Cleveland Browns on MNF in Week 13.
Dontayvion Wicks (Green Bay Packers) – 0%
We pick up Wicks, it is probably Malik Heath Or Bo Melton who plays well for the Packers. Nonetheless, WR is tough this week. Wicks has displayed by LaFleur to be the next man up in GB so we are more or less forced to go with Wicks unless we just went with a hunch. Wicks led both Melton and Heath in Route Participation (42%) and target share (9%) plus head a nice 18% TPRR but it is worth mentioning Heath had a 50% TPRR, earning two targets on four routes, all of which were in garbage time. The Packers host Miami on Thanksgiving, and Miami has allowed 21.8 PPR PPG to opposing WRs the last month, the 14th most in the NFL.
Noah Brown (Washington Commanders) – 0%
I’m going to start calling Jayden Daniels Derek Zoolander because it seems he can’t turn left and throw in that direction. Due to that, Noah Brown benefits as he always lines up as the RWR and McLaurin is the LWR. Over the last three games Brown has a 85% route participation with a 19% TPRR and is coming off as season high 25% TPRR. He caught six of his 10 targets against the Cowboys for 71 yards. The Commanders host the Titans in Week 13, another game I think the Commanders lose and could result in Jayden Daniels throwing more than he wants to.
TE
Will Dissly (LA Chargers) – 25%
I’m putting this out BEFORE the MNF game this week, which is a bit new and unique to this week but I have to in order to properly evaluate Week 13 due to its gaming schedule with Thanksgiving. Get Dissly NOW before the game if you need a TE. As I wrote about in the MNF Betting Breakdown, Dissly has been balling out the last 5 games with Herbert. He has 14.6% air yard share, 28% TPRR, 22.1% 1st read rate, and 2.13 YPRR. He should be considered a TE1 ROS.
Luke Schoonmaker (Dallas Cowboys) – 0%
If Jake Ferguson is active, this is a useless pick up but we are unlikely to get clarity on that before Tuesday night. With extended action the last two weeks he has scored 11.6 and 14.5 PPR points. The Cowboys play on Thanksgiving this week so I would lean them sitting Ferguson one more game and giving him the extra time off to recover, which means we can confidently fire up Schoonmaker for this matchup against the Giants.
Noah Gray (Kansas City Chiefs) – 0%
TE is tough this week and it is hard to put Noah Gray here but this is where we are. The Chiefs play the Raiders on a short week this Friday and over Gray’s last two weeks he has a 61% route participation with a 18% TPRR. While he has four TDs over these games, he also scored 18.3 and 22.6 PPR points with at least four catches in each game. Catching TDs at a higher rate goes along with playing with Mahomes but honestly a modest 4 catch, 40 yard game gets home for any streaming TE so I’d take that even without the TDs.
DST
Buffalo Bills – 0%
I don’t usually want to attack a San Francisco 49ers team but they are on the brink of their season ending, if it hasn’t already. The Bills are coming off of a Bye week and now they will be hosting the 49ers on SNF, an offense that will either have a banged up Purdy under center or Brandon Allen calling plays.
Dallas Cowboys – 0%
The Cowboys will be hosting the New York Giants on Thanksgiving this year and are coming off a high, beating the Commanders in Washington. I think they ride that here with their defense matchup up well against DeVito, who can’t handle pressure very well. He will absorb sacks left and right and is likely to make at least one costly mistake, which could result in the Cowboys taking that back for a score.
Green Bay Packers – 0%
Another offense I don’t typically want to target and they have morphed themselves into a death by a thousand paper cuts style of offense, but it will be cold. The Packers will be hosting the Dolphins on a short week, Thanksgiving night with the temperatures going to be in the low 20s and the “feels like” temperature much lower. I don’t mind taking a stab against a brittle Dolphins offense in the freezing cold.