Early Week 14 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire
James Washington has seven catches for 209 yards and two touchdowns in his last two games.
Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY Sports
Be on the lookout for a full waiver-wire column from the SI Fantasy team each week. Every Sunday night, however, I will take an early look at a few options that could help you in the upcoming week or on a rest-of-season basis.
[Note: All players referenced in this post are available in more than half of Yahoo! leagues as their ownership levels are all below 50 percent. All references are based on half-PPR scoring.]
Here are a few waiver-wire options to consider heading into Week 14 (Yahoo! ownership in parenthesis):
James Washington, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers (22% owned)
With JuJu Smith-Schuster sidelined another week, James Washington turned in another productive performance with his first-ever 100-yard outing. Washington converted all four of his targets into a 4/111/1 line against the Browns on Sunday.
The second-year receiver now has at least 90 yards and a touchdown in three of his past four games. Over his past five games, Washington has a minimum of three catches and 49 yards every week while compiling an impressive 20/417/3 line—83.4 YPG and 20.85 Y/R—during that stretch.
Perhaps Smith-Schuster returns in Week 14, but the Steelers get a plus-matchup against the Cardinals next week. Especially if Smith-Schuster is out again, Washington will be ranked as a top-36 (WR3) option in next week’s rankings.
Benny Snell Jr., RB, Pittsburgh Steelers (34% owned)
In Sunday’s win over the Browns, Benny Snell Jr. carried the ball 16 times for 63 yards and a touchdown. Over his past two games, the fourth-round rookie has 37 carries for 161 yards and a touchdown while adding a couple of receptions for nine yards as well.
As noted above, the Steelers get a plus-fantasy matchup against the Cardinals in Week 14. The Cardinals entered the week allowing the 10th-most fantasy points to opposing running backs this season. If James Conner (shoulder) isn’t cleared to return next week, Snell should garner usage in the range of 15 to 20 touches.
Derrius Guice, RB, Washington Redskins (50% owned)
Once again, it was a roughly even split in workload for Washington’s running backs—Adrian Peterson’s 13 touches to Derrius Guice’s 12 on Sunday. Both backs capitalized on their favorable matchup against the Panthers and get another plus-matchup next week (Packers). Both teams entered the week as a top-four matchup for opposing running backs.
Guice carried the ball 10 times for 129 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday and added two catches for eight yards. The 2018 second-round pick now has back-to-back games with double-digit carries. Game script could be a challenge for Guice (and Peterson) next week against the Packers, but Guice is more involved than Peterson as a receiver.
Anthony Miller, WR, Chicago Bears (14% owned)
Outside of Allen Robinson, it’s difficult to trust any part of Chicago’s passing offense, but Anthony Miller may be worth a long look. Against the Lions on Thanksgiving, Miller hauled in nine receptions for 140 yards on 13 targets, all season highs. While he had a season-best performance in Week 13, he has been productive and heavily-involved for several games now.
The second-year, second-round receiver now has at least six catches and 54 yards in three consecutive games. Over the past three weeks (through Sunday’s 4 p.m. games), only D.J. Moore and Christian McCaffrey (36 each) have more targets than Miller (33), who has a 26.62% team target share over that stretch.
Kevin Hanson joins SI for the 2019 season. His fantasy rankings have placed him in the Top 20 in each of the past two seasons among all the industry experts tracked by FantasyPros.com, and he has been in the Top 25 in six of the past eight years.
