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Michael Florio's deeper-league waiver wire pickups and fantasy football sleepers for Week 14. His top free agent options for 14-team fantasy leagues or deeper.
This is it. The final week of the regular season. It has flown by, but hopefully it is not yet nearing an end for you and your fantasy football team, as the fantasy playoffs is when the real fun begins. If you are reading this, chances are you are either in the playoffs or still alive and in the hunt. Either way, you can take steps to better your roster for the fantasy playoffs.
The first thing to do, is to add your running back backups and insurance policies. If your starting running backs have clear cut backups, those players should be on your rosters. Pretty much weekly if there is a slam-dunk waiver wire pickup -- a backup running back on a team whose starter was injured. You do not want to be in a position where your starter gets hurt and you have to hope you get the backup off the waiver wire.
With bye weeks over this week, your bench spots are more expendable and you can drop that fifth receiver to ensure you have your backup running back. You can also grab defenses with favorable fantasy playoff matchups. You know defenses with good matchups are in demand weekly off the waiver wire, secure them now if you can. The next thing you can do to get your lineups ready is grab some of these Week 14 waiver wire targets!
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Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Targets for Week 14
This is the week for those who play in two-QB leagues. The options on the waiver wire might not be the most appealing, but there are starting QBs who will score fantasy points and in two-QB formats that is enough to justify rostering. First up is Davis Mills who is going to start once again with Tyrod Taylor suffering a wrist injury. He threw 49 yards in relief of Taylor in Week 13, which actually led the Texans. Mills did not have much of a floor when he started earlier in the season, but he did twice top 20 fantasy points. He also says he feels more comfortable in the offense now than he did earlier in the season. Jake Fromm is another QB that could be streamed in two-QB formats. Look, it likely won’t be pretty, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Fromm is in line to start for the Giants as Daniel Jones is out with a neck injury and Mike Glennon suffered a concussion last week. Gardner Minshew would be another option, who threw for 242 yards with two touchdowns, while adding in 11 rushing yards in his spot start against the Jets. Jalen Hurts remains the starter when healthy, but Philly did not want to give a firm timetable on him. Minshew is an insurance add incase Hurts cannot suit up next week. Also, if anyone dropped Trevor Lawrence due to his play as of late, he does get Titans, Texans and Jets the next three weeks. He would be the top QB of this bunch if he is available.
Ameer Abdullah was included in this article last week, but with the Panthers on bye he was overlooked in a lot of leagues. Abdullah will now have a larger role with Christian McCaffrey out for the season. Not only that, but Carolina just fired OC Joe Brady because he was not running the ball enough. Head Coach Matt Rhule wants to run over 30 times per game, which means a lot of Cam Newton, Chuba Hubbard and Abdullah. Abdullah has been seeing more snaps and pass game work than Hubbard behind CMC. He should definitely be rostered moving forward.
Rashaad Penny led the Seahawks with 40 percent of the snaps, while adding 10 carries for 35 yards and a 27-yard catch. Adrian Peterson played 27 percent of the snaps but led the Seahawks with 11 carries. He only turned them into 16 yards, but he did score a touchdown. The Seattle backfield has been a mess, and could get even more murky with Alex Collins nearing a return, but these two backs are wroth taking a flier on in anything deeper than 14 teams. Penny is the preferred option as he is more explosive and can see some pass game usage. Peterson should maintain his goal line role and is a TD reliant flex option in deeper leagues.
DeVante Parker may be out there even in deep leagues after a lengthy absence. He returned and caught all five of his targets for 62 yards. He has topped 11 fantasy points in each of the past three games he played and is clearly a big part of the Dolphins passing game when healthy. If he remains out there on the waiver wire in deep formats - he shouldn’t. Scoop him up.
Russell Gage may be the player featured in this article the most this season - but this may be the final week he can be included. He was targeted 12 times, catching 11 of them for 130 yards, good for 24 fantasy points. Gage has seen at least seven targets in three straight games and four of the past five. He has topped 18 fantasy points in two straight games and appears to have a safe floor of around 10 fantasy points. Gage is seeing enough weekly volume and been productive enough where he has to be rostered, especially in deeper formats. In those leagues, he is a flex candidate, if not higher.
Josh Reynolds saw seven targets this week, catching four for 69 yards, good for 10.9 fantasy points. That was a high in targets since he has joined the Lions, but he has seen more each week. He has topped double-digit fantasy points in two straight and is clearly the Lions best downfield receiver on a team that often has to throw when trailing. He brings a safe floor and some upside each week.
Amon-Ra St. Brown saw huge volume and had the Lions biggest catch of the season, a game-winning walk off touchdown. He finished with a team-high 12 targets, catching 10 for 86 yards and a touchdown. He both set new season-highs while leading the Lions in every offensive category. He has been on the field a ton as of late for the Lions, but the volume is new. They clearly went to him a lot this week and he performed well. That could earn more work moving forward. He is worth taking a flier on.
K.J. Osborn saw seven targets, catching four for 41 yards and a touchdown in a loss to the Lions. Osborn flashed early in the season but has slowed down as of late. That should change as Adam Thielen suffered a high-ankle sprain and in unlikely to suit up this Thursday against the Steelers. That would make Osborn a flex option and he can be used as a Thielen replacement as well. High ankle sprains can linger so this could be more than a one week rental.
Gerald Everett struggled last week and lost two fumbles, but volume is what we care about in fantasy and it was there for Everett. He saw six targets, third on Seattle behind only Tyler Lockett and DK Metclaf. He finished with four catches for just … seven yards. But, the fact that he continues to be used as the third piece in the passing game is encouraging. . He has between six and nine targets in three of his past four games and topped 14 fantasy points in two of them. He is a high-end TE2 that can be streamed in the right matchups and has the chance to become a weekly starter.
Tyler Conklin also gains from Adam Thielen likely being out this week and potentially longer. Conklin saw nine targets, second most on the Vikings, catching seven for 56 yards. He is always a threat in the red zone as well. He has shown upside this season, topping double digit fantasy points five times, but the issue had been he had no floor. That should change with Thielen out as he should naturally see more targets. He is a streamable option as long as Thielen is sidelined.
Ricky Seals-Jones is once again in our fantasy lives after Logan Thomas suffered a knee injury. RSj started from Week 5 through 11, averaging six targets and 9.04 fantasy PPG. He twice scored double-digit fantasy points and three times topped nine. He is a TE2 with volume upside - more than enough to make him worth picking up in deeper formats.
Make sure to follow Michael on Twitter @MichaelFFlorio
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