Fantasy Football Week 12: Waiver Wire

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My top three picks from last week (CJ Anderson, Tre Mason. Jordan Matthews) all had double-digit fantasy points and should be long gone from your waiver wire. Mark Sanchez put up a dud in real life, but ended up with enough garbage-time stats to put up a respectable 18 fantasy points in standard leagues. I think he’s only usable against fantasy-friendly defenses moving forward. A couple guys who I’ve been recommending for a few weeks now, Bryce Brown and Jarvis Landry, also had over 10 fantasy points and are still available in over 75% of Yahoo leagues. Both guys are solid FLEX plays the rest of the season.

The only guy that I was way off on last week and am removing from the list is Dwayne Bowe. It felt wrong anyway after all the fantasy pain Bowe has caused me over the years and the Chiefs only threw for 110 yards in their win last week. They just aren’t a fantasy relevant team for wide receivers.

There were six impact fantasy injuries this week but they mostly affected just two teams, the Broncos and Colts. In Denver WR Emmanuel Sanders was knocked out with a concussion and is questionable for this week, the Broncos also lost TE Julius Thomas early in the game to an ankle sprain, and finally Montee Ball re-injured the groin that has kept him sidelined the last five weeks. The Colts lost their best RB (by far), Ahmad Bradshaw, with a broken leg that ended his season and also TE Dwayne Allen with an ankle injury. Saints rookie WR Brandin Cooks also broke his hand and is done until next year. I’ll be discussing the injuries, estimated recovery times and potential replacements in more detail below.

More from Bears Fantasy Football

Every week on Tuesday, I will be posting my top waiver pick ups for the week. Only players owned in under 50% of Yahoo leagues will qualify. There are all sorts of leagues out there with different levels of competition and varying player pool depths, so I will have a few picks with under 50% ownership, a few under 30%, 15%, and at least one super sleeper under 5%. Most weeks I also be listing a few players that may be popular waiver adds that I think you should pass on (the Kevin Ogletrees) and I’ll give you my reasons why of course. If there are any players you have a specific question about feel free to hit me up in the comments or on Twitter.

Week 12 Waiver Wire:

RB Tre Mason, Rams (50%) – Ahead of Jonas Gray? That’s right. Tre Mason is getting at least 15-20 touches every week moving forward. If you trust Bill Belichick to do the same with Gray then go for it, but I’ve been burned by Belichick too many times. Mason is also a more talented runner than Gray with considerably more breakaway ability.

RB Jonas Gray, Patriots (19%) – Last week was awesome (199 yards, 4 TDs), but how are you going to feel when you have Gray in your lineup for the fantasy playoffs and Belichick decides to give James White 35 carries out of nowhere?

RB Bryce Brown, Bills (23%) – Has taken over the C.J. Spiller role in Buffalo and was targeted 10 times in the passing game last week. Brown is an explosive runner who is going to break some big plays soon if he keeps getting 12-15 touches per game.

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RB Isaiah Crowell, Browns (21%) – The Browns surprisingly cut RB Ben Tate today, leaving Crowell a little less competition in the backfield. I expect a fairly even split between Crowell and Terrance West moving forward with either guy capable of taking the majority of the carries if they are running well. I still don’t feel comfortable starting either, but in most leagues I have one of them stashed just in case.

RB Carlos Hyde, 49ers (37%) – The Niners are going to start resting Frank Gore for the playoffs soon right?

WR Cecil Shorts III, Jags (45%) – Should step into the injured Allen Robinson’s role as Blake Bortles go-to guy. I expect Shorts to be a solid flex play moving forward.

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