Week twelve is in the books, and we are reaching the fantasy football homestretch! We have just three weeks left in the regular season to make it to the playoffs, and we have to start making some tough roster decisions. Fantasy football rosters are a zero-sum game, so we have a list of players below rostered in at least 50% of Yahoo! leagues who could make their way to your waiver wire to make way for the upcoming round of waiver wire bidding.
QUARTERBACKS
Jordan Love, Green Bay (81% rostered)
For weeks, I’ve been begging folks to move on from Jordan Love, but nobody wants to listen. Following Sunday’s action, he’s QB15 on the week, and this will mark the fifth time in the last seven games that Love failed to finish inside the QB1 ranks in a standard twelve-team league. He’s done that just three times on the season, or 25% of his games.
Joe Flacco, Cincinnati (59% rostered)
Flacco’s (likely) last ride went about as bad as humanly possible, as he finished with 183 passing yards, a touchdown, and a pick. This marks his second-straight game under ten fantasy points for the Elder Millennial King, Joseph Robinette Flacco.
J.J. McCarthy, Minnesota (57% rostered)
Gunner Olszewski had more passing fantasy points than J.J. McCarthy this week, as McCarthy finished with 0.48 points on 87 passing yards, zero touchdowns, ten rushing yards, and two backbreaking interceptions. Nine? More like nein, get this guy off my team.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Jordan Addison, Minnesota (87% rostered)
I’m pulling the ripcord on my Vikings in shallower leagues, as JJ McCarthy is one of the worst quarterbacks I have ever seen, and Addison paid the price for it on Sunday (zero fantasy points). He needed eighteen targets in his previous two games to turn in five catches for 55 yards.
Tre Tucker, Las Vegas (57% rostered)
Tucker is a fun story, and he had a reprieve last week as the Raiders got him a touchdown. But, they’re filling the Tre Tucker role with equal dashes of Tre Tucker and Tyler Lockett, making them share the #3 option in Geno Smith’s option; that’s not what you want. Tucker finished with ten targets, three catches, and 28 yards against the Browns, who are 25th in fantasy points allowed to wide receivers. If you hope there are better games on the horizon, I hate to break it to you, but there isn’t; three of their next four games come against teams who are worse matchups for receivers than the Browns.
Josh Downs, Indianapolis (51% rostered)
Downs is down to being the WR3 and the fourth target (fifth if you count Jonathan Taylor), and has more games under 3.5 PPR points (three) as he has double-digit games (two) in his last five weeks. Those two games both included touchdowns, and he is yet to pass 57 receiving yards on the season. Just go ahead and make him someone else’s problem.
RUNNING BACKS
Rhamondre Stevenson, New England (76% rostered)
In anything deeper than a ten-team league, I am not co-signing this. But things are looking quite dire for Rhamondre in New England. He returned from injury to find his seat filled by rookie TreVeyon Henderson, leaving Stevenson with just eight opportunities this week. If you need him in a deeper league, week thirteen against the Giants is a wonderful matchup.
Jordan Mason, Minnesota (73% rostered)
Mason hasn’t passed sixty total yards since the Vikings’ week seven bye, and he has taken a back seat to Aaron Jones since his return from injury. Over the last three games, Mason has five, six, and eight touches. He’s one of the best handcuffs so you can hang onto him if you aren’t in a bind, but he’s also not starting for you anytime soon.
Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Washington (59% rostered)
Chris Rodriguez is the RB1 in Washington, in what is a messy three-running-back committee with C-Rod, JCM, and Jeremy McNichols. JCM hasn’t had a game over six PPR points since week five; keeping him around is chasing a ghost.
TIGHT ENDS
Sam LaPorta, Detroit (79% rostered)
LaPorta is out for the season after getting back surgery, per Dan Campbell.
T.J. Hockenson, Minnesota (71% rostered)
Week twelve is in the books, and Hockenson finished outside the top eighteen at tight end. This marks the tenth time in eleven games that he failed to finish inside the top-fifteen at tight end, and he has just one TE1 game on the season (week three, against the worst tight end defense in the NFL, the Bengals).
David Njoku, Cleveland (52% rostered)
The Browns have shunted Njoku to the side, dropping him to four targets, three catches, and 28 yards over the last three games since the Bye. 21 of those 28 yards came in week ten.
