Fantasy Football Waiver Wire: Early Must-Adds for Week 14
Here is your jump start on the fantasy football waiver wire for the final regular season week in a lot of leagues.
Week 13 on the 2024 NFL schedule is nearly complete, with Sunday and Monday night games to be completed. Week 14 is the final week of the regular season in most fantasy football leagues, but the waiver wire is still valuable with consolation brackets possibly coming into play for managers who are not in the playoffs.
It’s also another six-team “Bye-maggedon” in Week 14, with the Baltimore Ravens, Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots and Washington Commanders idle.
Here are your early must-adds from the fantasy football waiver wire for Week 14.
Note: Yahoo! scoring is the scoring cited, unless noted otherwise.
Tank Bigsby, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars
Bigsby had fewer touches and less production than Travis Etienne against the Houston Texans on Sunday, but the snap counts were close (37 snaps for Etienne, 32 snaps for Bigsby) and as Nathan Jahnke of Pro Football Focus noted the Jaguars narrowed to a two-man backfield by making D’Ernest Johnson a healthy scratch. Bigsby also averaged more yards per carry, as he has pretty much all season when he and Etienne have both been available.
Bigsby missed Week 11 before Jacksonville had their bye in Week 12. The supposed changes outgoing head coach Doug Pederson said were coming seem to have included having Bigsby basically in a timeshare with Etienne.
Week 15 against the New York Jets is not a great-looking matchup for the Jaguars’ ground game, but around that matchups against the Tennessee Titans (Week 14 and Week 17) and the Las Vegas Raiders (Week 16) look better.
With six teams idle in Week 14, Bigsby lands as a potentially viable plug-and-play with potential utility in the fantasy playoffs. That’s enough to make him a must-add this week.
ESPN Ownership: 32.5%
Yahoo! Ownership: 45%
Kimani Vidal, RB, Los Angeles Chargers
The preseason hype around Vidal has been long gone, but with J.K. Dobbins (knee) going on IR this week the rookie got some opportunity again on Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons (four carries for 20 yards and six routes run on 12 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus). On a day where the Chargers’ offense got very little done, with a major time of possession deficit as the Falcons had four turnovers, his 16-yard run stood out.
Gus Edwards may remain the Chargers’ No. 1 back (six carries for 32 yards on Sunday, but his snap share was barely more than 50 percent against Atlanta and Vidal added a dose of doubt to the situation.
It’s a very tough matchup for the Chargers’ running backs in Week 14 against the Kansas City Chiefs, but the playoff schedule (Tampa Bay Buccaneers-Week 15, Denver Broncos-Week 16, New England Patriots-Week 17) is much better. On the chance Vidal seizes a big role, he’s firmly on the waiver wire radar in leagues with at least 12 teams this week.
ESPN Ownership: 10.6%
Yahoo! Ownership: 17%
Russell Wilson, QB, Pittsburgh Steelers
Wilson went 29-for-38 for 414 yards with three touchdowns and an interception against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, along with three rushing yards. He has topped 260 passing yards or thrown multiple passing touchdowns in five of his six starts this season (both twice).
Week 14 brings a matchup that looks middle of the road against the Cleveland Browns, but Cleveland allowed multiple passing touchdowns in five straight games from Week 6-Week 11 before allowing 270 yards through the air to Wilson despite a second half snowstorm in Week 12.
Week 15 brings a tough matchup for Wilson against the Philadelphia Eagles, but it’s possible the game script will force him to throw a lot. Week 16 against the Baltimore Ravens has trended hard toward being tough lately, but again the game script could force Wilson into passing volume. Then comes a solid matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 17, and those in leagues that play Week 18 can look forward to another matchup against the Bengals.
There is downside potential with Wilson in any given week, and Week 13 has to be considered the ceiling. But he’s a viable low-end QB1 each week from here on out, and available in plenty of leagues.
ESPN Ownership: 43.1%
Yahoo! Ownership: 35%
Caleb Williams, QB, Chicago Bears
Most of his production on Thanksgiving Day against the Detroit Lions came in the second half, but Williams finished with 256 yards and three touchdowns without an interception, along with 39 rushing yards.
In three games with Thomas Brown calling plays for the Bears’ offense, which he will continue to do now as interim head coach, Williams has zero interceptions on 117 pass attempts with multiple passing touchdowns in each of the last two games. His 19 rushing attempts over those three games is the most he has had in any three-game stretch this season, with 142 rushing yards over the span.
The matchups for Williams aren’t great from Week 14-17, as the San Francisco 49ers (Week 14), Minnesota Vikings (Week 15), the Lions (Week 16) and Seattle Seahawks (Week 17) all entering Week 13 no middle of the pack or better (as in stingiest) in fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks this season.
But the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft is playing pretty well, while adding to his fantasy value with his legs. That’s plenty enough to make him a must-add, and a viable starter in 12-team leagues as his rookie season winds down.
ESPN Ownership: 37%
Yahoo! Ownership: 54%
Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, WR, Tennessee Titans
Westbrook-Ikhine had three catches (on eight targets) for 61 yards and two touchdowns against the Washington Commanders on Sunday. He has scored in seven of his last eight games, with at least five targets in three straight.
What Westbrook-Ikhine is doing scoring-wise is patently unsustainable (eight touchdowns on 20 catches this season), but he has at least five targets in four of the last five games and his snap shares have 85 percent of above in every game since DeAndre Hopkins was traded. So a look a little deeper shows some overall promise that is obscured by basically weekly touchdown lately.
Week 14-17 brings a run of nice matchups for Tennessee’s wide receivers, with the Jacksonville Jaguars twice (Week 14 and Week 17) and the Cincinnati Bengals (Week 15) and Indianapolis Colts (Week 16) in-between. That’s about as good a schedule as a wide receiver can have, and Westbrook-Ikhine cleary has more red zone rapport with Will Levis than others do.
There remains a boom-or-bust element with Westbrook-Ikhine, based on if he scores or not. But he has become a legit WR3 in leagues with 12-or more team leagues, and with six teams idle in Week 14 he’s here as a must-add again.
ESPN Ownership: 19.9%
Yahoo! Ownership: 17%
Pat Freiermuth, TE, Pittsburgh Steelers
Freiermuth had six receptions for 68 yards with a touchdown on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals. He has now topped 50 yards in back-to-back games, with more than 50 yards or a touchdown in three of his last four games and four of Russell Wilson’s six starts.
Week 14 brings a favorable matchup against the Cleveland Browns, who entered Week 13 allowing the seventh-most fantasy points per game to tight ends this season. In Week 12 against them, Freiermuth had four catches (on four targets) for 59 yards.
A much tougher matchup will come in Week 15 against the Philadelphia Eagles, who entered Week 13 allowing the third-fewest fantasy points to tight ends. But it gets easier again in Week 16 and Week 17, as the Baltimore Ravens (11th-most) and Kansas City Chiefs (fourth-most) both entered Week 13 in the bottom-12 of the league in fantasy points allowed to tight ends.
Freiermuth is at least a viable streamer for Week 14 in leagues where he’s available, and the path to him being a weekly low-end TE1 each of the next four weeks is visible.
ESPN Ownership: 41.9%
Yahoo! Ownership: 50%
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