Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Fantasy Football: Some Waiver-Wire Options Heading into Week 15


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Fantasy Football: Some Waiver-Wire Options Heading into Week 15


With only a couple of weeks to go in the fantasy football season, you can probably taste the championship(s).


For a player to appear on our waiver-wire list, he needs to satisfy two criteria: (1) he is owned in 50 percent of Yahoo! leagues or less and (2) he was not on last week's waiver-wire list.


Here's a new list of players to consider adding to your fantasy squad (Yahoo! ownership in parenthesis):


QB - Jason Campbell, Cleveland Browns (owned in six percent of Yahoo! leagues)


If it weren't for my damn rules, I'd list Jay Cutler here as someone to add over Campbell when it comes to signal-callers available in half of Yahoo! leagues. There's a good chance that he starts in Week 15 and he is a borderline QB1 against the Browns. That said, I'd consider the other quarterback in this game in much deeper or 2QB leagues for a couple of reasons.


Campbell has one of the league's most dominant wide receivers in Josh Gordon, who has more than 800 yards of offense in his past four games, and Jordan Cameron bounced back in Week 14. With those two weapons and not much of a running game, Campbell could be forced to throw it quite a bit. In the last two games he started (and finished), Campbell has 100 pass attempts.


RB - Shonn Greene, Tennessee Titans (15 percent)


Greene should get close to double-digit carries and potentially some goal-line carries in Week 15. That said, the Cardinals have one of the league's toughest defenses against the run. It's unlikely that you would start him next week except in really deep leagues. If you need him in Week 16, however, the Titans have a nice matchup against the Jaguars.


RB - Marcel Reece, Oakland Raiders (12 percent)


With both Darren McFadden and Rashad Jennings sidelined in Week 14, Reece ran with his opportunity despite facing the league's top-ranked rush defense. Reece finished with 19 carries for 123 yards and a touchdown plus two receptions for 38 yards. Reece's value in Week 15 depends largely on the availability of Jennings and/or McFadden and early word is that Jennings has passed his concussion test.


RB - Daniel Thomas, Miami Dolphins (11 percent)


As a surprise active on Sunday, Thomas ran all over the Steelers after Lamar Miller (concussion) left the game. Thomas finished with 16 carries for 105 yards and a touchdown. The Dolphins have a nice matchup against the Patriots this week. Although they held the Browns backs in check in Week 14, they allowed 395 rushing yards and four touchdowns to RBs in their previous two games.


RB - Toby Gerhart, Minnesota Vikings (eight percent)


With Adrian Peterson leaving Sunday's game with a foot injury, it was Gerhart that carried the load (15 carries for 89 yards and a touchdown). In the past four weeks, Gerhart actually has 67-plus rushing yards in three games.


Although Peterson is tough, a physical freak and has said that he expects to play Sunday, there should be no rush to hurry him back if he's not ready to go. That said, there is also some concern about Gerhart, who strained his hamstring in Sunday's game.


RB - Jordan Todman, Jacksonville Jaguars (two percent)


Even though Maurice Jones-Drew left last week's game with a hamstring injury, he expects to practice towards the end of this week and play in Week 15. That said, if he can't go, Todman would be in line for a solid workload against the Bills. Either way, he has a total of 26 touches in the team's previous three games.


Recommended: FanDuel is running a one-week contest for Week 15 with $300,000 in prizes including $25,000 for first place.


WR - DeAndre Hopkins, Houston Texans (43 percent)


The bad news is that Hopkins has only five catches in his past two games combined. The good news is he had only two catches combined in the two games before that. Over the past two weeks, however, the team's first-round pick has had more than 75 in each game and he could see more targets in the final few games of the season.


WR - Cordarrelle Patterson, Minnesota Vikings (26 percent)


One of the league's most dangerous players in the open field, Patterson leads the NFL in kickoff return average (33.3 yards per return). In one of the greatest games ever, Patterson took a wide receiver screen 79 yards to the house and finished with five catches for 141 yards and a touchdown.


Especially if Peterson sits in Week 15, I wouldn't be surprised if they try to get the ball into Patterson's hands more often than usual and no team has allowed more fantasy points to opposing wide receivers than the Eagles (their Week 15 opponent).


WR - Doug Baldwin, Seattle Seahawks (25 percent)


After several strong performances, Baldwin had a relatively disappointing game against the 49ers on Sunday. He finished with 3/36/0, but he had touchdowns and double-digit fantasy points in three of his previous four games. In those previous four games, Baldwin had 63 yards or more each game.


Depending on whether or not Percy Harvin returns, Baldwin could be in store for a decent week against the Giants in Week 15.


WR - Rod Streater, Oakland Raiders (19 percent)


Streater had another productive outing as he finished with seven catches for 130 yards, both of which are season highs, and a touchdown. Over his past four games, he has racked up 21 receptions for 364 yards and two touchdowns.


WR - Justin Hunter, Tennessee Titans (two percent)


For the second time in three weeks, Hunter finished with more than 100 yards and a touchdown. While there is certainly some boom-or-bust to a rookie playing with The Amish Rifle, Hunter is worth owning in deeper leagues in addition to keeper leagues.


WR - Da'Rick Rogers, Indianapolis Colts (two percent)


Long on talent, physical gifts and character concerns, Rogers went undrafted but he recorded his first NFL reception and broke out in a big way on Sunday. Rogers finished the game with six receptions for 107 yards and two touchdowns. Like with Hunter, his former college teammate, he's worth owning in deeper leagues and keeper leagues due to his upside.


TE - Delanie Walker, Tennessee Titans (32 percent)


Although he missed Week 14 due to a concussion, Walker has two plus matchups during the rest of the fantasy playoffs assuming he returns this week. Entering Week 14, the Cardinals and Jaguars have allowed the most and third-most fantasy points to opposing tight ends this season.


TE - Dennis Pitta, Baltimore Ravens (11 percent)


In his season debut, Pitta had six catches for 48 yards and a touchdown on a team-high 11 targets. I won't predict more targets than that, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him be the recipient of double-digit targets each week down the stretch.


I will release my initial Week 15 rankings Tuesday and they can be found here on my weekly rankings page.


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