At this point in the season, you are in one of three places in your league. You are either firmly in the playoffs, vying for one of the playoff spots up for grabs, or eliminated. If you are in the first camp, you should be focusing on getting players that can help you during your playoff weeks. Perhaps some RB or even WR handcuffs (if you have Tyreek Hill, you should have Mecole Hardman for example), or some defenses with great matchups that you can stash on your bench. If you’ve been eliminated from the playoffs, well, you’re probably not even reading this article and are studying up on all the recent NBA trades to get ready for your fantasy basketball league. But if you find yourself hoping to lock in a playoff spot soon, or work your way into one, then this is the column for you. We’ll be focusing on players that can help you win your week that you absolutely need to make sure to put in a waiver claim for tonight.
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Running Backs
Gus Edwards, Baltimore Ravens (27% rostership on Yahoo/14% on ESPN)
Justice Hill, Baltimore Ravens (0%/0%)
With both J.K. Dobbins and Mark Ingram headed to the COVID IR this week, there’s a ton of touches available for Gus Edwards and Justice Hill. Considering Edwards has been on the active roster all season long, he should get the most touches and the most trust from the coaching staff. He is who I’d be putting all of my FAAB on, if I needed to win this week, and then I’d throw maybe like half of that on Hill afterward as there is no telling how they are going to split the work. Either way, the Ravens will be running the ball as their passing game has been awful this year, so plenty of opportunities for Edwards and Hill.
FAAB Budget: Why do you still have FAAB? Win your week!
James White, New England Patriots (41%/34%)
This is very risky, because James White’s involvement in the offense has been very up and down this season, but the Patriots will likely be playing from behind against Arizona this week and with the only other healthy running backs being Damien Harris and Sony Michel, two guys that don’t catch passes, all of the passing down work will fall on White. There’s a ton of potential here for White in PPR.
Frank Gore, New York Jets (9%/13%)
I really don’t want to recommend Frank Gore, because he’s been a pretty low-ceiling player all season. But he has a few things going for him heading into this week with Miami. First off, he’s sharing the work with pretty much no one. Second, Miami has been mediocre against the run game this year, their defense has mainly done well on forcing turnovers but they do allow a lot of rushing yards. And third, you might need someone who can score 10 points, and Gore can do that this week.
Wide Receivers
There is no one that has emerged at wide receiver that I would consider worth a waiver claim this week. There are a lot of wide receivers who have solid matchups, who have received a good amount of workload recently, and are worth consideration. Nelson Agholor headlines the list for sure, as he plays the Atlanta Falcons, but there’s still guys like Cole Beasley, Jalen Reagor, Corey Davis, and even Damiere Byrd out there who merit streaming consideration if you need someone.
Tight Ends
Jordan Reed, San Francisco 49ers (15% rostership on Yahoo/21% on ESPN)
In the three games without Kittle this year, Jordan Reed received 20 targets and scored 13 points per game in PPR. I think he’s a clear upgrade over many of the touchdown-dependent TEs that are rostered out there, like Jimmy Graham or Tyler Higbee.
(Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire)