So you’ve made it to Week 16, and the Championship is almost within your grasp. You’re picturing the rest of winter, spring and summer with your name on the trophy, and when you can call up your buddy and say “hey remember when I beat the…?” Dohhhh, still one week to go, or you’re in the 3rd place game. That’s great too. Yeah umm well, something is better than nothing I guess, and if you’ve decided to chop the pot you’re probably not paying much attention to this article. Bok bok bok bwaaak.

This week as you indulge in your normal habit of scouring the waiver wire, you’re most likely not finding anything available (10 team or less leagues could be an exception). So instead of waiver adds this week I’ll be pointing out some Running Backs and Wide Receivers that you may have parked on your bench in recent weeks. This week, you should consider getting them back in your starting lineup.

Running Backs

Jay Ajayi

In his first match up against Buffalo this season, Ajayi had 214 rushing yards and a Touchdown. Things have changed, center Mike Pouncey is on IR, and over Ajayi’s last two games he is averaging just 2.5 yards per carry, 39 carries for 99 yards. However this was against the 12th (Arizona) and 14th (NY Jets) ranked rushing defenses. The positive here is he is still getting plenty of touches and this week he faces Buffalo’s 27th ranked rushing defense.

Floor – 7 points, Ceiling – 18 points (standard scoring)

Todd Gurley

Congratulations if you’re a Gurley owner and you’ve made it this far. Chances are you’ve made it this far because you have other options. This week Gurley gets to face the league’s worst rushing defense in the San Francisco 49’ers, who give up a whopping 176.3 rushing yards per game. Gurley is hard to trust because he gets hit so much in the backfield. But, since no one on the 49’ers besides Deforest Buckner ever seems to make it to the backfield, Gurley is not a bad play.

Floor – 7 points, Ceiling – 23 points (standard scoring)

Bilal Powell

If you were able to pick up Powell over the last couple of weeks and you started him, then you’re pretty happy with the results. This week Powell is on the road against the Patriots 4th ranked rushing defense though. It shouldn’t worry you that the NY Jets will be playing from behind as they are used to it and it hasn’t hurt Powell over the last couple of weeks. Bryce Petty should be back in the lineup this week after emerging with only a bruise from the horrific hit he took from Cameron Wake and Ndamukong Suh. This is good news for Powell because Petty is okay with checking down to the running back out of the backfield.

Floor – 14 points, Ceiling – 26 points (ppr scoring)

Desperate Measures

Justin Forsett – Kansas City has the 28th best rushing defense and is without Derrick Johnson for the rest of the season. He ran the ball well with limited touches for Denver last week against the Patriots and can catch the ball out of the backfield.

Floor – 7 points, Ceiling – 19 points (ppr scoring)

Kenneth Farrow – Farrow disappointed all those who added him off of waivers last week with 2 fumbles and less than 3.0 yards per carry, but faces Cleveland’s 31st ranked rushing defense, 155.7 yards per game, and out touched Ronnie Hillman by over 2 to 1.

Floor – 9 points, Ceiling – 21 points (ppr scoring)

Dion Lewis – The Patriots face a good Jets rush defense. Blount will have trouble getting yards to sustain drives, and Lewis should step in.

Floor – 13 points, Ceiling – 26 points (ppr scoring)

Wide Receivers

DeAndre Hopkins

Most of us Hopkins owners haven’t been starting him week to week. But, we couldn’t bring ourselves to drop him all season, just in case…Brock Osweiler retires or is BENCHED!!! It’s finally happened, and Tom Savage’s first pass down the field for 32 yards gave us something Osweiler did not all season: a down the field passing game. Hopkins’ 8 reception for 87 yards game in three quarters with Tom Savage at quarterback gave us hope for the next week. This week the Texans welcome the Cincinnati Bengals to Houston, and the dream match-up would be Dre Kirkpatrick covering DeAndre Hopkins. Regardless it’s the first time since about week 3 you’re happy to have Hopkins in your lineup.

Floor – 16 points, Ceiling – 27 points (ppr scoring)

Cameron Meredith

After becoming relevant with Brian Hoyer at the helm, Meredith disappeared with the return of Jay Cutler and remained unseen in Matt Barkley’s first couple of games. He’s been rediscovered, averaging over 9 targets per game over the last two weeks with 1 TD and 1 – 100 yard game.

Floor – 14 points, Ceiling – 25 points (ppr scoring)

Malcolm Mitchell

Mitchell had one reception for 14 yards against the Denver Defense, but this week he faces the weak Jets secondary and should once again get 7 to 10 targets. It’s hard to predict a Patriots game plan, but it’s obvious where the Jets are weakest and Julian Edelman won’t get all of the targets.

Floor – 11 points, Ceiling – 24 points (ppr scoring)

Desperate Measures

Kenny Britt – Sean Mannion could start at quarterback this week with Jared Goff in the league’s concussion protocol. This would be good news for Britt in a good match-up against the 49’ers suspect secondary.

Floor – 10 points, Ceiling – 21 points (ppr scoring)

Marvin Jones – Dallas has had trouble with fast receivers. Jones has disappeared after a torrid start to the season, but may emerge here Monday night with a big play.

Floor – 4 points, Ceiling – 20 points (ppr scoring)

Tyler Lockett – Lockett has had a disappointing season, mostly because of an early injury. He has shown signs of life more recently though and had a breakout game last week against the Rams. Not many teams have had trouble scoring on Arizona of late and Lockett could put up back to back great games.

Floor – 7 points, Ceiling – 28 points (ppr scoring)

Good luck with your Championship aspirations, and if things don’t go your way, it is sure to be a fun time trying again next year!

Find me on Twitter @JamesWilk2

Share this: Reddit

Twitter

Facebook

LinkedIn

Tumblr

Pocket

Telegram

Pinterest

Skype

WhatsApp

Email

Print

