2 days Ago By Alex Kay
The 2024 fantasy football regular season is rapidly barreling toward its conclusion. Even if you are one of the fortunate managers who have already clinched a playoff spot, it's not time to sit back and relax. Playing the waiver wire remains of critical importance, especially since there are only a handful of serviceable free agents up for grabs and many rival managers seeking to secure them.
The running back position in particular has seen a noticeable lack of shakeup this year. With most of the league's starting backs staying healthier than usual and producing at a level that hasn't cost them their jobs, managers can't afford to wait around for backups to emerge. Stashing handcuffs and next-in-line types is now imperative.
Having a bench spot for a high-upside No. 2 RB who is one injury away from a starring role might be the difference being securing a championship and having your season end early. While you'll still want to patch glaring holes to get through the final stretch of byes, be sure to heavily weight the future and your impending playoff trip when making waiver claims for Week 12.
Fantasy points and rankings courtesy of FantasyPros ' PPR data taken prior to the weeks' Monday Night Football matchup. Suggested free-agent acquisition budget (FAAB) bids are based on a $100 dollar starting budget. Suggested FAAB Bid: $2-4 Anthony Richardson is back in action just two weeks after being benched for a disappointing performance against the Houston Texans.
While the Indianapolis Colts coaching staff made it appear that Joe Flacco would be at the reins for the remainder of the 2024 NFL season, things clearly changed as the sophomore signal-caller was back in the starting lineup for the team's Week 11 matchup. That stint on the pine appears to have lit a fire under Richardson, who had his best fantasy performance of the campaign in a victory over the New York Jets. Richardson completed 20-of-30 passes for 272 yards and a score while adding another 32 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
Richardson's 28.1 fantasy points equated to a QB4 finish, matching his season-high from Week 1. While the quarterback did get docked for losing a fumble, he notably avoided throwing any interceptions after racking up seven across his first six starts of 2024.
Richardson will get a chance to show further improvement against the Denver Broncos in Week 12. While Denver's potent defense certainly isn't an ideal matchup for Indy's offense, the dual-threat QB's unique skill set gives him top-five upside whenever he's on the field regardless of opponent. Whether you need a new starter for the long haul, want a bye week replacement or simply want to bolster your QB depth, Richardson is one of the stronger adds of Week 12.
He won't be available in many leagues after waivers process, so get a claim in now before it's too late. Suggested FAAB Bid: $3-5 After being traded to the Minnesota Vikings a month ago, Cam Akers has steadily climbed the depth chart since and is coming off his most productive game with the organization yet. Akers finished Week 11 having rushed 10 times for 25 yards and catching both his targets for 11 yards and a score.
The running back's 11.6 fantasy points were his second-most of 2024 and resulted in his first top-20 finish since the 2022 campaign concluded. While Akers isn't posting the type of eye-popping numbers he occasionally flashed during his tenure with the Los Angeles Rams, he's well-positioned to have a tangible impact on the upcoming fantasy playoffs.
In Week 11, Akers was on the field for 37 percent of Minnesota's offensive snaps (27 in total). This marked the most playing time he's seen since landing with the Vikings and indicates he's the clear-cut No. 2 option behind veteran Aaron Jones in the backfield pecking order.
With Jones underwhelming—he had just 43 yards on 16 touches in addition to a fumble on his 39 offensive snaps against the Tennessee Titans this past Sunday—Akers could push for a larger share of the workload going forward. Scheduling is also in Akers' favor. The Vikings face off against several run defenses that rank in the bottom half of the league over the next few games, starting in Week 12 with the Chicago Bears and followed by the Arizona Cardinals in Week 13.
Akers is a great speculative add for managers lacking depth at the RB position. He's not much more than a weak flex play outside of the deepest leagues for now, but he should gain steam as he grows more comfortable in Minnesota's system. He's well worth a waiver claim once you factor in his handcuff value and chances of seeing heavy volume if Jones were to suffer an injury.
Suggested FAAB Bid: $1-3 Trey Benson's first NFL season may have gotten off to a rocky start, but the Arizona Cardinals running back is finally starting to make some waves. After recording a mere 17 touches between Weeks 3 and 8, Benson began to break out in Week 9. He rushed for 37 yards and his first professional touchdown on just eight carries and caught his lone target for another 18 yards.
He followed that up with an equally strong Week 10 showing, one that saw him pick up 62 yards on 10 totes and reel in two catches for 25 yards. While Benson is still clearly the No. 2 option behind veteran James Conner—whose commendable play was a key factor in why the backup saw such sparse utilization early on—it seems Arizona now wants to get both players involved in the offense.
With back-to-back double-digit games and a pair of top-25 finishes under his belt, Benson is playing well enough to warrant a spot on far more than the 18 percent of rosters he's currently found on. If he comes out of the bye and plays well against the Seattle Seahawks—a team that allows nearly 20 fantasy points per game to opposing running backs—Benson will be one of the hotter waiver pickups going into Week 13. Get ahead of the rush and add Benson to your squad now.
His latest efforts not only merit flex consideration on their own accord, but he's also poised to become Arizona's feature back if Conner—who has never managed to avoid missing time in any of his seven prior NFL seasons—goes down with an injury. Suggested FAAB Bid: $5-7 Injuries and inconsistency have been the unfortunate story of Christian Watson's brief NFL career. Despite flashing his potential as a rookie, Watson has gone on to miss a slew of games and hasn't reached the elite ceiling that made him the Green Bay Packers' second-round pick in 2022.
It's too early to tell if Watson will ever get to that level consistently, but he showed another glimpse on Sunday when he went off against the Chicago Bears. Despite drawing just four targets in the Week 11 contest, Watson hauled in all of them and racked up a whopping 150 yards in the process. The highlight of that performance was a diving reception late in the fourth quarter that resulted in a 60-yard gain and set up Green Bay's game-winning touchdown over a bitter NFC North rival.
Although he didn't find paydirt against the Bears, Watson still finished with 15 fantasy points and a WR10 finish—his best marks of the 2024 season. If Watson can combine the volume he was starting to generate prior to Green Bay's Week 10 bye—he logged 13 targets in the two games leading up to it—with the type of production he had on Sunday, he'll become a league-winning waiver wire pickup. Even if Watson doesn't command a ton of targets over the final month-and-a-half of the fantasy campaign, he's still well worth adding to any WR-needy roster.
His big play capabilities make him a serviceable low-end WR3 or high-end WR4 with upside. Suggested FAAB Bid: $6-8 Managers who have been streaming tight ends off the waiver wire were finally thrown a bone in Week 11. With Taysom Hill, Jonnu Smith, Noah Gray, Zach Ertz and Will Dissly all exploding, five of fantasy's top-seven scoring TEs were all widely available in the free-agent pool and remain so going into Week 12.
While Hill has been a frequent suggestion in this spot, he's now rostered in 53 percent of leagues and no longer qualifies. He's certainly worth an add if he's still up for grabs following his incredible 42.5-point day, but unfortunately, his New Orleans Saints are heading into a Week 12 bye and managers will need to find an alternative.
Dissly fits the bill and looks in line to build upon his solid TE7 finish (which matched his season-high) and 18 fantasy points, the most he's put up since a breakout stretch with the Seattle Seahawks back in 2019. Dissly has established a steady rapport with quarterback Justin Herbert, who has been leaning on the big tight end more often in recent weeks. That chemistry has been on display more frequently lately and this latest performance certainly didn't come out of nowhere.
According to FantasyPros' Derek Brown , Dissly has posted a 62.1 percent route share, 21.3 percent target share and 22.
9 percent first-read share since Week 6. He's seen at least five targets in all but one contest since the team's Week 5 bye and finally punched in his long-awaited first touchdown as a Charger this weekend. With a soft schedule that includes three consecutive matchups against teams that rank in the bottom 11 against the tight end position, tight end streamers can scoop up Dissly and deploy him with confidence over that stretch.
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