WEEK 16: PLAYOFF SEMIFINALS WAIVER WIRE ADDS
Every Tuesday (or Wednesday), I will be bringing to light the best potential waiver wire additions across fantasy football. Let’s begin with some basic principles for each article and some of the qualifiers that will be used each week. First off, the minimum rostered percentage threshold that I will be using is 50%, so any player that is rostered in ESPN leagues above that percentage will not be written about (until near the end of the season when it gets harder to wade through the constantly thinning waiver wire.) Second, not all waiver wire additions are created equal and all are dependent on the roster you have. Each week I will be writing about players and the potential they bring to your fantasy roster, but I obviously don’t know who is on your team or what you may need in terms of roster construction. If I say a quarterback is the top waiver wire addition for the week, and you have Patrick Mahomes, that doesn’t mean you need to add that player to your team while dropping a potentially valuable player in order to do so. Third, I will frequently be using the abbreviation FAB, which refers to Free Agent Budget. This refers to the potential amount you might spend to acquire someone off the waiver wire if your league has that as a part of their system.
Ronald Jones- Running Back, TB
ESPN Roster Percentage- 23.4%
As has been the story all season long, we head into the 2nd week of playoffs and our priority is replacing injured players as well as the workload they leave behind on the bench. Leonard Fournette suffered a hamstring injury in the Bucs game Sunday night and is expected to miss 1-2 games; he could miss potentially even more if he ends up on the IR. Ronald Jones is the clear and obvious replacement for Fournette and will likely be the lead back to finish out the season for the Bucs. I don’t expect the workload to be the same, but it will definitely be leaning in the favor of Jones. He is the highest priority add this week and is worthy of whatever FAB you have left.
Samaje Perine- Running Back, CIN
ESPN Roster Percentage- 8.7%
Joe Mixon is dealing with an ankle injury and may not be available for the Bengals in Week 16. If Mixon is unable to suit up, Perine would be the next man up. There isn’t much analysis outside of the workload argument for Perine and that should be good enough for fantasy managers looking for the injury fill in. Continue to stay alert on all Mixon related news, and make your own decision as to what you want to do with Perine.
Some other players to have on your radar as we get more injury/covid related news are Justin Jackson (RB-LAC) and Ke’Shawn Vaughn (RB-TB). Austin Ekeler may be out on the Covid-IR and will be waiting for more news to continue into the week. Vaughn is a speculative add in case we see more of a timeshare with Ronald Jones.
