Frey’s Fantasy Focus: Week 16 Waiver Wire
Josh Frey
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It’s championship week for a lot of fantasy players, so this is for all the marbles. Choices you make this week could dictate winning the entire league or coming up just short. Here are a few players from the waiver wire that I would consider streaming this week if you aren’t confident in a matchup.
Tony Pollard- Cowboys RB (46.8%)
Pollard got the start over Ezekiel Elliott while Elliott nursed a sore calf. And wow, did he impress. Pollard scored twice and racked up over 130 scrimmage yards. Granted, it was against a San Francisco defense that has been hit hard by injuries all season. That said, you all saw the same thing I did last week. The Cowboys’ offense looks so much more fluid with Pollard on the field than Elliott. Whether that’s because he’s hurt, or he’s stressing without Dak cannot be said.
What can be said is that should Elliott miss another game, Pollard is the lead back going against Philly. The Eagles’ defense, while improving, is still not very good against the run. They have allowed over 130 rushing yards eight times this season, and they are in the bottom five in rushing touchdowns allowed.
Zach Moss- Bills RB (42.4%)
One of the biggest issues during the recent demise of New England has been their run defense. In the last two weeks since beating the Chargers 45-0, the Patriots have allowed a combined 436 yards on the ground. They also gave up 190 yards in the previous game against Buffalo, and Zach Moss earned 81 of those yards.
There are two question marks surrounding Moss right now. One, how many touches will he get, and two, will he get into the endzone? Well, in the last two weeks, Moss has earned 13 carries in each game. He seems to have taken the reins from Devin Singletary as the lead back in Buffalo. As for touchdowns, the last time Buffalo played New England, Moss also scored twice. Things seem to be trending towards Moss having a big day this week, so consider picking him up.
Sammy Watkins- Chiefs WR (35.8%)
This is definitely a risky choice given how many weapons Kansas City has. Even so, since coming back from injury, Watkins has been targeted six or more times in three of four games. The biggest problem here is the fact that he hasn’t found the end zone yet. He hasn’t scored since week five against Las Vegas, but there is reason to hold out hope this week.
Kansas City plays the Atlanta Falcons; a team that has given up 28 passing touchdowns this year. I don’t know how valid this next point is, but Atlanta also seems to give up touchdowns to players that you wouldn’t expect. For example, last week against Tampa Bay, it wasn’t Mike Evans scoring, it was Antonio Brown (for the first time this year). Against New Orleans, it wasn’t Michael Thomas, it was Tre’Quan Smith. Against Denver, it was Jerry Jeudy, who has just two touchdowns all season. See what I mean? All bets are off as to who will get touchdowns against the Falcons.
Rashard Higgins- Browns WR (21.6%)
Higgins has had a nice bump in production the past few weeks after becoming Cleveland’s number two receiver. While he didn’t score last week, he still caught four balls for 76 yards and had gotten into the end zone in the two previous games.
With a matchup against the Jets, who give up the eighth most fantasy points to wide receivers, Higgins should get a healthy amount of targets. It wouldn’t be surprising if he returned to the end zone again, too. The Jets are bottom three in the league in both passing yards allowed and passing touchdowns allowed.