Good morning.

It’s wedding day for our buddy here in Mexico, so once again we’ll be a little brief with the newsletter. It’s another rough week on the waiver wire anyway, so hopefully you aren’t relying on a guy like Ameer Abdullah to lead you to the promised land.

WAIVER WIRE 🧐

(Roster %’s courtesy of Sleeper)

Running Back

Chargers RB Gus Edwards (28%) mustered just 2.0 fantasy points last night, but he could be in for a larger role if J.K. Dobbins misses time with a knee injury. Some might be tempted to grab rookie Kimani Vidal, too, but he’s fallen behind Hassan Haskins on the depth chart and likely isn’t worth a roster spot.

Commanders RB Jeremy McNichols (0%) could be in line to start if Brian Robinson Jr. (ankle) and Austin Ekeler (concussion) can’t go. McNichols has shown good burst this year, averaging nearly 5 YPC, and could be a viable spot start even if the team re-signs Chris Rodriguez to split with him.

Raiders RB Ameer Abdullah (33%) turned his 13 touches into 65 yards and a receiving TD on Sunday, filling in for the injured Alexander Mattison and Zamir White. If both miss again in Week 13, expect Abdullah to get a lot of receiving work again in a negative game script vs KC.

As always, be on the lookout for top tier handcuffs:

• Zach Charbonnet, SEA (48%)

• Tank Bigsby (43%)

• Jordan Mason (42%)

• Tyler Allgeier, ATL (38%)

• Roschon Johnson, CHI (37%)

• Trey Benson (35%)

• Justice Hill, BAL (33%)

• Braelon Allen, NYJ (31%)

• Cam Akers (28%)

• Blake Corum, LAR (21%)

• Ray Davis, BUF (21%)

• Jaylen Wright, MIA (15%)

• Khalil Herbert, CIN (15%)

Wide Receiver

Broncos WR Devaughn Vele (12%) saw a season-high nine targets on Sunday and finished with a career-best 80 receiving yards. He’s averaging 12.8 FPPG in his last three games and is clearly developing a strong connection with fellow rookie Bo Nix.

Colts WR Alec Pierce (26%) should get more run with Josh Downs (shoulder) out for Week 13 and Michael Pittman Jr. (back/shoulder) banged up in his own right. Pierce has played three games without one of Downs or Pittman this season. He has 12 receptions for 262 yards and three TDs in those contests, good for 18.7 fantasy points per game, per NBC Sports’ Kyle Dvorchak.

Ravens WR Rashod Bateman (39%) has remained ahead of Diontae Johnson as the WR2 in Baltimore. The volume hasn’t been there consistently for him, but Bateman’s been making big plays this season:

• Titans WR Nick Westbrook-Ikhine (20%) has six TDs in his last seven games. We keep saying there’s no way he’ll keep this up… but maybe he will?

• With Bryce Young looking much better lately, Panthers WRs Xavier Legette (47%), Adam Thielen (44%), Jalen Cooker (7%) and David Moore (0%) are worth an add.
  

• Check to see if more highly rostered guys like Browns WR Jerry Jeudy (74%), Bears WR Rome Odunze (74%), Bills WR Keon Coleman (61%), and Patriots WR DeMario Douglas (50%) are available, too. They would take priority over the other WRs mentioned above.

QB & TE

Titans QB Will Levis (17%) is averaging 16.9 fantasy points per game since returning to the starting lineup in Week 10. The schedule sets up quite nicely for him to have a strong finish with matchups against the Commanders, Jaguars, Bengals, Colts and Jags (again) up next. Each of those squads ranks in the bottom half of the league against fantasy QBs in 2024, per NFL.com’s Dan Parr.

Bears QB Caleb Williams (53%) is averaging 21.6 fantasy points per game over the last two weeks with new OC Thomas Brown calling the plays. He’s also gone 5 straight games with zero turnovers and nearly 200 pass attempts without an INT, per Ben Devine.

Patriots QB Drake Maye (30%) has finished as a top-16 QB in every game he has finished. He has at least one TD in all seven starts and is adding 39 yards per week on the ground, per Kyle Dvorchak.

Commanders TE Zach Ertz (63%) ran the most routes among all Washington pass-catchers on Sunday and saw the second-most targets (8), per Yahoo’s Andy Behrens. He’s also found the end zone in back-to-back games.

Cowboys TE Luke Schoonmaker (19%) has done well in Jake Ferguson’s absence, catching nine passes for 111 yards and a TD over the last two weeks. Ferguson’s at risk of missing Dallas’ Thanksgiving matchup against the Giants, making Schoonmaker a solid streamer once again.

• Patriots TE Hunter Henry (54%) is a regular on this list. He’s hit 9.4+ fantasy points and 41+ yards in six of his first seven games with Maye as the starter.
  

• Chiefs TE Noah Gray (6%) has four TDs in the last two weeks.
  

• Giants TE Theo Johnson (6%) has a 21% target share and a 23% air yard share over his past three games. He has three top-20 finishes and a TE1 performance, per Kyle Dvorchak.

POLL 📊

QUICK SLANTS 👀

For a more in-depth breakdown of some waiver adds, check out these must-read weekly columns:

📖 The Waiver Wire: 2024 Week 13 by the staff at Fantasy Points

📖 Fantasy Football Week 13: Waiver Wire Pickups by Yahoo’s Andy Behrens

📖 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire, Week 13 by NBC Sports’ Kyle Dvorchak

TWEET OF THE DAY

Before we go, send your well wishes to a dozen of us who got food poisoning here in Mexico. Those beef tostadas have ruined my vacation more than starting Isaiah Likely did.

See you Thursday.

- Marcus