Welcome to the fantasy football corner of Prime Time Sports Talk! Weekly evaluations of players on the waiver wire, who to scoop up and who to drop. Also, keeping you updated on those menacing bye weeks and who to lock into your lineup heading into Sunday.
Week 11
Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, New York Jets, and the San Francisco 49ers
Waiver Wire Targets
Nelson Agholor, WR: Agholor’s 2017 campaign saved him from the dreadful “first round bust” title. Unfortunately, he has slid right back into his marginal ways this year. Agholor is a safe bet to get between six and ten points a week, providing a nice reliable flex play. As the season goes on and the waiver wire gets depleted, finding gems that can save your season can be difficult. The Eagles play the Saint this week, and if anything goes down in the Superdome between two stellar quarterbacks, it’s a shootout. Agholor has a chance to put up big numbers this week with the Eagles season on the line. He might also be worth a roster spot for the remainder of the season because he’s the safe bet.
Jeff Heuerman, TE: Breakout candidate of the week? A little late for that. Heuerman had a huge day right before the Broncos bye week, hauling in 10 catches for 83 yards and a touchdown. After seeing that performance, the Broncos coaching staff surely tried to work him into the offense more during the off week. Case Keenum needs somebody in the middle of the field who he can trust. A coincidence that Keenum found a new security blanket right after the depart of Demaryius Thomas, doubtful. Heuerman is here to stay and is worth a pickup.
Looking Ahead of Week 10
Andy Dalton, QB: Let’s just face it, the number one and No. 3 ranked quarterbacks in Patrick Mahomes and Jared Goff are both on bye next week. You could pick up any number of quarterbacks and still not be satisfied. The red rifle has the best chance to not ruin your Sunday and absolutely crush all fantasy hope for a late playoff push or trying to retain the precious first round bye. Dalton has everything going for him in week 12. They play the Browns, they’re at home, it is certainly not a primetime game, and AJ Green should be returning from injury. The stars have aligned for none other than Andy Dalton to protect and save your fantasy season when Mahomes and Goff are enjoying their week off.
Seattle Seahawks D/ST: The Legion of Boom is not what it once was, consistently being a top fantasy defense. This year, however, they rank in the middle of the pack at 16th. Their divisional foe, the L.A. Rams rank fourth overall. Coincidently, they have a bye week coming up in week 12, and the Seahawks are playing against an injury-riddled 49ers team. Do your homework and you’ll see that the Seahawks have garnered monster numbers against weak offensive threats. Plug and play value has never seen a low-risk-high-reward opportunity like this defense. Snag the Hawks early enough, and you won’t be scrambling for a bottom of the barrel defense next week.
Lineup Locks
Kenny Golladay, WR: Production for Golladay has noticeably dropped since the beginning of the season. He started off red-hot and quieted Marvin Jones Jr. dependency quite a bit, but the trend flipped recently. Now with Golden Tate in an Eagles uniform and Jones Jr. questionable with a bone bruise, look for Matthew Stafford to fall into his old habit of leaning on his big bodied athletic receiver. Although the Panthers have a historically good defense, they did just get smoked by Pittsburg through the air. Antonio Brown and Juju Smith-Schuster had a field day last Thursday night, so have confidence when plugging Golladay into your lineup this week.
Tyler Boyd, WR: Boyd knocked the socks off the Ravens in week two, posting six catches for 91 yards and a score. Seemingly the only healthy wide receiver for the Bengals this week, Boyd will have another opportunity to smother the Ravens secondary. The chemistry between Boyd and Dalton has grown over the season, especially in the red zone. With a divisional matchup this late in the season and AJ Green and John Ross hampered by injury, Dalton will look to his guy countless times this week and he should be in every lineup. Don’t be afraid of the Ravens defense, for the Bengals to have a shot in this game, they’ve got to throw the ball.
Weekly Flyer
Lamar Jackson, QB: Post draft, analysts said that Ravens fans would be chanting Lamar Jackson’s name by Thanksgiving in large part due to the lack of success from Joe Flacco. This season, however, Flacco answered the bell and proved he is still the franchise quarterback. The Ravens sprinkled Jackson into the lineup more than expected with packages designed for him in the first half of the year. Due to an injured hip, this may be the first time we see Jackson start a game and play every snap. If Flacco can’t go, which is highly unlikely, get Jackson under center and let the fireworks show begin. This guy is electric and won’t disappoint. I like the matchup versus the Bengals as well, at home, fans will be going nuts to see their first-round investment get to work.
