Top fantasy football waiver wire pickups for Week 16

The fantasy season is almost over and with that, the waiver wire is likely incredibly thin. Unless your league is filled with people who, once they’ve fallen out of playoff contention, just release their entire roster because they like to watch the world burn. Those people are the worst.

But I’m assuming that your league is not filled with cold hearted people and instead is filled with good people who keep their rosters intact even when they no longer are fighting for a championship. Besides, they might be fighting for not last place.

Anyways, since the waiver wire is probably pretty thin, and there’s really no reason to stash or play guys who might have breakout games, I’ve done away with my normal under 50% ownership and instead give you players who are possibly still unowned in your league, but are plug-and-play guys; Guys who you can trust will produce in your lineup. Let’s get it (percent owned in Yahoo leagues).

QB Nick Foles, Philadelphia Eagles (26 percent owned)

How about Nick Foles’ return to the football world? Not bad! Now, I can’t say I have the utmost confidence in your championship chances if you’re looking for a quarterback right now, but maybe you’re already a Foles owner and want to see if he’s worth keeping. He is. The Eagles play the Raiders next and their defense is....not great as we’ve seen plenty of times this season. Stay aboard the Foles train.

RB Aaron Jones, Green Bay Packers (26 percent owned)

Jamaal Williams will likely still see a fair amount of the workload in Green Bay but Jones is the home run hitter of the two backs, as evidenced by his 53 yards on only four carries. There’s a lot still up in the air for the Packers but their loss against the Panthers did a lot of damage to their playoff hopes and given how Aaron Rodgers looked, maybe the Packers think about resting him and going back to Hundley. If so, Packers’ running backs are very valuable.

RB Mike Gillislee, New England Patriots (27 percent owned)

Sexy Rexy tweaked his knee last night and while it’s not believed to be an ACL injury, he still could miss time. Dion Lewis seems firmly entrenched as the Patriots starting running back but Rex Burkhead was their red zone back. Welcome Mike Gillislee. Remember the guy who scored three touchdowns in Week 1 and then was never heard from again? Yea, don’t be surprised if he makes a reemergence.

WR Robert Woods, Los Angeles Rams (75 percent owned)

After missing time with a shoulder injury, Woods returned Sunday for the Rams and instantly took back his number one receiver status. He led the team in targets, receptions, receiving yards and tied Todd Gurley in receiving touchdowns. The Rams now take on the Titans, a defense that just gave up 381 yards to Jimmy Garoppolo and the 49ers. Woods is an excellent plug-and-play guy this week.

WR Martavis Bryant, Pittsburgh Steelers (56 percent owned)

Originally I was going to put JuJu Smith-Schuster on this list but he’s 85 percent owned and I figured that was a little high. But that’s not to say don’t get him if he’s available in your league. Get both of these guys if you can. With Antonio Brown going down Sunday with a partially torn calf, it sounds like he’ll miss the rest of the regular season. Did you just lose Brown? Get yourself Bryant. Bryant caught four balls for 59 yards and a touchdown against the Patriots and two of those catches were very impressive snags. Smith-Schuster had an even bigger game with six catches for 114 yards. The Steelers offense is now going to have to go through someone else (other than Le’Veon Bell of course who somehow is still chugging along despite the insane workload Pittsburgh has given him) and both these receivers are great options.

WR Randall Cobb, Green Bay Packers (53 percent owned)

The biggest winner from Rodgers’ return Sunday was Randall Cobb who had his second best game of the season, catching seven balls for 84 yards and a touchdown. Rodgers was force feeding the ball to Cobb all afternoon, clearly trying to get him more involved in the offense. Again, I’ll be curious to see what the Packers decide to do at the quarterback position moving forward, but if they stick with Rodgers, Cobb is a must add.

WR Mike Wallace, Baltimore Ravens (40 percent owned)

Wallace has been very consistent the last few weeks and has been benefiting from Baltimore’s suddenly explosive offense. It’s weird writing “Baltimore Ravens” and “explosive offense” in the same sentence, but here I am. As an added reason to go get him, the Ravens face the Colts next week. Wallace could be in for a BIG game.

TE Eric Ebron, Detroit Lions (42 percent owned)

Ebron has at least four catches and 30 yards in each of the last five games and that likely won’t stop against a Bengals team that has completely given up on the season. Whether you need a starting tight end for the rest of the season (the two games that are left) or just as a streaming option, Ebron has had the hot hand recently and I certainly see that continuing.