5 players to prioritize on the waiver wire for Week 13

It’s often easy to find yourself overwhelmed each week as you look at the waiver wire, wondering which player—or players, mind you—you should be adding to your fantasy football roster and spending your precious FAAB money on. All I hope with this article is that I can help you step away from the crippling panic you may find yourself in, and offer some clarity as to who deserves your FAAB money and attention this week on waivers.

Here are my top five waiver priorities for Week 13, in order, along with what percentage of your FAAB I think you should be directing towards them (percent rostered in Yahoo leagues, under 50% rostered).

Quick note, if Deebo Samuel is available in your league, he MUST be your top priority this week. HE SIMPLY MUST!

1. Frank Gore (25% rostered, 10% FAAB budget)

What is dead may never die. Gore made the list last week and now he headlines it this week because a) somehow he’s still doing fantasy worthy things and b) because the waiver wire is picked pretty thin at this point. With rookie La’Mycal Perine on IR, the Jets’ backfield is just Gore’s and that is how known insane man Adam Gase likes it. The Inconvenient Truth faces the Raiders’ 4th worst run defense Sunday which means he’s well worth rostering and adding for Week 13.

2, Keke Coutee (2% rostered, 10% FAAB budget)

With Will Fuller now suspended for the rest of the season, the Texans’ receiver core is severely lacking. It’s basically Brandin Cooks and Keke Coutee. Yea, don’t forget, Randall Cobb is injured and they literally just released Kenny Stills. That move looks dumb now. Coutee has had small games so far filling in for Cobb but now thrust in as Deshaun Watson’s number two receiver, he’s likely to see a ton more work. Volume is king in fantasy and Coutee might be stepping into a lot of it.

3. Cam Akers (30% rostered, 10% FAAB budget)

I really wanted to rank Akers higher, mainly in the hopes that his emergence—and Jared Goff’s recent struggles—might finally force Sean McVay into operating with a one-man backfield. But alas, I don’t trust that. So instead, I’ll say that Akers has scored a touchdown in each of his last two games and was by far the most productive back for the Rams Sundays agains the 49ers. He still only played 27% of the snaps, but that number might start climbing given his recent performances. He’s well worth rostering.

4. Nelson Agholor (43% rostered, 10% FAAB budget)

Derek Carr had an absolute trash game agains the Falcons Sunday, yet Agholor was still able to go 5/6-54. This marks the fourth time in the last six games that Agholor has gone over 50 yards receiving and he scored a touchdown in three of those games. I fully expect the Raiders offense and specifically Carr to bounce back in a major way against the Jets in Week 13. And with Josh Jacobs banged up, we could see Las Vegas rely more on their passing game which would be a nice bump for Agholor.

5. Alexander Mattison (32% rostered, 8% FAAB budget)

This is a precautionary tale more than anything. We saw Dalvin Cook leave Sunday’s game against the Panthers for a brief moment and during that time, Mattison became the hottest waiver add in all the land. Then Cook came back and that shutdown the hundreds of article drafts ranking Mattison as the top guy to get for Week 13. Still, if you have the roster space and can snag Mattison now, do so. If Cook were to get injured, Mattison would instantly be a weekly RB1 and having that on your team already is a much better situation to be in than having to battle with the rest of your league mates.