Week 16 Waiver Wire Pickups to Trash
Wow. What a week of football; injuries, upsets, unexpected blowups. Hopefully, you have a little bit of FAAB left. You could find yourself in much peril after injuries to key players and uncertainty with two games going up on a Tuesday. Thankfully amongst all the trash, there will be gems found throughout the waiver wire for Week 16. However, let me help you check yourself before you wreck yourself as to which ones to avoid moving forward so you can get your Bobblehead installed on the 2021 trophy.
Unfortunately, we won’t have all the results for my Week 15 picks. However, you might feel as if I had some poor decisions on the two players who did see action.
I apologize for nothing.
If you predicted the Lions would blow out the Cardinals while rushing on 9.3 more attempts than their season average, congratulations. If you expected the Cardinals would allow over 100 yards to the second running back on the season and the first since Week 2, once again, congratulations. However, with Jamaal Williams returning from COVID and D’Andre Swift resuming practice, I hope you didn’t throw all your FAAB at a guy who got you 12.7 points.
As for Robby Anderson, ya’ll sound like a broken record. Spare me, please. Anderson has nine games of six or more targets. Week 14 was the only one where he accumulated 50-plus yards receiving. It’s embarrassing.
I don’t care about his three receptions on eight targets or his robust schedule moving forward—I’m over it. Let’s dive into Week 16.
Don’t Trust Rookies
Your season is on the line. Only two games left till you take home the coveted Championship Trophy. Yet, you want to put it on a rookie who has given you two WR3 performances or better on the entire season? Not great, especially when his matchups are against the Bengals and Rams.
That’s right. I’m talking about everyone’s stud receiver, Rashod Bateman. Sure, Bateman has occasionally seen a decent amount of targets, but he’s not developed enough to be able to create space when defenses want to eliminate him.
Even when Bateman saw the best possible game script against the Bengals in Week 7, he was still only able to get you 11 points. Playing rookies in the playoffs is a dangerous game, and although I could be wrong, I’d rather pivot to a waiver pickup with a much higher floor. Bateman is a player who could turn your team to trash by picking him up off the waiver wire and playing him in Week 16 or 17. So don’t look in the Mirror come Tuesday and feel like a loser.
Streaming the Wrong Waiver Quarterback will Turn Your Team to Trash
Streaming a quarterback for Week 16 was the right idea. Eight of the top 12 quarterbacks were likely sitting on waivers waiting for you to snatch them. Unfortunately, there were also a handful of streamers who ruined your chances to make the next round.
Big Ben Roethlisberger is that guy for Week 16.
Although Roethlisberger might not have lost you Week 15, he left you wanting more. Unfortunately, he will likely do the same versus the Chiefs, who have been stomping the faces of quarterbacks since Week 5. They haven’t allowed a single quarterback to eclipse over 275 yards or two touchdowns during their hot streak while snatching at least one interception in each contest.
Sure, Justin Herbert put up decent numbers in Week 15 for fantasy, but a 57.9-percent completion rate, while rushing for one touchdown is not what you want to see. In addition, Roethlisberger is no Herbert.
Roethlisberger is trash for the Week 16 waiver wire and should not be played in any format.
Two-for-One
Brian Schottenheimer has spent 12 seasons as an offensive coordinator. Only three of those seasons has a quarterback topped 3,500 yards passing. In comparison, we enter Week 16 with nine (!) quarterbacks doing it on the season. The only quarterback who broke 4,000 yards was Russell Wilson, who did it in two of the three. Running the ball more often while taking it out of Trevor Lawrence’s hands is likely the best recipe for his development. However, someone must be smoking crack to stream Lawrence in Week 16 as he is the epitome of waiver wire trash.
The idea surrounding Lawrence being able to fly like a peacock with Urban Myer gone is cute and all. However, rolling him out in Week 16 is likely to get you killed. You might think you’re a lion about to feast on a tuna, but in all reality, a lion off the coast of South Africa has no chance against an 800-pound tuna and 20-30 of his friends while trying to swim through 20-foot waves.
You lose that battle nine times out of ten.
The tuna has now developed a taste for lion. They have communicated and established a beachhead to aggressively hunt the rest of your fantasy team. Assuming you thought Lawrence was a good idea likely meant you’re targeting Laquon Treadwell in an attempt to maximize the fantasy output. Not good news.
Those tuna will now construct a series of breathing apparatus lasting them for an hour or two. As your opponent crushes your entire squad anchored by Lawrence and his 20 passing attempts, you have to ask yourself one question: did that go the way you thought it was going to go?
Well, now you have your answer. Treadwell and Lawrence are both trash for the Week 16 waiver pickups.
& they say size doesn’t matter… 👀😂
— TrophySmack (@TrophySmack) December 20, 2021
Congrats to these champs!! 😁#TrophySmack #PGA #LAbowl #Champions pic.twitter.com/GyMSGLgEwi
Imagine beating Tiger Woods only to get the belt on the left.
Now that I have completely stolen a scene from The Other Guys, I wish you luck in getting one step closer to the Title Belt.
To check out more movie quotes applied to fantasy football in completely nonsensical and outlandish ways, be sure to check Chase Vernon out on Twitter.
