Aaron Rodgers

Week 14 fantasy football playoff waiver wire and 2016 keepers thoughts

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 4:14 p.m. ET

Ryan Fowler

It’s Week 14 and the fantasy football playoffs are finally upon (most of) us. How many of the Pro Bowl Fantasy Football All-IR/Out roster were/are on your roster?

No question, the injury bug bit hard in 2015 and because of that, the Week 14 waiver wire is picked over. Hopefully, you’ve been following my weekly fantasy football waiver wire suggestions and read mid-November fantasy football playoff matchup strategy feature. If so, you were able to make educated chess moves like adding a Blake Bortles, Ameer Abdullah or loading up on the Chiefs’ top skill position players. Looking at early-week 14 waiver wire claims, the top picks, Doug Baldwin and Shaun Draughn, are hovering near 50 percent ownership.

On the December 8th edition of the Fantasy 15 podcast, John Halpin and I bantered back and forth on a few would-you-rather add, start, stream, etc. You can listen to it here:

I’ll say this, based on his rest-of-season schedule if you’re struggling to trust your starting fantasy quarterback week-in and week-out, look at Ryan Fitzpatrick. With matchups against the Titans, Cowboys and Patriots and Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker relatively healthy, Fitzmagic should finish the next three weeks ranked as a top 12 quarterback aka QB1.

Speaking of the Jets, I’m adding Bilal Powell as a PPR-league FLEX flier where I need a miracle to pull off an upset. The Titans are solid against the rush. In fact, they allow the fourth-fewest fantasy points per game to opposing running backs. When Chris Ivory struggles to get going, the Jets have historically leaned on Powell. Coming off a big game where he caught eight passes for 91 yards against the Giants, Powell may be more appealing, but I doubt his 2.2 percent ownership jumps to above 10 percent. It’s the PPR ceiling and known fact that Ivory can struggle at the most inopportune times that make Powell a waiver target.

For those interested in flirting with the Patriots’ options behind LeGarrette Blount, James White and Brandon Bolden, here’s a quick refresher of the past three games:

Remember, “The Hoodie” doesn’t care about your fantasy team. He does, however, have few options in the passing game. Public, reported opinion suggest Brandon LaFell dropped the ball and the opportunity with Julian Edelman, Dion Lewis and Rob Gronkowski all sidelined. The receiver really didn’t step up and (assume) forced Josh McDaniels to get creative in passing downs. Thus, the emergence of White against the Eagles.