Could last-minute adds Isaiah Likely, Rashid Shaheed deliver in Week 12?
Fantasy Football Live’s Andy Behrens and Matt Harmon break down the top trending players who are being added ahead of Week 12.
Video Transcript
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ANDY BEHRENS: Good morning, good people. It is Week 12. We trust you had a lovely Thanksgiving. But now that we're between the holidays, I expect your full focus on fantasy football for a little while here. I'm Andy Behrens, joined by the great Matt Harmon, and we are here to help you set the best possible lineups. We're going to take a look at the latest transaction trends in Yahoo leagues. You can follow along. Just go to the research tab, then transaction trends. Scroll along with us. Matt, what or who jumps out to you this week?
MATT HARMON: Well, Isaiah Likely, as of right now, is the most added player across Yahoo Fantasy, which is not unsurprising, considering that Mark Andrews, who's also been added, I would say, a suspiciously large amount of time, weirdly--
ANDY BEHRENS: Yes.
MATT HARMON: --this morning. You know, maybe there's some hope that people think he's going to come back. We'll see about all that. But, look, Isaiah Likely, has been added a ton. You know, I get it Mark Andrews is going to miss some time here. This is a very good offense with a very good quarterback. And Likely I still think is a pretty good player, but, Andy, we have seen-- over the course of his two-year career here-- when he's been asked to just like step up in the obvious spots where Mark Andrews is not going to play, it hasn't gone particularly well, including a zero catch performance last week on Thursday night against the Bengals, after Mark Andrews got hurt very early in that game. I still-- again, I'm not talking people out of adding Isaiah Likely, I just don't think he immediately vaults to must start, clear cut tight end one status because this is a very different offense, right. Like, last year, it was still the Greg Roman tight end-heavy, very condensed, heavy personnel packages, where tight ends were, kind of, the featured piece there.
Mark Andrews has obviously been his usual productive and awesome self, but this offense has still flowed through more receivers than usual. I expect Zay Flowers to really step up in the back half of the season. I actually, kind of, think his upside is still being discounted because people don't realize he can beat man coverage in that intermediate area. Odell Beckham has been added a pretty decent amount of times so far over the weekend and that one does make sense to me. It does sound like he is going to play in this game, which is good because he's been, kind of, on a little bit of a heater like in terms of aging Odell Beckham, adjusted expectations. He's been on a little bit of a heater. And obviously this Chargers pass defense is one to not be reckoned with. So I think these receivers can actually show that they are the focal point of this offense here on Sunday night in Week 12.
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah, Isaiah Likely-- all of the routes and basically none of the targets in his last game. So I fundamentally agree with you there. I'm looking at Rashid Shaheed pretty high up on this list. I was actually hoping that he would remain rostered in a low enough percentage of leagues that I could write about him a little bit this week. But he's crept up over 50%. He was quiet in Week 10 ahead of his bye, but he saw nine targets, which is plenty promising. Obviously, Michael Thomas is going to be missing a little bit of time with the knee issue, which frees up a few more targets, some of which will travel to Shaheed. He is one of the league's most dangerous vertical threats, a guy with elite speed and really a corresponding aDOT, almost 16 yards.
The nature of his targets, obviously, makes him a little bit of a boom or bust play. That should be fairly obvious. But when he hits, it's like 80, 100, 120 yards and a long touchdown. We like guys like that as our flexes, as our wide receiver 3's. They can win your week for you. So take a look for-- at the wire. Maybe scope out the name Shaheed, if it's there. Snatch him up. If you're in a league where he's available, I think you should address that oversight right now. Let's go browse those waiver wires just generally, make sure all the good stuff is rostered, and let's go get a win in Week 12.
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