Fantasy football waiver wire pickups - Week 14
Yahoo Sports’ Andy Behrens and Matt Harmon explain why fantasy managers should add Ravens QB Tyler Huntley and Texans WR Nico Collins this week.
Video Transcript
MATT HARMON: All right, we're heading into week 14. And Andy, what-- we have been slighted. We have been just thrown-- cast aside. We have been dismantled by the NFL with this week 14 bye here in fantasy football crunch time. So the people need-- they absolutely need some folks to come through on waivers for week 14 for their playoff push. So let's give them some options to pick up.
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah, listen, we got injuries out there. That's enough of a problem. But this feels like an attack. Like--
MATT HARMON: It does.
ANDY BEHRENS: --six teams on bye in week 14 feels like a legitimate attack by the NFL on the fantasy community. It's not fair. It deserves certainly plenty of consternation. It is a problem. But we do have some answers for you. One of them probably Tyler Huntley. Obviously Lamar Jackson goes out with a knee injury in week 13. Huntley is somebody who we saw plenty of him last season. He had four starts. In each of those starts, the man rushed for at least 40 yards. A couple of those games, 70+ rushing yards. He obviously scored the game winning touchdown on the ground in week 13. That is part of his game. Is he as imaginative and as explosive a runner as Lamar Jackson? No. There's not a lot of those guys out there. But he'll do it, and he can do it reasonably well. Can he deliver passing stats that are roughly in line with at least what you were getting from Lamar Jackson? Yeah, I think that's also a possibility. We pretty much know that Lamar is not going to be good to go in week 14. We don't know his timeline beyond that just yet. But this schedule down the stretch for the Ravens is plenty friendly. It's Pittsburgh. It's Cleveland. It's Atlanta. It's Pittsburgh again. So, for however long Tyler Huntley starts, he's got the profile of somebody who can definitely finish inside the top 12 in any given week.
MATT HARMON: Yeah, if you lose out on the Jared Goff sweepstakes, Tyler Huntley I think makes for a fun pickup there. Now, there's a lot of problems at week 14 at the wide receiver position, right? Terry McLaurin is gone. Chris Olave is gone. Christian Watson, who's been a huge find, is gone. I don't love recommending Nico Collins as a pickup when they have the Dallas Cowboys coming to town, because, I mean, my god, the Dallas Cowboys could stuff Kyle Allen into a locker and never let him out in that game. However, I do think that Nico Collins has been getting awesome volume. Got 10 targets last week. Andy, we finally willed him into the end zone with a touchdown against the Cleveland Browns. Only 35 yards, but again, the volume metrics have been there. 36 targets since week 10. That leads the Texans by a lot. Nobody else has more than 20, as we talked about on the podcast. Even if Brandin Cooks comes back, we know that Nico Collins-- well, you know, in his heart of hearts, he might want to play for another NFL team. He's not actively trying to manifest himself off the Texans roster in a public standpoint like Brandin Cooks is. I think Nico Collins is this team's number one wide receiver the rest of the way.
If you're hurting a wide receiver this week, you certainly, I think, can throw him out there against Dallas, who does have injury problems at the cornerback position. As much as they can destroy Matt Ryan, like they last week obviously they did. They could destroy Kyle Allen or even if they go back to Davis Mills, they could destroy Davis Mills too for the Houston Texans. There are some moments where they blow coverages. They give things up on the back end. Nico Collins can take advantage of that. But really the appeal of him is he gets Tennessee and Jacksonville later in the season. A couple of gettable match ups for Nico Collins. Andy, I'm just happy we willed the guy into the end zone finally.
ANDY BEHRENS: He also just has the athletic profile that we look for at this position, right? 6 foot 4-- he's got great speed, 4-4 speed, incredible leaper. Like this is somebody that a team, perhaps a more competent quarterback, should be lobbing deep passes to all day. It's probably not going to happen with Kyle Allen. But if it ever does, Nico Collins can make a lot of fantasy noise.
MATT HARMON: All right, good luck in week 14 navigating these shark infested bye week waters. What an unfair attack by the NFL. Good luck to you out there navigating it and trying to make some profitable ads on the waiver wire.