Fantasy Football Waiver Wire, Week 12: Zach Charbonnet Gets a Shot

I have only included players who are rostered in less than 50 percent of Yahoo fantasy football leagues. A player’s roster percentage will appear in parentheses next to their name. Denny Carter is mercifully handling the kicker section of this article which will be added Tuesday mornings. Updates from Monday Night Football will be added on Tuesday mornings as well. Be sure to check out the Waiver Wire Q&A Monday at 6PM ET.

Quarterback

Baker Mayfield, Bucs (47% rostered)

The wire is barren at quarterback this week and doesn’t have a chance of unearthing some gems anytime soon. I hope you have this position figured out by now. If not, Mayfield looks like your best bet. He is currently the fantasy QB15 and is top-15 in touchdown rate plus EPA per dropback. Mayfield has finished as a top-15 fantasy option in 60 percent of his games. He has also peaked at QB8 in a single week, making him a floor-based bet.

Matthew Stafford, Rams (47%)

Stafford is a bit riskier but likely has more upside. Throwing out his one partial game from Week 8, he ranks sixth in the NFL in yards and attempts per game. He gets an Arizona defense that is allowing the 10th-most fantasy points to quarterbacks and the fifth-highest EPA per dropback. The downside is that he is 26th in the NFL in touchdown rate and Cooper Kupp is banged up.

Jordan Love, Packers (46%)

Love, more or less, keeps getting away with it. He is currently 29th in CPOE and 20th in PFF passing grade. Despite that, Love is the QB13 after 11 weeks. He has multiple touchdowns—including rushing—in 7-of-10 games this year. Love is 12th in touchdown rate and has made some absurd throws.

Running Back

Zach Charbonnet, Seahawks (44%)

Kenneth Walker left the Seahawks’ Week 11 game with an oblique injury and did not return. Pete Carroll didn’t have much of an update on the injury, though he did say it was “legit.” It looks like Walker could miss a week or two. With Walker out for most of the game, Charbonnet racked up 15 carries and six receptions on an 85 percent snap share. It looks like, for any games Walker misses, Charbonnet will be a workhorse back.

Ty Chandler, Vikings (44%)

Alexander Mattison wound up playing in Week 11 after clearing the league’s concussion protocol in time, but the Vikings didn’t give him his usual role. Chandler took the field for 30 percent of the team’s snaps, earned 29 percent of their carries, and logged a 14 percent target share. In PPR leagues, that target volume is enough to put him in the FLEX conversation.

Samaje Perine, Broncos (18%)

Perine hasn’t reached a 40 percent snap share in a game since Week 5, but he remains locked in as the Broncos’ primary option on passing downs. Perine parlayed that role into seven receptions for 60 yards. That’s a ceiling game for the veteran back, but it makes him worth a look for teams desperate at running back.

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Wide Receiver

Khalil Shakir, Bills (11%)

Khalil Shakir has run a route on 73 percent of the Bills’ dropbacks in four games without Dawson Knox in the lineup. His 12 percent target share and 20 percent air yards share leave him at the bottom of the FLEX rankings, but on a pass-first offense with one of the league’s best quarterbacks on the sticks, Shakir has turned that role into three top-25 fantasy finishes at receiver over the past four weeks.

Jayden Reed, Packers (36%)

The Packers upped their 11-personnel rate in Week 11, allowing Reed to run a route on 79 percent of his team’s dropbacks. He caught four passes for 46 yards and added three carries for another 46 yards and a score. His route rate was the second-highest of his rookie season.

Robert Woods, Texans (7%)

Woods is the boring but useful add of the week at receiver. He has at least six targets in 6-of-8 games this year. He ran a route on 83 percent of C.J. Stroud’s dropbacks versus the Cardinals. Woods is a cheap piece of one of the hottest offenses in football.

Jameson Williams, Lions (20%)

Williams’ route rate has risen in back-to-back games, reaching 66 percent versus the Bears. He has yet to cross the 15 percent target share threshold, but the Lions were rewarded for bumping his routes with a 32-yard score.

With his routes on the rise, an improved target share should follow suit. That makes him a viable stash for the fantasy playoffs, even if you aren’t starting him in Week 12.

Odell Beckham, Ravens (29%)

Beckham appears to have escaped Week 11 mostly unscathed despite going down with a shoulder injury late in the game. With Mark Andrews done for the season, it will be all hands on deck for the Ravens’ wideouts for the remainder of the season. Beckham already began doing his part on Thursday versus the Bengals with a season-high, 32 percent target share. He caught four balls for 116 yards. Rashod Bateman is also worth a stash in deep leagues after running a route on 76 percent of Lamar Jackson’s dropbacks.

Tutu Atwell, Rams (26%)

Cooper Kupp suffered an ankle injury early in the Rams’ Week 11 game against the Seahawks and did not return. Early in the year when Kupp was on injured reserve because of an offseason hamstring issue, Atwell consistently put up WR2 numbers.

Tight End

Isaiah Likely, Ravens (4%)

In tight end premium leagues, Likely is a player you unload the FAAB clip for. He ran a route on 77 percent of his team’s dropbacks when Andrews was sidelined in Week 1 and boosted that number to 88 percent in Week 11. He is going to be an every-down player in one of the most efficient passing attacks in the league. In three games with a snap share over 50 percent last year, Likely totaled 15 receptions for 204 yards and two scores.

Donald Parham, Chargers (5%)

Parham’s value hinges on Gerald Everett missing more time, but he earned a solid role in Week 11. The former XFL stud ran a route on 68 percent of the Chargers’ dropbacks and earned a 15 percent target share. Both marks either tie or set the record outright for an LA tight end this year.

Cade Otton, Bucs (20%)

Since Week 4, Otton has run a route on 90 percent of Baker Mayfield’s dropbacks and has earned a 15 percent target share. He also has a 21 percent cut of the team’s end zone targets. He’s the Robert Woods of tight ends this week.

Kickers (Presented by Denny Carter)

Jake Moody, 49ers (33%)

The positive game script machine that is Kyle Shanahan’s (healthy) offense should make Moody an every-week starter in all formats. The rookie has multiple field goal tries in seven of ten games this season, and despite some butt-clenchingly close calls on short field goals, Moody has mostly come through.

He should continue to benefit from neutral and positive script Thursday night against the Seahawks. The Niners are 6.5-point road favorites against the banged-up Seabags, with a healthy 24.5 point implied total. Seattle has allowed multiple field goal attempts in five of their past six. Moody should be locked into lineups.

Prater has new fantasy life with the return of Kyler Murray and the good game script that comes with the fleet-footed quarterback. Prater has five field goal tries over Murray’s two games this season.

Matt Prater, Cardinals (7%)

The Rams have been generous to opposing kickers for much of the season. Only the Jets have allowed more field goal tries in 2023; eight of ten kickers to play LA have at least two field goal attempts. Prater should be fine against a terrible Rams team.

Blake Grupe, Saints (6%)

Grupe has left some proverbial meat on the proverbial bone in 2023. He’s missed five of his 24 attempts, but only four teams have logged more field goal tries than the Saints through Week 11. Head coach Dennis Allen is nothing if not committed to taking three points in the red zone.

Grupe takes on a Falcons team that has given up seven field goal attempts in their past two outings, with kickers scoring double-digit fantasy points in four of the past six games against Atlanta. It doesn't matter who starts at QB for New Orleans this week. Grupe should, at worst, provide a floor against Arthur Smith’s sinking ship.