Waiver Wire Analysis: Week 17

It’s finally Week 17. Championship week in fantasy football land. With several key injuries to skill players in Week 16, there are a handful of viable fantasy starters available on waivers in Week 17. This week’s Waiver Wire Analysis tells you all you need to know to prepare your team for the final push.

Before we dive in, I wanted to provide a few pieces of additional context relevant for this week’s article:

• FAAB Strategy: At this point of the fantasy season, FAAB recommendations need to be highly specific to your individual leagues, making it difficult to provide broad guidance. For instance, you should be aware of how much FAAB your opponents have left, whether or not your league allows eliminated teams to make waiver claims, whether your league allows $0 bids, whether your opponent is desperate for a spot starter and at what position, and more. Thus, more than ever, you should customize your FAAB bids based on your team and league circumstance, rather than blindly following the recommendations I have put forth in the article. As a reminder, I am available in the ETR Discord weekly for “office hours” where I can answer league-specific questions.
• Decreased Importance of Stashes: Given that “one-injury-away” stashes are no longer relevant in Week 17, as there’s no more time left for starters to get injured, in this week’s article I only focused on players that will have meaningful projected points in Week 17. As a result, players like Rico Dowdle, D’Ernest Johnson, Jordan Mason, and more have been removed from the article because they no longer help your team. If you are rostering these players still, you can consider dropping them to block your opponent at other positions, including D/ST. If you play in a league that lasts through Week 18, you can find our favorite stashes on Jack Miller’s Players to Stash.

Top 10 Home-League Waiver Targets

Clyde Edwards-Helaire

Rostership: 28% ESPN

FAAB Recommendation: 100%

With Jerick McKinnon (groin) on I.R. and Isiah Pacheco (concussion) likely to miss Week 17, Clyde Edwards-Helaire is poised to be the Chiefs’ workhorse back for the fantasy championships. While CEH is an underwhelming talent, he will project for a boatload of touches against a struggling Bengals defense. If CEH is available, don’t overthink this one. Use the rest of your FAAB to either secure a viable RB2 for your starting lineup or block your opponent from access to a valuable FLEX piece.

Romeo Doubs