Waiver Favors™: 2020 Week 14 Fantasy Football Pickups

By Ha Kung Wong  Week 14 Fantasy Football Pickups

Twitter: @FBGarbageTime

As I do every year over the last 8 years, I’m here to help with waiver wire adds via my weekly Waiver Favors article!  And I’m assuming if you’re a returning reader, you won your fantasy football championship last year, so congratulations!

And if you’re still reading, you’re looking at getting into the playoffs in your league, so congrats again!  I’ll make a couple suggestions for after Week 14 of the 2020 fantasy football season that hopefully will keep your team running.  You’re welcome.  Again.

As usual, all pickups are available in at least 50% of Yahoo standard fantasy football leagues (with some minor exceptions) as of Sunday evening.

Mitchell Trubisky

QB – Chicago Bears – 10% Owned

He’s back!  He was a pickup earlier in the year, got benched, got injured, came back and now he’s made it back into the column!  Sure, you have to be a little desperate to trust Mitchell Trubisky in your fantasy playoffs, but he’s been sneaky good since being reinstalled under center 3 games ago.  He’s exceeded 240 passing yards in each game and total 7 TDs to 2 INTs over that span, even adding a handful of rush yards.  In Week 14, he dominated the Texans to the tune of completed 24 completions for 267 yards and 3 TDs.  He’s got the Vikings next week and then the Jaguars after that so he’s got some nice matchup for the remainder of the playoffs as well.  If you’re desperate in 12-team leagues or deeper, you could do worse.

Russell Gage

WR – Atlanta Falcons – 11% Owned

With Julio Jones out, the Falcons are going south offensively, but Russell Gage has been feasting.  In Week 13, he snagged 4 of 8 targets for 51 yards and a TD and in Week 14, he caught 5 of 7 targets for 82 yards.  So long as Jones is out, Gage will get plenty of opportunities, which makes him a passable WR3/Flex in 12-team leagues or deeper.

Chad Hansen

WR – Houston Texans – 2% Owned

The NFL can be crazy sometimes.  Chad Hansen, a 2017 4th round draft pick, was on the practice squad until being elevated in Week 13, due to Will Fuller‘s suspension and Kenny Stills‘ release.  And he didn’t disappoint, catching 5 of 7 targets for 101 yards against the vaunted Colts defense.  And he followed that up in Week 14 catching all 7 targets for 56 yards against the tough Bears defense.  Of course, Cooks was out in Week 14, but it’s pretty clear there’s opportunity to go around in Houston and they’ll be in many more negative game scripts requiring Deshaun Watson to air it out.  If Cooks remains out, he’ll be a decent Flex play in 12-team leagues, but even with Cooks in, would be an interesting WR3/Flex play in 14-team leagues or deeper.

Lynn Bowden Jr.

WR – Miami Dolphins – 1% Owned

The Dolphins are running out of skill players.  They started the day without Myles Gaskin or Salvon Ahmed, and ended the day without DeVante Parker or Jakeem Grant.  In stepped Lynn Bowden to catch 7 of 9 targets for 82 yards, adding a carry for 2 rush yards.  And that’s after stepping in last week to catch all 4 targets for 41 yards, adding a carry for 11 rush yards.  If both Parker and Grant remain out in Week 15, Bowden can be an interesting play in 14-team leagues or deeper.

Irv. Smith Jr.

TE – Minnesota Vikings – 6% Owned

Irv Smith has tons of athleticism, and I know people forgot about him when he went on IR (even though I mentioned him as a pick up previously), but now he’s back, and Kyle Rudolph is out, opening up all those TE targets in Minnesota.  And Smith took advantage catching all 4 targets for 63 yards and one TD.  Smith has three TDs in his last two spot-starts for Rudolph and it looks like Rudolph will remain out in Week 15, so feel free to pick him up if you have a TD needy team in 12-team leagues or deeper.

Cole Kmet

TE – Chicago Bears – 6% Owned

Listen, I’ll admit I’m biased because Cole Kmet came from Notre Dame.  But over the last two weeks, Kmet has been playing ahead of Jimmy Graham in Chicago.  In Week 13, he caught 5 of 7 targets for 37 yards and a TD and in Week 14 he caught 4 of 7 targets for 41 yards.  Graham still gets some redzone targets, but Kmet could be an interesting play in 14-team leagues or deeper, assuming you’re desperate for a TE.

UPDATE for Monday Night Football

Check back for the update after Monday Night Football!

And here’s who I’ve recommended in previous weeks that I still think deserve a look.  I’ve highlighted in Orange the previous pickups that stood out again in Week 14:

10-Team Leagues

QB – Justin Herbert

WRs – Justin Jefferson

12-Team Leagues

QB – Kirk Cousins, Taysom Hill

RBs – Cam Akers, Wayne Gallman, Damien Harris, Nyheim Hines (PPR), J.D. McKissic (PPR)

WRs – Robby Anderson, Brandon Ayuik, Chase Claypool, Keke Coutee, Corey Davis, Michael Pittman Jr., Curtis Samuel, Deebo Samuel, Sterling Shepard

TEs – Dalton Schultz, Robert Tonyan

14-Team Leagues

QBs – Derek Carr, Jalen Hurts, Drew Lock, Philip Rivers, Tua Tagovailoa

RBs – Devontae Booker, Mike Davis, Chase Edmonds (particularly leagues that count return yards), Gus Edwards, Darrell Henderson, Ty Johnson, Jerick McKinnon, Benny Snell Jr., James White (PPR), Jordan Wilkins, Jeff Wilson Jr.

WRs – Nelson Agholor, Cole Beasley, Kendrick Bourne, Damiere Byrd, Keelan Cole, Gabriel Davis, KJ Hamler, Tee Higgins, Alshon Jeffery, Collin Johnson, Allen Lazard, Jakobi Meyers, Denzel Mims, Zach Pascal, Tim Patrick, Breshad Perriman, Josh Reynolds, Henry Ruggs, Laviska Shenault, Sammy Watkins

TEs – Jimmy Graham, Jacob Hollister, Irv Smith Jr., Logan Thomas

16-Team Leagues

RBs – Salvon Ahmed, Kalen Ballage, Malcolm Brown, Carlos Hyde, Justin Jackson, Duke Johnson, Alexander Mattison, Scotty Miller, Boston Scott

WRs – Jakeem Grant, Deonte Harris, Rishard Higgins

TEs – Harrison Bryant, Drew Sample

Check back every week for more Waiver Favors!