Week 12 is wrapping up and chaos continues to roll on. Backfields continue to turn over and the new realities the NFL reveals constantly remind us not to cling to our conceived notions. It's a reminder that pain is always present in the joy that is fantasy football. Now we must look forward to options to assist in beefing up our fake teams to move forward, whether it be long-term replacements or a streamer just to get by.
It's just those sort of symptoms that the Deep Dive is prescribed to help alleviate. NFL Fantasy's editorial overlord Alex Gelhar dutifully attacks the waiver wire to give you the top adds for the coming week in hopes of bolstering your roster. However, in this arena, we'll look at options to help those of you looking to go a little bit further down the rabbit hole, whether you play in a deeper format or are at the mercy of your incredibly sharp league-mates who scour the waiver wire relentlessly. A player can only qualify for the deep dive if they're owned in less than 10 percent of NFL.com leagues. With that, here are 11 players you can consider adding before Week 13 either as deep FLEX plays or simply as bench stashes.
Don't look now, but Blaine Gabbert has QB8 and QB14 finishes on his ledger, totaling 19.6 and 17.3 fantasy points through his two starts. He's playing some respectable football and head coach Bruce Arians believes he's earned more starts. Arizona's 62.9 passing playing percentage over the last three weeks ranks sixth in the NFL in that span. Volume is boosting Gabbert's fantasy value. The Cardinals get the Rams in Arizona in Week 13. Los Angeles should force them to the air and keep Gabbert in the streaming and 2QB conversation.
So. It's come to this. The next, next, next man up for the Seattle Seahawks is former 49ers fourth-round pick, Mike Davis. He was promoted from the practice squad heading into Week 11 and earned eight touches in his Seahawks debut. Davis suffered a groin injury and missed a possible revenge game in Week 12. Pete Carroll believes Davis will be back for a Week 13 date against the Eagles. With the Eddie Lacy, Thomas Rawls tandem being nothing short of a true nightmare this season, Davis is worth a speculative add to see if he can capitalize on opportunity in this backfield.
Peyton Barber popped in a pair of touchdowns in relief of
Doug Martin against the
Falcons in Week 12. The 225-pound running back runs with some power and could inherit some early down work if Martin misses any more time with his concussion. Barber handled 11 carries when Martin got yanked against the
Saints back in Week 9 during a 0.88 yards per carry performance. At worst, he makes for a decent stash just in case Martin is phased out for poor play or suffers more injuries.
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With the Jaguars in a back-and-forth shootout game script against the Cardinals, T.J. Yeldon snagged five catches for 42 yards on six targets. He had a similar stat line in the last game the Jaguars didn't outright control with six catches for 39 yards against the Chargers in Week 10. Yeldon appears to have the faintest of standalone value as a receiving back when this team falls behind. He also makes for a prime injury insurance piece should Leonard Fournette ever miss more time with his nagging ankle injury.
The Texans have yet to play in Week 13 as of this publishing but with D'Onta Foreman out for the season, it's likely Alfred Blue is the top backup to Lamar Miller in Houston. There's nothing pretty about it, but we've seen Blue earn starts in the past and return mid-RB2 value in fantasy. No one is too good for usable running backs and Blue would become one if Miller were to miss any time.
Matt Breida touched the ball just two times in the
49ers Week 12 loss to the
Seahawks but this isn't an add for usability. The undrafted rookie continues to keep a hold on the No. 2 running back job in San Francisco, as he's done the entire 2017 season.
Carlos Hyde averaged 19.4 touches over his last four games and is one of the few workhorse backs in the NFL. Breida makes sense as a stash in case something happens to Hyde and the rookie gets to slice off any portion of that pie.
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Even with Jay Ajayi in the fold, undrafted rookie Corey Clement remains a part of the running back rotation in Philadelphia. He has touch totals of 13, six and five with a pair of touchdowns over his last three games. You probably don't want to roll out Clement as a flex or anything like that, but he does merit holding on to in case the Eagles backfield thins out due to injury.
Marquise Goodwin has target totals of eight, two and six over his last three games played. He's topped 60 yards in each of those contests. With
Pierre Garcon on IR, Goodwin is one of the few established receivers on this roster. He makes for a decent floor flex play with the deep speed to access a ceiling in any given week.
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With Robert Woods out, rookie Josh Reynolds stepped up as the third receiver for the Rams, gathering six targets against the Saints. Reynolds went out for 79.2 percent of the team's Week 12 snaps and scored a touchdown inside the 10-yard line. He was great at winning 50-50 balls at Texas A&M and earning work in scoring position was a solid first signal in the NFL. If Woods misses any more time, Reynolds might make for a strong deep flex play in Week 13 against a Cardinals team that always struggles against secondary wideouts.
Michael Crabtree was ejected on Sunday and
Amari Cooper left with a concussion in addition to suffering a sprained ankle. If either of the two misses the coming week, the
Raiders depth receivers will come into play. Oakland draws a home matchup against an incredibly beatable
Giants secondary in Week 13.
Cordarrelle Patterson led the wideouts with four targets in their last game and hauled in a late big play.
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Ricky Seals-Jones has, at worst, earned some deep dive consideration after doubling down on his out of left field Week 11 two-touchdown eruption. A wide receiver to tight end convert from Texas A&M, Seals-Jones had six targets, the second on the team, and scored another touchdown in Week 12. He was only on the field for 17 plays, third among the
Cardinals tight ends, but 12 of them were passing plays. On a team that could still use some more receiving threats, Seals-Jones might just be a thing if he keeps playing well.
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Matt Harmon is a writer/editor for NFL.com, and the creator of #ReceptionPerception, who you can follow on Twitter _@MattHarmonBYB_ or like on Facebook.
