Waiver Wire Watch: Week 13

Nov 24, 2014

Editor’s Note: We’re happy to announce that 4for4 Contributor Pat Fitzmaurice (formerly of Pro Football Weekly) is back on the Waiver Wire Watch this year. He will continue to work in conjunction with Senior Editor John Paulsen to compile this list of the top pickups each week.

Here is a look at the top waiver wire pickups for Week 13. To be eligible for discussion, the player must be owned in 50% or fewer Yahoo leagues, though we’ll stretch the rules a bit for the RB position, which is usually very thin. We’ll also include suggested bid prices (with a $100 budget) for those leagues that use Free Agent Acquisition Budgets. Of course, player value depends on league characteristics and team needs. Players are listed by position in order of importance. For extremely shallow or extremely deep leagues, be sure to review our Rest-of-Season Rankings (updated every Tuesday) to get an idea of how to value players not on this list.

* Players with an asterisk next to their name were mentioned in last week’s Waiver Wire Watch.

Buccaneers QB Josh McCown* ($5)

In three games since returning to Tampa’s starting lineup, McCown has averaged 310 yards, with five TD passes against four interceptions. He’s chucking it at an appealing rate, with 48 passes in the Buccaneers’ 21-13 loss to the Bears on Sunday and 43 attempts in a Week 10 loss to the Falcons. McCown has rough matchups against the Bengals and Lions coming up the next two weeks, but he has a great pair of weapons in WRs Mike Evans and Vincent Jackson, and with the sad-sack Bucs likely to be playing from behind, McCown should do plenty more throwing in the weeks to come.

Next up: Bengals, Lions, Panthers

Titans QB Zach Mettenberger* ($3)

The rookie from LSU threw for 345 yards and two TDs Sunday in the Titans’ 39-20 loss to the Eagles, and he gets another good matchup this week against the Texans. Mettenberger has four TD passes in his last two games and has at least demonstrated that he can take advantage of soft matchups.

Next up: Texans, Giants, Jets

Chiefs QB Alex Smith* ($3)

Smith put up respectable numbers in the Chiefs’ rainy Thursday-night loss in Oakland last week – 234 yards, two TDs – but there were times when it was painful to watch him eschew fairly routine downfield throws in the name of turnover avoidance. Smith still hasn’t thrown a TD pass to a wide receiver this season, with the touchdowns against the Raiders going to TE Anthony Fasano and RB Jamaal Charles. Could this week’s Broncos-Chiefs game have shootout potential for Smith? Uh, maybe. In Kansas City’s Week 2 loss in Denver, Smith had season highs in completions (26), passing yardage (255) and rushing yardage (42) but didn’t produce any touchdowns.

Next up: Broncos, Cardinals, Raiders