Fantasy Football Week 14 Waiver Wire Targets: Tyjae Spears, Ezekiel Elliott Take Over Backfields

There are some high-upside studs on this week's waiver wire.

Welcome to the Fantasy Football Week 14 Waiver Wire targets, where we give you the players to start immediately, stash at the end of your bench, and stream for a week or two.

Let’s look back at Week 13 and dissect the top fantasy football Week 14 Waiver Wire targets.

Week 14 Bye Weeks: Cardinals, Commanders

Note: Roster % based on Yahoo leagues and should have roughly 50% ownership

FANTASY WEEK 14 WAIVER WIRE TARGETS

FIRST CHECK: Dameon Pierce, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Keaton Mitchell, Antonio Gibson

START

  1. Tyjae Spears, RB Tennessee Titans (35%)
  2. Ezekiel Elliott, RB New England Patriots (40%)
  3. Noah Brown, WR Houston Texans (40%)

Derrick Henry was forced to the sideline late in the Titans game with a concussion. Tyjae Spears entered and handled all the RB snaps, finishing 20 touches against the Colts. Spears was already one of the most valuable handcuffs in fantasy, but if Henry misses any time, then Spears could be a league-winner down the stretch.

Another lead back went down with an injury when Rhamondre Stevenson suffered an ankle injury. His injury seems to be more week-to-week, and he’ll likely miss the quick turnaround game against the Steelers on Thursday night. In Stevenson’s absence, Ezekiel Elliott assumed lead back duties and handled 21 touches on the day. New England’s offense stinks, and they can’t put points on the board, but Elliott will have guaranteed volume with Stevenson sidelined.

Not too often do you see someone put up a goose egg and still make the top section of the waiver wire article. Regardless, that’s where we’ll find Noah Brown this week after the season-ending injury to Tank Dell. Brown operated as the WR2, playing 80+ percent of snaps and should see a lot more targets going forward with Dell out of the picture, along with Dalton Schultz if he remains out with his hamstring injury.

STASH

  1. Roschon Johnson, RB Chicago Bears (21%)
  2. Curtis Samuel, WR Washington Commanders (38%)
  3. Jameson Williams, WR Detroit Lions (24%)
  4. Elijah Moore, WR Cleveland Browns (43%)
  5. Jonathan Mingo, WR Carolina Panthers (6%)
  6. Jalin Hyatt, WR New York Giants (4%)
  7. Chigoziem Okonkwo, TE Tennessee Titans (31%)
  8. Zamir White, RB Las Vegas Raiders (2%)
  9. Xavier Gipson, WR New York Jets (0%)

Another player losing some hype around a bye week, Roschon Johnson quietly had a season-high 74% snaps played against the Vikings despite the return of Khalil Herbert. There’s a chance he could be the featured back coming out of the bye week, but even if not, he should play a decent role involving the majority of pass-catching opportunities, which is valuable enough already.

Curtis Samuel is eating as the real WR1 in the Commanders’ offense. He finished the day with only 65 yards on four receptions, but he missed out on a touchdown by one measly yard. Over the last two weeks, Samuel has racked up 165 yards on 13 receptions. The Commanders are on a bye this week, but could be a solid Flex option rest of season.

He’s been making the most of his extremely limited usage, but Jameson Williams is finding a way to stay relevant. The talent we know is off the charts; it just stinks that he’s playing 50-60% of snaps with only a few touches per game. He has a nose for the end zone when he gets the ball, but if Williams were to get more involved in Detroit’s high-scoring offense, it would do wonders for his stock.

A familiar face helped struggling receiver Elijah Moore break out of a slump while leaving plenty of air yards on the board. Cleveland turned to Joe Flacco under center this week, who has a previous rapport with Moore back on the Jets. Browns receiver Amari Cooper also left this game with a concussion after dealing with a rib injury previously. In Cooper’s absence, Moore totaled a team-high 12 targets, although he only caught four. Moore should see a nice uptick in usage with both Flacco at the helm and possibly Cooper sidelined.

Despite a high usage rate with over 90% snaps played in an eight-week span, Jonathan Mingo finally saw double-digit targets and finished with a season-high six catches for 69 yards. It could be the coaching change trying new things out on offense, but Mingo is still out on the field nearly every play while decreasing the usage for DJ Chark in three-receiver sets. Now it looks like just Thielen and Mingo are the primary pass catchers on the field most often.

Jalin Hyatt broke out before the team’s bye week when he posted his first 100-yard game as a pro versus the Patriots. Through his first 12 weeks, he still only averaged a 47% snap share. However, he saw a season-high 70% route participation, 26% target share, and a 65% air target share in Week 12, which resulted in a career-best 15.9 fantasy points.

A slight uptick in usage this week, Chigoziem Okonkwo has a nice path ahead of him for the Titans. Treylon Burks returned but was extremely limited, while the backup tight end got hurt with a knee injury which should give Okonkwo more playing time and targets. Tennessee has some favorable matchups for tight ends coming up on their schedule as well.

He’s yet to surpass five touches in a single game, but the handcuff value on Zamir White is immeasurable. We know the Raiders feature Josh Jacobs and use him a ton with little to no breathers. White should absolutely be stashed by all Jacobs owners and is worth a spot even without him, just in case.

The Jets have wanted to get more younger guys involved, leading to increased work from Xavier Gipson. This offense is gross overall, but Gipson saw six targets for five catches and 77 yards. You could certainly do worse.

STREAM

  1. Jameis Winston, QB New Orleans Saints (1%)
  2. DeeJay Dallas, RB Seattle Seahawks (1%)
  3. Romeo Doubs, WR Green Bay Packers (54%)
  4. Joshua Dobbs, QB Minnesota Vikings (45%)
  5. Joe Flacco, QB Cleveland Browns (5%)
  6. Brevin Jordan, TE Houston Texans (15%)
  7. Week 14 DST Streamers

Jameis Winston will give fantasy owners some serious excitement for a playoff run if Derek Carr’s laundry list of injuries (concussion, shoulder, back) keeps him out of the lineup. Not only will Chris Olave managers be happy with the switch, but Winston will be fantasy-viable himself with his solid supporting cast. The Saints get the Panthers and Giants over the next two weeks.

Make sure to check out the Seahawks backfield ahead of Sunday. Kenneth Walker hasn’t played in a few weeks, and Zach Charbonnet left Thursday night against the Cowboys with a knee injury and didn’t return. We could see DeeJay Dallas taking over the lead-back role this week.

Similar to Dallas, we’ll want to monitor the health of Christian Watson (hamstring) to see if there will be a bump for Romeo Doubs in Green Bay. The Packers played less Jayden Reed this week, meaning there was more work for Doubs and Watson. The Packers’ offense and Jordan Love are ascending overall, so a week with Doubs as the WR1 would be big time.

He had a grotesque game against the Bears, but don’t sleep on Joshua Dobbs, who gets a much-needed bye week to build some familiarity with the team. He’ll get the Raiders defense and the likely return of Justin Jefferson this week.

38-year-old Joe Flacco was actually able to move the ball for the Browns and threw for 254 yards and two scores. He gets the Jaguars next, so if you’re super desperate, then maybe there’s a chance Flacco could help.

With Dalton Schultz out, Brevin Jordan got all the TE1 reps with a decent performance. Should Schultz miss more time with his hamstring, then Jordan could remain a high-usage guy under CJ Stroud and the Texans offense.

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