by Kevin Tompkins
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Look, in this economy, we’re all looking for bargains. Fantasy football is no different, as we’re looking to extract as much value as we can without paying a lot or anything. We know the feeling of looking through free agency or waivers on Sunday and going, “Why didn’t I start THAT guy?” after somebody produces that you were thinking about starting.
We’re full of bargains, and you don’t have to go to some big-box chain store that will price things up and then cut the prices to where they were. These players I’ve listed are all rostered in over half of ESPN fantasy leagues, and plenty are available for your stretch run. Note that they may not be available in your league, given the number of teams, bench spots, etc. But in the vast majority of fantasy leagues, these players are more often than not available.
Let the Black Friday deals commence!
Note: I cannot be held responsible if these players get hurt in Week 11, so please don’t message me @ktompkinsii.bsky.social if that happens.
Note 2: These early waiver wire pickup suggestions are meant for general fantasy football leagues. Some of these players may not be available in your leagues.
~ Check Out Our Week 13 Fantasy Football Rankings ~
Trevor Lawrence (QB – JAC)
It’s abundantly clear that the Jacksonville Jaguars have missed Trevor Lawrence at the helm of the team, as head coach Doug Pederson has had to push Mac Jones out from Uber Eats delivery boy to Jacksonville’s starting quarterback to average a not-so-robust 6.2 fantasy points per game in his two starts before the team’s Week 12 bye.
Lawrence has been more than serviceable this season from a fantasy points aspect, at least. From Week 5 to Week 9, Lawrence was QB8 in fantasy points per game with 20.2 points, better than Jayden Daniels, Jordan Love, Patrick Mahomes and many more pretty good quarterbacks.
Highest percentage of on-target passes- thrown at least 10 yards downfield in 20241. Trevor Lawrence 71%2, Justin Herbert 70.5%3. Joe Burrow 70% 4. Jalen Hurts 68%5. Jameis Winston 67%
— Sports Info Solutions (@sportsinfosis.bsky.social) 2024-11-27T19:44:35.615Z
Sure, Lawrence doesn’t have Christian Kirk or Gabe Davis, but he can certainly make do with rookie Brian Thomas and Evan Engram and a solid ground game with Travis Etienne and Tank Bigsby. We know the Jaguars are bad; they’re going to be in plenty of negative game-scripts. For the times they AREN’T in a negative game script, the odds are that it’ll be a neutral script and not one where the Jaguars are ahead.
If you need a quarterback or want to roster a couple to play matchups, Lawrence deserves to be added.
Xavier Legette (WR – CAR)
Week 12 saw the return of Adam Thielen to the Panthers’ lineup, and with Jalen Coker inactive with a quad injury last week, the Panthers had a bit of a shakeup in their wide receiver room. The best thing about Xavier Legette is that he’s likely immune to any of the shifting and moving players around from a personnel standpoint. To sum it up, Legette has an awesome full-time role that you can set your watch to.
Legette has run routes on 97 percent of Bryce Young’s dropbacks in the past three games and has averaged five targets per game. That’s unlikely to change as we will see the rookie Legette man one of the outside wide receiver spots. In 11 personnel, it’s likely to be Legette and Coker on the outside, with Adam Thielen in the slot. Without Coker, you can just sub in David Moore. But when the formation condenses to two wide receivers, Legette is a mainstay with Adam Thielen staying on the field, just like CeeDee Lamb, Chris Godwin, and Cooper Kupp do.
Legette should have plenty of boom games, with Young playing much better in this recent stretch. With him being available in so many leagues, he needs to be added and, at the very least, on benches.
Devaughn Vele (WR – DEN)
It’s a search that’s lasted generations (or 11 games), but the eternal search for a Denver Broncos WR2 has seemingly landed on Devaughn Vele. Yes, the 27-year-old rookie Vele, who’s older than D.K. Metcalf, who is wrapping up his SIXTH NFL season.
Still, with the Broncos (mainly Sean Payton) holding open tryouts seemingly every week with experiments like Lil’Jordan Humphrey, Marvin Mims and fellow rookie Troy Franklin, Payton’s wheel of names has landed on Vele, and to his credit, Vele has stuck. With two of the last three games as a top-24 fantasy wide receiver, he’s provided a legitimate target-earning option next to Courtland Sutton. Sutton himself has been a revelation, but with more power comes more responsibility, and with more coverage and defensive attention headed his way, Vele looks to benefit greatly.
While the other receivers’ routes per dropback have stagnated outside of Sutton, Vele’s have increased to a tied-for-season-high 31 routes last week against the Raiders. The Broncos have the Browns in Week 13 and then a bye in Week 14. Still, with matchups against the Colts, Chargers, and Bengals in the next three games during the fantasy playoffs, Vele has a chance to be not just a PPR monster with his target-earning but to be a league-winner with how well Nix has played this season. I’m putting Vele on my bench in every league I can to at least have a stopgap flex option if I need one.
Kevin Tompkins is a contributor to Optimus Fantasy Football. Find more from Kevin on Bluesky @ktompkinsii.bsky.social and right here on Optimus Fantasy.
by Kevin Tompkins
Share
Look, in this economy, we’re all looking for bargains. Fantasy football is no different, as we’re looking to extract as much value as we can without paying a lot or anything. We know the feeling of looking through free agency or waivers on Sunday and going, “Why didn’t I start THAT guy?” after somebody produces that you were thinking about starting.
We’re full of bargains, and you don’t have to go to some big-box chain store that will price things up and then cut the prices to where they were. These players I’ve listed are all rostered in over half of ESPN fantasy leagues, and plenty are available for your stretch run. Note that they may not be available in your league, given the number of teams, bench spots, etc. But in the vast majority of fantasy leagues, these players are more often than not available.
Let the Black Friday deals commence!
Note: I cannot be held responsible if these players get hurt in Week 11, so please don’t message me @ktompkinsii.bsky.social if that happens.
Note 2: These early waiver wire pickup suggestions are meant for general fantasy football leagues. Some of these players may not be available in your leagues.
~ Check Out Our Week 13 Fantasy Football Rankings ~
Trevor Lawrence (QB – JAC)
It’s abundantly clear that the Jacksonville Jaguars have missed Trevor Lawrence at the helm of the team, as head coach Doug Pederson has had to push Mac Jones out from Uber Eats delivery boy to Jacksonville’s starting quarterback to average a not-so-robust 6.2 fantasy points per game in his two starts before the team’s Week 12 bye.
Lawrence has been more than serviceable this season from a fantasy points aspect, at least. From Week 5 to Week 9, Lawrence was QB8 in fantasy points per game with 20.2 points, better than Jayden Daniels, Jordan Love, Patrick Mahomes and many more pretty good quarterbacks.
Highest percentage of on-target passes- thrown at least 10 yards downfield in 20241. Trevor Lawrence 71%2, Justin Herbert 70.5%3. Joe Burrow 70% 4. Jalen Hurts 68%5. Jameis Winston 67%
— Sports Info Solutions (@sportsinfosis.bsky.social) 2024-11-27T19:44:35.615Z
Sure, Lawrence doesn’t have Christian Kirk or Gabe Davis, but he can certainly make do with rookie Brian Thomas and Evan Engram and a solid ground game with Travis Etienne and Tank Bigsby. We know the Jaguars are bad; they’re going to be in plenty of negative game-scripts. For the times they AREN’T in a negative game script, the odds are that it’ll be a neutral script and not one where the Jaguars are ahead.
If you need a quarterback or want to roster a couple to play matchups, Lawrence deserves to be added.
Xavier Legette (WR – CAR)
Week 12 saw the return of Adam Thielen to the Panthers’ lineup, and with Jalen Coker inactive with a quad injury last week, the Panthers had a bit of a shakeup in their wide receiver room. The best thing about Xavier Legette is that he’s likely immune to any of the shifting and moving players around from a personnel standpoint. To sum it up, Legette has an awesome full-time role that you can set your watch to.
Legette has run routes on 97 percent of Bryce Young’s dropbacks in the past three games and has averaged five targets per game. That’s unlikely to change as we will see the rookie Legette man one of the outside wide receiver spots. In 11 personnel, it’s likely to be Legette and Coker on the outside, with Adam Thielen in the slot. Without Coker, you can just sub in David Moore. But when the formation condenses to two wide receivers, Legette is a mainstay with Adam Thielen staying on the field, just like CeeDee Lamb, Chris Godwin, and Cooper Kupp do.
Legette should have plenty of boom games, with Young playing much better in this recent stretch. With him being available in so many leagues, he needs to be added and, at the very least, on benches.
Devaughn Vele (WR – DEN)
It’s a search that’s lasted generations (or 11 games), but the eternal search for a Denver Broncos WR2 has seemingly landed on Devaughn Vele. Yes, the 27-year-old rookie Vele, who’s older than D.K. Metcalf, who is wrapping up his SIXTH NFL season.
Still, with the Broncos (mainly Sean Payton) holding open tryouts seemingly every week with experiments like Lil’Jordan Humphrey, Marvin Mims and fellow rookie Troy Franklin, Payton’s wheel of names has landed on Vele, and to his credit, Vele has stuck. With two of the last three games as a top-24 fantasy wide receiver, he’s provided a legitimate target-earning option next to Courtland Sutton. Sutton himself has been a revelation, but with more power comes more responsibility, and with more coverage and defensive attention headed his way, Vele looks to benefit greatly.
While the other receivers’ routes per dropback have stagnated outside of Sutton, Vele’s have increased to a tied-for-season-high 31 routes last week against the Raiders. The Broncos have the Browns in Week 13 and then a bye in Week 14. Still, with matchups against the Colts, Chargers, and Bengals in the next three games during the fantasy playoffs, Vele has a chance to be not just a PPR monster with his target-earning but to be a league-winner with how well Nix has played this season. I’m putting Vele on my bench in every league I can to at least have a stopgap flex option if I need one.
Kevin Tompkins is a contributor to Optimus Fantasy Football. Find more from Kevin on Bluesky @ktompkinsii.bsky.social and right here on Optimus Fantasy.
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