The fantasy football playoffs are finally here. In the interest of the rest of season rankings being as useful as possible I’ve thrown a whole pile of players in the 70-80 range that could potentially be a one week plug and plays for your team. I encourage all readers to map out their lineups throughout the playoffs to find expendable players. Ensure you have the optimal lineup for this week if you are in a playoff matchup, after that move on to week 15 and week 16. If there are players on your roster who will not make your projected lineup in any of those weeks those players become droppable (sans handcuffs). Prior to dropping any players, the last key question to ask yourself is will throwing this player to the waiver wire improve any potential competitor’s lineup substantially? If that isn’t the case find the highest upside players possible and get them on your roster. For a personal example, I have a first-round bye secured in a league. In the league I dropped Bo Scarbrough for David Njoku for the outside chance he returns against Arizona in week 15. Scarborough will never make my lineup. He is a usefully player, but the upside of Njoku against Arizona is worth the risk of one of my opponents snagging Scarborough.
Here are four teams with great rest of season offensive schedules with a mix of players in the ROS 80 and a few fringe players you can possibly still grab:
Jacksonville Jaguars (Opponents: LAC, @Oak, @Atl): The Chargers defense is trending slightly upward with the return of Derwin James and Adrian Phillips, but this schedule puts Dede Westbrook (#76) back into roster worthy territory. He is under 70% owned on Yahoo! Westbrook has 8.5 targets per game over the past two weeks and while they have been trailing in a majority of those this defense looks like a shell of its former self. Leonard Fournette (#6) maintains his elite ranking, and DJ Chark (#40) gets a slight bump.
Philadelphia Eagles (Opponents: NYG, @WAS, DAL): Jordan Howard has been dropped in several spots. If he is on the wire, he could be worthy of a speculative add for weeks 15 and 16 in the event his pinched nerve subsides. The Eagles remain only a game back of Dallas. Additionally, Alshon Jeffrey (#74) makes a return to the ROS 80 after a 16-target week. Although he had a poor week 13 Zach Ertz (#29) is a premium tight end play after a mediocre first half of the season. He scored double digit points the 3-weeks prior. Finally, as much of a scapegoat he has been Nelson Agholor has targets of 8/9/6 in his last 3 games played and is on the field for 90% of snaps per game. If you are desperate for a WR3 there are worse options.
Cleveland Browns (Opponents: CIN, @ ARI, BAL): I mentioned David Njoku as a sneaky add for the tight end needy. Baker Mayfield is 75% owned and can propel QB streaming playoff teams to the finals. Nick Chubb (#5) is now splitting snaps but remains a great play with the expected positive game scripts. Kareem Hunt (#61) is getting a bevy of snaps (~60% the last two week) and pass game work (over 6 targets per game since returning), which is proven to be more valuable than run game work. I’ve been hammering OBJ (#22) all season long. He has been a disappointment, but he is set to thrive in a few of the biggest weeks of the year. Here’s to hoping.
Miami Dolphins (Opponents: @NYJ, @NYG, CIN): Now we are talking! The waiver wire needy have somewhere to go. The Dolphins only have one player on the ROS 80: Davante Parker (#45). Parker could easily perform as a WR1 the rest of the way. Mike Gesicki is only 23% owned and has received 6 targets or more for the past 5 weeks. We know Ryan Fitzpatrick wants to push the ball downfield (yes, he is streamable in a pinch). If you think you can predict what happens between a Patrick Laird and Miles Gaskin backfield either could be worthy flex plays against this atrocious lineup of defenses. Bear in mind, the Jets are sneaky great against the run.
