After the 16th full slate of regular season action, every fantasy league is at least in their playoffs, with some in their championships.
If you had a tough injury in Week 16, or you just didn’t get the production from one of your players that you expected, we’ll scan the waiver wire. For potential pickups, we’ll consider players who are available in at least 50% of ESPN fantasy leagues.
Let’s take a look at some of the potential waiver wire pickups that could help your teams heading into Week 17 of the NFL campaign.
Taylor Heinicke, QB, Atlanta Falcons (3.0%)
Arthur Smith finally made the quarterback change last week, replacing Desmond Ridder with Heinicke. The veteran backup completed 69.7% of his passes for 229 yards and a touchdown and adding another 10 yards on the ground for 14.16 fantasy points. It’s not great, but options are limited with the amount of injuries at the position. The Bears are also giving up 18.24 points per week to quarterbacks outside of their division, so Heinicke could see better results in Week 17.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire, RB, Kansas City Chiefs (28.2%)
Chiefs starting running back Isiah Pacheco is in concussion protocol and third-down back Jerick McKinnon is on injured reserve. This may be the opening that the former first-round pick needs to get back into relevancy.
Going against a Cincinnati Bengals defense that has given up a touchdown to an opposing running back in 11 of their 15 games this season, Edwards-Helaire could be a decent fill-in option.
Noah Brown, WR, Houston Texans (42.3%)
Brown only put up 6.8 points last week, but that number should jump up when C.J. Stroud, who’s been out with a concussion, returns to the field for Houston.
Hunter Henry, TE, New England Patriots (19%)
Bailey Zappe’s favorite target missed Sunday’s action with a knee injury that he suffered against the Chiefs the week prior. However, when he does return, he has a chance to be a top tight end again.
Colts, D/ST (48.2%)
The Colts struggled against the Falcons last week, scoring -3.0 fantasy points, but a game against the Las Vegas Raiders, who just went three quarters without completing a pass on Monday, might be what they need.
