The Fantasy Football waiver wire is reaching the period of the season where key injuries can open up the door for major opportunities. We saw that this week with the player Chris Towers led this column with last week: Samaje Perine. With Joe Mixon sidelined with a concussion, Perine received a major opportunity as the lead back for the Bengals and he responded with a massive workload in Week 12. Perine received 17 carries to just two carries for backup Trayveon Williams. And although Perine lost some passing down work to Williams, he still finished with seven targets and four receptions — both good for the third-most on the team. Perine finished with 93 total yards and a touchdown.
Not every injury situation will be as cut and dry. In Jacksonville, breakout second-year running back Travis Etienne was forced from the game early with a foot injury. Although we don’t currently know the severity of Etienne’s injury, he told reporters after the game “we’ll be straight for next week,” according to John Shipley of the Jaguar Report. Players are typically more optimistic about injuries than the training staff and Etienne already missed his entire rookie season with a foot injury.
For now, it’s better to play Etienne’s optimism with caution and that means taking into consideration how the Jaguars replaced him in Week 12. JaMycal Hasty took over as the lead back and saw 12 carries to just three for the rookie Snoop Conner. Hasty averaged just 2.3 yards per carry, but his involvement in the pass game stood out. Hasty caught all five of his targets for 67 yards and a touchdown. The Jaguars also claimed Darrell Henderson off waivers, and head coach Doug Pederson said he “loves” Henderson’s “physicality” and “downhill” running style. If Etienne is forced to miss time, we will likely see a timeshare with Hasty leading the way and taking the passing downs work.
The other factor that can generate waiver wire movement is a new starter providing a spark for the offense, and that’s exactly what happened for the Jets when they replaced Zach Wilson with Mike White in Week 12 against the Bears. White threw for over 300 yards passing in a windy downpour and he did it in just over two quarters of work before the Jets shut down the pass game with a big lead. White made Garrett Wilson look like a WR2 at worst rest of season, provided a reprieve for all of the Elijah Moore truthers and brought Tyler Conklin back on the radar for tight end streamers.
After the game, White’s Jets teammates were ecstatic. Running back Ty Johnson, who took on a bigger role with Michael Carter leaving the game with an ankle sprain and after James Robinson’s surprise healthy scratch, was amped up about how the offense looked with White operating under center. Johnson told reporters after the game, “That’s Mike White. He’s a savage. He’s a dog. He’s an animal.” When Moore met with the media after the game, his teammates yelled “Free that man! Free E!” and “E’s free,” according to NFL Network’s Mike Garofolo. The sky is the limit for the reborn Jets offense under White.
Here’s who we’ll be looking to add ahead of Week 13:
Week 13 Early Waiver Targets
