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Week 16 fantasy football waiver wire. Whether you're coming off of a bye week in week 15 or you won your matchup and advanced to the next round, today I'm going to break down three wide receiver pickups, three running back pickups, some stashes for you to go out and get for the next two weeks. Quarterbacks, tight ends, kickers, and defenses for those of you guys that need some streamers. So, not wasting any time, let's get into the first guy, Jaden Reed at the wide receiver position. Five catches this week. He's touching the ball about five to eight times the last two games since he's been on the field and even went healthy this year earlier. He's hovering around a 60% route share.
Now, why he's a good pickup this week is Christian Watson got hurt. He suffered a chest injury against the Broncos. And instead of the Packers being at Denver like they were in week 15, they'll be home for the Chicago Bears who are 30th against fantasy wide receivers and specifically struggle against slot receivers. So, if you can pick up Jaden Reed and throw him right into your lineup, he is absolutely a playable flex option in week 16, assuming you need some injury relief at wide receiver, running back. Maybe you have T. Higgins, you don't know if he's going to be back. Marvin Harrison, you don't know if he's going to be back. So on and so forth.
My number two wide receiver pickup is Jaylen Coker, wide receiver of the Carolina Panthers. 19th ranked Tampa Bay Buccaneers secondary. A battle for the division because Tampa is now atop the division once again after the Panthers thankfully, shout out to the Saints, blew their lead against them. Back-to-back top 24 scoring weeks and 20 plus% target shares. The Bucs have a weak ancillary secondary behind Jamal Dean. Jamal Dean's one of the best corners in the NFL this year. Zion McCollum got hurt on Thursday Night Football. So, if Tedto McMillan is getting shadowed or or is on Jamal Dean for the most part, which I think he will be, um, you could see one of these receivers, whether it's Legette or Coker, have a nice game, and I think it will be Coker because he's been scoring as a top 24 receiver in back-to-back games.
Adnai Mitchell is my other receiver pickup that I like this week. Three of his last four games with the Jets, 27 plus% target share. Brady Cook started and he was able to find Ad Mitchell nine times for a top 15 scoring week. Whether it's Tyrod coming back, Justin Fields coming back, or it continues to be Brady Cook. In week 16, you have the Saints. And the Jets are a bad team, but so are the Saints. And it's not an overly daunting matchup. So, if you need a streaming flex option, Adnai Mitchell, Jaylen Coker, and Jaden Reed. In the order that I read them off, I would rather have Reed the most than Coker, then Adnai Mitchell.
If you need a running back pickup this week because you need to start somebody in your flex or something or your RB2 slot or whatever the case is, you're in a deep league. Michael Carter/Amari de Marcado are the best running back pickups on the week. Now, Michael Carter played 79% of the snaps for the Cardinals this past week. Got 70% of the carries and a 72% route share. Now, the reason he got this big of a workload is a Trey Benson shut down for the season. Bam Knight suffers an ankle injury. It sounds like he'll miss week 16 as well. So, we are going to have to parse through this backfield. Who's it going to be, Michael Carter or Amari D Marcato? Now, the signs of what happened in week 15 point overwhelmingly to Michael Carter, 79% of the snaps and all that, but Amari Di Marcato was coming off of a three-game absence coming into week 15. So, usually when that happens, you see a ramp-up period. You see in the second game back that player play more of the snaps. We've seen that with Arandre Stevenson in New England. We've seen that with Amari and Hampton in Los Angeles. It usually happens. And when Amari de Marcato went down, he was actually leading the backfield with Bam Knight with Michael Carter all out there. So I would say going after Michael Carter is probably the prudent thing to do given that he was getting the snaps and could still be the starting running back. But Amari de Marcato, it wouldn't shock me if later in the week starts to get some pub, starts to get some buzz that he could be the starting running back in this upcoming week where the Arizona Cardinals play the Falcons, which is a pretty easy matchup. So if you want to go big on Michael Carter because you need a flex option right away, go ahead and do that. Spend whatever remaining fab you have. Or if you want to go for a cheap upside swing, waiting for a late, you know, late week report or something, you could go after Amari De Marcado for probably nothing.
Bill Crosky merit 62% of the carries and 55% of the snaps. No Chris Rodriguez this past week. Uh, good chance that I do know Chris Rodriguez this past week against the Giants, but there's a good chance he is back this week. If he's not, the Commanders have the 20th ranked Philadelphia Eagles, and Bill looked pretty good. Rushed for just under a 100 red yards, I believe, in that game environment. So definitely make sure he is rostered in your specific league.
Jal Mclofflin could be the starting running back for the Denver Broncos this week because R.J. Harvey went down with a rib injury. No details have emerged about the severity of such injury, but if he were to miss week 16, the Broncos face the Jags at home. Jul Mclofflin would probably be a flex-worthy option. Tyler Batty probably involved to some degree. But just keep that in mind. If you need a cheap option to pick up, Julin might be a good one for you.
Um, the other pickups that you should be rostering, as I've talked about for numerous weeks now, are handcuffs, backup running backs, roster them at the end of your bench. You never know what's going to happen, especially if the current starter ahead of them is banged up. Like, for example, Rico Dattle was in and out of the medical tent for the Carolina Panthers. Saquon Barkley, I believe, left for a drive or two. If those backup running backs are available, definitely go and pick them up. And I did tier rank the running backs. You guys can see them beside me on the screen here. If the tier one running back upside guys are available. And I basically scored these a couple weeks ago if you want to check out that video where I ranked how good have they been this season. How good is their offense? What kind of workload do they get when the starter went down? Kyle Manengi, Charbanet, Brian Robinson who of course CMC was a late addition to the injury report with a back injury. Make sure he is rostered. Kenneth Gainwell who plays tonight, David Montgomery. If those guys aren't available, go down to the tier 2 running backs, whether it's Bsby, Vidal, etc. Go roster those guys and stash them at the end of your bench if you have any empty bench spots. Or if you are rostering some random Darius Sllayton type of wide receiver who's never going to see the light of day in your lineup, pick up a Tank Bsby instead. Pick up a Kamani Vidal instead. Pick up a Jordan Mason instead. Pick up some of these guys that could have startable value in week 16 or in week 17 depending on how practice reports go and the week progresses. Especially Chuba Hoverard, Tank Bsby, and Brian Robinson who did have some injury scares to the opposing uh incumbent starter ahead of them.
Uh, streaming quarterbacks, if you guys need a quarterback this week, these are for those of you guys that have just been streaming QB all week or all year, sorry, or if you've been um using quarterbacks in Superflex or something like that. Jacobe Brassette, the premier option, still maintains his streak of top 12 scoring weeks in nine straight games despite being the starter of a bad football team. And they played the Texans this week and he still maintained that. So I apologize for people I told to sit Jacobe Brassette because he still had a good week anyways. But I do think the process was there. At Houston was a tough matchup for him. Atlanta at home, however, is not a tough matchup for him. So I do think he is definitely in play this week and definitely the number one streaming quarterback if available. Trevor Lawrence of course was the big big performer in week 15, but he goes at Denver this week. So I'm probably not going to be messing with him. Instead, I would rather go after a guy like JJ McCarthy, who has back-to-back good performances versus the 26th ranked New York Giants this coming week and uh 10.4 yards per attempt, a career-high for him versus Dallas. And the Giants are an easy matchup. We still haven't seen Addison Hawinson or Jefferson get on, you know, the right track. The last two games, J.J. McCarthy has gotten it done by throwing to Josh Oliver and Jaylen Naylor. So, it's possible that we do see JJ McCarthy and of course the Jordan Addison, Justin Jeffersons of the world start to play a little bit better. If you need a streaming quarterback, he's not a bad option.
Tua Tagovailoa versus the 31st ranked Cincinnati Bengals. He still has yet to play tonight, so I don't know how he performed tonight, obviously, and he hasn't been great as of late. But Cincinnati is one of the easiest matchups in the league for quarterbacks. And the Dolphins are at home potentially fighting for their playoff lives depending on what happens tonight. If they win tonight, they're going to be very motivated to win next week. And even if they lose tonight, they need probably to win out in order to have a chance to make the AFC playoffs.
Tight end position if you need some streamers. Colby Parkinson is one of my favorites at the 27th ranked Seattle Seahawks. Tough matchup for Stafford and and the Rams offense potentially with no Devonte Adams going on the road on Thursday at Seattle is not a great matchup, but if Devonte Adams isn't out there, Colby Parkinson has been scoring touchdowns consistently, back-to-back games now of 70 plus% of the routes. He's earning the tight end one role there as of late and it's pretty much just going to be Puka out there. I can't imagine Devonte Adams will be back on a short week. So, if you need a streaming tight end, I think Colby Parkinson's one of the premier options this week.
Darren Waller versus the 32nd ranked Cincinnati Bengals. Again, I do not know what happens tonight. So, I have no idea if Darren Waller is going to get injured or if he's going to have a bad workload or if he's going to go off for 35 fantasy points. No clue. He still plays tonight, but he has been splitting with uh Greg Dolich in recent weeks. And Cincinnati, of course, is the cupcake of all cupcakes. So, if Darren Waller comes out tonight and even if he doesn't have a good game, post like 80% of the routes, he is absolutely going to be a great great streaming option for those of you guys that need a streaming tight end in week 16.
Dalton Schultz versus the Las Vegas Raiders had a top six performance this week, third straight week with 80 plus% of the routes. And the Texans, despite having a tough matchup for tight ends, um, the Las Vegas Raiders are second against that position, they are still the Las Vegas Raiders and they're a terrible team and a terrible offense and terrible defense. So, there's a very good chance that the Texans are able to put up points in general in that game.
Top 10 defenses. This is an early look. I'll probably give you guys an update, of course, when we do matchups that matter on Thursday. Top five defenses for the week. Houston Texans versus the Las Vegas Raiders. Buffalo at Cleveland. Philly at Washington. Kansas City at Tennessee. Denver versus Jacksonville. San Fran at Philip Rivers and the Indianapolis Colts. Minnesota at New York. New Orleans versus the Jets. Arizona versus the Falcons. And then Seattle on Thursday night versus the Los Angeles Rams.
Top 10 kickers. Butter Aubrey, Caim Fairbar, Cameron Dicker, Jason Myers, Chase Mclofflin, Cam Little, Tyler Loop, Eddie Pinro, Andy B, and Chris Boswell.
Those are my streamers, tight end, quarterback, wide receiver, and running back pickups for week 16. Give you guys an early look at it to to give you an idea of what's coming this week. Tomorrow, me and Danny are going to break down the must stash dynasty players for wide receiver and tight end. We did quarterbacks and running backs last week. On Wednesday, we'll do the quarterback and tight end tier list to get you set for your matchups in week 16. On Thursday this week, we'll be matchups that matter, which means it will include Thursday Night Football. The reason I'm doing it on Thursday this week is because on Friday, um, Danny is going to be doing his wide receiver tier list because there's games on Saturday this week. So instead of doing the usual matchups that matter Friday, Saturday both of the tier list because there's games late in the day, 5:00 p.m. I believe is the first kickoff on Saturday only, I will be dropping my tier list on Saturday, running backs in the morning and then Daniel will be dropping his wide receivers in the afternoon on Friday and I'll be doing matchups that matter a day early. And the same will basically happen for Christmas. I'll be doing matchups that matter on Wednesday that week because Christmas is on a Thursday. Taking the day off Thursday, taking the day off personally on Friday, but Daniel will be dropping his wide receiver tier list. And then my running back tier list will be early morning on Saturday as well. So that'll give you guys a scheduling update for the rest of the uh season. Little bit of a hectic, you know, with the holidays thing. We got to shuffle everything around. But appreciate you guys for tuning in. Leave a like, subscribe, all that good stuff. But with that being said, peace out. I'll talk to you soon. You beat me.