Waiver Wire Targets for Week 16 (2021)

December 22, 2021 Tyler Heil
Week 16 Waiver Wire Targets (2021)


I hope you’ve find your way here as a result of you finding yourself in your fantasy semifinals. I will do my best to guide you through this maze of injuries across the board and navigate you to your fantasy championship. Here are some targets to help you keep 4Eyes on the Prize.

Heading into the semifinals in week 16 there was a rash of injuries at the WR and RB positions that will set a lot of people back. Let’s try to prioritize who you should be targeting with your waiver claims on Thursday morning.

As always I will be focusing on players at less than a 50% rostered rate in consensus numbers in ESPN and Yahoo leagues compiled by Fantasy Pros.

Quarterback Streamers

Tyler Huntley, Baltimore Ravens, Consensus Roster Percentage 5.0%, Week 16 Matchup at Bengals

Apparently, it is not just Lamar. Greg Roman is actually incapable of building an offense that isn’t simply 1 player. Huntley did it all and a little bit more for the Ravens on Sunday almost leading them to a comeback upset against the Packers. Play him with confidence against the Bengals who should be capable of putting up quite a few points on this wildly injured Ravens defense.

Justin Fields, Chicago Bears, Consensus Roster Percentage 25.7%, Week 16 matchup at Seahawks

Justin Fields put up almost 17 fantasy points in a game in which his team couldn’t score double-digit points. That is about all you need to know about this young man. He has averaged over 20 points per game in the last 4 games in which he has played all of the snaps.

Jimmy Garoppolo, San Francisco 49ers, Consensus Roster Percentage 30.9%, Week 16 matchup at Titans

Relatively the same thing as last week, Jimmy isn’t going to win you a week, it isn’t going to happen, but he likely won’t kill you. He only completed 18 passes against the Falcons last week and still managed not to bust and put up over 13 points. If you just need a reliable/low ceiling output from your QB position Jimmy is your guy. (Insert witty comment about Jimmy being handsome here)

Davis Mills, Houston Texans, Consensus Roster Percentage 2.2%, Week 16 Matchup vs Chargers

This one feels gross against the Chargers, but Mills has scored 15 or more points in 4 of his last 6 starts. This isn’t some statement about Mills being the future, this is a simple process. The Texans are bad, they are the worst rushing team in the league, the Chargers are going to score early and often, Davis Mills is not a zero at quarterback and should have close to an entire quarter of garbage time available to him.

Running Backs

Ronald Jones II, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Consensus Roster Percentage 29.2%

Ronald Jones is the easy top waiver add this week with Leonard Fournette being an IR candidate and Gio Bernard already being on the IR ROJO should see an immediate and sizeable increase in his snap and carry quantity. Don’t expect Ronald Jones to see Fournette’s targets numbers but 20 carries should be a foregone conclusion.

Duke Johnson Jr., Miami Dolphins, Consensus Roster Percentage 1.3%

As a Duke Johnson truther, I was very happy to see his performance last week. You can take it with a grain of salt as it was against the Jets. However, with him outplaying Myles Gaskin it bodes well for his immediate usage even if Gaskin does get more into game shape. If you are desperate for an RB2 Duke is one of many that you can rely on.

Craig Reynolds, Detroit Lions, Consensus Roster Percentage 10.3%

Craig Reynolds has earned more snaps and carries regardless of the return of Jamaal Williams. Another 26 carry game might not be in his future but with an upcoming matchup against the Falcons and the Seahawks, this Lion might be able to show who the real apex predator is in this backfield absent D’Andre Swift.

Justin Jackson, Los Angeles Chargers, Consensus Roster Percentage 4.4%

If you are desperate for an RB2 start, and if you’re reading this it is likely you are Justin Jackson might be your most reliable start. With Austin Ekeler being banged up he will likely be active as he has the past few weeks, but with a matchup against the lowly Texans, this should be an easy week to get Justin Jackson 10-20 opportunities.

Triple Bonus:

Samaje Perine, Cincinnati Bengals, Consensus Roster Percentage 10.8%

Joe Mixon very well might play but keep your ears to the ground on his status, because of Mixon isn’t able to go Perine will likely be the guy.

Jaret Patterson, Washington Football Team, Consensus Roster Percentage 1.0%

Antonio Gibson spent a little time in the blue injury tent due to a toe injury on Tuesday night, which could keep him out of practice this week. If he isn’t able to do and J.D. McKissic being placed on IR Patterson has a window of opportunity to a workhorse role.

Devontae Booker, New York Giants, Consensus Roster Percentage 24.1%

Saquon is still healthy and will still have a strong workload, but with Daniel Jones being put on the shelf and the rest of their wide receiver corps being either hurt, on the Covid list, or Kenny Golladay the Giants have accepted that their running backs are their only real means to move the ball. This is backed up by the two Giants running backs receiving 65 total opportunities over the past two weeks. You could do worse than taking the 8 points Booker is going to give you and going on your merry way.

Speculative adds for potential injury
  • Nyheim Hines
  • Everybody else is already injured. If you have an open spot on your roster print out some depth charts and throw a few darts
Players to drop
  • Leonard Fournette

Wide Receivers

Gabriel Davis, Consensus Roster Percentage 15.8%

Emmanuel Sanders was a limited participant in practice on Wednesday so you will need to keep an eye on his status. However, Gabe Davis has proven to be one of the top wide receivers over the past 3 weeks finding the end zone at least once every week. If Sanders misses Davis should be out there for nearly 90% of snaps again and be raking in the targets all over the field as well as in the red zone.

Amon-Ra St Brown, Detroit Lions, Consensus Roster Percentage 27.2%

I will start this off with an immediate caveat of if Jared Goff doesn’t play you should not be playing any Lions receivers. If Jared Goff does play I would have a hard time not firing up St Brown against the Falcons. He has totaled over the last 3 weeks 35 targets, 26 receptions, 249 yards and 2 touchdowns. Add to that 2 rushing attempts and you have yourself an extremely solid WR3.

Tyler Johnson, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Consensus Roster Percentage 1.1%

This week was about as disastrous a week as the Buccaneers could have had losing both Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Leonard Fournette. The loss of those 3 frees up about 60% of targets and not all of them can go to Antonio Brown, although I’m sure Tom Brady will try. Johnson was on the field for 95% of snaps last week and should see a relatively similar snap share this week. He isn’t a smash start but he is a solid flex option.

Laquon Treadwell, Jacksonville Jaguars, Consensus Roster Percentage 1.4%

The Jaguars are in a dark place. So dark that Laquon Treadwell is now their top pass-catching target. He has played at least 80% of snaps every week for the past 4 weeks and has totaled 28 targets in that span. With a week 16 matchup against the Jets I expect to see James Robinson get as much work as possible, but they will still have to throw the ball and without almost all of their receivers Treadwell is the top option.

Players to drop
  • Elijah Moore
  • Chris Godwin
  • DeAndre Hopkins
  • Calvin Ridley
  • Marvin Jones Jr.

Tight Ends

Cole Kmet, Chicago Bears, Consensus Roster Percentage 23.8%

If you’re desperate this is your guy. Kmet is hot and cold, he could lead the team in receiving, he could end up with 1 reception for 12 yards. I would have him ranked about TE20 on the week so there should be at least 1 higher ranked option available to you.

David Njoku, Cleveland Browns, Consensus Roster Percentage 20.3%

This is a dependent play. If Hooper is still on the Covid list you can play Njoku. If he is not you play neither. There simply is not enough room for fantasy production from two pass-catching weapons in this putrid passing offense.

Players to drop
  • Don’t.

Defense/Special Teams

There are quite a few solid streaming matchups this week. Rather than writing a small blurb about each team, I am going to let the matchups speak for themselves and list them all in order of how I would rank them going into the week.

  1. Los Angeles Chargers, Consensus Roster Percentage 41.5%, Week 16 Matchup at Texans
  2. Las Vegas Raiders, Consensus Roster Percentage 8.7%, Week 16 Matchup vs Broncos
  3. Philadelphia Eagles, Consensus Roster Percentage 43.5%, Week 16 Matchup vs Giants
  4. Kansas City Chiefs, Consensus Roster Percentage 43.0%, Week 16 Matchup vs Steelers
  5. Atlanta Falcons, Consensus Roster Percentage 5.6%, Week 16 Matchup vs Lions

That does it for our Waiver Wire Targets for Week 16!

Make sure to check out our 4-EYED Pregame Show on Sunday morning at 10 am EST to hear about more favorable wide receiver matchups for Week 16 of the 2021 fantasy football season!

Also, make sure to check out our weekly rankings by clicking here!

About Tyler Heil 24 Articles
Director of Dynasty Content. I’m a numbers and spreadsheets geek (A freak in the (excel) sheets, some might say) that wanted to share my obsession with others. In 2021 Fantasy In Frames gave me that opportunity, and now my main hobby is helping others get a more holistic and detailed viewpoint on the games we all love. Football and Fantasy Football.
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