856: 15 Transactions for Week 17

JJ Zachariason (0:02)

This is The Late-Round Podcast, with your host, JJ Zachariason.

JJ Zachariason (0:11)

What's up, everyone? It's JJ Zachariason, and this episode 856 of The Late-Round Fantasy Football Podcast, sponsored by FanDuel. Thanks for tuning in.

We did it. We've made it. It's the final 15 Transactions episode of the season. This one's mostly full of waiver-wire ads, but I hope this season's worth of Transactions were positive for you. Whether you acted on the moves or not, hopefully you walked away from listening to each episode a little bit smarter and a little bit better at Fantasy Football. That's all I could ask for. Now, keep in mind, I'll be dropping the Sleepers episode on Thursday at its usual time. I know that this episode is dropping at a different time than it usually drops. But that'll be it for the podcast this season. Now, I'm not going away. I podcast all off Season 2, but when it comes to the 2023 Fantasy Football Season, that's it.

This final week of the season is always very bittersweet. I'm so lucky to be doing what I love for a living. I'm so lucky that I have all of you guys listen to the show each week. I try to never lose sight of that. But I'm also ready for a little break. The in-season grind, it's a lot, and I'm excited to take a step back, do some deeper analysis, look at some prospects, and really recharge and get better as a fantasy player during this off-season. That's all to say, please stick around. The in-season stuff is hopefully helpful for you. But I can assure you that the off-season stuff is where leagues are won. I'm really looking forward to it. With all that being said, one last time this season, let's get to these transactions.

Add Clyde Edwards-Helaire If Clyde Edwards-Helaire is on your waiver wire, you need to get him right now. He's a must this week. Jereck McKinnon's on IR, and Isaiah Pacheco suffered a concussion against the Raiders on Monday. That leaves the Kansas City backfield to literally Clyde Edwards-Helaire as their main back. He would be a bell cow if Pacheco is unable to play this week. And Kansas City gets Cincinnati. The Bengals defense has been struggling hard lately, and they rank in the bottom 10 this season and rushing yards over expected allowed per rush. They're an average opponent when looking at adjusted fantasy points allowed to running backs, but Kansas City might actually be able to move the ball against the Cincinnati defense.

Make sure that Clyde Edwards-Helaire is rostered this week.

Drop Joe Flacco. So a lot of waiver columns this week, they're going to suggest to you add Joe Flacco off the waiver wire. I'm not sure that's the smartest idea. Has Flacco been awesome in fantasy football? Has he been fun at least? Yeah. Is he coming off a top three outing at the position? Yes. He gets the Jets though this week. New York ranks as the toughest matchup by adjusted fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks. They've given up just two top ten performances all season long. The two quarterbacks to get there against New York, Jalen Hurts and Josh Allen. Flacco's been a great story, but I would have a very hard time trusting him in the fantasy football championship.

Hold Brock Purdy.

Look, it was tough for Brock Purdy managers in week 16 He finishes the QB 34 on the week. It was by far his worst outing of the season.

If you're still alive and if you have Brock Purdy, don't rage drop him. He's in a great bounce back spot in week 17 because he gets the commanders. They're the bottom ranked defense by adjusted fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks. As long as Purdy plays, you should feel good about him in your lineup.

Add KJ Osborne. Now, there's a chance that Jordan Addison plays this week against Green Bay. It's been reported that his ankle injury that he suffered against the Lions, it's not major. But it's Tuesday. We don't know for sure. TJ Hawkinson's injury, that sounds worse. And that could cause more targets to be funneled towards Minnesota's wide receivers. So enter KJ Osborne. Osborne had a 95-yard day against Detroit in week 16, and he had a 20% target share in that Minnesota offense. That type of target share is very, very achievable if both Jordan Addison and TJ Hawkinson are out this week. So you should be looking to add KJ Osborne.

Add Tyler Algier. So I'll be honest. Tyler Algier, that type of running back in the role that he's playing in the Atlanta offense, that's not the type of running back that I usually go for in fantasy football, let alone during the fantasy football championship. He's seen just two targets over his last five games, and despite his performance in Week 16, where he scored 15.8 PPR points, his running back rush air in that game fell to a three-week low 32%. Now, with that being said, there are teams out there that are struggling at running back, even championship teams. And Algier gets the Bears this week in what could at least be a neutral to positive game environment for Atlanta's offense. That could lead to a little bit more rushing volume for Algier.