The fantasy playoffs are finally upon us! The weak managers have all been eliminated, bye weeks are over and you just need to survive three more weeks of matchups to take home a championship. Hopefully, this advice will aid you in getting one week closer to glory. Good Luck!
Note: all waiver picks listed here will have only been owned in 50% or less of Yahoo! leagues at the time of publication.
Quarterback
Joe Flacco (BAL) - 23% owned - Most likely no one needs to be running to the wire for a quarterback when there are no bye-weeks, but if you do need one I recommend Flacco. He should have to air the ball a lot to keep pace with the Patriots and is coming off his best game of the year going 36-47 for 381 yards and 4 TDs against the Dolphins.
Honorable mention: Alex Smith (KC) - 27% owned
Running Back
Kenneth Dixon (BAL) - 46% owned - Dixon continues to split work with Terrence West despite having a 5.9 yards per carry average compared to the 3.9 average for West over the past four weeks. If you need help at running back Dixon should be counted on for 10-12 touches with a strong chance of that workload to increase over the remainder of the season.
Mike Gillislee (BUF) - 23% owned - Gillislee has been getting touches behind LeSean McCoy in Buffalo's run heavy offense. I'd expect him to see somewhere around 8-10 touches per game down the stretch, but what's nice is that he does get goal line work which was seen last week when he scored two touchdowns from three or fewer yards out of the end zone.
Honorable mentions: Jerick McKinnon (MIN) - 44% owned, Adrian Peterson (MIN) - 47% owned
Wide Receiver
Ted Ginn Jr. (CAR) - 23% owned - Ginn has seen his role in the Panthers offense grow the second half of the season and is coming off a great three-game stretch of 12 catches for 241 yards and 3 touchdowns. If his involvement continues he should be a great asset down the stretch with matchups against the Chargers, Redskins and Falcons his next three games.
Malcolm Mitchell (NE) - 29% owned - Mitchell has seen more playing time recently with injuries to the Patriots pass catchers. He's made the most of the playing time catching 17 passes for 222 yards and 3 touchdowns over the past three games. It was announced that Danny Amendola suffered a high ankle sprain this past week which means Mitchell should continue to see more looks for the fantasy playoffs.
Honorable mention: Taylor Gabriel (ATL) - 38% owned
Tight End
Ladarius Green (PIT) - 23% owned - Injuries may have delayed it from happening, but Green finally had his breakout performance as a Steeler, going off for 110 yards and a touchdown on 6 of 11 targets. He should continue to get a high amount of targets down the stretch since no other receiver has stepped up, besides Antonio Brown so far.
Honorable mention: Dennis Pitta (BAL) - 33% owned
Defense/Special Teams
Cincinnati Bengals (TB) - 31% owned - The Bengals defense has been floating around average all season long for fantasy purposes, but they draw the terrible Browns in week 14 which means they are worthy of a start.
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