Last Minute Waiver Wire Pickups Week 13: Kenny Pickett, Antonio Gibson, Curtis Samuel, Juwan Johnson and More

The waiver wire period has come and gone and you may have missed out on the guy you wanted. The waiver wire darlings everyone was clamoring for are long gone and you're still looking to fill out your roster and maybe even your lineup. These are the late waiver wire adds that you should be picking up. Everyone listed is rostered in less than 50% of leagues.

Last Minute Waiver Wire Pickups

Quarterbacks

Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Rostered: 29.6%

On the surface, this doesn't look like a great matchup for Mayfield this week. He plays the Carolina Panthers who don't give up many fantasy points to QBs. However, it's not because of how great their pass defense is, it's because you don't need to throw on them because they are always losing and can't stop the run. Nevertheless, the Bucs may just be bad enough that they do have to throw in this game against the Panthers. They still have weapons like Mike Evans and Chris Godwin who are more than capable of torching the Panthers' defense. Mayfield also started the week off on the injury report which probably drove desperate owners away from him making him more readily available. He has since returned to a full practice and is expected to be good to go for Week 13. 

Kenny Pickett, Pittsburgh Steelers

Rostered: 5.7%

We don't want to say Kenny Pickett looked good last week with Matt Canada gone, but the offense did look like it functioned better and took more shots. He threw for 278 yards against a solid Bengals defense. That was his highest yardage total of the season and his 8.4 average was his highest since Week 6 and his second highest of the season. This week he gets to face the Arizona Cardinals who are anything but solid. On the season they have allowed the seventh-most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks and have been getting steadily worse as the season wears on. With another week of familiarity with his new offensive coordinator, Pickett should continue to improve.   

Running Backs

Antonio Gibson, Washington Commanders

Rostered: 38.0%

Gibson should have a substantial role in this week's game against the Miami Dolphins. We expect the Commanders to get trounced on Sunday which would force them to throw the ball a ton. This will lead to more opportunities for Gibson who serves as the primary pass-catching back. He should see at least 10 touches in this game and if he can get his targets up from four to about six this week with 6-8 carries he could be a nice desperation flex option. You're going to need to hope he catches a decent amount of passes and possibly even falls in the end zone, but this is about as good as it's going to get at this point of the week. 

D'Ernest Johnson, Jacksonville Jaguars

Rostered: 0.1%

Johnson is a bit more risky but could pay off in a major way. He has clearly taken the RB2 job from Tank Bigsby and now Travis Etienne is dealing with a rib injury. Through Thursday, he is yet to get in a full practice and isn't a lock to play this week. This is also an injury that can be easily re-aggravated during the course of a game. In deeper leagues, if you need to roll the dice on someone, Johnson may be your best high-risk, high-reward option. 

Wide Receivers

Curtis Samuel, Washington Commanders

Rostered: 12.5%

Samuel is coming off a 12-target game in which he caught nine passes for 100 yards. That's pretty much all you need to know. If you can grab a wideout with that kind of volume right now, it's tough to pass on, especially in this matchup with Miami. Jalen Ramsey and Xavien Howard will be on the outside covering Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson, so Samuel will probably once again get a ton of targets. His ownership percentage is unreasonably low and you should add him immediately if he's available. 

A.T. Perry, New Orleans Saints

Rostered: 0.1%

It looks like Perry could be the WR1 in New Orleans this week. Michael Thomas is on injured reserve, Rashid Shaheed looks doubtful, and Chris Olave is in the concussion protocol. This leaves Perry and Lynn Bowden as the top options on the outside. Bowden could also be considered as a late waiver wire pickup if you prefer him to Perry. Both are far from a lock but could have a ton of upside because of the potential volume against a Detroit Lions defense that has allowed the eighth-most fantasy points to wideouts this season.   

Tight Ends

Gerald Everett, Los Angeles Chargers

Rostered: 40.3%

The Chargers are running out of pass-catchers to throw to and Everett could be the No. 2 option in LA right now. He returned from injury last week and caught four of five targets for 43 yards and a TD. Only Keenan Allen topped his yardage total. He's proven that he can be a fantasy asset and should see an uptick in volume this week and potentially moving forward because of all the injuries on the Chargers' offense. 

Juwan Johnson, New Orleans Saints

Rostered: 13.6%

You can copy and paste what we said about Perry above, but Johnson is probably an even better option. While Perry and Bowden are the top options on the outside, you'll probably just see a lot more targets going to the inside. This will likely be the Alvin Kamara, Taysom Hill and Juwan Johnson show when it comes to volume. He saw seven targets last week and it wouldn't be surprising if that number jumped closer to 10 this week. Despite a down year so far, he's always been a dangerous threat in the end zone as well.