Week 14 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Waiver Adds: Adam Thielen, Parker Washington, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine

Welcome to FantasySP’s Week 14 fantasy football wide receiver waiver wire breakdown! Once again, I find myself surprised by the number of decent options available. Bryce Young’s resurgence means we have potentially three viable pickups in Carolina, we saw a 12-target breakout in Jacksonville, and a couple of guys with triple-barreled names just can’t stop scoring touchdowns. Let’s break them all down as we head into the final week of the fantasy football regular season.

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Week 14 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Waiver Adds

Parker Washington, Jacksonville Jaguars (2.5% Rostered)

With Gabe Davis and Christian Kirk done for the season, Parker Washington looked like the Jaguars’ WR1 on Sunday, leading the team with an 87% route participation rate. More importantly, he also led the team with an excellent 29% target share (31% first-read target share), catching six of 12 targets for 103 yards and a touchdown.

A sixth-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, Washington hasn’t done much so far in the league — his big game on Sunday represents around a third of his total production in the NFL to date. A brief glance at his underlying metrics also paints a picture of a below-average NFL wide receiver. But we have to take notice when someone rostered in less than 5% of leagues is the WR4 in a given week (pending MNF). 

Going forward, Washington isn’t likely to lead the Jaguars in targets most weeks; he might not even come in second. Rookie Brian Thomas Jr. has been excellent, and we all know how Evan Engram can rack up looks. With Trevor Lawrence likely going to miss even more time after suffering a brutal concussion on Sunday, there’s a very good chance this week goes down as easily Washington’s best game of the season. However, the majority of his production actually came with Mac Jones under center — maybe this duo formed a connection while working with the second-team offense. More importantly, someone with 12 targets in a game and a top-five WR finish is simply a must-add in deeper formats, regardless of anything else. 

Adam Thielen, Carolina Panthers (33.6% Rostered)

Last week, I mentioned Thielen in my breakdown of Xavier Legette (who is still an option at 39.7% Rostered), but the veteran deserves his own breakdown after Week 13. Although he still lagged well behind both Legette and David Moore (who is worth adding in deep leagues at just 1.0% Rostered) in route participation rate at 78%, Thielen led the Carolina offense with 10 targets on Sunday. He caught eight of those targets for 99 yards and a touchdown (plus he had another sick TD catch controversially called back).

Thielen simply dominated targets when he was on the field, with a 26% target per route run rate and a 25% first-read target share (both team-highs). Remember, Thielen was putting up elite WR1-level production as the power slot in this offense for the first half of the 2023 season. Especially with the huge step forward Bryce Young seems to have taken, he could be a legit flex play for the rest of the season.

Marquez Valdes-Scantling, New Orleans Saints (22.1% Rostered)

This was easily Valdes-Scantling’s worst game over the last three weeks, and he still managed a solid 10.6 Half-PPR points. This was thanks mainly to a touchdown, as he caught just two of three targets for 36 yards but still hit paydirt for the fourth time in the last three weeks.

However, some of the underlying metrics for MVS improved significantly this week. He led the Saints with an 82% route participation rate, while no other WR surpassed even 54% (Kevin Austin). Meanwhile, a season-ending ACL injury for Swiss Army Knife Taysom Hill means that the Saints are somehow even more desperate for playmakers than they already were. As I keep emphasizing, MVS’ play style is also a perfect fit for Derek Carr, who has an absurd 97.4 PFF Passing Grade on throws of 20+ yards, easily the best in the league. The former Packer/Chief/Bill is undeniably running hot on touchdowns given his low volume, but MVS is still worth considering for deeper leagues.

Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Tennessee Titans (17.5% Rostered)

Speaking of running hot on low volume, no one is running hotter than Nick Westbrook-Ikhine. With two touchdown catches on Sunday, he now has eight touchdowns over the last eight weeks. He has racked up those eight TDs on just 20 receptions for a truly absurd 40% TD rate. It’s a testament to how lucky Westbrook-Ikhine has been to score all those touchdowns that he somehow ranks as just the WR25 in points per game over the last eight weeks despite his eight trips to the end zone (more than anyone not named Ja’Marr Chase). 

Obviously, this 40% TD rate isn’t going to last. But NWI did actually set a season-high with seven targets this week, posting a team-high 19% target share and a 26% first-read target share. After a few weeks of trending in the opposite direction, he also bounced back up to a truly elite 95% route participation rate. The Titans also have an absolute dream schedule for wide receivers over the rest of the season, so there’s a chance Westbrook-Ikhine simply never stops scoring.

Ted Chmyz is a fantasy football contributor for FantasySP. Find him on Twitter @Tchmyz for more fantasy content or to ask questions.