Week 17 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Waiver Adds: Jalen McMillan, Olamide Zaccheaus, Marquise Brown, Jalen Coker, Kayshon Boutte

Welcome to FantasySP’s Week 17 fantasy football wide receiver waiver wire breakdown! This is it, the final week of the fantasy football season. Hopefully, you’re reading this because you’re in the fantasy football championship and not fighting to avoid a last-place punishment. Regardless, this week’s article will focus just on players worth considering as starting options for Week 17 — there’s no time left for long-term adds. With that in mind, let’s get started!

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Week 17 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Waiver Adds

Jalen McMillan, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (42.5% Rostered)

With five catches for 57 yards and a touchdown, McMillan posted his third straight top-20 WR finish on Sunday. He has posted a 19% target share over those three weeks, which isn’t bad given how high-volume the Buccaneers’ passing offense is. Heading into a good matchup with the Panthers, the rookie is probably the top receiver currently available in over 50% of leagues. 

Marquise Brown, Kansas City Chiefs (33.5% Rostered)

Honestly, Brown isn’t someone I am particularly interested in adding. Yes, he did rack up eight yards in his return to the field, catching five for 45 yards. But he also posted just a 33% route participation rate. Even if we expect that number to grow as he returns to full health, I don’t expect him to see a full-time role in Week 17. 

With that in mind, I probably wouldn’t recommend starting him … which means I don’t really recommend adding him, given who you will start in Week 17 is all that matters. But if you’re looking for a high-ceiling dart throw in a deep league, I guess you could do worse than the speedy former first-rounder catching passes from Patrick Mahomes. In Hollywood's favor, he did post a truly bonkers 53% target per route run rate in his Kansas City debut. 

Jalen Coker, Carolina Panthers (7.4% Rostered)

Coker didn’t do much in Week 16, catching just two of four targets for eight yards. However, this was a low-volume day for the Panthers’ passing offense as a whole — those four targets equated to a 15% target share and a 22% air yards share. Coker also continued to see his role expand with Xavier Legette sidelined, leading the team with an 88% route participation rate (he ran roughly half of his routes out wide and half from the slot).

For the season, Coker has produced when he sees the field, with 9.3 points (and 11.4 expected points) per game in six games with at least a 60% route participation rate. He also ranks just behind Adam Thielen for second on the Panthers with solid marks in both yards per route run (1.92) and PFF Receiving Grade (72.5). 

Perhaps just as important as all that, the Panthers play the Buccaneers in Week 17. Tampa Bay is one of the softest matchups for fantasy receivers, and Bryce Young put up a season-high 298 yards against this same defense just a few weeks ago. Coker has an excellent shot at having a solid outing in Week 17, which makes him one of the top adds for this week’s waivers.   

Malik Washington, Miami Dolphins (4.1% Rostered)

Maybe this is just my love for him as a prospect shining through, but I believe in Washington’s ability to have a solid finish to the season. With Jaylen Waddle sidelined on Sunday, the sixth-round rookie actually led the Dolphins with a 74% route participation rate. He did see only four targets, catching three for 28 yards, so it’s not like this is some smash play. But if Waddle is out, Washington should see plenty of routes again, as well as a designed touch or two to get the ball in his hands. That gives him a shot at putting up some points. 

Kayshon Boutte, New England Patriots (3.7% Rostered)

For essentially the entire second half of the season, Boutte has been the Cardio King of the NFL. He has been posting elite route participation rates in New England’s offense with very limited fantasy production to show for it. That changed on Sunday, as he caught five of seven targets for 95 yards and a touchdown, posting his first performance above even 7.0 Half-PPR points since all the way back in Week 6.

Of course, the most likely outcome is that this was just a fluke and Boutte will return to his lots-of-routes-and-no-production ways in Week 17. The Patriots’ matchup with the Chargers also isn’t ideal. But he will at least be on the field all day, giving him a shot to hook up with Drake Maye for another deep touchdown — that may be enough to put him on the radar in super-deep leagues. 

Olamide Zaccheaus, Washington Commanders (0.6% Rostered)

If Boutte somehow wasn’t deep enough for you, consider Zaccheaus (actually, I probably prefer him to Boutte). Noah Brown is out for the season, opening up a vacancy for the WR2 position in Washington’s offense behind Terry McLaurin. At first, it seemed as though Dyami Brown would fill that role, as he was easily second to McLaurin in snaps and routes in Week 15.

However, Zaccheaus earned more targets, seeing four to Brown’s three despite running 30% fewer routes. Perhaps the Commanders’ coaches noticed this, as the two posted identical 61% route participation rates in Week 16. Once again, Zaccheaus was more efficient with his snaps, actually leading the team with eight targets (a 21% share). He caught five of those targets for 70 yards and two touchdowns. Heading into a Week 17 matchup with the Falcons’ hugely leaky secondary, Zaccheaus might be the Hail Mary play that saves your season.

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