Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Week 12: Charbonnet, Ty Chandler, Roschon Johnson

There are three weeks left in the regular season for most fantasy football leagues. Some teams need the waiver wire for an immediate pickup, while others are gearing up for a playoff run by fortifying the bench with running back handcuffs or other stashes.

Either way, there are waiver wire pickups available. The good part of Week 12 is no teams are on a bye. Week 13 has Baltimore, Buffalo, Chicago, Las Vegas, Minnesota and the New York Giants on bye, so prepare for that if possible. Week 14 is the final week of byes — Arizona and Washington are off.

Here are the top waiver wire adds for Week 12.

Quarterbacks

Derek Carr, New Orleans Saints
Carr can be a solid fantasy QB in the right matchup and a potential replacement for those who lost Joe Burrow and didn’t have a backup. Carr has passed for 300 yards five times this season and had multiple two TDs in two straight games before leaving early with a concussion in Week 10. Carr hasn’t cleared the concussion protocol yet. If he doesn’t play, Jameis Winston can be considered. 

Gardner Minshew, Indianapolis Colts
Minshew has been inconsistent, but gets a great matchup this week against the Buccaneers. Tampa Bay has allowed the second-most passing yards per game (270.7). Minshew hasn’t had many matchups like this and the Colts are coming off a bye.

Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers
Love has at least 40 pass attempts in three of the last four games and the Packers’ running game hasn’t been good. Green Bay will need to throw to keep up with the Lions offense. Love has multiple TD passes in consecutive games and passed for 289 and 322 yards the last two weeks. The Lions allow the eighth-most fantasy points to quarterbacks.

Desmond Ridder, Atlanta Falcons
Ridder is back to starting for the Falcons coming off the bye. He wasn’t great when he had the job, but he’s in play for superflex leagues. His rushing ability at least provides a decent floor.

Running Backs

Zach Charbonnet, Seattle Seahawks
Charbonnet is likely rostered in deeper formats. He’s still available in shallow leagues and will be the main back for Seattle with Kenneth Walker dealing with an oblique injury. Charbonnet was starting to cut into Walker’s touches and play more snaps. Charbonnet had 14 carries for 47 yards and caught all six targets for 22 yards last week. The schedule is difficult with the 49ers, Cowboys and 49ers again the next three weeks, but the volume will be there.

Ty Chandler, Minnesota Vikings
Chandler is being mentioned here for the third straight week since he was dropped in some shallow formats after Alexander Mattison cleared concussion protocol and played Sunday night. Mattison played more snaps and had more touches, but Chandler was more efficient and is making this close to a split. Mattison had 18 carries for 81 yards and caught one pass, while losing a fumble. Chandler had 10 carries for 73 yards and caught four passes for 37 yards.

Roschon Johnson, Chicago Bears
Khalil Herbert returned from injury last week, but D’Onta Foreman left with an ankle injury and came into the game with a knee injury. Herbert is likely the main back, but Johnson will mix in and needs to be on a roster in case Herbert goes down again. Johnson had six carries for 30 yards against the Lions. 

Jeff Wilson Jr., Miami Dolphins
De’Von Achane returned from injured reserve last week, but left with a knee injury. Salvon Ahmed was placed on injured reserve with a foot injury. Wilson was a healthy inactive last week, but could be next in line behind Raheem Mostert if Achane misses time. At worst, he's third in line if Achane can play.

D’Ernest Johnson, Jacksonville Jaguars
Tank Bigsby has had an awful rookie season and Johnson has passed him to become the backup to Travis Etienne. In the blowout win over the Titans, Johnson had seven carries for 20 yards and caught a 34-yard pass. 

Elijah Mitchell, San Francisco 49ers
Another reminder that Mitchell is a valuable handcuff for Christian McCaffrey. If McCaffrey were to miss time, Mitchell becomes a top play in a great offense for running backs.

Wide Receivers

Jayden Reed, Green Bay Packers
The Packers offense has been playing better and the rookie has been the best receiver on the team. Reed was given three carries and he gained 46 yards, including a 32-yard TD run against the Chargers. He also tied for the team lead with six targets, catching four passes for 46 yards and ran the second-most routes behind Christian Watson. Reed has double-digit points in PPR formats in four of the last five games.

Demario Douglas, New England Patriots
The Patriots offense is abysmal, but Douglas has been able to produce. He has at least six targets in four straight games and has at least nine PPR points in three of the last four games. Douglas had six catches for 84 yards on nine targets in his last game against the Colts. 

Odell Beckham Jr., Baltimore Ravens
Beckham is starting to look better and Lamar Jackson is taking deep shots to Beckham. He has scored in two of the last three games and had four catches for 116 yards on seven targets last week against the Bengals. He had a 51-yard catch in that game and a 40-yard catch the week before. Beckham could be asked to do more with Mark Andrews out.

Tutu Atwell, Los Angeles Rams
Atwell is in play if Cooper Kupp misses time. Kupp has an ankle sprain and could sit this week. Atwell was good with Kupp out to begin the season. In the first four games of the season with Kupp out, Atwell had 35 targets and caught 22 passes for 270 yards and a touchdown. He hit double-digit points in PPR formats in three of the games.

Khalil Shakir, Buffalo Bills
Shakir has been playing more and been productive when getting the targets. He has a catch of at least 23 yards in four straight games. Against the Jets last week, he had three catches for 115 yards with a touchdown. He has two games of at least 90 yards in the last four.

A.T. Perry, New Orleans Saints
Perry is going to replace the injured Michael Thomas. In Week 10, Perry played the most snaps among the wide receivers. Perry caught two passes for 38 yards with a touchdown on four targets.

Jameson Williams, Detroit Lions
Williams has seen his snaps increase each game. He played a season-high 65% of the snaps against the Bears. He only had three targets, but caught two passes for 44 yards with a touchdown. A good stash for the bench.

Justin Watson, Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs spread the ball around among the wide receivers, but Watson has 16 targets over the last two games. He had 11 targets against the Eagles on Monday night and caught five passes for 53 yards with a touchdown. He is averaging 17.3 yards per catch. He led Chiefs receivers playing 63% of the snaps against the Eagles.

Robert Woods, Houston Texans
If one of the Texans wide receivers is out, Woods can be considered in deeper formats. Noah Brown was out last week and Woods had eight targets, catching five passes for 44 yards. 

Tight Ends

Isaiah Likely, Baltimore Ravens
Mark Andrews will miss time and Likely will replace him. At times, Likely has shown big potential when Andrews has been out. In two games without Andrews last season, Likely had one catch for 24 yards with a touchdown and had eight catches for 103 yards with a touchdown. In Week 1 this season without Andrews, Likely had one catch for four yards. It’s a different offense from last season under new offensive coordinator Todd Monken. Those in need of tight end help should add Likely.

Michael Mayer, Las Vegas Raiders
The rookie tight end has five targets in two straight games. He had four catches for 46 yards against the Dolphins last week. The talent is there and he’s starting to be used more.

Donald Parham, Los Angeles Chargers
If Gerald Everett remains sidelined, Parham can be streamed. With Everett out last week, Parham had six targets and caught four passes for 57 yards. He tends to get looks at the goal line, too.