Week 18 Waiver Wire: Breakout Fantasy Football Pickups from Sunday’s Box Scores

While many fantasy leagues hold their championships in Week 17 to account for players being rested in the final week of the NFL season, not all do.

For managers in those leagues, savvy waiver-wire moves become as important in Week 18 as they are in a bye week.

Moreover, in addition to players who will be sitting for the final game of the season, many managers’ teams are limping to the finish line with injuries having piled up throughout the year.

The following players flashed in Week 17 and warrant consideration for waiver-wire pickups ahead of Week 18. To ensure they’re likely to be available in your league, players were only included if they are rostered in fewer than 50 percent of leagues.

Rostered: 3 percent

Week 17 stats: 13 att, 70 rush yds, 2 rec, 11 rec yds, 10.1 pts

Saturday night’s game against the Los Angeles Rams didn’t go well for the Arizona Cardinals.

In addition to losing 13-9 with an end-zone interception sealing their fate, top Cardinals rusher James Conner departed the game with a knee injury—a week after he suffered one against the Carolina Panthers.

While we don’t yet know the 29-year-old’s status for Week 18, Arizona has already been eliminated from playoff contention, and it wouldn’t be surprising if it elects to rest him in the final game of the year.

Carter carried the baton after Conner’s injury, totaling 70 yards on 13 attempts and finishing among the 12-highest-scoring running backs in Week 17 by the conclusion of the early Sunday slate.

If you need to fill a running-back-sized hole on your roster, whether for injured or inactive players, Carter could be a sneaky good move.

Rostered: 35 percent

Week 17 stats: 20 att, 115 rush yds, 3 rec, 32 rec yds, 17.70 pts

By the end of the Sunday afternoon slate, Las Vegas Raiders running back Ameer Abdullah was the No. 5 running back in fantasy, yet he is rostered on only 35 percent of teams.

The 31-year-old put together his first career 100-yard game after playing in 141 total since he entered the league in 2015.

The Raiders have a division matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 18.

If you had the presence of mind to draft Abdullah years ago for a dynasty league, congratulations. For everyone else, he’s definitely worth a pickup ahead of Week 18 if your RB spots are in need of a boost.

Rostered: 0 percent

Week 17 stats: 2 rec, 60 yds, 1 rec TD, 14 pts

A fantasy wideout coming off an impactful week and set for another one in Week 18 who’s virtually guaranteed to be available in your league?

It sounds too good to be true, but the quirks of the NFL schedule and the circumstances the Kansas City Chiefs find themselves in make Justin Watson a no-brainer waiver-wire add for Week 18.

In the Chiefs’ 29-10 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 17, the 28-year-old hauled in only two passes—but one was for a score and together they totaled 60 yards.

With the Chiefs already having secured the AFC’s No. 1 seed, it’s likely they’ll be resting some of their star pass-catchers ahead of the playoffs. It sets the scene for Watson to come in and show the team what he’s capable of when given more snaps.

Scoring and rostered percentage information via Fantasy Pros using points-per-reception (PPR) scoring