Fantasy Waiver Wire Week 12: 5 to add, drop, buy low, sell high

• Add Isiah Pacheco: Pacheco achieved the Kansas City Chiefs‘ first single-player 100-yard rushing performance in over a calendar year, and it might not be his last one of 2022.
• Cut Chuba Hubbard: The Carolina Panthers running back shined in three quarters immediately after the Christian McCaffrey trade, but the Panthers seem set on having a three-man committee, with Hubbard not touching the ball much.
• Last-minute trades: This week is the trade deadline in several fantasy leagues and has already passed in several more. There are plenty of buy-low candidates after defenses dominated Week 11 in addition to players to trade away because they have tough upcoming schedules.

Estimated reading time: 14 minutes

This piece is a fantasy manager's one-stop shop for managing their fantasy roster early in the week. For more players to add, check out the weekly waiver wire, and for more on this past week's games in general, check out the fantasy football recap.

5 PLAYERS TO ADD

1. RB Isiah Pacheco, Kansas City Chiefs

Clyde Edwards-Helaire suffered an ankle injury in the middle of the first quarter and was later ruled out of Sunday's game.

• The third-year back played only four snaps last week, but Kansas City tried getting him more involved in Week 11.
• Isiah Pacheco started the game, as he has been, but Edwards-Helaire replaced him after six snaps.
• Pacheco started the second drive, but Edwards-Helaire again replaced him mid-drive. He suffered his injury later on that drive.
• Like last week, Kansas City went back to its two-man backfield, with Pacheco taking most of the early-down work while McKinnon plays the passing-down and goal-line snaps.
• Pacheco had the best game of his career, gaining 107 yards from 15 carries.
• He remains a top waiver wire target, regardless of Edwards-Helaire’s health. 
• The Chiefs have a top-five schedule for running backs during the fantasy playoffs and the third-easiest schedule over the rest of the season. Pacheco will get both volume and efficiency based on the schedule.
• If Edwards-Helaire misses time, expect Ronald Jones to join the active roster and take Edwards-Helaire's usual snaps.

2. WR Christian Watson, Green Bay Packers

Watson has scored five touchdowns in the last two weeks as one of the Packers' starting wide receivers.

• Watson played over 80% of Green Bay's offensive snaps for the second straight game despite the Packers being the healthiest they’ve been at wide receiver since Week 1.
• His 25.0% target rate ranked 11th among wide receivers heading into Week 11.
• He’s gained 155 receiving yards over his last two games.
• All three teams the Packers face during the fantasy playoffs are in the top half of the league in terms of allowing fantasy points to wide receivers. Their Week 17 opponents, the Minnesota Vikings, have allowed the fourth-most fantasy points to the position this year.

3. WR Donovan Peoples-Jones, Cleveland Browns

Peoples-Jones tallied 60 or more receiving yards for the fifth straight game.

• He also caught his first touchdown of the season, albeit in the last 20 seconds of the game.
• His totals in targets, receptions and yards are good enough to make him a fantasy starter — he just needs the touchdown totals to match. 
• The Browns will soon turn to Deshaun Watson. Peoples-Jones could put up better numbers and start scoring touchdowns with Watson under center.
• Cleveland has the third-easiest schedule for fantasy wide receivers from Weeks 15-17.

4. QB Derek Carr, Las Vegas Raiders

Carr threw for 307 yards and two touchdowns in the Raiders' Week 11 victory over the Denver Broncos.

• Carr was dropped in fantasy leagues after a disappointing start to the season.
• The Raiders head to Seattle next week, where they will likely be playing from behind and need to pass often. 
• The Seahawks have been below average in terms of fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks — three of the last four quarterbacks they faced have scored at least two touchdowns. 

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