Fantasy Football Week 13 Waiver Wire: Keon Coleman, Ameer Abdullah Lead Top Pickups
The fantasy football season is nearly over. If you have been sitting on a high waiver priority or a bunch of auction dollars and haven't locked up a playoff berth, now is the time to utilize it.
Managers still in the hunt must put it all on the line to get the possible lineup in place for not only the final two weeks of the campaign but also the postseason that will follow.
It's imperative to play the waiver wire to identity key free agents whose upside could swing a matchup and help fuel a championship run.
Fortunately, there are quite a few talents who fit the bill and are still widely available. Whether they've capitalized on an injury that has catapulted them up the depth chart or have a favorable schedule, these players are well worth picking up and deploying in Week 13 and potentially beyond.
With that in mind, let's look at five players—rostered in 50 percent or fewer of Yahoo! Sports leagues—you should target on waivers.
Fantasy points and rankings courtesy of FantasyPros' PPR data taken prior to this week's Monday Night Football matchup. Fantasy points against stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference. Suggested free-agent acquisition budget (FAAB) bids are based on a $100 dollar starting budget.
QB Drake Maye, New England Patriots (22 Percent Rostered)
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Suggested FAAB Bid: $1-3
The New England Patriots may be a dumpster fire, but it at least seems the team won't be in the market for a quarterback when it's selecting at or near the top of the 2025 NFL draft.
Drake Maye appears to be the real deal and has been one of the few bright spots for an organization struggling through some growing pains following former coach Bill Belichick's departure after 24 years at the helm.
The No. 3 overall pick has consistently finished in the middle of the pack in fantasy points among QBs despite having one of the league's weakest crop of pass-catchers to lean on. He's put up at least 11.5 points in each game since taking over as the starter in Week 6, including a pair of top-10 finishes in Weeks 6 and 7.
While Maye has cooled a bit in the weeks since, he's yet to finish worse than QB17 over the past month. Expect those numbers to improve in Week 13 with a beatable Indianapolis Colts defense on tap.
The Colts are around league-average when it comes to defending quarterbacks—allowing 16.6 fantasy points per game this year—but they have struggled to stop the mobile signal-callers they've faced. Justin Fields torched them for 55 yards and a pair of scores on 10 rushes in Week 4, and Josh Allen rang them up for 50 yards and a touchdown on just eight totes in Week 10.
A decent chunk of Maye's fantasy value is tied to his scrambling abilities. The 22-year-old has taken off at least three times in each of his starts and has at least 24 rushing yards in all but one of those games.
Expect him to exploit Indy's weakness in this area by taking off a bit more than usual and have himself a solid fantasy day due to it.
RB Ameer Abdullah, Las Vegas Raiders (24 Percent Rostered)
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Suggested FAAB Bid: $7-10
After his season-best showing last week against the Denver Broncos, Ameer Abdullah is the top waiver-wire pickup of Week 13.
The Las Vegas Raiders running back led the team's backfield in a loss against the Denver Broncos with eight carries for 28 yards. His best contributions came through the air as he added another 37 yards and a touchdown on five receptions.
That performance equated to 17.5 fantasy points and an RB9 ranking, Abdullah's first top-10 finish since Week 4 of the 2017 season. It was the second consecutive week that he rated as a top-25 fantasy back and is a good indication of the type of production he'll be putting up if backfield mates Alexander Mattison and Zamir White remain sidelined.
Unfortunately, Abdullah's value is largely tied to the health of both Mattison and White. He's the best pass-catcher of the bunch and will still have some flex appeal if one of those two are out (especially White, who has just six receptions on the year), but his volume will suffer and he'll become even more touchdown-dependent if he's not the lead back against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 13.
Any manager in need of running back help this week should still roll the dice on the 31-year-old. His upside is legitimate and he can be safely deployed as a low-end RB2 if he remains locked in as the starter for his squad's visit to Arrowhead on Friday.
Given the lack of options at the position on waivers, it's worth claiming him and keeping an eye on the injury reports leading up to this contest on a short week of rest.
RB Jeremy McNichols, Washington Commanders (1 Percent Rostered)
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Suggested FAAB Bid: $2-4
The Washington Commanders suffered a gut-punch loss to the Dallas Cowboys at the weekend and could have a rough Week 13 as well due to their banged-up backfield.
With Brian Robinson Jr. suffering an injury early in the contest—he eventually returned but was ineffective against Dallas—and Austin Ekeler taking a brutal shot in the closing moments, Jeremy McNichols could see a significant amount of work during Washington's upcoming clash with the Tennessee Titans.
McNichols has been sparsely utilized this year but has fared well when called upon. In Week 4, the veteran earned a season-high nine touches and made the most of them by tallying up 20.4 fantasy points and earning a RB9 finish. He notably worked behind Robinson in that blowout victory over the Arizona Cardinals, a game Ekeler missed with a concussion.
It appears Ekeler could miss more time after being hospitalized with another concussion following a hard hit on a kick return. McNichols should step into the backup role behind Robinson against Tennessee and could see quite a bit of volume if the starter is limited by his latest ailment.
Chris Rodriguez Jr.—who had 11 carries for 52 yards while helping replace Robinson during his Week 9 absence—has been released by Washington, and the 2017 fifth-rounder should be the next man up in the backfield.
That status makes McNichols a strong speculative waiver claim and a decent flex starter for Week 13 if either of Washington's top two backs can't go.
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WR Keon Coleman, Buffalo Bills (43 Percent Rostered)
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Suggested FAAB Bid: $3-6
Keon Coleman has gotten off to a relatively slow start to his NFL career. Although the Buffalo Bills tapped him as their top pick in the 2024 draft, he struggled to get involved in the offense and failed to garner more than four catches or 51 yards in any of his first six contests.
While that sluggish stretch caused many fantasy managers to give up on the wideout, he finally emerged in Week 7 with 125-yard breakout game that resulted in a WR15 finish.
The 21-year-old followed that up in Week 8 by hauling in five receptions for 70 yards and a touchdown that equated to a career-high 18 fantasy points and a WR16 ranking.
Unfortunately, Coleman came back to earth in Week 9 before being injured late in the contest. He missed the following two games leading up to the team's bye, a series of events that led to him becoming available in more than half of all leagues right now.
That roster percent should shoot up quickly, as smart managers are already snapping him up before his inevitable reemergence in the coming weeks.
Don't expect the world from the 21-year-old with a tough matchup against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 13, but he could do some damage with the opposition's top defenders marking some of his more prolific teammates.
Coleman's true value lies in the subsequent three contests, which all come against highly vulnerable pass defenses. Expect the rookie to bust out in a big way against the likes of the Los Angeles Rams (23.5 fantasy points per game given up to WRs), Detroit Lions (21.7 FPPG to WR) and New England Patriots (22.3 FPPG to WR) to finish out the regular season and start the fantasy playoffs.
Make sure to have Coleman on your roster for this stretch, as he's a strong bet to put up some week-winning numbers as he finishes out his first professional campaign on a high note.
TE Noah Gray, Kansas City Chiefs (4 Percent Rostered)
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Suggested FAAB Bid: $0-2
Noah Gray has quietly emerged as a scoring machine for the Kansas City Chiefs.
After being firmly off the fantasy radar for the first 10 weeks of this season and nearly the entirety of his career, the fourth-year tight end blew up in Week 11 with a four-catch, 23-yard, two-touchdown showing against the Buffalo Bills. His 18.3 fantasy points were good for a TE6 finish, one that nearly every manager wrote off as a fluke while leaving him on the free-agent scrap heap.
That turned out to be a mistake as the 25-year-old followed up the impressive showing with an even better one. He torched the Carolina Panthers for 66 yards and another two scores on four receptions that resulted in a career-high 22.6 fantasy points and a personal-best TE3 finish.
While it's not time to anoint Gray as the new Travis Kelce in Kansas City's high-powered offense, it is time to recognize a trend and get the tight end on far more than the one percent of rosters he is currently found on.
The Duke product has a dream matchup in Week 13 against the Las Vegas Raiders, one of just three teams giving up a double-digit amount of fantasy points to opposing tight ends (10.0 per game) in 2024. Kelce scorched Vegas' defense for 90 yards and a TD earlier this season, and it could be Gray's turn to cook in the rematch.
Although he's not a high-volume player and is highly touchdown-dependent for fantasy production, he has been unstoppable in recent weeks. Any manager who has been streaming tight ends won't find one with a higher ceiling for Week 13.
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