Week 13 Waiver Wire: Beanie Wells and More Fantasy Football RBs to Avoid

With the fantasy football playoffs fast approaching, it's time peruse the waiver wire for sneaky points producers hiding under the floorboards of the NFL.

Week 12 saw a slew of running backs rise up to post surprising performances. The difficult part, though, is deciphering which ball carriers are legit and which ones are one-game wonders.

I'll give you a bit of negativity here with the mirages to steer clear of.

Beanie Wells, Arizona Cardinals

Running for 228 yards and a touchdown is never a bad thing in fantasy football, but against the Rams' worst-in-the-NFL run defense, it's hardly a good judge of long-term productivity.

That's certainly the case with Beanie Wells, who accomplished all of the above in St. Louis on Sunday. As great a day's work as that was, don't expect Wells to come anywhere close to duplicating those results before the end of the season. For one, that was only the third time all season that Beanie topped 100 yards from scrimmage in a single game.

More importantly, his Cardinals will face four of the 11 stingiest run defenses in the NFL over the final five weeks, with only the 29th-ranked Browns in Week 15 to break up the monotony. Wells will get plenty of touches so long as John Skelton is calling the shots under center, though, ultimately, he's not likely to do much with 'em.

Roy Helu, Washington Redskins

I know you're all excited that Roy Helu finally got the bulk of the Redskins' touches—30, compared to just one for Evan Royster, to be exact.

And I know you're all excited about what he did with those 30 touches—162 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown.

But (prepare to have your bubble burst) his head coach is still Mike Shanahan, which means he could just as easily come up with say, five touches in Washington's next game.

The Jets may only be middle-of-the-pack against opposing fantasy 'backs (as are the Patriots, Giants, Vikings and Eagles).

Just beware that if you do opt for Helu, you're essentially playing with the fantasy football equivalent of fire.

CJ Spiller, Buffalo Bills

CJ Spiller will likely have every opportunity to prove that he's a productive, every-down back.

The problem, of course, is that he just doesn't look like one. Spiller garnered 22 touches against the Jets on Sunday, but came up with just 70 total yards while spending the bulk of his time on the field dancing east-to-west rather than pushing forward.

Throw in the fact that the Bills only face one more team that's among the 10 friendliest for opposing fantasy running backs, and Spiller looks like anything but a sure thing lift your team to the top.

Even if he's the only guy getting the ball out of Buffalo's backfield for the rest of the year.