Week 15 RB Waiver Pickups & Adds: Deandre Washington Potential Fill-In Vs Patriots

Week 15 RB Waiver Wire Pickups

Cam Akers – Los Angeles Rams

For the second week in a row, Cam Akers has seen 20+ touches. In fact, he saw 31 against New England, going for almost 200 yards all-purpose. He has 14, 16, and 21 fantasy point games over the last three and has a very enticing schedule the rest of the way with the Jets, Seahawks, and Cardinals all ahead of them. If Akers can see 79% of the snaps in these games again and get 20+ touches, he is going to have a very safe floor for the remaining weeks. Both the Seahawks and the Jets rank middle of the league in fantasy points allowed to opposing running backs. The Jets have allowed the 10th most fantasy points, the Seahawks the 12th most, and the Cardinals rank 17th. With the Rams defense in the form that it is in these should all be close or leading games for the Rams where they can lean on Akers. He was picked up quite a bit last week but if you are in a shallow league he might not have gotten noticed.

Damien Harris – New England Patriots

We will use Damien Harris to talk about this unit as a whole. Damien Harris did leave Thursday’s game with a back injury after rushing for 50 yards on 11 touches. Harris has been solid this season and the lead-role has certainly been his. Harris has seemingly been battling injury knocks the last few games and it has not limited. If Harris is all good and ready to go he will be the 12+ touch guy you can depend on for volume but does need that 100+ yard day or a touchdown to have a real impact. James White has had a really minor role in the offseason and Cam Newton could be a part of it not throwing to his backs but also he just hasn’t been on the field a ton. If Harris is out, Sony Michel would get his work back. We know the Patriots are going to want to run the ball and they will have a chance against the Dolphins and Bills over the next two weeks if the defense can keep the game close. Both Miami and Buffalo are allowing 4.6 yards per carry this season.

Duke Johnson – Houston Texans

With David Johnson going on the covid list late last week we might see Duke Johnson get another full start this week against the Colts. Johnson hasn’t done much in David’s absence but the volume has been at least decent enough to toss Johnson in if you are out of options. Johnson will have to do his heavy lifting through the air as the ground game has been stagnant for the Texans and the Colts have a pretty good run defense. However you can beat them through the air and Johnson did have six catches last game against them, but only for 24 yards. Johnson has posted 17, 9, and 9 fantasy point games over the last three. He won’t cost you much if he is out there and this will be a trailing game where Johnson should see 5+ targets this week.

Deandre Washington – Miami Dolphins

This is a similar situation to Duke Johnson where Myles Gaskin hit the covid list late last week and that could mean a potential week missed. Miami has been thinned out at running back and there is a good chance Deandre Washington is out there this week as a leading back. He didn’t play against Cincinnati, but he had 15 touches in each of the Jets and Chiefs game. New England is a mediocre run defense allowing 4.4 yards per carry and ranks 27th in DVOA. With it being the last few weeks of the season, there isn’t going to be much more that opens up for picking up running backs. It will be more about analyzing situations like these and potential handcuffs tied to the week. We have seen over the last few weeks the news hit late in the week and games also be moved until the very last day possible for scoring to count.