Fantasy Football Waiver Wire, Week 15: Let's unearth some playoff heroes

Let’s hope you have no need for a waiver wire column at this late date. Ideally, whatever plans you’d previously made for the fantasy playoffs have clicked into place and your lineup basically sets itself. 

Many of you, however, are entering the postseason on fumes. It’s possible you have a few roster holes that need to be filled ahead of a must-win matchup. If that describes your situation, you have come to the right place. 

Each week, we identify priority pickups who happen to be available in a majority of leagues. If you have roster needs, we are offering solutions.  

RUNNING BACKS

Chuba Hubbard, Carolina Panthers

55% rostered at Sleeper

Obviously Hubbard is not available in your leagues, which of course are full of sharks. Please take no offense. But the fact remains, Hubbard is somehow still available in 45% of Sleeper leagues (an actively managed platform), so not every league reacted properly to his 19-touch, 124-yard performance ahead of Carolina’s bye. 

Hubbard played nearly 60% of the snaps against the Rams two weeks ago, looking generally like the 2024 version of himself:

He clearly remains in a committee arrangement with Rico Dowdle, but his share of the workload is, without question, trending up. Hubbard’s slice of the backfield responsibilities is particularly fantasy-friendly:

“Some of [the usage against L.A.] was third-down opportunities. We've been using Chuba primarily as our third-down back, and then he gets series as we go," explained [head coach Dave] Canales. “And the way that we play on third down, we mix our runs, we mix some of like the perimeter screen he had a touchdown on, just different ways to allow him to affect the game.

“And especially because of how he's looked in the last couple of weeks — he's looked really strong, really powerful — and just making sure that he's a weapon for us in different ways.”

So let’s maybe perform one last search for Hubbard across your fantasy portfolio, just in case. With matchups ahead against the Saints and Bucs, this is a potential empty-the-wallet situation.  

FAAB: 36%

Blake Corum, Los Angeles Rams

48% rostered

Kyren Williams remains the head of L.A.’s backfield committee, but Corum continues to have significant subcommittee responsibilities. He burrowed for an early 2-yard score on Sunday, then added a long-distance TD when the win was firmly in hand. 

Corum ultimately finished with 128 rushing yards on a dozen carries in a runaway victory. Williams, meanwhile, touched the ball 15 times, gained 97 total yards and scored once. 

Again: Suspiciously committee-ish. Corum has undeniably emerged as a flex-worthy option heading into a shootout with Detroit. 

FAAB: 31%