Ian Allan answers your fantasy football questions. Special Thursday edition. Should an also-ran team avoid muddying the waiver wire waters for the playoff hopefuls? Dynasty rankings for kickers. And Ian's favorite waiver wire pickup for Week 14.
Question 1
I have been eliminated from the playoffs in one of my leagues. We continue with the consolation bracket. We do not lock transactions for eliminated teams. My nature is to keep the roster/bench as strong as possible, regardless of elimination. Should non-playoff teams quit churning the roster or continue to irritate those in contention?
Tom Fowler (Colfax, WA)
We have this debate in the DFL (which is wrapping up its 40th season). We have a Toilet Bowl, with the two worst teams playing in the first round of the playoffs – the game that determines the worst team in the league. About half of the owners in our league don’t want those teams to be allowed to compete on the waiver wire (against the playoff teams). And traveling down the same road, there could be the issue of a non-playoff team releasing its best player during the Week 14 waivers (figuring it won’t be around in Week 15 anyway). We have no rules preventing such behavior. I don’t like a rulebook that is too large, trying to address every possible scenario. But to me, it feels like there’s a sportsmanship component that factors in. I wouldn’t, for example, clear extra salary cap room by releasing Christian McCaffrey (bye this week), giving me a better chance of perhaps signing Isaac TeSlaa or Devaughn Vele. I would want to stay out of the way of the team’s battling in the postseason. But at the same time, ‘you play to win the game.’ I don’t have an off switch. If it’s Week 14 and my team is out of it, I’m still very comfortable bidding on TeSlaa and Vele.
Question 2
I'm in the playoffs with an 8-5 record. My concern, I'm on a 3-game losing streak. Going forward how worried should I be with these possible starters? QB Mayfield, D.Jones. RBs J.Taylor, Dowdle, Charbonnet, Vidal, Knight. WRs Nacua, Egbuka, M.Wilson. My TE is T.Kelce. Can't believe I've scored the least amount of points all season the past 3 weeks! Do you recommend I try to find waiver wire players or go with what I got?
Manuel Madrid (San Tan Valley, AZ)
There’s always room for freshening up the roster. I’m not crazy about Mayfield this week. You would think the Saints would be a punching bag, but they’re playing good defense, particularly against the pass. Only six teams have allowed fewer passing yards. When these teams played earlier, Mayfield passed for only 152 yards, with no touchdowns. I would be inclined to instead roll with Danny Dimes. He's not as good, but I like his matchup a lot better. The Jaguars are allowing 41 more passing yards per week, and with a couple more touchdowns. Omarion Hampton is supposedly going to play this week, while Dowdle is on a bye, so you’ve got a void at running back. You’ll need to start one of your Z backs – Zach or Zonovan. You can run a check to see what’s on the waiver wire, but I think you’ll be starting Charbonnet, hoping you get the version of Atlanta’s run defense that has allowed 140-plus yards in a third of its games. With Charbonnet, you would be playing for touchdowns rather than yards or receiving stats. Possibly there’s a move to be made at wide receiver. Michael Wilson had those two big games, but with Harrison back in the fold, there are a couple of waiver wire receivers I would use before Wilson. Assuming St. Brown is out tonight, I would consider Isaac TeSlaa a starter-caliber receiver. And I am a fan of Devaughn Vele. He caught 8 passes last week (including a touchdown), and I don’t think that’s a one-week blip. Rashid Shaheed averaged 4.9 catches when he was in that offense, with at least 4 catches in all nine of his games. Now that Shaheed (and also Brandin Cooks) is gone, I think Vele should be something similar. That’s a passing offense, and Tyler Shough seems to be holding up just fine. He’s thrown for at least 239 yards in each of his last three starts, with 2 TDs. I would be comfortable using Vele in Week 14. (But only if the Saints are wearing their traditional uniforms; if they show up in their ugly black retro helmets, the deal is off.)
Question 3
I can keep one kicker in my dynasty league. Who do you think will have the better numbers for the next few years: Ka’imi Fairbairn or Andres Borregales?
David Jung (San Francisco, CA)
Those are two of the top half dozen, I would think. The Texans have that weird dynamic where they consistently bog down in the red zone. At times, they seem awfully content to settle for field goals. Fairbairn this year has attempted almost twice as many field goals (30) as extra points (16). And this isn’t a one-year outlier; he’s attempted 5-7 more field goals than PATs in each of the three previous seasons. He’s missed games with injuries in three of his last five seasons, if you want to try to factor that in. Borregales looks almost as good. He’s making his kicks, and his on a team where the arrow is pointing up, with Mike Vrabel and Drake Maye in place. Borregales has averaged 9.2 points in his last nine games. Downgrade him a notch if you want to put a premium on guys who have shown that can bag a bunch of kicks going out to 60 yards (his long is only 53). On Saturdays, I put together dynasty rankings, rotating between the four notable positions. That doesn’t include kickers, but we can show those here. I would be focusing primarily on the 2026 season, because with kickers, they seem to come and go in a hurry. In a typical fantasy league, you can start firing off waiver moves, and it should take more than a few weeks before you feel like you’re above-average at the position.
| DYNASTY LEAGUE KICKERS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Tm | Player | Age |
| 1. | DAL | Brandon Aubrey | 30.7 |
| 2. | LAC | Cameron Dicker | 25.6 |
| 3. | HOU | Ka'imi Fairbairn | 31.8 |
| 4. | SEA | Jason Myers | 34.6 |
| 5. | NE | Andres Borregales | 23.9 |
| 6. | TB | Chase McLaughlin | 29.7 |
| 7. | CHI | Cairo Santos | 34.1 |
| 8. | BAL | Tyler Loop | 24.3 |
| 9. | MIN | Will Reichard | 24.9 |
| 10. | PIT | Chris Boswell | 34.7 |
| 11. | DEN | Wil Lutz | 31.4 |
| 12. | KC | Harrison Butker | 30.4 |
| 13. | DET | Jake Bates | 26.8 |
| 14. | SF | Eddy Pineiro | 30.2 |
| 15. | GB | Brandon McManus | 34.4 |
| 16. | JAC | Cam Little | 22.3 |
| 17. | ARI | Chad Ryland | 26.1 |
| 18. | CIN | Evan McPherson | 26.4 |
| 19. | PHI | Jake Elliott | 35.4 |
| 20. | LAR | Harrison Mevis | 23.7 |