If you’re reading this, congratulations on making it to fantasy football championship week. You’re in the right place to get the last-minute fantasy help you need to bring home your league title. One of the hottest waiver wire names for Week 17 is Atlanta Falcons running back Tyler Allgeier. We’ll break down whether Allgeier is a quality waiver wire addition for Week 17 as he faces the Arizona Cardinals.
Should You Add Tyler Allgeier From the Waiver Wire?
While it’s not surprising there’s virtually no buzz around a 5-10 team that runs the ball at the second-highest rate in the league, it’s a shame there’s such little recognition of how effective Allgeier has been as a rookie.
Allgeier is the leading rusher on a team starting a rookie quarterback who has completed under 60% of his attempts and is averaging 157.5 yards per game. He’s only 183 yards away from hitting 1,000 on the year while averaging 4.9 yards per carry.
Allgeier has been solid in his opportunities, getting double-digit touches in all but three weeks this year. But with only two touchdowns and 15 receptions, his fantasy upside is limited. He’s RB32 on the season in scoring while averaging 9.2 yards per game because the scoring and receiving opportunities are so limited.
With back-to-back games with at least 11.7 points against solid run defenses, Allgeier is blossoming at the right time for championship contenders. It might be bold to add him off the waiver wire and immediately insert him into your lineup, but the matchup is that good, and Allgeier is playing that well.
Over the last two games, Allgeier has 35 carries for 213 yards and 44 receiving yards on five receptions. And things are about to be even more favorable this week.
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The Cardinals have allowed 26.1 fantasy points per game, the sixth-most in the NFL. They’re not egregiously bad against the ground, giving up 4.6 yards per carry, but volume has hurt them, and so has allowing the fourth-most receiving yards to backs per game.
Allgeier is unlikely to fully maximize that weakness. He has two games with more than 24 receiving yards and six with zero targets. Desmond Ridder seems more willing to dump the ball off to Allgeier, and it helps that Cordarrelle Patterson is being phased out in recent weeks.
Banking on Allgeier having a breakout game as a receiver is more of a prayer than something we can predict with confidence. Falcons head coach Arthur Smith is a good play-caller, but he’s seemed unwilling to venture too far from their bread-and-butter. This matchup is the right opportunity to create misdirection with vertical routes to open underneath routes for Allgeier.
I doubt we see that, but it’s still a good week to start Allgeier if you have an opening at RB2 or in your Flex. It’s bold and unusual, but Allgeier would be a higher-profile name if his team was better. The biggest risk is his lack of TD upside due to the unit’s low-functioning passing game.
Nevertheless, Allgeier has a solid floor, and Arizona has little to play for at this point in the season. With Tampa Bay lurking in Week 18, this will be Allgeier’s best push to get closer to the 1,000-yard mark. Atlanta may help him get there by giving him 20 touches, which would be massive for his fantasy managers.