We are officially through the first 11 weeks of the 2023 NFL season and we still don’t have a definitive answer to who the best fantasy option is at the WR position for the Kansas City Chiefs. In Week 11, WR Justin Watson made a compelling case for a larger role in the Chiefs’ passing game moving forward. Let’s take a closer look at how aggressively you should go after Watson on your waiver wire in Week 12.
Should Justin Watson Be a Fantasy Waiver Wire Add in Week 12?
For those of you first-TD-scorer enthusiasts who placed a bet on Watson — you ended up with a nice hit on +3000 odds. Congrats on an early Christmas gift! Watson found the end zone for the first time this season in the first quarter of their Monday Night Football matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Watson saw a season high in targets (11) and receptions (5) against a suspect Philly secondary, which helped him produce his first double-digit fantasy performance of the year. While Watson’s performance can’t be qualified as a breakout performance, he definitely appeared to have been the preferred option over Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Skyy Moore in this contest.
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Sure, Rashee Rice still feels like an ascending player in this Kansas City offense. But Watson was a consistent cog in the Chiefs’ passing game in this Super Bowl LVII rematch. Patrick Mahomes even called Watson’s number on consecutive third-down passing attempts and the final offensive play of the game for the Chiefs in the fourth quarter. This could all speak to Mahomes’ growing rapport and trust with Watson this season.
Quite frankly, Mahomes is in desperate need of a wideout from this Chiefs WR group to emerge as a reliable option alongside TE Travis Kelce. The Chiefs’ offense has a league-high 26 drops this season, which featured three drops from Watson and an inexcusable drop from Valdes-Scantling on a potential go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter with Kansas City trailing by four on their last offensive possession.
Watson was the only Chiefs pass catcher to go for more than 50 receiving yards against the Eagles, which speaks to why Mahomes has failed to go over 200 yards passing in two straight games. If Father Time is finally starting to tap Kelce on the shoulder this season, the Kansas City offense needs to see more production from the pass catchers in this offense in the very near future.
I still have Kelce as the unquestioned alpha in this Chiefs passing game, with Rice as the best fantasy option at the WR position at the moment. However, if Watson has indeed secured a sizeable role in this Kansas City passing attack, he could start entering the WR3 conversation on a weekly basis.
While I’m not willing to throw a ton of my remaining FAAB at Watson, you could make a case that Watson squandered a fair amount of his opportunities with three crucial drops in big moments, contributing to keeping the Eagles in the game and potentially costing the Chiefs scoring opportunities in a game they lost by just four points.
Recommended FAAB bid: 5%
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