If you’ve been keeping up with my weekly sneaky stashes article, first of all, thank you, but secondly, you’re going to see a lot of the same names on this list. It’s not my fault. The fantasy sheep of the world are simply refusing to wise up and add valuable stretch-run assets. That’s fine. It allows fantasy wolves, like yourself, to take advantage of their lack of foresight and pounce. Even if you feel extremely confident in your starting lineup, you can never have too deep of a bench. As we all know, players get injured, and at very least, by stashing quality options away you are preventing other teams from scooping them up and using them against you.
For those unfamiliar, the goal of Sneaky Stashes is to get ahead of the waiver wire. By identifying valuable players before they break out, we can avoid dipping into that precious FAAB budget or getting beat out by someone with higher priority on waivers. However your league handles it, we get a leg up by stashing fantasy assets on our bench before they become hot commodities. The players featured below are prospects who either have juicy matchups awaiting them in the weeks ahead, have immense talent that is primed to breakout sooner or later, or possibly a combination of both.
Nonetheless, the guys you’ll see on sneaky stashes are players we recommend considering if you have dead weight at the end of your bench.
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Week 13 Byes: None, bitch!
Criteria for sneaky stashes requires players be available in 40% or more of ESPN leagues.
Jacob Hollister — Available in 60.4% of leagues
TE — Seattle Seahawks
Week 13 Matchup: vs Minnesota Vikings
Maybe it’s the lack of name recognition, or maybe people forgot what he did in his previous two games before the bye, but Hollister remains available in far too many leagues. The former Patriot played over 78% of the snaps in each of Seattle’s past two games and accumulated 16 targets, 12 catches, 99 yards and three touchdowns during that time. Hollister’s strangle hold on the Seahawks’ feature tight end role was strengthened this week when the team placed fellow tight end Ed Dickson on IR after briefly activating him. For more on why tight end needy fantasy owners should add Hollister, see last week’s article.
DeVante Parker — Available in 42.2% of leagues
WR — Miami Dolphins
Week 13 Matchup: vs Philadelphia Eagles
It took five seasons, but Parker is finally producing like the Dolphins hoped he would when they spent the 14th overall pick on him in 2015. The 26-year-old is coming off his best game of the season — seven catches for 135 yards vs Buffalo — and aside from a week 2 blunder against New England, he has at least 56 yards or a touchdown in every game this year. Parker has seen 10 targets in each of Miami’s two games since rookie receiver Preston Williams was placed on IR. The Dolphins play the Browns this week, the Eagles the next, and then have the Jets, Giants and Bengals to end the fantasy playoffs. Wide receiver schedules do not get much more favorable than that.
Deebo Samuel — Available in 58.9% of leagues
WR — San Francisco 49ers
Week 13 Matchup: at Baltimore Ravens
With George Kittle out of the lineup and Emmanuel Sanders dealing with a rib injury, Samuel has established himself as a go-to weapon on this 49ers offense. The talented rookie has notched eight catches and over 100 yards in each of his past two games and appears to be on track to play this week after being limited in practice with a shoulder injury. While both Sanders and Kittle have a chance to suit up this weekend as well, Samuel’s performance over the last two weeks should keep him involved in the offense. The former Gamecock warrants an add for anyone looking for wide receiver depth.
Derrius Guice — Available in 46.5% of leagues
RB — Washington Redskins
Week 13 Matchup: at Carolina Panthers
There were plenty of positives in Guice’s first game action since week 1, the most positive being that he managed to exit the game healthy. He also had a 45-yard catch-and-run off a screen that he turned into a touchdown, out-snapped Adrian Peterson 20-17 and was more efficient on the ground than the veteran, gaining 24 yards on seven carries compared to Peterson’s 25 yards on nine. These are all good signs. Washington’s next three opponents — Detroit, Carolina & Green Bay — are vulnerable against the run. As the Redskins wrap up what amounts to a lost season, common sense would tell you they’d begin to feature Guice over the 34-year-old Peterson in order to see if they have their running back of the future before they head into the offseason.
Bo Scarbrough — Available in 55.3% of leagues
RB — Detroit Lions
Week 13 Matchup: vs Chicago Bears
Is Scarbrough the new lead back in Detroit? Who the hell knows. The former Bama bruiser was promoted from the practice squad Saturday, and on Sunday, he led the Lions’ backfield in snaps with 49%. His 14 carries were the most any Detroit ‘back has had since Kerryon Johnson went down, and as illustrated by Tra Carson’s surprise usage in week 8, the Lions appears to want their lead rusher to be of the bigger, more powerful variety. We’ll learn more about Scarbrough’s role this week against Washington, but if the 23-year-old once again delivers as the lead man, you’ll be happy you snagged him.
Cuffing Season
Darrel Williams — Available in 94.9% of leagues
RB — Kansas City Chiefs
Week 13 Matchup: vs Oakland Raiders
Starting running back Damien Williams left Monday night’s contest with a rib injury and did not return. While Kansas City enjoys a bye this week, Damien’s injury could linger into week 13 and beyond. LeSean McCoy left the game to be checked out for a concussion. While more clarity will be given to the injury situation as the team takes the practice field next week, savvy fantasy owners will grab Darrel Williams now, whose value skyrockets if one or both of the aforementioned ‘backs can’t go. Darrel put up RB2 numbers in the two weeks that Damien missed earlier in the season.
Alexander Mattison — Available in 81.9% of leagues
RB — Minnesota Vikings
Week 13 Matchup: at Seattle Seahawks
This is my weekly reminder that you should pick up Mattison. The talented rookie becomes a league-winner should starter Dalvin Cook go down with injury. Between the Vikings’ effective, run-heavy scheme, Cook’s injury history and Mattison’s individual skill, the only thing stopping Mattison from breaking out is opportunity. Take a good, long look at your bench. If there’s a player who seems unlikely to ever crack your starting lineup, drop him for Mattison. I guarantee Mattison’s upside is higher.
