A Seahawk in Every Pot

Quarterbacks

Seneca Wallace, Seahawks - No quarterback in the league has a better statistical matchup the next two weeks than Wallace. He draws a Jets defense allowing the fourth most fantasy points to quarterbacks followed by a Cardinals defense giving up the second most points. There's always a chance that he'll be kept out of the end zone again, but desperate owners could do worse than playing Wallace in favorable matchups.

Dan Orlovsky, Lions - Let's give Orlovsky some credit: he's not altogether awful. Unlike the other Detroit quarterbacks, Orlovsky has been over 200 yards with a touchdown in each of his last four starts, and he enjoys the luxury of throwing it up to Megatron and letting him work his magic. This is nobody's idea of a dream fantasy playoff quarterback, but you could so worse than Orlovsky indoors against the Saints in Week 16.

Tarvaris Jackson, Vikings - After dropping four touchdowns on the Cardinals in Week 15, Jackson is fully expected to keep the reigns for this week's matchup against the Falcons. On the positive side, T-Jax is coming off a commando performance and playing indoors in mid-December. On the down side, he's still Tarvaris Jackson.


Wide Receivers

Deion Branch, Seahawks - Despite salvaging his season with three straight games over 55 yards, Branch is owned in just half of all fantasy leagues. Though he's the best wide receiver option on many waiver wires, beware of Branch drawing Darrelle Revis in Week 16 action. The Jets do give up a lot of fantasy points to quarterbacks and receivers, but much of that damage comes against their other corners. Desperate owners can roll with a streaking Branch, but don't expect miracles this week.

Devin Hester, Bears - Hester's 4-reception, 46-yard performance against the Saints could have easily looked like six or seven receptions for 150 yards and two touchdowns if not for desperate pass interference penalties. As it turns out, that was Hester's worst statistical performance in a month, and he's established himself as the clear No. 1 in Chicago's passing game. If you need a homerun, let Hester step up to the plate this week.

Dennis Northcutt, Jaguars - While desperate owners flailed at supposed starters Mike Walker and Reggie Williams in Week 15, Northcutt drew the start and outshined both waiver darlings. Targeted eight times, Northcutt posted an incredible 127 yards and a touchdown on five receptions. The Jags aerial attack, however, is too inconsistent to rely on Northcutt against the dominant pass defenses of the Colts and Ravens the next two weeks.


Tight Ends

John Carlson, Seahawks - Carlson is owned in two-thirds of all leagues, but the scorching rookie is a must-grab if he's available. With an average of six receptions for 83 yards, only Tony Gonzalez is out-producing Carlson the past three weeks. Seneca Wallace loves throwing to No. 89, and the Jets defense allows the third most tight end points in the league. Pick him up and insert him into your starting lineup if he's available.

Vernon Davis, 49ers - Surefire TE1s like Carlson aren't likely to be available in your league, so Davis will have to make for an acceptable substitute in desperate deep leagues. In an offense lacking any semblance of a game-breaker, Davis received a whopping eight targets -- and even a rushing attempt -- in Week 15. With Frank Gore out of the lineup, the Niners may finally realize that Davis is their most explosive weapon in the passing game. He makes for a decent high-risk/high-reward option for desperate owners.

Defenses

Cowboys - After a disappointing first three months, the Cowboys were sitting on the waiver wire in two of my leagues as of Sunday night. With their DaMarcus Ware-led pass rush playing so well, I'm hoping to pick them up and plug them in against Baltimore as a replacement for the Titans defense lacking Albert Haynesworth and Kyle Vanden Bosch.

Patriots - Thanks to Ellis Hobbs' 95-yard kickoff return touchdowns, the Pats defense/special teams finally showed some signs of life in Week 15. If you risk a negative score for points allowed, look elsewhere. But if you're desperate for a few turnovers, the Cardinals pass-only offense will leave Kurt Warner exposed -- and a lot of balls up for grabs -- in a game where weather is expected to be a factor.

Texans - When in doubt, there's always the Raiders opponent du jour.

With the holiday season upon us, it's only proper to wish fantasy owners a Seahawk in every pot and a fantasy championship on every mantle, to boot.

A month ago when a feckless Seahawks offense was bumbling its way through another wretched performance against the Redskins, it would have been laughable to suggest that they would have a realistic waiver wire option at every position during the fantasy playoffs. But here we are in Week 16 with the scheduling gods favoring Seneca Wallace as the best available quarterback and Deion Branch as the best wide receiver option in most leagues. There are more exciting running back choices than Maurice Morris, but rookie tight end John Carlson is a Top-3 option if you're lucky enough to play in one of the third of all leagues where he remains available. If it's a waiver pickup you seek, chances are the Seahawks have a solution.

This week's column will feature the best possible solutions for playoff owners. On to the list. Here is how I rank the top players available at each position. Full writeups of each player are below.

Running Backs

1. Tashard Choice, Cowboys
2. Cedric Benson, Bengals
3. DeShaun Foster, 49ers
4. P.J. Pope, Broncos
5. Cadillac Williams, Buccaneers
6. Maurice Morris, Seahawks
7. LaMont Jordan, Patriots

Quarterbacks
1. Seneca Wallace, Seahawks
2. Dan Orlovsky, Lions
3. Tarvaris Jackson, Vikings

Wide Receivers
1. Deion Branch, Seahawks
2. Devin Hester, Bears
3. Dennis Northcutt, Jaguars

Tight Ends
1. John Carlson, Seahawks
2. Vernon Davis, 49ers

Defenses
1. Cowboys
2. Patriots
3. Texans

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Running Backs

Tashard Choice, Cowboys - To quote Rotoworld football head honcho Gregg Rosenthal "I don't care that most of his yards have come off screens and shotgun draws with few defenders in front of him." Choice is averaging over 150 yards per game the past two weeks against two of the top five defenses in the league. There's some risk involved with Marion Barber sharing the load against the foreboding Ravens defense, but just ask Pierre Thomas about rolling with the hot hand regardless of matchup or committee attack.

Cedric Benson, Bengals - What to make of Benson's explosion for 161 yards on 24 touches against a Redskins team that had packed it in for the year? You can pluck him off the waiver wire, but mustering up the onions to gamble the entire season on Cedric Benson is step I'm not willing to take take.? I'm weighing the Benson addition this week, if only to block my opponent from grabbing him and using him against the Browns and Chiefs the next two weeks.

DeShaun Foster, 49ers - Frank Gore's Week 16 status is up in the air as of press time. Against the tissue paper Rams defense, the worst case scenario is a clearly hobbled Gore attempting to play while killing his own value along with DeShaun Foster's. If Gore is ruled out late in the week, however, Foster will be a solid RB2 play in St. Louis. The Niners are using a ball control attack and will continue to give their starting running back a heavy dose of carries as well as a handful of check-down targets.

P.J. Pope, Broncos - Pope began the Week 15 matchup against Carolina as the backfield option of choice on passing downs, and he acquitted himself quite well. As the game went along, he also proved to be the best option on the ground. With an undefined role, Pope would be a risky flex play this week against the Bills. But if he can establish a stronger foothold on the feature back role for Week 17, Pope would be a decent start against the Chargers.

Cadillac Williams, Buccaneers - Caddy out-carried Warrick Dunn for the first time in Week 15 against the Falcons. Though he's still lacking explosiveness, he's taking over more of the early down duties as he gets re-acclimated. I wouldn't risk playing Caddy against the Chargers this week, but he could get a heavy playoff-prep workload in Week 17 against an awful Raiders defense.

Maurice Morris, Seahawks - MoMo's best chance for value was last week against the Rams, but that game highlighted his low fantasy upside. While he posted an impressive 86 rushing yards on just 15 carries, he lost snaps to Julius Jones and a touchdown to T.J. Duckett. With Jones and Duckett hanging around just enough to be annoying, Morris won't be an appetizing option against the Jets or the Cardinals the next two weeks.

LaMont Jordan, Patriots - Jordan dropped 97 yards and a touchdown on the Black Hole with just 12 carries last week. Though he did receive a season-high 16 snaps, much of his damage came in garbage time. It's possible that Jordan carves out a larger role, but the smart money is on him being a Sammy Morris handcuff the rest of the way.



Quarterbacks

Seneca Wallace, Seahawks - No quarterback in the league has a better statistical matchup the next two weeks than Wallace. He draws a Jets defense allowing the fourth most fantasy points to quarterbacks followed by a Cardinals defense giving up the second most points. There's always a chance that he'll be kept out of the end zone again, but desperate owners could do worse than playing Wallace in favorable matchups.

Dan Orlovsky, Lions - Let's give Orlovsky some credit: he's not altogether awful. Unlike the other Detroit quarterbacks, Orlovsky has been over 200 yards with a touchdown in each of his last four starts, and he enjoys the luxury of throwing it up to Megatron and letting him work his magic. This is nobody's idea of a dream fantasy playoff quarterback, but you could so worse than Orlovsky indoors against the Saints in Week 16.

Tarvaris Jackson, Vikings - After dropping four touchdowns on the Cardinals in Week 15, Jackson is fully expected to keep the reigns for this week's matchup against the Falcons. On the positive side, T-Jax is coming off a commando performance and playing indoors in mid-December. On the down side, he's still Tarvaris Jackson.


Wide Receivers

Deion Branch, Seahawks - Despite salvaging his season with three straight games over 55 yards, Branch is owned in just half of all fantasy leagues. Though he's the best wide receiver option on many waiver wires, beware of Branch drawing Darrelle Revis in Week 16 action. The Jets do give up a lot of fantasy points to quarterbacks and receivers, but much of that damage comes against their other corners. Desperate owners can roll with a streaking Branch, but don't expect miracles this week.

Devin Hester, Bears - Hester's 4-reception, 46-yard performance against the Saints could have easily looked like six or seven receptions for 150 yards and two touchdowns if not for desperate pass interference penalties. As it turns out, that was Hester's worst statistical performance in a month, and he's established himself as the clear No. 1 in Chicago's passing game. If you need a homerun, let Hester step up to the plate this week.

Dennis Northcutt, Jaguars - While desperate owners flailed at supposed starters Mike Walker and Reggie Williams in Week 15, Northcutt drew the start and outshined both waiver darlings. Targeted eight times, Northcutt posted an incredible 127 yards and a touchdown on five receptions. The Jags aerial attack, however, is too inconsistent to rely on Northcutt against the dominant pass defenses of the Colts and Ravens the next two weeks.


Tight Ends

John Carlson, Seahawks - Carlson is owned in two-thirds of all leagues, but the scorching rookie is a must-grab if he's available. With an average of six receptions for 83 yards, only Tony Gonzalez is out-producing Carlson the past three weeks. Seneca Wallace loves throwing to No. 89, and the Jets defense allows the third most tight end points in the league. Pick him up and insert him into your starting lineup if he's available.

Vernon Davis, 49ers - Surefire TE1s like Carlson aren't likely to be available in your league, so Davis will have to make for an acceptable substitute in desperate deep leagues. In an offense lacking any semblance of a game-breaker, Davis received a whopping eight targets -- and even a rushing attempt -- in Week 15. With Frank Gore out of the lineup, the Niners may finally realize that Davis is their most explosive weapon in the passing game. He makes for a decent high-risk/high-reward option for desperate owners.

Defenses

Cowboys - After a disappointing first three months, the Cowboys were sitting on the waiver wire in two of my leagues as of Sunday night. With their DaMarcus Ware-led pass rush playing so well, I'm hoping to pick them up and plug them in against Baltimore as a replacement for the Titans defense lacking Albert Haynesworth and Kyle Vanden Bosch.

Patriots - Thanks to Ellis Hobbs' 95-yard kickoff return touchdowns, the Pats defense/special teams finally showed some signs of life in Week 15. If you risk a negative score for points allowed, look elsewhere. But if you're desperate for a few turnovers, the Cardinals pass-only offense will leave Kurt Warner exposed -- and a lot of balls up for grabs -- in a game where weather is expected to be a factor.

Texans - When in doubt, there's always the Raiders opponent du jour.