Fantasy Waiver Wire Week 12: Bo Nix, Christian Watson, Jonnu Smith among top pickups and free agent adds

Injuries are mounting and fantasy managers are now having to navigate bye weeks, making it increasingly difficult to put together a respectable fantasy lineup. If you're looking to give your lineup some stability to get through the week, the waiver wire may have your answer.

Be sure to check out our full waivers list to see where we stand on some of the potentially "trendy" names like Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Cam Akers, and Jerry Jeudy. There are plenty of players who you may want to consider filing a low waiver claim for, but many are better suited to be picked up as free agents.

This week's group of "top pickups" are all worthy of a waiver claim and should not be allowed to slip into free agency. Managers could also justify using a sizeable portion of their FAAB budget on these players. If you land one of these players, they could make an immediate impact on your roster.

Check out our full list of Week 12 Waiver Wire recommendations

Top fantasy football waiver wire pickups for Week 12

Roster percentages reflective of Yahoo leagues

Bo Nix, QB, Denver Broncos (48% Rostered)

Whether it's through the air or on the ground, Bo Nix continues to find ways to get it done for fantasy managers. Nix has now been a QB1 in five of his last seven games, including his second top-5 finish of the year in Week 11. Last week was Nix's best performance through the air, throwing for 300+ yards for the first time in his career. He also lit up the Falcons' defense for four touchdowns; the first time he's reached this threshold as well. Nix is a top-10 quarterback on the year, and he needs to be rostered in the vast majority of single-quarterback leagues.

Christian Watson, WR, Green Bay Packers (44% Rostered)

Fantasy managers have started to become accustomed to the heavy rotation of wide receivers in the Green Bay offense. While there is still a rotation to some degree, Dontayvion Wicks has started to take a back seat. Wicks' route participation has fallen below 33 percent in two of the last three games, leading to more routes for Christian Watson. He made the most of his expanded role in Week 11, racking up 150 yards while leading all receivers in targets. If Watson can continue to keep Wicks on the sideline, Watson can be a boom-or-bust Flex option thanks to his big-play ability and usage in the red zone.

WEEK 12 FANTASY FOOTBALL RANKINGS
QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/ST | Kickers

Taysom Hill, TE, New Orleans Saints (54% Rostered)

Taysom Hill was doing his usual thing last week, completing passes, handling carries, and drawing targets through the air. The only difference is that Hill was ridiculously productive with his opportunities this week. He finished with 206 combined passing, rushing, and receiving yards and added on 42 return yards just for fun. Oh, he also hit paydirt three times for a grand total of 41.52 points in leagues that don't count return yardage. Without Chris Olave or Rashid Shaheed in the lineup, Hill is a key piece of the New Orleans offense, and he needs to be rostered due to his diverse usage.

Jonnu Smith, TE, Miami Dolphins (53% Rostered)

One thing that we did not see very often in the Miami offense last season was tight end usage. Jonnu Smith has completely changed that, and he's drawn 6+ targets in five of his last six games. Smith has required a touchdown to make a push for the weekly top-10 tight ends, but his steady volume has allowed him to regularly eclipse seven PPR points. With a handful of fantasy-relevant tight ends on bye this week, 7-10 points can be enough to just get by without your starter.

For more of this week's top waiver wire pickups and streamers, click here.