Fantasy football waiver wire: 5 quarterbacks to target for Week 14

We are finally done with the bye weeks and the fantasy playoffs have arrived (unless you’re in shallower leagues that don’t have a first-round bye). The waiver wire will mostly be an afterthought from here on out, as owners should be riding the top starters that got them to this point.

That being said, some owners aren’t quite that lucky and might still have to utilize the wire to fill out their rosters. The players on this list are either short-term streaming options, or potential 2017 contributors if you play in a keeper or dynasty league. With that in mind, here are five waiver options at the quarterback position, owned in less than 50 percent of Yahoo! standard leagues.

There’s no doubt that Smith isn’t having a great season, even by his usual risk-averse standards. However, he finally took advantage of a good matchup, putting up 270 yards and a touchdown against the Atlanta Falcons. Smith will have another good matchup this week against the Oakland Raiders, whose defense has improved but is still pretty rough outside of Khalil Mack. Smith is a QB2 for Thursday’s game.

Can’t say we saw this coming. After months of underwhelming football, Flacco woke up with his best performance of the year, shredding the Miami Dolphins for 381 yards and four touchdowns on 36-of-47 passing. Perhaps it’s just a one-week blip — Flacco has teased us before — but it also wouldn’t be the first time he heated up in the stretch run of a down season. Flacco gets the New England Patriots next.

It doesn’t sound like the Jets will be going back to Bryce Petty, even as they play out the string of a lost season. Fitzpatrick’s struggles are well-documented at this point, but there’s a glimmer of hope as he prepares to face the San Francisco 49ers’ miserable defense. He’s only worth considering in two-QB leagues, though there’s some streaming potential if you’re getting really desperate.

I’m not recommending you to start Goff this season. He’s been horrible, and if you’ve reached the point where you’re considering Goff, you’re probably not in the fantasy playoffs, anyway. He’s just a keeper/dynasty stash who will hopefully develop and be worth something next season. Preferably after Jeff Fisher gets fired.

Is Barkley actually good? Well, that might be a stretch, but a week after rallying his injury-depleted team to a near-comeback win against the Tennessee Titans, Barkley had a fine game-managing performance in snowy conditions to beat the 49ers. The Detroit Lions defense isn’t a formidable matchup, and if Barkley keeps playing semi-competent football he might play his way into the Bears’ 2017 plans. That’s worth a deep stash in dynasty leagues, at the least.