Taylor Gabriel (WR, CHI) - Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team PPR Leagues

OWNED IN: 7% of Leagues

ANALYSIS: A bad game against the Giants this past weekend and the return to life of Mitchell Trubisky (278 yards on 25 completions and 41 attempts) might turn Taylor Gabriel into an easy-to-acquire waiver wire target this week. Truth be told, Gabriel is not going to win your league alone, but he’s not a zero-floor player either. He just had one of his worst games of the season (one reception, 19 yards, 2.9 fantasy points) but he saw only three targets and that should change going forward.

In fact, Gabriel arrived at Week 12 with a couple of back-to-back good games in which he scored 13.8 and 12.7 points. He was able to haul in 11 passes for 96 yards in those two to go with a touchdown and saw a massive 14 targets in Week 11 against the Rams. Gabriel has moved around the 10-to-14 fantasy points in the last five weeks except for this past Sunday, so it makes sense to think of him as a 10 or 12-points per game asset.

Allen Robinson keeps being the clear no. 1 receiver of the Bears (he logged 131 yards and 6 receptions last weekend), although other than him the workload is distributed among Gabriel and Miller in the receiving corps. None of them has excelled over the other constantly, so it’s a toss-up every week. Entering Week 13 Chicago faces Detroit, which should be a positive matchup for the Bears receivers. The Lions rank 22nd in points given to opposing WRs, so Gabriel should be up for a rebound. If you play in any deeper league, consider adding and playing Gabriel against Detroit in your flex spot, but drop him after this week as Chicago’s schedule gets much tougher starting in Week 14.