Odell Beckham Jr. And More Potential Fantasy Football Stars To Stash for Playoff Push

Fantasy football managers angling to win a championship need to start thinking about the postseason and how they can have their rosters in tip-top shape for the title push.

Even if you are atop the regular season standings and well-positioned to make a run, there's likely plenty you can still do to improve your chances come the playoffs. Thinking about your roster on a week-to-week basis can be dangerously short-sighted, especially if your upcoming opponents are preparing for the knockout rounds.

One of the best things any manager can do at this point of the year is to make the best use of their bench. With a slew of byes already in the rearview, it may be time to part ways with a little-used backup who may not see your starting lineup again this year.

You can instead utilize that roster spot to either stash a high-upside player returning to the field soon or grab a clear-cut handcuff in line for a major increase in touches if the starter ahead of him goes down.

With that in mind, here are five players to stash away who could positively impact your championship chances down the stretch.

Roster percentages taken from Yahoo fantasy leagues.

After Deshaun Watson was suspended 11 games by the NFL shortly before the season began in response to civil lawsuits filed by 24 women accusing him of sexual assault or misconduct during massage appointments, most managers stayed far away from the Cleveland Browns quarterback.

Watson issued a blanket denial of the allegations when they first came to light but has settled 23 of the lawsuits. A 25th woman has since filed a lawsuit with similar accusations.

However, if there is no further punishment coming from the league concerning the latest lawsuit, Watson could be the star quarterback who fantasy managers that have been scraping by at the position desperately need.

Browns general manager Andrew Berry told reporters last week that Watson will start immediately once his suspension is over, when Cleveland visits NRG Stadium to face the Houston Texans—Watson's former team—in Week 13.

Watson will be inheriting an offense that has shockingly ranked among the league’s top units under Jacoby Brissett.

The Browns are averaging 385.8 total yards (No. 5 entering Monday Night Football) and 164.6 rushing yards per game (No. 3) but are missing an elite quarterback who can lift a passing attack that averages just 221.1 yards per game (No. 16) and has a mere seven touchdowns in 2022.

Expect Cleveland to air it out far more and find plenty of paydirt when Watson is back in the lineup. He has thrown at least 26 touchdowns in each of the last three seasons he played and averaged a career-high 8.9 yards per attempt in 2020.

Factor in his dual-threat abilities—Watson rushed for 1,408 yards and 15 scores on 271 carries across the 2018-20 seasons—and it's quite possible that the 27-year-old finishes as one of fantasy's top-performing quarterbacks over the final few weeks of the campaign.

If your drafted quarterback hasn't panned out and you've been forced to stream the position in recent weeks, it could be worth clearing a roster spot for Watson to make him your starter in Week 13 and beyond.

At first glance, it doesn't appear that the Tennessee Titans have much room for any fantasy-relevant running backs outside of Derrick Henry, but Dontrell Hilliard is vastly under-rostered—he's available in over 80 percent of leagues right now—given the potential value he brings to the table.

While Henry clearly dominates this backfield, Hilliard gets a decent amount of playing time as his primary backup. The fifth-year veteran has logged 112 offensive snaps this year, representing 27 percent of Tennessee's offensive plays.

Hilliard has rushed 17 times for a commendable 121 yards while catching 14 of his 18 targets for 140 yards and three touchdowns.

Most importantly, the Titans only seem to trust Hilliard to take the ball in Henry's absence. No other Tennessee rusher has more than 10 totes or three receptions on the season. Rookie Hassan Haskins' 55 snaps make him the only other noteworthy back on this roster, but most of that playing time came during a Week 2 contest that Hilliard was sidelined for.

Hilliard already has a little value due to his pass-catching and third-down usage right now, but he'd instantly enter the RB2 discussion if Henry misses any time this season. The Titans are one of the run-heaviest teams in the league—only the Atlanta Falcons and Chicago Bears rush more often—and would almost certainly remain as such even without Henry.

The team didn't change its identity in 2021, finishing with the NFL's second-highest percentage of rushing plays despite Henry missing more than half of the season with an injury.

With a workload that is already consistent and the upside to become something close to a feature back if Henry is sidelined, Hilliard is a player any Henry manager will want to handcuff. Those in deeper leagues with the bench space to stash him should also do so for the upside.

The Pittsburgh Steelers may have fallen out of contention, but they still have some fantasy-relevant pieces on their roster.

One of the most notable is Najee Harris, who has served as Pittsburgh's bell-cow running back since being drafted in the first round last year. While Harris had a sensational rookie campaign, he has struggled to repeat his successes in 2022.

Harris' 3.9 yards per carry average wasn't anything to write home about, but it was markedly better than the 3.3 YPC he's averaging this season. Harris isn't finding paydirt at the same rate either, scoring just one rushing touchdown in eight games and is well off his seven-TD pace from last season.

The Steelers backfield does have a promising backup in Jaylen Warren, who could get an extended look due to a combination of Harris' inefficiency and Pittsburgh's woeful record.

Warren has stood out in his limited opportunities, amassing 153 rushing yards on 29 totes in eight games. He's also been a reliable pass-catcher, reeling in 12 of his 14 targets for 88 yards.

Harris has taken a step back as a receiver as well, tallying only 24 receptions on 28 targets through eight games following a season in which he snared 74 receptions on 94 targets across 17 contests.

Warren has been much better at generating first downs than Harris, posting a 34 percent conversion rate that is more than double the starter's 13.8 percent rate.

According to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, Warren has "earned more snaps at running back" and said to not be "surprised if Warren is featured a little bit more" in the coming weeks as the Steelers try to jump-start the No. 28-ranked offense in the league while averaging fewer than 300 yards per game.

Pittsburgh is coming out of a much-needed Week 9 bye, and while it may be too late to save the season after a 2-6 start, the club could get a better idea of what it has in players like Warren over these next two months.

Fantasy managers will want to take advantage of the situation by picking up Warren and keeping a close eye on his usage rates. If they start to spike up and his efficiency remains the same, the 24-year-old could be a valuable flex play in the postseason.

Odell Beckham Jr. returned to fantasy relevance during his eight-game regular-season stint with the Los Angeles Rams last year.

After suffering an unfortunate ACL tear after scoring the first touchdown of Super Bowl LVI, Beckham is finally almost healthy and poised to see the field again soon. According to Fox Sports' Jay Glazer, the 30-year-old will be cleared to return this week and is set to ignite a bidding war for his services.

With OBJ name-dropping the Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants and Rams, per Complex Sports, the wideout will have his pick of the litter when it comes to his next employer.

Regardless of where he ends up, Beckham is likely to quickly become a focal point for the offense. He’s in line to make sign a rather significant contract—the wideout has openly stated he desires a multi-year deal—and flashed the skills last year to warrant that money.

OBJ ranked as the No. 13 wideout in PPR fantasy leagues between Weeks 12 and 17—a span in which he scored four touchdowns—helping a slew of fantasy managers win championships. It was a turnaround from the polarizing two-and-a-half years he spent with the Cleveland Browns, in which many grew frustrated with the wideout and sent him to the bench because of his wildly inconsistent performances.

It may take some time for the veteran to get reacclimated to the game after spending such a long time off the field, but Beckham has bounced back from injuries before. He's suffered a litany of ailments during his career—including another torn ACL in 2020—and has consistently bounced back to rate amongst the game's top wideouts.

Surprisingly, Beckham is still available in over three-fourths of leagues right now. That will change rapidly after he officially signs, so be sure to get ahead of the trend now to land a potential WR2 for the low cost of a bench spot.

The New Orleans Saints haven't had the most consistent production from the tight end spot this season, but Juwan Johnson is starting to come on as the club's top option in recent weeks.

Johnson, a converted wide receiver now in his third NFL season, appears to finally be grasping a position that is notoriously difficult for even career tight ends to make the transition to the pros. He's always possessed elite size and athleticism but lately has been performing the technical aspects of his role at a higher level.

That development has allowed Johnson to stay on the field more often. He's seen his playing time skyrocket from 26 percent of the offensive snaps last year to 69 percent this season. That includes four consecutive games in which he's been on the field for 73 percent or more of New Orleans' offensive plays leading up to Week 11.

There is also one less mouth to feed in the Big Easy with Michael Thomas back on the IR for the remainder of the year. The team, which once seemed to have one of the deeper receiving corps heading into 2022, looks bereft of consistent pass-catchers outside of injury-prone running back Alvin Kamara and rookie wideout Chris Olave.

While Taysom Hill has the tight end designation in fantasy football, he rarely reels in receptions for the Saints, catching just three passes all season. Hill's gadget role shouldn't cut into Johnson's projected workload—which is poised to grow with Thomas' absence—much over the final games of the campaign.

Johnson's managers have had to contend with his boom-or-bust status; he followed up a five-catch, 32-yard, two-touchdown Week 7 outing with 14 yards and no scores on two catches in Week 8 before scoring another touchdown to go along with a pair of catches for 42 yards in Week 9.

However, the tight end's growing familiarity with quarterback Andy Dalton and an increased role should help Johnson become one of the sneaky good tight end plays down the stretch.