So as of the start of this article we’re just taking a look at who were some of the most added players, but this article also touches on some of the most dropped players as well. And there are some notable players that were dropped that we’ll want to focus on and possibly get a head start on claiming a few to beat next week’s waiver wire. Keep in mind the bye weeks are fast approaching so you’ll want to start planning accordingly for those as well if you have a quarterback or tight end with an early-season bye week. It wasn’t the most explosive week for waivers, but that’s okay. You don’t need to spend money every week so if you played it safe and were a little more disciplined, that’s fine. Check out today’s notable Waiver Wire recommendations!
Quarterbacks
There isn’t too much to discuss from the Quarterback standpoint. It brings a tear to my eye to finally see Josh Allen ’s ownership spiking. It took a couple weeks, but you all did it and it brings me great joy. He’s a viable fantasy quarterback and he’ll have some top five weeks in terms of fantasy point production. The Bills play the Bengals Sunday afternoon and the Cincinnati defense is pretty pathetic so Allen should have one hell of a day on Sunday. If you just picked him up off waivers you better have a very good reason for not starting him this week.
Drew Brees has been dropped in 14.7% of ESPN leagues and 19% of Yahoo leagues. And you know what? He should’ve been dropped in more leagues. Unless you’re playing in a two-quarterback or Superflex league there’s no reason to keep Drew Brees since he’ll likely miss six-to-eight weeks with a torn ligament in his thumb. If you’re in a standard league and you start one quarterback, you should have dropped Drew Brees for someone like our precious Josh Allen , or Andy Dalton who has looked great in Zac Taylor’s offense so far, or Jacoby Brissett who has back-to-back 16-point performances in four-point per passing touchdown leagues. If you’re still hanging on to Brees you’re simply wasting a roster spot that could be used to stash a position player when you can still get 15+ points from a quarterback on waivers. It’s time to cut the cord. You do not need Drew Brees .
Speaking of Jacoby Brissett , he’s surprisingly under 20% owned on most sites and as mentioned before he’s been a solid contributor in fantasy football. Plus, his next two matchups are against the Falcons and Raiders at home and then the Chiefs on the road. He should put up 20 points in at least two of those games, possibly all three. After that you have some trouble because the Colts are on bye in Week 6. But you can cross that bridge when you get to it. His next three games are start-worthy in deeper leagues. If you miss out on Brissett then give Mason Rudolph a shot. He could be a serviceable quarterback in deep leagues depending on the opponent. This week doesn’t project well for him, but he still has a great offensive line protecting him, the run game should hold up well, and he has solid weapons at his disposal in the passing game. He’ll have some good games in deeper formats.
Running Backs
There weren’t many players to add off waivers after Week 2, but the fact that Adrian Peterson is more owned than Chris Thompson is baffling to me. In a standard league, it’s understandable. Thompson rarely gets used in the running game and AP will get most of the touches with Derrius Guice out. However, in PPR formats Thompson is the guy to own. We’ve seen in two games now that the Redskins have played from behind and they’ve made sure to get Thompson involved. He has 12 catches through two games. He won’t average six catches per game (though it would be awesome if he did), but if he can get four or five then he’s a viable play. Adrian Peterson was fortunate to find the end zone last week because aside from that he ran for 25 yards on ten carries. The workload might be there, but the talent is not. Thompson is available in about half of PPR leagues so that should be the guy you’re targeting.
In shallow leagues you’ll want to keep an eye out for Royce Freeman . Oddly enough he’s been dropped in a few leagues and he’s available in about 25% of leagues on ESPN and Yahoo. The Denver offense is pretty weak right now and the offensive line hasn’t looked as good as some may have thought (myself included). However, the workload between Freeman and Lindsay has, so far, been split right down the middle. Neither has found the end zone yet, but Freeman shouldn’t be getting dropped. The coaching staff is giving him a fair shot. Are you starting him each week? Probably not. But he’s worth having on your roster.
It was a little surprising waking up Wednesday morning and seeing that Darwin Thompson was dropped in about 14.4% of ESPN leagues and that he was still available in more than 70% of Yahoo leagues. It’s understandable that there is concern with his workload. But LeSean McCoy ’s MRI showed no significant damage and that there is a chance he plays this week. But it’s not a guarantee. It’s also a possibility that Damien Williams misses this week’s game against Baltimore as well with a knee injury. So if everybody is active, it sucks, but at the same time the stars are aligned for Thompson to see an uptick in his workload. If either of McCoy or Williams misses the game, then it’s almost a foregone conclusion that Thompson will see more work. This is a guy you’ll want to stash in the event he has a big performance this weekend because then everybody will run to claim him next Tuesday. If his usage is minimal then at least for next week’s waiver wire you can throw him back. But he’s absolutely in play as a handcuff if you’re a Williams or McCoy owner.
Tevin Coleman has been getting dropped in a lot of leagues and that’s not too surprising given the emergence of Raheem Mostert . But remember Matt Breida got a majority of the work in the first half of last week’s game against the Bengals. Mostert still did damage though with 13 carries for over 80 rushing yards. By no means should you be entertaining the idea of adding Jeff Wilson Jr. Most of his workload came later in the game with the 49ers out in front. If Mostert keep playing well it’s unclear what Coleman’s workload will be when he does return, but it is surprising owners are so quick to drop him after he was a mid-round draft pick and we’re only two weeks into the season.
Wide Receivers
Terry McLaurin is still embarrassingly under-owned. He’s available in 40% of Yahoo and ESPN leagues. He has ten receptions on 16 targets for 187 yards and a pair of touchdowns through two games. We’ve talked about how McLaurin has a clear path to being the WR1 in Washington and he’s been a Top 20 wide receiver in PPR formats. The unknown factor with McLaurin is what happens if the Redskins eventually start Dwayne Haskins this season. Case Keenum hasn’t done much to warrant getting benched, but if Washington doesn’t start winning there will be more motivation to see what the rookie can do. For now, you can play McLaurin since he’s getting six-to-nine targets per game.
It sounds like Michael Gallup is going to be missing the next two-to-four weeks, which is unfortunate because he’s seen about a quarter of Dallas’ targets. Since he’s out they have to find opportunities for others. The top candidate might be Randall Cobb who has seen 11 targets through the first two games. Devin Smith is a deep league option that is pretty interesting. He caught all three of his targets last week for 74 yards and a touchdown last week. The Dolphins come to town on Sunday and they just traded Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Steelers so the secondary will be burned badly, but this could also be a big running day for Dallas. Regardless, keep an eye on Cobb and Smith.
Deebo Samuel is another wide receiver who didn’t quite get the love some thought he would on waivers, and he probably should be owned in more than just 25% of leagues. It’s becoming more clear the 49ers like him over Dante Pettis . Samuel is coming off a game where he caught five of his seven targets for 87 yards and a touchdown. The Steelers come to town next week with a brand new defensive back in tow, as mentioned above, and then the 49ers have their bye week. So it wouldn’t be too surprising if his ownership doesn’t budge. The fact that most depth charts for the 49ers still list Pettis ahead of Samuel is a bit of a joke right now unless Pettis is nursing some injury we’re unaware of. But he doesn’t appear to be in the coaching staff’s favor.
The Pittsburgh Steelers wide receivers are worth touching on in general since Ben Roethlisberger is done for the year, and Mason Rudolph now becomes the starter. JuJu Smith-Schuster gets a slight downgrade, but he may not be awful. He could still be a Top 12-15 wideout this year. Donte Moncrief can be dropped. His upside was better with Big Ben under center, but it’s hard to imagine him doing well with Rudolph as the quarterback. On Tuesday it was mentioned how James Washington was a good waiver addition based on his college history with Rudolph. Don’t sleep on Diontae Johnson either. Johnson was on the field for almost half the offensive snaps, but he got more action than Moncrief. Prioritize Washington over Johnson to start. Johnson’s worth consideration in deeper leagues.
Tight Ends
There isn’t too much to report on for tight ends. Mark Andrews , Darren Waller , and T.J. Hockenson were waiver darlings a week ago and they’re all over 75% owned. Naturally if they are available in your league then you should pick them up. Andrews and Waller look like they’re going to be involved in their respective offenses and I expect better days for Hockenson. Three targets in last week’s game is a fluke and a bad joke.
O.J. Howard was dropped in some leagues, but not a ton. He’s still about 85-90% owned which means he’s probably available in eight-team leagues. Gross. But you need to be patient with Howard. You can’t really drop him at this point because who would you be picking him up for? Will Dissly and Jason Witten were mentioned in Tuesday’s article, but you should still prioritize Howard over those two. Do not give up on O.J. Howard just yet. People are losing faith in Jameis Winston , which is understandable. But giving up on your fifth-or-sixth round draft pick after two weeks is panicking. Just to piggyback off the Jason Witten mention, he is worthy of being streamed at tight end this week. The Dolphins are in town and they’re terrible. The game script may call for Dallas to run the ball later on, but Witten may come away with a touchdown in Sunday’s game.
David Njoku broke his wrist and will be out for some time. It’s up to you if you want to drop him or not. I own him in one league and probably won’t drop him since it’s the Scott Fish Bowl. This offense isn’t in his favor despite the touchdown in the first game of the season against the Titans. He came into this season presumably behind both Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry in terms of targets. His backup, Demetrius Harris , might be worth flagging in deeper leagues, but hopefully at this point you aren’t desperate for a tight end.
Defense/Special Teams
To no surprise the Dallas Cowboys D/ST was the most added across the fantasy football landscape. The Patriots and Ravens D/ST’s combined for ten sacks, seven turnovers, and a pair of touchdowns against the putrid Miami offense. Not to mention the Dolphins put up ten points total between both games. If the Cowboys are still out there, definitely pick them up and use them as your D/ST this week. Jerry’s Boys are currently 21.5-point favorites in a game with an Over/Under currently sitting at 47.0.
I’ve talked a lot about the 49ers as a D/ST. They get the Steelers at home this week without Ben Roethlisberger . Through two games so far the 49ers defense has allowed just 28 points and forced seven sacks and five turnovers. The Over/Under in this game is 44.0 and the 49ers are projected to win by almost a touchdown. I’m excited to see what else this defense can do this weekend when they’re finally at home against Pittsburgh’s backup quarterback. If neither the Packers or 49ers are available then the Bucs might be worth streaming. They’ve got the New York Giants at home on Sunday led by Daniel Jones in his first career start after New York finally benched Eli Manning for his sub-par play in recent memory.