Week One of NFL football - what a rush! Heads were spun, hearts were broken, and heroes emerged. And, as always, we got a massive data dump for fantasy football when we had nothing but speculation to go off of. These next three weeks will be the biggest three for the fantasy football waiver wire as data turns to trends, turns to breakouts. So the best picks on the Week 2 waiver wire could be the best waiver wire adds you make all year!

As always, we are going to break things down by position, but we are also breaking things down by what your team needs are and team depth. Some folks out there actually need players to start, while others are looking more for long-term breakout stashes. This article focuses on the best of both worlds, but if you play in deeper leagues, check out our Streamers and Stashes article!

2026 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Week 2 Top Targets And Strategy

As we mentioned above, the key to navigating waivers is understanding your league and understanding what you need. We’ll give our guidance on whether to use your waiver claim or your FAAB, but every league is unique, so go with your gut for the final numbers.

You also need to know what kind of player you want to target. My rule of thumb is that, if the player goes DIRECTLY into my lineup at QB, WR, RB, or TE, I’m willing to use that top claim or a minimum of 25% of your budget. This is a weekly game at its

We will do our best to differentiate whether this is a guy we can start right away or whether we like to have them on the bench to see if they break out. As always, if you play in deeper leagues like FFPC, check out our Streamers and Stashes article that gets down to the much lower-rostered players for those deep sleepers!

 

 

 

NFL Week 2 Waiver Wire Quarterbacks

Malik Willis - Miami Dolphins, Yahoo: 40% | ESPN: 21% | Sleeper: 30% 

Willis was our top QB add in our pre-Week 1 Waiver Wire article and, following Week 1, he’s still our top add. Unless your league has gone out of their way via some sort of creative scoring, rushing for quarterbacks is still broken both in terms of floor and ceiling. Every QB to run five times a game and play 16 games has finished top 10 in fantasy for a decade straight. I mean, Willis this week just put up 16.7 points without throwing a single touchdown pass. I not only left this game a little more hopeful for Dolphins weapons, as we will discuss later, but Willis confirmed to us that he’s willing to run. 

  • Waiver Priority: Low Priority
  • FAAB: 0-5%

Tyler Shough - New Orleans Saints, Yahoo: 41% | ESPN: 47% | Sleeper: 42% 

Shough actually looked pretty terrible early in this game. But he stuck with it and willed the Saints back into an overtime performance. Now, the Saints are not going to be running 90 offensive snaps every week and dropping back 67 times. But Kellen Moore likes high tempo, and we saw that this week. Keep in mind that he will be getting another weapon in first-round rookie Jordyn Tyson somewhere down the stretch as well. 

  • Waiver Priority: Low Priority
  • FAAB: 0-5%

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: C.J. Stroud, Bryce Young, Geno Smith

NFL Week 2 Waiver Wire Running Backs

Kaelon Black, San Francisco 49ers, Yahoo: 27% | ESPN: 15% | Sleeper: 35%

Look, we can’t guarantee that Kaelon Black will get the usage he had in Week One every week. In fact, we wouldn’t necessarily bet on that happening. But even acting as the second fiddle to Christian McCaffrey at all in this particular offense could put him in the same “handcuff plus” category as guys like Blake Corum and Kyle Monangai. And those guys are rostered in virtually every league for a reason. That makes Black both a great stash and a guy you could potentially outright start in a pinch. 

  • Waiver Priority: Low to Medium Priority
  • FAAB: 5-10%

Tyjae Spears, Tennessee Titans, Yahoo: 39% | ESPN: 55% | Sleeper: 46%

The Titans have run their backfield this way for two years now. When it’s a positive game script and they are playing out front, we get a lot of Tony Pollard on the ground. When they are playing from behind, we see more of the pass-down back Tyjae Spears. I know it’s only one game, but losing to the Jets is not a good sign for future positive game scripts. Spears split the snaps 50/50 and got four targets along the way, so he’s a guy you can probably stream against the Eagles if need be. 

  • Waiver Priority: Low Priority
  • FAAB: 0-5%

George Holani, Seattle Seahawks, Yahoo: 4% | ESPN: 4% | Sleeper: 9%

I wouldn’t go crazy spending up on Holani because Zach Charbonnett will be back at some point. But he did come out here and split this backfield in Week One, playing 23 snaps to 24 for Jadarian Price. We could get three more games of that while we wait on Charbonnett, and who knows what he will look like when he gets back. Getting on the field is half the battle, and Holani has at least done that. 

  • Waiver Priority: Low Priority
  • FAAB: 0-5%

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: Woody Marks, Chris Brooks, Emari Demercado

 

 

 

NFL Week 2 Waiver Wire Wide Receivers

Deebo Samuel - San Francisco, Yahoo: 49% | ESPN: 67% | Sleeper: 71%

Deebo Samuel is rostered in a lot of leagues but, based on our guideline of “rostered in less than 50% of leagues on Yahoo”, technically he needs to be mentioned here. With Ricky Pearsall done for the year and DeShaun Stribling now out for the foreseeable future, they really have no choice but to feature Deebo opposite Mike Evans. And he looked pretty good doing it on Wednesday. The catch 22 here is that he’s rostered in deeper leagues and, if your league is shallow enough that Deebo is available, you probably already have good players. If it’s somehow a deep league where he is available, you might want to spend more FAAB than what is suggested below. If Deebo is there in your league, first check to see if Jalen Coker (61%) is, and throw like 50% of your budget on him. 

  •  Waiver Priority: Low to Medium Priority
  • FAAB: 5-10%

Devaughn Vele - New Orleans Saints, Yahoo 8% | ESPN: 13% | Sleeper: 23%

You have to take this one with a grain of salt because of the game script. The average game seems to be about 63 offensive snaps on average so for the Saints to run 90 here and drop back to pass 67 times here is not normal. That and the eventual return of Jordyn Tyson is why we aren’t dropping the bag here on Vele.

That said, Tyson is a rookie, and he’s not coming back for a month minimum. So Vele is a guy you can potentially throw in the lineup for that entire period and possibly beyond. We typically prioritize guys that can actually start for us in this article. 

  • Waiver Priority: Low Priority
  • FAAB: 0-5%

Caleb Douglas - Miami Dolphins, Yahoo 12% | ESPN: 16% | Sleeper: 22%

Folks were pretty surprised to see the Dolphins draft Caleb Douglas on Day Two of the NFL Draft as he was an unheralded prospect. But the drumbeat has steadily grown for him all offseason in Miami. He earned a starting role ahead of veterans like Tutu Atwell and Jalen Tolbert, which is pretty impressive. And this week he led the Dolphins in receptions in impressive fashion while playing alongside Malik Washington (54 snaps for Washington, 40 for Caleb Douglas, then Chris Bell was third with 28). If Douglas can do this in his very first game, we will take a chance to see what might happen next. 

  • Waiver Priority: Low Priority
  • FAAB: 0-5%

Denzel Boston - Cleveland Browns Yahoo 28% | ESPN: 25% | Sleeper: 40%

Early on in training camp, all talk was about Denzel Boston. Then it pivoted to KC Concepcion late. That had folks assuming that Boston might be the odd man out with Concepcion and veteran Jerry Jeudy playing ahead. With the two tight end sets and some fullback work, that would have hurt the upside for Boston.

Instead, Boston actually led all Browns pass-catchers with 47 snaps out of a possible 51. That was more than Harold Fannin (42), KC Concepcion (35), and Jerry Jeudy (32). This Browns team could be pretty rough, but at least Boston is out front in the snap share. 

  • Waiver Priority: Low Priority
  • FAAB: 0-5%

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options:  Tre Tucker, Adonai Mitchell, Mack Hollins, Kayshon Boutte

NFL Week 2 Waiver and Yin & Yang Tight End

Dalton Schultz - Houston Texans Yahoo: 48% | ESPN: 20% | Sleeper: 35%

Dalton Schultz isn’t some special athlete. And the Houston Texans aren’t the most high-flying offense. So Dalton Schultz isn’t exactly the sexiest pick in fantasy football land. And conditions need to be pretty perfect for us to add him.

Luckily for him, conditions were kind of perfect. The injuries to Jayden Higgins and Tank Dell have opened things up behind Nico Collins. Schultz this week had a 73.8% route participation; he ran 64.1% of his routes from a WR spot, and got an 18.1% first-read target share per Fantasy Points Data Suite. Those are all top-10 for the position, which makes Schultz a solid floor play. 

  • Waiver Priority: Low Priority
  • FAAB: 0-5%

Michael Mayer - Las Vegas Raiders, Yahoo: 25% | ESPN: 30% | Sleeper: 37%

Michael Mayer did not move into the “Brock Bowers role”. He stayed inline and ran 85.7% of his routes from an inline spot. But even in that role, he had a 77.4% route participation, and he got seven targets. So he really doesn’t NEED to be Brock Bowers.

Him having that kind of success from that spot actually means there’s a chance he can still be relevant even when Bowers gets back. For now, he at least needs to be on the streaming radar because there’s no denying seven targes Week One. 

Pat Freiermuth - Pittsburgh Steelers, Yahoo: 6% | ESPN: 15% | Sleeper: 10%

Folks are excited about the day for Mike Gesicki - and it is exciting considering he’s been a bit of a bust in fantasy outside of the one TE6 finish with the Dolphins. But, even in the big game this weekend, Gesicki only had a 45.9% route participation. Out of one side of our mouth, we will say that Ja'Marr Chase will be fine and he will get plenty of targets, but we have to understand where those targets come from.

For me, I’m looking for a little more sustainable success. And Pat Freiermuth actually had some of the best deployment numbers of his entire career this week. He ran 72% of the routes, only blocked on 2.8% of pass plays, lined up at WR for 69.5% of them, even converted on his endzone target. He should be a solid play who has even bigger upside if something were to happen to DK Metcalf or Michael Pittman 

  • Waiver Priority: Low Priority
  • FAAB: 0-5%

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: Brenton Strange, Mike Gesicki, Cade Otton, T.J. Hockenson, Terrance Ferguson

 

 


 

NFL Week 2 Waiver DST

Tampa Bay Buccaneers DST, Yahoo: 4% | ESPN: 13% | Sleeper: 4%

The Buccaneers are playing the Cleveland Browns. That’s literally all we need to say here. 

San Francisco 49ers DST, Yahoo: 10% | ESPN: 7% | Sleeper: 10%

The 49ers looked great against a jet-lagged Rams defense last week. We’re not 100% sure if they are the real deal or not, but if they are, they should be able to handle the Miami Dolphins pretty easily. 

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: Packers vs. NYJ, Bears vs. MIN, Cowboys vs. WAS

NFL Week 2 Waiver K

Chase McLaughlin - Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Yahoo: 12% | ESPN: 16% | Sleeper: 14%

We expect the Bucs to beat up on the Browns, so why not lean into that with the Buccaneers kicker as well. He’s widely available. 

Tyler Bass - Buffalo Bills, Yahoo: 9% | ESPN: 5% | Sleeper: 6%

We had Tyler Bass as a streamer last week, and he delivered in a big way with three field goals. I think a lot of people forgot this guy exists after he missed all of last season, but he’s a good kicker for a good team. 

Yin & Yang Tight End Chart

As always, this section below will be updated with Yin & Yang tight end rankings for the rest of the season each week. The way Yin & Yang tight end works is: if you have someone from the standalone section, you only need to roster one player. Beyond that, we are likely rostering two - someone to start and someone to stash. 

  • Standalone - Guys we currently trust that also have big upside.
  • Yin - A “safe” player that we can start while trying to hit on a breakout with a bench spot.
  • Yang - A higher-risk, higher-reward option ideally stashed on your bench for upside. 
  • Handcuff - Guys with minimal usage now who could have upside if the starting TE gets hurt.

[Check back for Week 2 Yin & Yang tight end update soon!]