Happy Tuesday Fantasy Footballers and welcome to Week 3. I am Matt Dean (@MattDeanQBList) and I am here to help you recover from Week 2 with your priority adds from the waiver wire this week. Along with this article, co-writer Aaron Rader and I will be putting out a weekly Waiver Wire Podcast on Tuesdays to help get you through the workday. You can find that here.
If you are like me, you were 0-1 going into Week 2. Hopefully, you were also like me and pulled off an improbable win and are now looking much better at 1-1. Hopefully some of that was attributed to waiver wire adds, as each week that can often determine the outcome of a match up.
Before we get into the adds, I need to address something. For those of you that use the FAAB, or Free Agent Acquisition Budget, to process waivers, we need to talk about the percentages we are using on certain players. I am in a 16-team league, where no lie, Ryan Switzer was picked up for a whopping FORTY-THREE DOLLARS! The same person also added a much more talented wide receiver that was featured here last week, Scary Terry McLaurin for $40. Our league uses a $100 budget, and so these transactions left this poor soul with $4 left for the remainder of the season. I will say, I was more aggressive than most, having already spent 40% of my FAAB, but this is the reason that you need to be tuning into these articles and our podcast so that you can know what a good value of FAAB percentage is each week. No one ever should spend 43% of their budget on a gadget player, much less on someone not even as good as Terry, in week one.
Rant over, let’s see how I did last week:
Wins: Chris Thompson, Adrian Peterson, Terry McLaurin, John Ross, Marquise Brown
Losses: TJ Hockenson, Malcolm Brown(TBD), AJ Brown
Overall Record: 5-3
I’ll be keeping up with how players on this thread are performing throughout the season, so keep checking back. Overall in Week 1, you had to be happy if you got the top-end guys and plugged them in. Malcolm Brown was more of an upside stash than immediate start, and someone you should continue to hold on to as the best handcuff in the game currently. TJ Hockenson was a flop I was not expecting after how the Lions featured him Week 1.
With all that said, let’s hop right into the priority adds for Week 3.
The ownership percentage is based on Yahoo Fantasy Leagues.
Priority Adds
QB – Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills (40% Owned)
Normally, a quarterback wouldn’t make this list when we are only just passing Week Two, but we don’t normally have Andrew Luck retire, Sam Darnold get mono, Drew Brees miss six weeks, and Ben Roethlisberger miss the entire season. So here we are, and here you may find yourself–scrambling to find a viable starter to give you a weekly floor that won’t tank your matchup. I urge you to look no further than Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills. Giving a weekly floor of about 30 yards so far this season, we saw last year that this can easily climb. Also, Allen has found chemistry with his new toy, John Brown, and it has really taken his passing to a new level with 250+ yards in his past two games. That doesn’t even factor in missing Brown for a would-be deep score in Week 2. With a shootout ensuing with the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 3, Allen is sure to give you a safe floor with which to springboard off of next week.
FAAB Budget – 8%
RB – Raheem Mostert, San Francisco 49ers (17% Owned)
Raheem Mostert was dubbed a candidate to fill the shoes of Tevin Coleman while he is out with injury. He certainly lived up to that bill and more in Week 2 as he ran for 83 yards and added 3/68/1 through the air. Mostert has the chance to continue this success in the coming weeks as Coleman is out through the bye week at a minimum. Always known as a SPARQ star, Mostert finally has an opportunity to have consistent production and earn a permanent share of the work. He has every week RB2/Flex appeal right now.
FAAB Budget – 20%
RB – Carlos Hyde, Houston Texans (43% Owned)
This is shaping up to be a 2 AM “Last Call” of sorts this week. With another player hovering around 40% owned, Carlos Hyde is a rare waiver wire player that is seeing heavy volume in the Houston Texans running game. And this isn’t your typical Lamar Miller 3.5 YPC either. Hyde has averaged a robust 5.8 YPC so far through two games. Coming off a 20 carry game against the Jags, he gets a tougher test against the Chargers, but one where I predict he gets heavy work again and finally falls into the end zone. This is a weekly flex with upside. While the passing hasn’t been there, it is worth noting that he ran 11 routes, which was more than Duke Johnson. Duke is looking much less appealing than Hyde at this point.
FAAB Budget – 17%
RB – Darwin Thompson, Kansas City Chiefs (18% Owned)
As of this writing, we don’t know any specifics about the injuries to Damien Williams and LeSean McCoy, other than the fact that the latter was set to get an MRI. Regardless, if you wait for news, you may miss out on the opportunity to grab a player that could be a game-changer if given the opportunity. I wouldn’t break the bank, but this is just a reminder that it is better to be ahead of the game than behind everyone else in your league. Again, this is a purely speculative move, but one that will pay off if one or both of the lead dogs are down for any period of time. Darwin Thompson was a big sleeper coming into the year, and with the recent news, the hype train of the new muscle hamster is picking up steam yet again.
FAAB Budget: 12%
Other RBs to Consider: Frank Gore, Peyton Barber, Chris Thompson (Featured Last Week)
WR – Mecole Hardman/Demarcus Robinson, Kansas City Chiefs (40%/8% Owned)
Can you tell that you should have pieces of this Kansas City pie? Patrick Mahomes could make Jerry Rice all-pro right now at his age. This guy literally is that dude, and his wide receivers are feasting. Last week it was Sammy Watkins and this week it was everybody else. Mecole Hardman was a big name coming into this week and he delivered with 4/61/1 and was a LeSean McCoy hold away from another 75-yard touchdown. Demarcus Robinson did him one better and went for 6/172/2. Who is it going to be this week? Who knows, but it seems that everyone will get a piece, especially given that Travis Kelce got his with over 100 yards and a touchdown, all while Watkins still got 13 targets. With the running backs banged up, this is going to go full air raid this week.
FAAB Budget: 25%/20%
WR – Nelson Agholor, Philadelphia Eagles (15% Owned)
Well, tell me the last time you heard this one – DeSean Jackson and Alshon Jeffery are dealing with injuries. Yeah, that didn’t take long. Poised for a massive workload if both are to miss time, Nelson Agholor is a must-add ahead of Week 3 if even one of these guys misses. It looks like Jeffery is probable to miss time, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Jackson does as well. After those guys went down, Agholor put up 8/107/1. He would have had a second touchdown that could have won the game had Agholor not alligator armed a pass.
FAAB Budget: 10%
Other WRs to Consider: DJ Chark, DK Metcalf (Featured Last Week), Deebo Samuel, James Washington
Cheap Sleeper
In this section, I will key you in on one guy that you should get before the rest of the fantasy community catches up and sees them as a 10-15% FAAB guy. You get to have him this week for virtually free because you are awesome and read my column. And the winner is…
WR Devin Smith – Dallas Cowboys (<1% Owned)
With news of Michael Gallup going down with a hamstring injury, there are now targets to be spread around in the newfound Dallas passing attack. This week, Devin Smith–former 2nd round pick out of Ohio State–made a big impact, going 3/74/1. While he will be boom or bust, he should get some looks if you are desperate in a deep league, or want to grab and stash him for a week and see. The good news is that these are the guys that could be at the top of the thread next week if things pan out the right way and you will look like a genius.
FAAB Budget: 0-2% (if you play with Cowboys fans)
Thanks for reading, and make sure to check out our podcast here for in-depth analysis. Plus, we will be discussing names that are not listed here that you should be looking at. Good luck and see you next week!
(Photo by Daniel Dunn/Icon Sportswire)