Welcome to the first installment of the Waiver Wire Wednesday (WWW) post from us here at AVS. Most waiver wires open up on Wednesday, so every Tuesday, we will post our top 5 waiver wire pick-ups, to help you navigate through the long and arduous fantasy football season.
As any fantasy football pro knows, championships aren’t won on draft day. Every year, the top managers improve their team week to week by working the waiver wire, so make sure to check back each week for the right picks to take your team to the next level.
How our picks are presented:
- Name, position and team of player
- Percentage that player is owned in ESPN and Yahoo Fantasy Football leagues
- Last week’s stat line (catches or rushes / yards / TDs)
- Next week’s opponent
- Comments
Good luck, and may your waiver claim always come through.
Julian Edelman – WR, New England Patriots
- ESPN: 15%, Yahoo: 25%
- 7/79/2
- vs New York Jets
- With Amendola all but ruled out for next week, Edelman is a MUST OWN in all 10-12 team leagues. In PPR leagues, his value is even greater. He has shown the ability to get open in the red zone and should be Brady’s primary target with Amendola sidelined. Even if Amendola is healthy, Edelman is still a safe play. Look for him to continue to grow his role in the depleted Patriots offense.
Marlon Brown – WR, Baltimore Ravens
- ESPN: 2.1%, Yahoo: 5%
- 4/65/1
- vs Cleveland
- Similar to Edelman, Brown is the beneficiary of a player ahead of him on the depth chart being injured. With Jacoby Jones out with a sprained knee, the door is open for Brown to seize control of the #2 spot, behind deep threat Torrey Smith. Brown has the potential to become a major weapon to Flacco, because there just aren’t many other options for him right now. At 6’5”, he poses mismatches all over the field, especially in the red zone. I am not as high on him as Edelman, but if you’re looking for a band aid at WR, look no further than Brown.
Joique Bell – RB Detroit Lions
- ESPN: 81.3%, Yahoo: 37%
- Rushing: 6/25/2, Receiving 5/67/0
- @ Arizona
- Bell has the role of “goal line back” locked up in Detroit; hence his 2 TD total on only 6 carries. With Leshoure getting healthy scratched, it is clear that Jim Schwartz believes in Bell’s ability to be the short yard age back. Reggie Bush will get 20-25 touches a game, but Bell will get his opportunities to put points on the board. His value sky rockets if the always fragile Bush goes down with an injury (he is already nursing a sore groin and dislocated finger). Bell catches the ball well out of the backfield, and would jump to a RB2/RB3 talent with a Bush injury, but he is worthy of a pick up now.
Julius Thomas – TE, Denver Broncos
- ESPN: 72.6%, Yahoo: 55%
- 5/110/2
- @ NY Giants
- By now, everyone knows about Julius Thomas. He welcomed us back to football in a BIG way on Thursday night. Peyton Manning has been singing his praises all off-season, and for good reason. He is a big, athletic target, with good speed. Manning also has a great history of utilizing his TE (see Dallas Clark). So why do I have this potential stud of a TE near the bottom of the list? Nothing against Thomas, he definitely has the potential to be a difference maker, but there are just too many options on DEN to think he can replicate these numbers on a week to week basis. He has the potential to be a top 10 TE, and this year TE class leaves a lot to be desired, but don’t expect him to put up 100 yards a game. He is definitely worth the risk, as long as you have realistic expectations.
Andre Roberts – WR, Arizona Cardinals
- ESPN: 35%, Yahoo: 22%
- 8/97/0
- vs Detroit
- Arizona showed a revived passing attack in Week 1, and you can attribute new QB Carson Palmer, and the spread offense of Bruce Arians for that. The Cardinals run a lot of 3 WR sets, and the sure handed Roberts fits very nicely into the slot, with Larry Fitzgerald and Michael Floyd on the outside. 4 of Roberts’ 8 catches were for first down, which shows that Carson trusts him when it matters most. I like him to hover around WR4/WR5 value for the rest of the year.
Written by @Moefasa 11