Week 2 Waiver Wire adds
It's important not to overreact to what happens in week 1 but I also believe it's the most important week in assessing players' roles in their respective offenses. This leads me to be quite bullish on adding guys that had a larger than anticipated or a more valuable role than what was previously thought. I also tend to agressively spend FAAB bucks to aquire guys that I was previously low on who's value rose for me week 1. I see it as an extra draft pick if my team needs improvement. I have no problem blowing all my FAAB on a guy that I think will return RB1 value rest of season. Now this is all realtive to the roster you currently have. The player you are adding needs to have more value rest of season than the players you intend to drop. Don't go dropping guys like Tyler Boyd and James Conner to pick up James Robinson or Russel Gage. That's just crazy. Don't give up on high volume players because they underperformed. That's chasing points and will always burn you. You want to chase volume and usage not just statlines. If you wanted to drop say Mecole Hardman or Desean Jackson for a guy that's more involved in their respective offense you can. As long as you like the player you're adding to outscore the player you're dropping moving forward.
#1 Parris Campbell So remember when I said the colts offense looked like the old Chargers under Rivers? Campbell was in the "Keenan Allen" role. He tied TY for the lead in targets and played 93% of his snaps out of the slot! That's crazy good for his efficiency and not only do I think his production week 1 is sustainable I think he can be a WR 1 rest of season. $25 FAAB or claim him if you can.
Your waiver adds should be relative to your roster. If you have a championship roster you can save the FAAB or #1 waiver (or climb in priority) for later in the year. If you don't stand to upgrade you're just adding guys to add them and undermining your draft assessment. With that taken into consideration let's take a look at some guys I like available on waivers this week and how much I'd be willing to spend on them if your league has FAAB (Blind Bids).
Running backs
#1 Nyheim Hines I watched a good portion of this game live and going in I had a suspicion that Rivers would bring some of the offense he ran in SD.. err uhh LA to Indy and Hines would fill the "Ekeler role" It's this reasoning that led me to draft Hines late in drafts. Honestly it looks more similar than I expected and playing the Ekeler role is (you guessed it) Hines. A staple of that role was getting 1 on 1 matchups in the red zone with a LB. It was all there and working in the first half then Mack got injured and Hines made a bonehead play not getting out of bounds at the end of the first half. After that Jonathan Taylor seemed to be the preferred back in all situations. So it depends if we are buying Hines as this "Ekeler lite" or if you think JT takes over as the unquestionable bell-cow. I personally think it's Hines in passing and Redzone situations moving forward and am willing to shell out big FAAB bucks (50-60%) or use my #1 waiver claim to get him in PPR. In half PPR I'd probably only take a $25 shot at him and depending on my situation at RB save my waiver claim.
#2 Malcolm Brown As Cris Collinsworth would say "Now here's a guy...." that gets the job done. Malcolm Brown isn't flashy, he isn't overly athletic fast, or strong. But you know what... He's reliable. Like the constant in an equation or McDonald's (who probably designed their new uniforms) I admit I was hyped for the new guy in Akers but there was a negative on tape that I didn't like about Akers. He abandons the play design and looks for the cutback way too often. It may work in college and we attributed it to the horrible OL at FSU but it looks like it's ingrained in his game which is unfortunate. The Rams as a whole can be fairly high powered and if Malcolm Brown is going to get 15-20 touches and Goalline work I'd be happy with him as my RB2. I'm willing to shell out $20 FAAB (100 budget) Use a claim on him if I'm in need at RB or even if I have room on my bench.
#3 James Robinson This is probably not an option as he went drafted most places but I've seen that he's available in some casual leagues. Robinson was the only back this week to get every carry for his team. My only concern is what his role would look like is a game that got away from the Jags. I'd be slight more bullish on him in half PPR or standard. Full PPR I'm not as interested. 5-10% FAAB
#4 Benny Snell Benny and his mouthpiece spinner rushed for over 100 against the NY Giants on the heels of a James Conner ankle injury. The thing for me here is even if you truly believe that he has taken the lead back duties from Conner when healthy he has Jalen Samuels that will handle passing downs if Conner is actually benched. I'm thinking that it will become more of a split and early word is Conner's injury isn't serious and he might play week 2. If I'm needy at RB I'd take a $10 shot on Snell. He definitely looked good on Monday night.
#5 Joshua Kelly I loved Kelly as the power back in this offense and that's exactly what he is. I actually drafted him a ton and don't know of any league he's available but apparently only 17% owned in Yahoo leagues. If you believe his role grows with time he's worth $5-$10
Some other RBs I've gotten questions about are Miles Gaskin and Josh Adams. I know we always say opportunity is king but when that opportunity is in a slow/bad offense in a low efficiency role I'm not interested. I'd rather roster lottery tickets like chase Edmonds, Tony Pollard, or alexander Mattison. Even to a lesser extent Dion Lewis, Brian Hill, or Darrell Williams in case the back in front of them misses time you'd fall into an RB1
Wide Receivers
#2 Laviska Shenault Viska was used super creativly and was manufactured touches. His usage inside the redzone was also promising. I always loved his talent at the college level. He should deliver weekly WR4/flex value $8 FAAB
#3 Robby Anderson Being reunited with his college coach and getting out of Gase's quicksand type of offense made him look fantastic. He looked so good I'm actually nervous about DJ Moore. I'm down for $7 in FAAB
#4 Russell Gage I'm not chasing the points here. Yes he got 12 targets and I think this offense will be a high volume passing attack in general but I also think Hurst will be more involved now that Jamal Adams won't be in the same zip code. Julio and Ridley are going to feast weekly but Gage and Hurst will likely be more volitale. There's a weekly upside but without an injury to julio or Ridley I couldn't trust Gage on a week to week basis. But if you must $5 FAAB is reasonable.
#5 Demarcus Robinson Play the game of time in your favor. Most managers have already forgotten that he was the #3 WR in the Chiefs offense over Mecole Hardman. You probably won't even need to bid. Let waivers clear then add him for free in the morning.
Tight End
#1 Logan Thomas If you just lost Blake Jarwin this is a no brainier add for you. 8 targets in a positive/neutral game script. He's obviously a large part of this offense. TE1s aren't just available like this often. Watch out for he Kittle owner in your league. If they don't have a backup plan prepare to be bidding competitively. $10-$20 FAAB
There won't be QBs in this section because I wouldn't spend FAAB or a claim on a QB unless his matchup was oozing with upside or it was a superflex or really deep league. I'll give some QB streaming options later in the week.
Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think and follow me on twitter @Chris_Cianci
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