Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 3

Article Written by Gordo

I typically don't condone rushing to the waiver wire to pick up the flavor of the week this early in the season. Case in point, Allen Hurns. This undrafted Free Agent (UDFA) came out of nowhere, scored two long TDs and everyone's like, "MY SAVIOR!" Now he's injured and you should all be ashamed of yourselves. This guy is owned in 52% of Yahoo Leagues, 16% in ESPN Leagues, and 40.8% in NFL.com Leagues, and I say let them have him. My first issue with this pick up is how anyone would bother to waste a waiver pick up on anyone from Jacksonville. Second, why anyone would see his performance against a mediocre Eagles secondary as anything more than a fluke, and lastly, reasons...the idea is too frustrating to continue with but I digress. The reason for this poor example of a waiver wire pick is to introduce the does and don'ts of this weeks waiver picks.

I took the liberty of collecting the waiver pick lists from various mainstream channels (ie. Yahoo, ESPN, and NFL.com) and provided my own take on the value and likelihood of any of these players adding value to your roster. Before I get into it I want to clarify the types of waiver picks I see people making:

• The Stash
• someone with a high level of potential, often back-ups that may emerge due to injuries ahead of them on the roster
• The Cherry Pick
• the flavor of the month that's always grabbed by the worst team in your league because they're desperate and also have the highest waiver priority
• Hand-Cuffs/ Replacements/ Backups
• typically this person is drafted in later rounds rather than picked up in waivers but if your lead back gets injured you scramble to hand-cuff them to their back-up before anyone else realizes the opportunity
• Bye Week Filler
• filling in for QBs, Kickers, and D/ST during their bye weeks because you were wise to only draft 1 of each position. If this is the only necessity for you you should be in good shape as far as the rest of your bench is concerned
• The Flavor of the Week
• This is a player who had a break out game but prior to this was never heard of or spoken of, and now everyone and their mother is scrambling to the waiver wire to pick them up. Typically this player fades into obscurity within a week or two, but if you're lucky he just goes from that 20-30pt week to 5-10pts per week like Brian Hartline (WR) of the Dolphins did a couple years back.

At this time of year managers should only be scooping up players to stash that somehow fell through the cracks in the draft and players to replace unfortunately injured and suspended players. To give you a sense of where I'm coming from, I'm a bit conservative when it comes to managing my team. So, I typically pass on the rare breakout, future stud, players that often get picked up in that wave of flavor of the week picks.

Week 3 Waiver Wire Picks

Quarterbacks

Gino Smith - QB - NYJ (Yahoo)

Kirk Cousins - QB - WAS (Yahoo, NFL.com, ESPN)

Gino Smith is only attractive because of the points he earns on the ground. So depending on your leagues scoring system he either makes for a worthwhile bye week filler or a Boom/Bust starter that's high risk medium
reward. If you're truly in need of a quarterback because you only drafted RGIII or Matt Schaub for some reason then scoop up Kirk Cousins asap, granted his big game was against the worst team in football so I would keep your ear to the ground for a better option if you can find one. Again, in most leagues you should still be able to scoop up Tannehill or Jake Locker to get you through a week or two until better choices come around. I don't even need to tell you how available these guys are because well if you passed on Andy Dalton, Tony Romo, Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, Jay Cutler, and Alex Smith then you deserve what's happening to you.

Running Backs

Lamar Miller - RB - MIA (Yahoo)

Jeremy Hill - RB - CIN (Yahoo)

Donald Brown - RB - SD

Bobby Rainey - RB - TB

Knile Davis - RB - KC

Kihry Robinson - RB - NO

Jonathan Stewart - RB - CAR (NFL.com)

Ahmad Bradshaw - RB - IND (ESPN)

Running back has been a serious cause for stress in FF this year with all the on and off the field drama. Injuries and criminal activity. But this group of backups are no slouches...except for Lamar Miller in my opinion. Jeremy Hill, Donald Brown, Bobby Rainey, and Ahmad Bradshaw are all interesting options in a RBBC situation. I would aim for Ahmad Bradshaw this week if you are in need of a RB. Jeremy Hill broke out because CIN just trampled all over ATL and was given more work to give Bernard a breather. Donald Brown has minimal upside with Danny Woodhead still active and likely to be more valuable especially in PPR formats. Bobby Rainey is also an intriguing option but the odds are all over the place on whether he continues to be productive for FF. Knile Davis, Kihry Robinson, and Jonathan Stewart are all replacing an injured starter. At this point I would hand-cuff Knile Davis if you are a Charles owner. With Mark Ingram out I still see Pierre Thomas having more of an impact than Robinson. Jonathan Stewart is filling in for damaged Williams but is still sharing potential ground work with his own QB now that Cam Newton is back in action. I'd be surprised to find Hill, Bradshaw, Stewart, Rainey, or Davis
available after waivers go through tonight.

Wide Receivers

James Jones - WR - OAK (NFL.com)

Josh Gordon - WR - CLE (NFL.com)

Mohamed Sanu - WR - CIN (Yahoo)

Devanta Adams - WR - GB (Yahoo)

I like these options at receiver but I highly doubt this small group of wide outs will out perform anyone you already h
ave on your bench. James Jones might be a flex fill in but Sanu is only valuable if AJ Green remains off the field. Devanta Adams may have another good game but his real value only comes in PPR leagues against a weak secondary where Rodgers can have a field day spreading the wealth. Josh Gordon is definitely a stash player. If you can afford to hold him on your bench I would advise you do so. If he comes back for week 11 or 12 that's just in time to prove his worth for your leagues Playoffs.

Tight Ends

Delanie Walker - TE - TEN (NFL.com)

Travis Kelce - TE - KC (NFL.com, ESPN)

Larry Donnell - TE - NYG (Yahoo)

Niles Paul - TE - WAS (Yahoo)

If Walker's still available in your league you should have already picked him up. Although he's had a slew of mediocrity in his career with the Niners, he's seemingly woken up after landing in Tennessee last season. Locker seems to love this guy and I see some great potential throughout the rest of the season. Travis Kelce is another guy I've been pretty
high on since the off season. He was building up some momentum coming out of last season and I see him being a good option if you like to play with a TE committee or TEBC. Larry Donnell is on the Giants and Eli throws to TEs because they're easy targets. Niles Paul didn't exist until Kirk Cousins tossed him a couple TDs. I would be cautious with Paul here as Cousins gets more comfortable with the receivers again. I already see Cousins raising Andre Roberts' potential.

Kickers & D/ST

New Orleans - D/ST (Yahoo)

This is dumb...Stick with one D/ST and change on bye weeks or play the strength of schedule (SOS) angle. If there's one D/ST worth looking at it may be NO but after two games I would wait a week on this one.

Well I hope this puts things into perspective for you for week 3. Don't blame me for any failures this week either. It's a game of chance and risk management so get used to it.