Squish (268)
E-roc (127)
Shirley (66)
Jeff (53)
Tommy (53)
Mal (51)
Ken (44)
Amir (40)
TJ (29)
Here are our waiver wire candidates for week 15. As usual, you’ll find players who are either [Startable], a [Stopgap] to get you past a BYE or injury, [Worth a look] and spot on your bench, or [One-week-wonder]s who don’t warrant a roster spot, so you make your roster moves accordingly. You’ll also see the percent owned in parenthesis. We’re coming down to crunch-time now, with the playoffs starting/continuing in nearly every league out there at this point, so hopefully you don’t have to rely too much on the players listed here. As usual, good luck to everyone as you try to get one step closer to that league championship!
Latest Updates: Justin Fargas RSS
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The Wire - Week 15: Slim Pickings
Brandon
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The Wire - Week 14: Who's Starting Vince Young in the Playoffs?
Brandon
Here are our waiver wire candidates for week fourteen. As usual, you’ll find players who are either [Startable], a [Stopgap] to get you past a BYE or injury, [Worth a look] and spot on your bench, or [One-week-wonder]s who don’t warrant a roster spot, so you make your roster moves accordingly. You’ll also see the percent owned in parenthesis. This week we start off with a few quarterbacks who’s play has improved dramatically over the next few weeks. Early in the season, did you ever imagine starting Alex Smith or Vince Young (or Bruce Gradkowski?) in the playoffs? Me neither.
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The Wire - Week 11: The Replacements
Brandon
Here are our waiver wire candidates for week eleven. As usual, you’ll find players who are either [Startable], a [Stopgap] to get you past a BYE or injury, [Worth a look] and spot on your bench, or [One-week-wonder]s who don’t warrant a roster spot, so you make your roster moves accordingly. You’ll also see the percent owned in parenthesis. This week we start off with a number of backup running backs who could have some immediate fantasy impact due to injuries to starters Michael Turner, Cedric Benson, Clinton Portis and Julius Jones.
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The Wire - Week 10: The Return of Chris Chambers
Brandon
Here are our waiver wire candidates for week ten. As usual, you’ll find players who are either [Startable], a [Stopgap] to get you past a BYE or injury, [Worth a look] and spot on your bench, or [One-week-wonder]s who don’t warrant a roster spot, so you make your roster moves accordingly. You’ll also see the percent owned in parenthesis (and if you see an asterisk by the players name, it means they’re on a BYE this week.)
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The Wire - Week 9: Desperate Times
Brandon
Here are our waiver wire candidates for week nine. As usual, you’ll find players who are either [Startable], a [Stopgap] to get you past a BYE or injury, [Worth a look] and spot on your bench, or [One-week-wonder]s who don’t warrant a roster spot, so you make your roster moves accordingly. You’ll also see the percent owned in parenthesis (and if you see an asterisk by the players name, it means they’re on a BYE this week.)
Before we start, don’t forget to enter in our contest to win a $50 NFL.com gift card!
This week the talent is really starting to fall off the cliff, with the only real interesting additions to the list being Texans’ running back Ryan Moats and Chargers’ receiver Malcom Floyd…but even they don’t raise all that much excitement. Anyways, here’s the guys that are still available out there in case you’re in desperate need of help at a position. Hopefully you don’t have to rely on these guys too much!
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Desperation is a Stinky Cologne: Deep Sleepers for Week 6
Matt
If you’ve already perused Brandon’s waiver report for this week and still can’t find anyone on your league’s waiver wire to fill that gaping hole in your roster, it’s time for a hail mary. Here’s a look at some players who are currently owned in fewer than one third of Yahoo leagues who might just make a decent play this week.
Plug ‘n’ Pray = High-risk, high-reward players who, given the right circumstances, could make you look like a goshdarned genius – or a blithering fool.
Plug ‘n’ Yawn = If you can’t stand the sight of a goose egg, these players are a good bet to get you at least a few fantasy points.Jamaal Charles, RB, KC – Plug ‘n’ Yawn – The Chiefs are using Charles a decent amount in the passing game (5 catches last week), so he’s probably good for at least a few points, especially in PPR leagues. Given starter Larry Johnson’s brutal 2.4 YPC so far, it wouldn’t shock me if the Chiefs finally decided to give Charles a shot at earning a bigger portion of the rushing workload at some point.
Jacoby Jones, WR, HOU – Plug ‘n’ Pray – So far this season, the Bengals (Houston’s opponent this week) have been able to very effectively bottle up their opponents’ top receiver week after week (see Andy Behrens’ post on the Big Orange Machine). But, as Behrens points out, they’re still allowing a lot of passing yardage. If the pattern holds, the Texans are going to need Jones to step up and keep the passing attack moving. If you’re looking for this week’s Miles Austin… look elsewhere, but Jones has a decent shot at hauling in a big reception or two. If your league’s scoring includes return yards, this three-time AFC Player of the Week has your name written all over him. Wait – my mistake, that’s actually the state of Louisiana.
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The Wire - Week 5: Maybe the Steelers do have a running game!
Brandon
As a firm believer in the Continuous Quality Improvement model, I’ve once again updated the look and feel of The Wire for your enjoyment. The list is now organized by position, which seems to make more sense since you are undoubtedly looking to fill a certain spot on your roster with these waiver wire pick-ups. However, it’s still organized in order of the ownership percentage (in parenthesis) so you know the odds of the player being available in your league. Also, the classifications have changed slightly (I just didn’t like the old ones for some reason.) So for this week, you’ll find players who are either [Startable], a [Stopgap] to get you past a BYE or injury, [Worth a look] and spot on your bench, or [One-week-wonder]s who don’t warrant a roster spot, so make your roster moves accordingly. Anyways, let’s get to the good stuff…the actual player list, starting with a player who might be able to return the Steelers back to the bruising style of running they once had (but which Fast Willie Parker lacked)… (More …)
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The Wire: Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 14, 2008
Brandon
As we head into the playoffs, there’s a pretty good chance that your team is already set and you are not in need of any desperation picks. Just in case though, here’s a look at the players to target on your league’s waiver wire this week. This list is ordered by the percentage of ESPN leagues in which the player is available, but even if you’re not a ESPN user, it’s a decent indication of how likely you are to find the player on waivers in your league. We also note here how strongly we feel about this pickup with three categories: Instant Starter, Grab ‘n’ Stash, or Desperation Pickup.
Domenik Hixon, WR, Giants (7.0% owned, Desperation Pickup) – With Plaxico’s accidental gun shot wound, combined with his legal troubles now, I think it’s safe to write him off for at least the fantasy football playoffs. His backups are seeing immediate dividends, including Domenik Hixon, who has caught 11 balls for nearly 130 yards over the past two games.
Devone Bess, WR, Dolphins (7.1% owned, Desperation Pickup) – With starter Greg Camarillo out for the season, it’s been Bess who is filling in for him and he has done pretty well lately. Over the past two games he, like Hixon above, has 11 catches, with his going for over 170 yards.
Mark Clayton, WR, Ravens (7.8% owned, Desperation Pickup) – More so than Davone Bess or Domenik Hixon above, Clayton has been a wild man the past two games, turning just seven receptions into 240 yards and two touchdowns. While you shouldn’t expect this kind of production each week, he could be worth a chance if you need some big time luck to win you a playoff game. (More …)
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The Wire: Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 13, 2008
Brandon
Here’s a look at the players to target on your league’s waiver wire this week. This list is ordered by the percentage of ESPN leagues in which the player is available, but even if you’re not a ESPN user, it’s a decent indication of how likely you are to find the player on waivers in your league. We also note here how strongly we feel about this pickup with three categories: Instant Starter, Grab ‘n’ Stash, or Desperation Pickup.
J.J. Arrington, RB, Cardinals (11.6% owned, Grab ‘n’ Stash) – Tim Hightower still has a hold on the “starter” designation, as well as the goal-line carries, but with the team passing the ball so much and Hightower running so ineffectively, it’s Arrington who could have the most value heading into the playoffs. If you’re a Hightower owner, you want Arrington on your roster for sure insurance if anything.
Maurice Morris, RB, Seahawks (15.7% owned, Desperation Pickup) – He had a big game on Sunday, but with a short week ahead it could be Julius Jones that gets the bulk of the carries. You should not be relying on a player like Morris to get you into the playoffs, but maybe you are… (More …)
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Week 12 Wrap-Up: King of the Cassel
Brandon
Tom who? It’s amazing the job that Matt Cassel (415 passing yards, 4 TD – one rushing, INT) has done this year to keep the depression in New England over Tom Brady’s injury to a minimum. To his credit, the games are a bit more exciting now and as long as they still make the playoffs, you have to give him props for playing his ass off and earning the big contract that is sure to come his way in the off-season. Anyways, let’s dive into the action that took place this weekend, starting with the big Patriots victory over the Dolphins…
- New England 48, Miami 28: The second straight 400 passing yard performance from Cassel also paid dividends to the dynamic receiver duo, Randy Moss (8 catches for 125 yards, 3 TD) and Wes Welker (8 catches for 120 yards.) Over-shadowed by his team’s loss and the play of the opposing quarterback though, you can’t forget to mention the great effort from Chad Pennington (341 passing yards, 4 TD – one rushing, INT), who’s numbers were nearly as good. (More …)
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Hits and Misses - Week 8: T-Jones up next to abuse the Chiefs
Brandon
After weeks of mediocre results, last week I hit the jackpot with my picks (must have been the renaming of the post!) I finished up 17-7-6 (hits-misses-pushes) for the week, carried there by the stellar play of the Titans running game versus the joke that is the Kansas City Chiefs defense. I also got some help from a few other running backs including Ryan Grant, who finally found the endzone, and Dominic Rhodes, who filled in quite nicely for the injured Joseph Addai and rewarded fantasy managers with two touchdowns. While the Jets passing game failed pretty miserably against what I thought was supposed to be a weak Raiders pass defense, it wasn’t enough to keep me from my best week of the season.
This week I’m going to continue my trend of hating on the Chiefs defense by recommending all the Thomas Jones owners out there get him in your lineup this week. While I’m usually not too keen on picking against a team twice in a row (you figure they’ll try to make SOME adjustments), it’s just too good to pass up at this point. Anyways, here’s the rest of your hits and misses for week 8:
Hits
- Thomas Jones, RB, Jets: T.Jones has come alive the past two weeks (much to the enjoyment of his owners…like me!) with possibly the two best games of his career in terms of touchdowns (week 6) and yards (week 7.) As a reward for his hard work, this week he gets to take on a Chiefs defense that was absolutely annihilated by the Titans running game last week. If starting a running back at home against a defense that is allowing 5.6 yards per carry, 207 yards per game and has allowed 12 rushing touchdowns already this season is something you’re interested in (it better be), get Jones in your lineup ASAP! (More …)
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The Wire: Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 6, 2008
Brandon
Here’s a look at the players to target on your league’s waiver wire this week. This list is ordered by the percentage of ESPN leagues in which the player is available; even if you’re not a ESPN user, it’s a decent indication of how likely you are to find the player on waivers in your league. We also note here how strongly we feel about this pickup with three categories: Instant Starter, Grab ‘n’ Stash, or Desperation Pickup.
(Due to technical difficulties, only the names of the week 6 players are on the list now…and by technical difficulties I mean I deleted it by accident! Anyways, you should be looking at the week 7 waiver pick-ups now anyways.) (More …)
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Sunday Wrap-up: Brandon Marshall is back!
Brandon
While the Bronco’s should definitely have lost their game with the Chargers (I have no clue what the officials where thinking when they blew that ball dead!), the most important thing to take away from the game for all of us non-Broncos/Chargers fans is that Brandon Marshall is back…and he’s very pissed at anyone who discounted him in their league’s draft. Marshall finished the game with the second most receptions for a game in NFL history with 18 (two shy of T.O.’s record of 20) and racked up 166 yards and a touchdown in the process. If you were in a PPR league that awards bonus points for breaking the 100 yard or 150 yard mark…and you had Marshall in your starting roster…you are very, very happy right now. Anyways, here are some other notes from the games this past weekend that you may find interesting…
- Broncos 39, Chargers 38: Besides being happy to be a Brandon Marshall owner, those of you who had faith that Cutler would be a top notch talent after getting his diabetes under control are being rewarded nicely…to the tune of 650 yards and six touchdowns through the first two games of the season. Looking at the Broncos schedule, I wouldn’t expect too much of a drop off in production either (if any). For all of you who took him late in the draft…it’s time to start laughing at the guys who drafted Derek Anderson and Carson Palmer five rounds earlier. In other news, LT owners should have a waiver claim in for Darren Sproles (317 all purpose yards and two touchdowns) immediately (at the cost of dropping Jacob Hester if necessary). Philip Rivers (21 of 33 for 377 yards and three TD, two INT), Chris Chambers (four catches for 83 yards and two TD), and Tony Scheffler (six catches for 64 yards, 2 TD) didn’t look too bad in this one either. If you picked up Eddie Royal after his first week outburst…keep him around. Cutler has confidence in him and you can expect a ton of chances to put up quality numbers all season long as defenses try to contain Marshall. (More …)
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Chad Johnson hurt and other updates from the weekend
Brandon
Tonight’s game between the Browns and Giants will wrap up week two of the preseason, but before we jump into week 3, here are some reactions to the games that took place over the weekend…
- Detroit 27, Cincinnati 10: While the Bengals might be a tiny bit upset that they lost a preseason game, the most painful outcome of this game was that their star wide receiver, Chad “Ocho Cinco” Johnson, sprained his shoulder while trying to make a catch early in the game. Right now coach Marvin Lewis is saying that he believes Johnson should be ready for the start of the season, but we’ll keep an eye on the situation. Right now I’m probably dropping him down a few spots on my rankings until I know more about the injury.
As for the rest of the game, the poor play of the Bengals added insult to injury, with quarterback Carson Palmer playing badly (6 of 13 for 50 yards and an INT) and no one of fantasy relevance doing anything great for Cinci. There was one guy on the team though that took advantage of the Johnson injury, plus a hamstring injury to T.J. Houshmandzadeh that kept him out of this game. The Bengals second round pick in this years draft, receiver Jerome Simpson, finished the game with five receptions for 114 yards. As with many preseason one-hit-wonders though, make this guy become a repeat performer before even considering him on draft day.
As much as this game sucked for the Bengals, it was a great game for the Lions, especially their passing game, which seems to have hit the ground running since the beginning of this preseason. Jon Kitna completed all three of his pass attempts for 76 yards, including a 27 yard touchdown pass to Calvin Johnson (who finished with three catches for 76 yards). The Lions running game is still a bit mysterious, but rookie Kevin Smith looked good in limited action (four carries for 19 yards) and should still be considered the front runner to win the starting job come opening day. (More …)
- Detroit 27, Cincinnati 10: While the Bengals might be a tiny bit upset that they lost a preseason game, the most painful outcome of this game was that their star wide receiver, Chad “Ocho Cinco” Johnson, sprained his shoulder while trying to make a catch early in the game. Right now coach Marvin Lewis is saying that he believes Johnson should be ready for the start of the season, but we’ll keep an eye on the situation. Right now I’m probably dropping him down a few spots on my rankings until I know more about the injury.
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More notes from the preseason
Brandon
As the Olympics started with bang last night (and as I write this, we already lead in the medal count!), the NFL preseason kept rolling with a few more games. Here are a few of the notable stats from those exhibitions:
- Oakland 18, San Francisco 6: The only thing interesting/relevant to the fantasy football world in this one was the play of the Raiders three-headed monster at running back, which didn’t disappoint. Justin Fargas (5 rush for 25 yards), Darren McFadden (12 rush for 48 yards) and Michael Bush (8 rush for 27 yards and a TD, plus 2 catches for 29 yards), lead the team, which rushed for a whopping 248 yards. The team only passed for a bit over 100 yards and JaMarcus Russell didn’t look that sharp. It looks like the Raiders are going to be a run first team for sure, so expect a big dose of all three running backs this season, making all three draftable in some form. However, it does bring up the question of whether any of them will get the touches to be a top tier running back this season, but maybe that will change as the preseason continues. For the 49er’s…no one played well, even Frank Gore (2 rush for 6 yards), so stay away from this sinkhole until further notice.
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Running Back Handcuff Index
Brandon
After participating in a few mock drafts to date, it became apparent that certain backup running backs are held to a higher standard than others. I figured it might be helpful to provide a list of all the starting running backs in the league, along with their primary backup. Also, I wanted to include how important it is to get their backup as a handcuff in your draft, or if you need to draft them at all. Below you can find my “Running back Handcuff Index”, where I’ve grouped running backs into different levels (Very High to Very Low) of importance, in terms of making sure you draft their backup as an insurance policy. Please note that when I say “starter”, I mean the player that is getting drafted earlier and should have the most fantasy impact on the season, not the player who has earned the ceremonial title. So here you go…
Very High
Oakland Raiders
Starter: Darren McFadden
Handcuff: Justin Fargas
Concern(s): Rookie / Committee
Notes: While Fargas might be the starter going into the season (similar to how Chester Taylor was last year), DMC is the guy going early in the draft and should get most of the carries in Oakland before long. However, he IS a rookie and who knows if he’ll live up to his hype. If possible, this is a definite handcuff situation.Miami Dolphins
Starter: Ronnie Brown
Handcuff: Ricky Williams
Concern(s): Injury
Notes: Apparently Ricky Williams has looked great in practice so far and with Brown’s durability questions, this is a “must have” hand-cuff (although if Williams relapses into dope-smoking, you might need a handcuff for your handcuff). -
Other thoughts on the NFL draft from a fantasy perspective
Matt
- The Bucs must be feeling better about Carnell Williams’ surgically-repaired knee – the only RB they took in the draft was Cory Boyd in the 7th round. Cadillac, for his part, says it’s “definitely a possibility” that he’ll play in week one.
- If going to Atlanta wasn’t the worst-case scenario for Matt Ryan, I don’t know what was.
- Say what you want about Oakland, they stay true to form year after year. They take the most talented player available, regardless of how horrible a fit he is for their organization. That’s the McFadden pick in a nutshell – they’re more than set at RB already. Still… it might be fun to watch McFadden and JaMarcus Russell working together. Four guys you don’t want to run into at a night club this week: LaMont Jordan, Justin Fargas, Dominic Rhodes, and Michael Bush. You might also want to avoid any burly keeper-league owners who had high hopes for Bush in 2008.
- The Jets did what we said they’d do.
- Cedric Benson had to be happy when the Bears made the “no duh” move of taking an OL with their first pick. Then they wiped that smile right off his face with their 2nd-round pick, RB Matt Forte, who will undoubtedly steal at least a few carries and could challenge Benson outright for the starting job. Bears GM Jerry Angelo isn’t mincing words about it, either: “Maybe (Benson’s) not the featured back we thought he’d be.” Ouch.
Lots more to talk about here but I’m out of time.
