The NFL has been awfully strange this season, wouldn’t you agree? The Jets somehow beat both the Tennessee Titans and the Cincinnati Bengals, the Buffalo Bills lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars, and to top it all off this past week the Tompa Bay Bucs fell to the miserable Washington Football team. Like, seriously, what is this NFL season? Can you figure it out because I certainly can not.
Anyways, this week we’ve got just teams on a bye but they’re teams with plenty of talent that you’ll need to replace which will make working the waiver wire all that much more important.
Here are the teams who will be off this week: Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Rams.
We’ll need to replace guys like Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp, Darrell Henderson, Matt Gay, Tyler Higbee, Teddy Bridgewater, Jerry Jeudy, Courtland Sutton, Melvin Gordon, Javonte Williams, Noah Fant, Tim Patrick, and others.
Here’s how I see things this week for players to pick up.
As a rule of thumb, I won’t suggest any player who is over 50% rostered so you might have a realistic shot at actually acquiring them.
Quarterbacks
Tua Tagovailoa, MIA at NYJ (36% Rostered in ESPN Leagues)
With Jacoby Brissett sustaining an injury during last week’s contest Tua was thrust into action and preformed pretty well as the Dolphins upset the Ravens on Thursday Night Football. With Tagovailoa looking like he’ll be back in line to start this week I think it makes sense to turn to him this week against a Jets team who rank 17th against opposing quarterbacks.
Cam Newton, CAR vs. WSH (13% Rostered, ESPN)
Superman Cam was BACK as he declared after scoring a rushing touchdown against the Arizona Cardinals last week in an upset win and he’ll be back starting this week as well. Now, I don’t love him this week simply because he’s going up against his old head coach who knows him as well as anyone does in Ron Rivera. However, Newton always brings athleticism, play-making, and his ability to finish around the goal line which could make him sneaky good moving forward this season. Additionally, his teammates seem to love him and he could be just the leader or spark that they’re looking for…
Running Backs
Rhamondre Stevenson, NE at ATL (TNF) (28% Rostered, ESPN)
What a week last week for the rookie! 20 carries, 100 yards, two rushing touchdowns, and two catches for 14 yards as he scored near 30 fantasy points. It’s a short week for the Patriots and there’s no telling whether or not Damien Harris will be back this week so it could very well once again be the Rhamondre Stevenson show against a sub-par Falcons defense that ranks 30th against opposing fantasy running backs. LET’S FEAST.
D’Onta Foreman, TEN vs. HOU (2% Rostered, ESPN)
You might as well call the Titans butter as of late because they’ve been on a roll. Okay, corny dad jokes aside the Titans have been playing well and won the previous two games despite not having the most dominate running back on the planet Derrick Henry in the lineup. Tennessee brought in legend Adrian Peterson and they have Jeremy McNichols but you know who’s looked the best thus far? D’Onta Foreman and I don’t think it’s really all that close. This week the Titans face the Houston Texans who rank 23rd against opposing fantasy backs and I just have a feeling that this is going to be Foreman’s coming out party. Get on the train before it leaves the station.
Wide Receivers
Rashod Bateman, BAL at CHI (32% Rostered, ESPN)
People, Rashod Bateman is still out there on far too many waiver wires. I understand that he hasn’t POPPED yet but he’s receiving a good solid target share within this Ravens offense and it’s just a matter of time before he finds his way into the end zone. He’s averaged seven targets per game since making his NFL debut and has recorded 10 plus fantasy points in three straight games. This man is extremely talented, the big, big game is coming.
Elijah Moore, NYJ vs. MIA (37% Rostered, ESPN)
It’s been a nice stretch for this rookie as over the previous four games Moore has put up double-digit fantasy points including three touchdowns over the previous two games. Additionally, he’s averaged over six targets in the past four games and as he continues to get more comfortable within this offense his role should only expand as one of the more talented wide-outs.
Marcus Johnson, TEN vs. HOU (0.1% Rostered, ESPN)
What the, Marcus Johnson!? Where in the world did this man come from? Do we have any idea if this is a trend or an outlier performance? Absolutely not. However, with Julio Jones hitting inured-reserve last week there are targets up for grabs within this Titans passing attack and if you’re in a deeper league maybe you take a stab on Marcus Johnson. I wouldn’t target him in 12 or less team leagues until he proves this is going to be a thing moving forward.
Tight End
Pat Freiermuth, PIT at LAC (46% Rostered, ESPN)
That was a tough ending to the Steelers game last week especially for young Freiermuth who fumbled away an opportunity for PIT to escape overtime with a win against the Lions. However, even without Big Ben he was still heavily involved as he was targeted nine times and caught five passes for 31 yards. I just really like how he’s played this season and would be comfortable utilizing him moving forward this season as my starting tight end.
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