Whether your fantasy football team is 3-0 or 0-3, it is always important to pay attention to the waiver wire. There are no immediate impact players in week 4. Although that doesn’t mean that the cupboard is bare. Even if you are set at all of your positions, you want to grab up some of these guys to keep them away from your competition.
Mark Sanchez, New York Jets – Okay so the Jets are making me look real stupid lately. In the preseason I wrote a blog basically declaring LaDainian Tomlinson worthless as a fantasy player, yet I have had to eat my words and recommend him as a waiver wire pickup. I wrote a blog prior to the Jets Monday Night Football opener predicting a huge sophomore slump for Sanchez. What do I know? I drafted Matt Schaub as my starting QB and Sanchez has better numbers in two weeks than Schaub. Sanchez is the real deal and will only get better with Santonio Holmes coming back into the mix. I love him and at this rate I am ready to pick him up and start him over Schaub.
Willis McGahee, Baltimore Ravens – McGahee at one time was a first-round fantasy football draft pick. While those days are long gone, he is backing up Ray Rice who left last week’s game. Early reports out of Baltimore say that Rice has a significant bruise on his knee and likely won’t miss time. However, a running back with a knee injury in Week 3 is always a scary thing. McGahee can still go and if he were to play a week or two and get the bulk of the load, he could help out some struggling owners. On the other hand, if Ray Rice stays healthy McGahee may do absolutely nothing. It is High risk yet very high reward for the old Hurricane.
[adinserter block=”1″]LeGarrette Blount, Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Wow, I can’t believe that I have had a Tampa Bay Buccaneer on the waiver wire list every week. First week Mike Williams, last week Josh Freeman, and now Blount. I loved Blount in college so I was pretty excited to see the Bucs pick him up and give him a shot. All reports out of Tampa Bay are that the Bucs love him and want to get him more involved. He is backing up Cadillac Williams but you have a better chance of seeing Rex Ryan pass up a cheese burger for an orange than you do of seeing Cadillac make it through a full fantasy season healthy. Like most recommendations, you won’t get immediate dividends with Blount. But hold on to him because it wouldn’t surprise me to see him starting by mid-season. Hey, he has a punchers chance right?
Lance Moore, New Orleans Saints – Starting a New Orleans Saint at wide receiver the last three seasons was about as risky as asking Ric Flair to invest your money. As high powered as that offense is, they spread the ball around more than almost any other team in the NFL. On paper, Marques Colston was always the number one receiver but in my mind they had no number one. This year they do and his name is Lance Moore. Drew Brees is looking at Moore in the end zone than any of his other wide receivers. He had 149 yards and 2 TDs Sunday and the Saints haven’t even gotten close to getting the offense back on track. I like him and I’d start him with confidence if you needed a wide receiver or a bye week fill in.
Peyton Hillis, Cleveland Browns – I have always been a big Hillis fan. He saved my fantasy season two years ago when I picked him up off waivers and he was rolling up touchdowns in Denver. Unfortunately Hillis was a casualty of a new regime last year and faded off into fantasy wasteland. Well, it looks like Eric Mangini remembers that 2008 season because he is feeding the big man the ball and Hillis is a scoring machine. He is technically Jerome Harrison’s backup but he has gotten a lot of goal line carries. Think Chris Johnson/LenDale White 2008-09 and you have your plumpy in Peyton Hillis.
[adinserter block=”2″]Ryan Torain, Washington Redskins – Something is going on in Washington. Clinton Portis is carrying the ball less by the week, his backup Keiland Williams is not getting those extra carries, yet Ryan Torain is starting to work himself into the top running back spot in Washington. If there are two things I know about Mike Shanahan is that 1) he is very overrated and 2) he loves to run the football. Torain doesn’t have the top spot yet, but if you have room on your roster I would grab him. You may be holding on to a starting running back that you can plug in during the playoffs for double digits. Not bad for a waiver wire pickup.
Aaron Hernandez, New England Patriots – You know when I watched the Patriots play the Bengals in Week 1, I made a mental note about recommending Aaron Hernandez as a waiver wire pickup. Unfortunately I must have spilled coffee on that note because I keep forgetting to recommend him here. Fantasy players wondered in the off season what the heck the Patriots would do with three tight ends. It is obvious that Hernandez is going to be their Dallas Clark. Brady is looking his way and looking his way often. He has no touchdowns yet but he is due and if you are in need of a tight end for your bye week, the Pats have some decent matchups against teams who don’t play well against tight ends.
Zach Miller, Oakland Raiders – Okay out of everyone on this list I would highly recommend plugging Miller into your lineup this weekend. Miller and the Raiders are playing the Texans this weekend, and the Texans give up the second highest amount of fantasy points to tight end in the NFL. Bruce Gradkowski loves him and the two of them were lights out in Week 3. If you need tight end help or if you have a bad matchup this week, I’d scoop Miller up off the waiver wire.
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ESPN 2010 Fantasy Football Guide
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