Fantasy Football Waiver Wire: Top 10 Pickups for Week 7

Theo Riddick-RB-Detroit Lions (26.0%)

In the battle of attrition that is the NFL season, the last Lions running back standing is Theo Riddick who has suddenly become a fantasy commodity worth knowing about. The Lions backfield came into the season with lots of promise, but most of the other options have disappeared leaving Riddick as the last man standing.

The first chapter of the chronicles of Riddick’s rise to power is the struggle of Joique Bell to get healthy. Bell was the presumed started coming into the season but has only played three games and totaled an unimpressive 22 yards on his 20 carries.  Bell’s understudy was expected to be rookie Ameer Abdullah, but the rookie from Nebraska has struggled with fumbles and actually injured himself trying to get the ball back after he put it on the deck early in the third quarter.  The other back that was getting a little bit of run was Zach Zenner who was starting to emerge in the regular season after a huge preseason.  Unfortunately for Zenner he was crushed in the second quarter of Sunday’s game and was taken to the hospital where he was diagnosed with multiple cracked ribs and a collapsed lung ending his season.

This week, Abdullah should return and Bell could as well, but there is surely enough room for Riddick to stay very involved in the Detroit offense.  Last week, he played most of the second half finishing with seven carries for 28 yards and catching three passes for 50 more yards.  He now has an impressive 33 catches on the season for 278 yards and a pair of touchdowns.  For a comparison, Golden Tate has 32 catches on the year for 304 yards and only one score.

Riddick definitely needs to be owned in all PPR leagues, and he is starting to build a solid resume even for standard scoring leagues.  Riddick has two more weeks before Detroit’s bye and will take on the Vikings at home this week before a trip to Kansas City November 1.  Looking way down the line, he has some nice matchups in crunch time for fantasy football owners, so target him on your leagues’ waiver wires this week.

Next: A young receiver with serious upside