Fantasy Football Week 1 Waiver Wire

Most fantasy football players are set up and ready to roll for Week 1 but there are still opportunities to strengthen your team before the season starts with a Wavier Wire warrior!

Normally on Tuesday, this article will be a little longer and be more reactive to the games that have happened so far. Since we don’t have any games to react to, the list will be shorter and we’ll keep it to just one quick page. Next week will start the fantasy football waiver wire proper but until then, let’s find some players to give you the edge for the first week of the season!

Fantasy Football – Quarterback

Andy Dalton, Cincinnati Bengals – at Indianapolis Colts 

Yahoo – 23 percent,  ESPN – 17.6 percent

I might not be the biggest fan of the Bengals this year but it’s hard to ignore Dalton’s upside in Indy this week. The Colts were the 10th most generous to quarterbacks last year and Dalton actually has his full complement of weapons heading into this game. Receivers A.J. Green and John Ross are healthy, running back Joe Mixon is going to give the people who loved him a victory lap this week and even tight end Tyler Effect is healthy and ready to play. Green saw almost 30 percent of the target share and should dominate the no-name Colts corner backs. Dalton is the perfect stream if you’re not comfortable with a Jimmy Garoppolo in Minnesota or a Patrick Mahomes in Los Angeles to face the Chargers secondary.

Tyrod Taylor, Cleveland Browns – vs Pittsburgh Steelers 

Yahoo – 12 percent, ESPN – 28.7 percent

Yes, I will continue to beat the drum for Taylor, especially this week. The Steelers offense looks stout against the quarterback having only given up an average of 13.8 points to the position last year. However, there’s not really a reason to think the defense is going to be as good with Jon Bostic sliding into the defense to fill the loss of Ryan Sahzier. Taylor will have receiver Josh Gordon in the fold, not to mention receiver Jarvis Landry and tight end David Njoku as primary passing game weapons. Cleveland might be able to keep this game close and even if they don’t that just means more passing attempts for Taylor and more chances for him to scramble. The Steelers defense got gouged on the ground to the tune of 102.6 yards per game. The two games that they held a team under 100 yards? The Ravens passed for 486 yards and the Jaguars passed for 462 in the playoffs. Give Taylor a chance this week.

Fantasy Football – Running Back

Alfred Morris/Matt Breida, San Francisco 49ers 

Morris – Yahoo – 67 percent ESPN – 62.3 percent, Breida – Yahoo – 47 percent, ESPN – 52.2 percent 

I’m kind of assuming that the only reasons these percentages aren’t higher is because some leagues have not had their first run of waivers. That’s why we do this column before Week 1 because both Morris and Breida are must-own players now with Jerick McKinnon tearing his ACL. I won’t sit here and pretend I know how things are going to shake out as far as workload and I don’t think anyone outside the team knows. What I do know is Breida is under six feet and 200 pounds. If you didn’t think McKinnon could hold up to the NFL season, I’m sure you should feel the same way about Breida. I feel like Morris should be the higher priority at this point because I think he has the better chance at 175-200 carries and possibly more. I would expect him to be the goal line back as well while Breida takes the change of pace/receiving role. Don’t forget about Kyle Juszczyk either. He caught over 30 passes last year and is probably on injury away from having a significant role in the offense.

James Conner, Pittsburgh Steelers 

Yahoo – 34 percent, ESPN – 12.6 percent 

As of this writing Monday night, star running back Le’Veon Bell is still not with the team and has not signed his franchise tender to play for the 2018 season. There are rumors he’s showing up on Wednesday but even if he doesn’t, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see him not quite in football shape. He could easily pull a hamstring or something else. Conner would be close to a league winning player if Bell were to be lost for an extended time. He looked like a different player when he ripped off 100 yards on 19 carries in the preseason. The offense around him would help Conner be a borderline RB1 and he needs to be owned until Bell proves he’s ready to roll.

James White, New England Patriots 

Yahoo – 48 percent, ESPN – 71.1 percent 

This is likely just a Yahoo only play since White is heavily owned on ESPN but he could definitely have some PPR appeal this week in a game that has shootout potential. Vegas seems to agree because this is the only game of the week that has a points total over 50. Whenever the Pats have the opportunity to score that amount of points, I’m interested in White in PPR leagues. He’s even more attractive when the Pats have only three wide receivers on the roster and the running back room has question marks with Rex Burkhead and Sony Michel having injury concerns. White could be a very sneaky bet for five receptions for 50 yards in this game. If you’re sitting in a player like Mark Ingram, you could do a lot worse than White.

Fantasy Football – Wide Receiver

Michael Gallup, Dallas Cowboys 

Yahoo – 33 percent, ESPN – 49.1 percent 

It might not be the most comfortable start in Week 1 but Gallup has some serious upside this year. Dallas lost over 50 percent of their targets from last season after receiver Dez Bryant and tight end Jason Witten left and the team has been trusting Gallup a ton in the preseason.

Am I expecting Dez-level production? No but the Panthers finished as the fifth worst team against wide receivers in 2017. If they haven’t fixed some of those issues, Gallup could be one of the hottest waiver pickups for Week 2. You can get out in front of the crowd and stash him now, even if you don’t need to start him this week.

John Ross, Cincinnati Bengals

Yahoo – 22 percent, ESPN – 52 percent

Most fantasy players know the story of Ross by now. He fumbled on an end around early in his rookie season last year and then got put on ice by head coach Marvin Lewis. It’s a fresh start this season and he couldn’t ask for a better matchup. He not only gets the fast track in Indy, but he draws the Colts who were in the bottom 12 against wide outs last year. The secondary also looks rough on paper, with Malik Hooker being the only defensive back of note. Ross still has the pedigree of a very high pick in the NFL Draft just last year. He could have a game that puts him right back on the map this year for fantasy.

Fantasy Football – Tight End and D/ST

Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Jacksonville Jaguars

Yahoo – 33 percent, ESPN – 26 percent 

The Giants were flat-out atrocious versus the tight end last year, finishing 31st against the position. The Jaguars offense is a touch crowded in the passing game with Keelan Cole, Dede Westbrook, Donte Moncrief and possibly even D.J. Chark. Still, there’s a shot at a big game from Seferian-Jenkins here given the match-up especially on the touchdown end because the Giants gave up 13 to the tight ends. The next highest team gave up 10 so Seferian-Jenkins is a great Week 1 streaming option with touchdown upside.

Detroit Lions, vs New York Jets 

Yahoo -37 percent, ESPN – 23.0 

The Lions could be in a sneaky good spot this week while everyone flocks to defenses like Baltimore and New Orleans. Detroit is at home, against a rookie quarterback and one that doesn’t have the most skill players in the league. One of the biggest knocks on Sam Darnold coming out of USC was the amount of turnovers he committed.  The Lions actually finished sixth among D/ST last season and this is a very positive matchup for them this week.

We’ll have a little more to dig into next week and be sure to shoot any questions you have to @bucn4life and make sure to take a look at the DFS NFL Game by Game Breakdown this week!