Fantasy Football Waiver Wire - Your last chance to claim Baker Mayfield

Week 5 is in the books so the first step of Week 6 is to decide who you need to add to your team to make it stronger and ready for the week with the waiver wire!

We still haven’t hit a ton of bye weeks but this week brings us two heavyweight teams in the Detroit Lions and New Orleans Saints missing. That means we’re missing two quarterbacks, four wide receivers, and at least two running backs. We’re not going to find a Kenny Golladay or Alvin Kamara on waivers but we’ll do our best to bridge the gap for this owners while finding other gems along the way!

Fantasy Football Waiver Wire – Quarterback

Baker Mayfield, Cleveland Browns – vs Los Angeles Chargers

Yahoo – 37 percent ESPN – 38 percent

This is your last chance to get on board with Mayfield. As of this writing, Mayfield has 10 games left in the regular season. Seven of those games come against teams in the bottom 10 of points surrendered to quarterbacks. The other three games are not intimidating as Carolina, Houston and Denver are just a neutral matchup. The schedule is a cupcake and he just showed us a lot of positive steps on Sunday while he passed for over 300 yards and a touchdown against a very nasty Baltimore defense. The fact he’s doing this without a reliable second wide receiver is even more impressive. We talk all the time about streaming quarterbacks but Mayfield might wind up being an every week starter with this kind of schedule. He could legitimately wind up a top 10 option for the rest of the season and of all the players in the article, he might have the best season long value.

Jameis Winston, Tampa Bay Buccaneers – at Atlanta Falcons

Yahoo – 19 percent ESPN – 12.5 percent

The Falcons are just bleeding yards and points right now. In fact, they’ve given up the most points in the league(unless the Saints give up 43 points during Monday Night Football) and the injuries have clearly taken their toll. Jameis Winston has been re-inserted as the starting quarterback and the Falcons are going to have a very difficult time dealing with their aerial attack. It’s a little hard to project exactly what Winston is going to do since he has such a small track record but the Bucs as a team are averaging the most passing yards per game in football by a fairly wide margin. They haven’t been able to get the running game going so the ball is most likely going to be in Winston’s hands quite a bit. On the fast track of Atlanta, he’s primed to have a monster game. I feel more confident in Mayfield the rest of the way, but wouldn’t be surprised to see Winston have the bigger game this week.

Also Consider – Joe Flacco, Baltimore Ravens – at Tennessee Titans, Derek Carr, Oakland Raiders- vs Seattle Seahawks

Fantasy Football Waiver Wire – Running Back

Corey Clement/Wendell Smallwood/Josh Adams

With the news that Jay Ajayi tore his ACL, that’s going to shift this Eagles backfield. Many will run to Clement but it’s very important to remember what NFL.com’s Graham Barfield has told us before – only three times in 39 games for coach Doug Pederson has a running back played more than 60 percent of the snaps. Since the Eagles are on a short week, they’re likely to roll out this combo on Thursday night. It’s not going to be a surprise if they add a back via trade since they freed up over $6 million in cap space a few days ago. Maybe it’s not Le’Veon Bell but I’m personally not going crazy to add any of these players. There’s a real chance there’s an incoming running back and you can’t trust any of them moving forward. I rank them as their listed up top here.

Alfred Morris/Kyle Juszczyk, San Francisco 49ers – at Green Bay Packers

Yahoo – 42/0 percent ESPN – 49.7/0.8 percent

It’s entirely possible that Matt Breida might not miss time with his most recent injury, an ankle sprain. Even though it might not cost him time, the injuries are starting to pile up. He’s hurt his shoulder and he had a leg injury before this one cropped up. If he’s unable to go, Morris seems like the main running back from a carry standpoint. He saw 18 on Sunday even though the 49ers were behind on the scoreboard for most of the game. Morris might not be the most efficient back on the planet but volume and opportunity are king. It always will be and he should be the goal line back if Breida is out.

Juszczyk is also pretty interesting in any PPR format with how C.J. Beathard is playing once again –

In his two starts this season, CJ Beathard has targeted running backs 24.5 and 25.7 percent of the time. #49ers
— Adam Pfeifer (@APfeifer24) October 8, 2018

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the 49ers are going to be behind the eight ball often this year. That’s especially true in Green Bay. If they are, Juszczyk is going to be the receiving back. He saw six targets this past game while Breida was sidelined and that should be the case this week. We won’t know Breida’s status before waivers run but these are prime candidates for roster pickups no matter what.

Mike Davis, Seattle Seahawks – at Oakland Raiders

Yahoo – 19 percent ESPN – 14.5 percent

For once, Pete Carroll was true to his word and split the carries between Davis and Chris Carson. Davis only got 12 carries but that’s nothing to sneer at for a running back and he paid off with a touchdown as well. Now the Seahawks travel to Oakland and draw one of the worst rush defenses in football. The Raiders have allowed the fifth most yards on the ground, good for 127.2 yards per game. Even in a split backfield, Davis should get enough work to be in the flex discussion in this kind of matchup. He’s seen an uptick in his yards per carry this year up to 4.8 in limited action and Seattle has moved towards a run heavy team. All the factors line up for Davis to have a solid game this week.

Ronald Jones, Tampa Bay Buccaneers – at Atlanta Falcons

Yahoo – 26 percent ESPN – 18.2 percent

I’ve been saying this for a couple weeks now. I’m not going to sit here and pretend that I know what the plan is for Jones coming out of the bye week. What we do know is that the Bucs finally got him on the field against the Bears before the bye week. Atlanta is giving up the third most points to running backs in football and the eighth most rushing yards. The interesting part is the running backs haven’t seen many targets in the Tampa offense. That’s been the Achilles heel for the Atlanta defense as they’ve given up 46 receptions to running backs, most in the league. If the Bucs give Jones the reigns and start using him for 15-18 touches a game, he should have a breakout game and be in the flex range for the rest of the season. Get him on your team now just in case.

Frank Gore, Miami Dolphins – vs Chicago Bears

Yahoo – 10 percent ESPN – 13.2 percent

I’ll be perfectly transparent and say that I don’t want to pick up Gore unless it’s in the very deepest of leagues. The Miami offense just isn’t good enough for me to want really any piece of. However, I try to remain consistent and I’ve routinely said that if a running back is getting double digit touches, he has to be on the radar. Gore has gotten 13 and 12 touches these past two weeks so he needs to be noted. I positively would not start him against Chicago for pretty much any reason but he’s out there in a ton of leagues if you need a bench player to use in an absolute pinch.

Note – The “Also Consider” portion is chock full of backs that are too highly owned for waivers, but not owned enough yet

Also Consider – Buck Allen, Baltimore Ravens – Tarik Cohen, Chicago Bears – Austin Ekeler, Los Angeles Chargers – Nyheim Hines, Indianapolis Colts – D’Onta Foreman, Houston Texans

Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Wide Receiver

Mohamed Sanu, Atlanta Falcons – vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Yahoo – 32 percent ESPN – 53 percent

We finally saw what happens when Calvin Ridley doesn’t score at touchdown and it was just an average game. Meanwhile, Mohamed Sanu keeps on trucking and he’s in an enviable position because of who he plays with. Julio Jones and Ridley are going to draw the majority of the coverage and throughout the past three weeks, Sanu has had at least four receptions and a touchdown or 100+ yards receiving. He’s seeing consistent targets every week and he gets to face off one against one of the worst defenses in football this week. He’s a perfect player to pick up and start if you’re missing a Detroit receiver this upcoming week.

Quincy Enunwa, New York Jets – vs Indianapolis Colts

Yahoo – 52 percent ESPN – 61.8 percent

Enunwa isn’t owned enough as it is and I have a feeling that it will drop even further after his goose egg on Sunday. I would go the other way on that and be pickup up Enunwa. His zero was due in large part to Chris Harris of the Broncos and he may have been dealing with a hand injury as well. Provided he’s healthy coming into the week, he should go right back to being a safe flex every week. Other than this week, Enunwa has year to see fewer than eight targets in any game and I’ll take that every single time.

Robby Anderson had a monster game and people are going to flock to that. I understand that but one of the big plays was a blown coverage but he had just five targets and he’s never been over six all season. I can’t buy into a receiver that had no more than three receptions and 41 yards prior to this game. Enunwa is still the player to own here.

Keke Coutee, Houston Texans – vs Buffalo Bills

Yahoo – 34 percent ESPN – 19.6

We still don’t exactly know what the story was on Will Fuller in this game. He flopped for the first time ever with Deshaun Watson while Coutee paid off with six receptions for 51 yard and a touchdown. Even if Fuller was totally healthy, Coutee has shown in short order that he could have a usable role in this offense going forward. If you take away the rushing yards that Watson has racked up, the Texans have 380 rushing yards which would be good for 27th in the NFL. They can’t run the ball with any effectiveness which means it’s the passing game or bust for this team. Coutee should be a flex style play moving forward and even if you don’t want to start him, but him on the bench and see how this plays out. You want pieces of passing games like the Texans.

Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Green Bay Packers – vs San Francisco 49ers

Yahoo – 9 percent ESPN – 3.2 percent

The rookie was sort of thrust into the fire here and he paid off in the second half in a big way. He almost had two touchdowns as he was called down at the one yard line but seven receptions, 68 yards and a touchdown is fantastic production. Randall Cobb and Geronimo Allison both could miss and even if just one of them makes it back, Valdes-Scantling may have earned himself a role going forward. The Packers don’t have much going for them in the running game(since Mike McCarthy is not being smart and playing Aaron Jones more) so the offense is on the shoulder of Aaron Rodgers. That’s not a bad place to be and double digit targets in the Green Bay offense will forever be attractive.

Tre’Quan Smith/Cameron Meredith, New Orleans Saints

Both players saw an uptick in their passing game role without Ted Ginn in the lineup and I’m interested. The issue is Ginn could be back this week and it could be a fool’s errand to try and predict volume in this offense. The Saints are loaded so you may get a few duds along with the explosion games. I want Smith more than Meredith at this point and both players are widely available.

Also Consider – Donte Moncrief, Jacksonville Jaguars – Taylor Gabriel, Chicago Bears

Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Tight End

Austin Hooper, Atlanta Falcons – vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Yahoo – 57 percent ESPN – 49.0 percent

Maybe this is low hanging fruit but I’m going to take it. Hooper is under 60 percent on both sites and he’s coming off his career high in receptions. He also racked up the third most yards of his career and while the targets(12) are not going to be that high almost ever again, that’s not a concern this week. The Falcons get the Bucs, who have given up the most points to tight ends on a per game basis. They can’t cover anyone and for folks who don’t remember, they got scorched by Mitchell Trubisky for six touchdowns before the bye week. Hooper is on the field constantly and that shouldn’t stop this week. The targets and touchdown equity are there and Hooper is about as comfortable a stream as you can have.

More from FanSided

Cameron Brate, Tampa Bay Buccaneers – at Atlanta Falcons

Yahoo – 30 percent ESPN – 16.6 percent

It sure seems like O.J. Howard is still going to be out of action this week, if not for a little bit longer. Rate is going to have the tight end role all to himself and he’s always performed well with Jameis Winston. Never having seen more than four targets or 31 yards at any point this season isn’t exactly encouraging but that was largely due to Howard. He’s just a better player than Rate at this point in their careers. As long as he’s out, Brate should be viewed as a possible streamer with Winston and especially against the Falcons this week.

As is the normal for tight end, there’s some names out there that are interesting and should be noted but I’m not sure how excited I would be to pick them up.

C.J. Uzomah, Cincinnati Bengals – Tyler Kroft left this game with an injury and if he’s out for any length of time, Uzomah would have the tight end role all to himself. That’s always going to be fairly interesting, although there are other mouths to feed in the Bengals offense.

Geoff Swaim, Dallas Cowboys – It’s just as gross as it was last week but Swaim has seen at least three receptions, 39 yards and/or a touchdown for three games straight now. That has to be noted even though I don’t find myself wanting to get involved with the Cowboys passing game if I didn’t have to.

Niles Paul, Jacksonville Jaguars – Someone who is super low owned, Paul might be the starting tight end since Austin Seferian-Jenkins is now officially on the IR. The Jags had a negative game script this past week but he did see nine targets and caught seven of them. I don’t know if that’s something to project moving forward, but it’s a name to know.

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Fantasy Football Waiver Wire – Your last chance to claim Baker Mayfield

By Adam Strangis | Oct 9, 2018