NFL fantasy football waiver wire pickups for Week 7

Week 7 of the NFL season is upon us and bye weeks are beginning to come into play in the fantasy football realm.

The Bengals, Cowboys, Jets, Panthers, Texans, and Titans all have a bye this week, so be sure to be active on the waiver wire if you are a manager who rosters players on any of these teams.

Yahoo Fantasy Sports knows exactly what is going on in the minds of fantasy football players as they determine how much FAAB to bid on a player. With that in mind, don’t forget to place bids on these players below, who are available in over 50 percent of Yahoo fantasy football leagues, if your team is being impacted by bye weeks and/or injuries.

Fantasy Football QB waiver wire pickups, Week 6

Sam Howell, Washington Commanders (39 percent rostered):

Despite being the overall QB12 through the first six weeks of the season, Sam Howell is still available in over 60 percent of Yahoo fantasy football leagues. Howell was featured in this column as a waiver wire pickup for Week 2 and has since seen his rostership increase by 17 percent. Howell continues to play well and at this rate, he won’t be a qualified player for this list for much longer.

Howell has been an extremely consistent and reliable fantasy option, scoring 17 points or more in five of his six games this season. Now, he gets a Giants defense in Week 7 that ranks 28th in opponent points per game (27.8) and 27th in opponent yards per game (364.5). Additionally, Howell has had at least four rushing attempts in each of his past three games, totaling 62 yards and adding a two-point conversion.

With quarterbacks such as Joe Burrow, Dak Prescott, and CJ Stroud all having byes in Week 7 and Trevor Lawrence in jeopardy of missing the Jaguars Thursday Night Football clash with the Saints, Howell makes for a great fill-in option.

Desmond Ridder, Atlanta Falcons (9 percent rostered):

It hasn’t always been pretty for Desmond Ridder and the Falcons, but they’re 3-3 and he seems to be getting more comfortable in the pocket. Not only has Ridder seemed more comfortable in the pocket, head coach Arthur Smith has seemed comfortable with trusting Ridder to throw the ball early and often. Ridder has averaged 42 pass attempts per game over the last two weeks, a significant increase from the 29.75 attempts he averaged through the first four weeks of the season.

Ridder has been able to capitalize on the additional opportunity, exceeding 300 passing yards in each of the past two games. In that span, Ridder has averaged over 22 fantasy points per game. For reference, Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is the overall QB3 in fantasy through six weeks and he averages slightly more than 21 fantasy points per game.

While Ridder may not be the most consistent quarterback from both a real-life and fantasy football perspective, he has showcased that there is a ceiling to be reached in this Falcons offense filled with talented playmakers such as Drake London, Bijan Robinson, Kyle Pitts, and another player who will be mentioned later on this list.

You could do a lot worse than Ridder as a fill-in quarterback option.