First, do not panic. You are OK, trust me. Unless your draft was atrocious, you are just fine. You cannot lose your league by going 0-1. That, my friends, is a fact! You had a plan heading into your draft. Hopefully, that plan worked out in your favor.Â
Second, stay the course and do not make any major adjustments based on one week unless your roster took a gut punch due to injury (see below). Now, if you won this week, this is the time to consider small tinkering to improve your roster, but do not go crazy. Crazy is for the owners currently in panic mode and there are a lot of them out there.
There are several stories to discuss after Week 1, including our first tie of the season (Colts/Texans 20-20). The Packers and Cardinals were embarrassed to start the season. Mac Jones, Trey Lance, Matthew Stafford, Dak Prescott, and Aaron Rodgers all finished with 13 or fewer points (Yahoo scoring) to bring up the rear for QBs. Those items will wait for another day, another column, since we have more important things to address.
For me, the biggest story of Week 1 is the injuries. Here is a quick list, as if your fantasy teams needed any additional bad news:
Dak Prescott – OUT 6-8 weeks with thumb surgery
Tee Higgins – Left Sunday’s game with a concussion (did not return)
Elijah Mitchell – Left Sunday’s game with a left knee injury (did not return; was seen leaving the stadium wearing a significant brace)
Najee Harris – Left Sunday’s game with what appears to be the dreaded high ankle sprain (did not return)
Keenan Allen – Left Sunday’s game with a hamstring injury (did not return)
Mac Jones – Back injury; keep an eye on his status this week
Wan’Dale Robinson – Left Sunday’s game with a leg injury (did not return)
Chris Godwin – Left Sunday night game with a lower leg injury (did not return)
Leonard Fournette – Did not play most of the 4th Quarter (Tampa Bay was leading so there was no reason for him to come back after some discomfort in his lower leg)
With all of the injuries listed above, some down performances by other players and players we drafted that did not have the roles we planned on for Week 1, below are some waiver wire considerations for you leading into Week 2. The list below will be different than most waiver wire articles you read. Spoiler Alert: Not all ‘hot’ waiver wire adds should be added.
NOTE: Rostered percentages and scoring system is based on Yahoo! PPR league scoring.
Waiver Add of the Week: RB – Tyrion Davis-Price (SF, 3% rostered). Jeff Wilson has proven over the years that he is not the full-time guy. TDP was a sneaky Week 1 inactive so is still flying under the radar and is my lock for the RB1 touches in San Francisco if (when) Eli Mitchell misses significant time. The Shanahan offense breeds great fantasy running backs out of nowhere; Mostert and Mitchell being the most recent examples. The issue with these backs has consistently been health. With Mitchell down, TDP steps in to fill the role and bring points to your lineup.
QB: Carson Wentz (WAS, 13% rostered) – Going undrafted in most leagues, Wentz received absolutely zero love and/or attention from the fantasy football community leading up to the 2022 season. Wentz just lit up the Jags for 335 yards and 4 TDs. Now, please know he will not face the Jags each week, but we should probably take account of the 30+ points (Yahoo scoring) on the board. Wentz is a good add for owners that lost Dak/Mac on Sunday. Though Wentz gets a lot of hate, he was the QB14 in 2021, so a return to starting fantasy QB relevance is not out of the question.
QB: Daniel Jones (NYG, 25% rostered) – You know better, right?!?! Daniel Jones is Daniel Jones, and the Giants are not good at football. Stay away from Jones unless you lost both QBs to injury on Sunday. Not all waiver adds are good waiver adds. Stick with the QB you drafted and leave Jones to someone else.
RB: Isiah Pacheco (KC; 31% rostered) – This is your long-term option at waiver wire this week. Pacheco is probably the best NFL body type on the Chiefs roster and will pay dividends throughout the season with his biggest numbers probably coming later in the year. With 20+ points in the blow-out win, I think Pacheco is a good add-and-hold guy. Also, keep an eye on Najee Harris news. Early reports out of Pittsburgh are the Najee Harris injury is ‘not serious,’ but we all need to keep an eye on this situation. Regardless, Jaylen Warren (9% rostered) should be atop your add list as an insurance policy for Najee. The latest reports are Najee may play this weekend, but you need to get ahead of the injury curve in case the foot issue lingers.
RB: Jeff Wilson Jr. (SF; 16% rostered) – Now, before you blow up the comments based on Wilson’s low point total, please understand the 49ers offense is set up to make RBs the star. That means someone will pay too much for him. Remember, not all adds are good adds. The knock on Eli Mitchell (see above) is his ability to stay healthy. Here we go again…Mitchell is down which opens the door for Wilson. Someone will probably overpay for Wilson and that is OK because you are going in a different direction.Â
WR: Jahan Dotson (WAS; 23% owned) – Our guy out of Penn State had a big coming-out party along with Carson Wentz in Week 1. Coming into the season, I had Dotson significantly ahead of Curtis Samuel (and behind McLaurin, obviously). I was disappointed, but not deterred when the first Commander’s TD went to Samuel. After that, Dotson took over and ended Sunday with 3 catches, 40 yards, and 2 TDs. Not the volume we want but the results are something to pay attention to. Dotson is a solid add if Keenan, Higgins, and Godwin miss time, or for any reach WR you drafted (I am pointing at you Jaylen Tolbert!). Also, do not forget about Jarvis Landry (NO; 42% rostered) who posted 7 catches on 9 targets for 114 yards. This guy rarely gets any press yet continues to perform when healthy. If you own Keenan Allen and his hamstring issue, you must own Josh Palmer (21% rostered) at this point.
WR: Robby Anderson (CAR; 11% rostered), Devin Duvernay (BAL; 31% rostered), Curtis Samuel (WAS; 5% rostered) – Don’t do it! You know better! Especially if you are in a FAAB league, do not blow your wad on these three WRs. If you have played fantasy football over the last 3-4 years you have probably owned one or more of these names. I beg you to go back in your memory bank to recall they did nothing for you but add confusion and frustration to your FLEX position. Not all add are good adds and these three guys epitomize that concept. From an analytics perspective, do we really think Robbie Anderson will run a route on 100% of drop-backs again this season? He just might as we know he cannot block. The reason I mention this is so you know his Week 1 pace is not sustainable. Now, if you are down 1-2 WR (injury, bad draft, etc.) then maybe take a flier on one of these guys, but please know they are not Sunday Saviors as much as Fool’s Gold. Allow me to deliver six names to show why you should not add these three…DJ Moore, Christian McCaffrey, Mark Andrews, Rashod Bateman, Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson (see what I did there with Dotson?).
TE: Robert Tonyan (GB; 23% rostered) – Bobby looks healthy, and Rodgers looks frustrated with the WR corps, especially with Lazard out. Rodgers has a way of throwing to guys he loves and trusts and Tonyan fits both narratives. I would much rather roster Tonyan than Sammy Watkins, Christian Watson, and Randall Cobb at this point. I still think Tonyan is viable once Lazard comes back and now is the time to get him at a discount while others will look at the next group of names. I also like Tyler Conklin (NYJ; 2% rostered) who should be slightly less attractive than the two names below to the ill-prepared. Conklin ran 81% of his routes versus a DB in Week 1. DBs are too small to adequately cover a TE of his size, so keep an eye on where he is lining up this week if you do not add him now.
TE: O.J. Howard (HOU; 1% rostered), Taysom Hill (NO; 10% rostered) – Nope! Not gonna do it! I am not believing in Howard after his abysmal time with Tampa Bay. Sure, his TD-to-Catch rate is 100%, but that is not sustainable. Two targets will not cut it and the Houston offense is not going to excel this season outside of Brandin Cooks. Fool me once…not signing up for the Taysom Hill lottery ticket either. Mark my words, Hill will be a high FAAB add, and the person that claims him will be extremely disappointed with the results. Sure, Hill will get his from time to time, but he cannot be trusted as an every-week starter and we know this from the past results. Michael Thomas appears fully back. Kamara will get his. Olave looked solid. Jarvis Landry has a field day. All of those things mean Taysom is just another shiny new toy. Leave him for someone else.
