Would you believe me if I told you that bye weeks are a positive thing in Fantasy Football? Yes, managing our waiver acquisitions and benches while we fill in for our players on bye can be a headache but there is a silver lining here (I’m on a roll with these movie references).
It's that time of year in dynasty where I'm starting to be less interested in who is being added off waivers and more in who's being dropped to add them
— Peter Howard (@pahowdy) September 27, 2018
I have no clue who @pahowdy is but he just got a plug in my weekly handcuff report, good for him. The only thing I would add to this tweet is it applies just as much to season long leagues.
While your opposing owners are desperately trying to cover players on bye, valuable fantasy assets are popping on waivers for us savvy owners to scoop up. Let me know if you’ve heard this one before….one man’s trash in another man’s treasure. Well, this is your opportunity to pick up that trash.
Remember when you, Melvin Gordon and Alex Collins owners, missed out on Austin Ekeler and Javorius Allen because they were the hottest waiver add week 1-2. Well, in a number of my leagues I’ve noticed these early season waiver adds are starting to get dumped as owners scramble to fill in their byes. Comb through your leagues transaction history after each waiver period moving forward to see if you can find any treasure. Your goal is to build for your playoff run and ultimately your championship. Savvy moves like this can push you over the top. The probability of starters getting injured only increases as the season wears on and player usage piles up.
Now on to this weeks’ Bad Boyz report…
Getting Released
- Giovani Bernard- Gio is struggling with a knee injury of his own and has been limited, at best, this week in practice. It looks like Mixon is set to return and have his opportunity to feast. With Bernards avaialbility in question, Mark Walton is the next back in line for backup duties. Let’s hope we do not have to visit this backfield again with Mixon returning to action. We are releasing Bernard for this week unless something drastic changes with the injury report on Friday.
- Chris Ivory- I hope you were not forced in to a situation where you needed Ivory on your roster. LeSean McCoy is not listed on the Bills injury report this week and is slated for his typical lead duties. With how poor the outlook is on the Bills offense, Ivory is getting released and in my opinion is not worth keeping as a handcuff.
Repeat Offenders
- TJ Yeldon and Corey Grant- Back in the cuffs after being released last week. Leonard Fournette did return to action but as I’ve said before, hammys are a linger-er man…linger-er, and now we are talking about TJ Yeldon again. Fournette looks to be out at least a couple of weeks. Hopefully you have an IR spot to stash him but Yeldon will be the feature back for now. Yeldon is questionable but practicing with an ankle injury and is expected to play this weekend. This is not the first time Yeldon has had an ankle issue in his career. Corey Grant is worth adding to your watchlist and depending on bench size he is worth a speculative add in deeper leagues.
- Latavius Murray- Dalvin Cook has missed practice two days in a row this week and has a big questionable designation next to his name heading in to Sunday. Murray is not the most attractive play this week facing a Philadelphia Eagles defense that is ranked at the top in rushing defense. The Vikings defense has relied heavily on the pass this season and they are 1-2-1. I would expect this story to change as the Vikings look to get things back on track. I am fading Murray this week but this might be the perfect opportunity for Cook owners to scoop him up. Cooks’ injury outlook still concerns me and having Murray as a handcuff is worth the add.
- Javorius Allen- Buck Allen will be in handcuffs all season the way this backfield is shaping up. Alex Collins was on the field for 36 snaps to Allens 33 last week. The chances of you getting him off waivers is slim to none but keep an eye out if he gets dropped as more teams hit their bye week. Collins did pop up with an injury this week but is expected to play.
New Offenders
- Nick Chubb- 105 yards on 3 carries and 2TDs. Let me say that again..105 yards on 3 carries. Hyde owners, including myself, are living in denial thinking this was an anomaly. I do expect this to be a slow burn since Hyde has played well and is a top 10 ppr RB this season. Chubb won’t be the lead back in the immediate future but Chubb has a earned the right to more carries. By the time fantasy playoffs roll around you might be wishing you owned a couple of Chubb shares. This is one of those to get ahead of if it is not too late in your league.
- Alfred Blue- Lamar Miller is letting us down this season and has been limited this week in practice with a chest injury. All reports show Miller will suit up but the Texans have been vague when it comes to Miller. They pulled Miller out of the game last week and had Alfred Blue come in to close it out. This is shaping up to be another running-back-by-committee and I do not trust starting Blue this week. He is worth a speculative add if you have the room, are desperate or in a deep enough league.
- Mike Davis- Who thought we would be talking about Mike Davis in week 5 of the 2018 football season? I touched on Rashaad Penny last week and it looks like Mike Davis is worth the look after exploding for 101 yards, 2TDs and 21 carries. Chris Carson missed practice on Wednesday and was limited on Thursday with the same hip injury that left him out last week. Pete Carroll said that he expects Carson to return this week but did say Davis needs to “fit in somewhere.” Davis is worth the add for Carson owners until we see how this backfield shakes out.
- Wendell Smallwood- This is a desperation add this week. I was high on Clement coming in to the season and have stuck to my guns up until this point. He is making me look bad. Clements quad injury is still an issue and the arrow is pointing to another inactive for week 5. Darren Sproles is still sidelined as well. This leaves Smallwood as the primary backup to Ajayi. Ajayi has a bad back and knee putting Smallwood on our week 5 handcuff report. He was efficient in his week 3 outing averaging 5.6ypc, 1TD and added 3 catches for 35 yards receiving.
- Nyheim Hines- I thought Jordan Wilkins was the handcuff to own on the Colts this season but it looks like Hines is stealing the job. James White 2.0. The Colts are hurting for offensive playmakers and it looks like they have one in Hines. 22 total touches and 90 yards in last nights TNF football game. Marlon Mack was held out with a hamstring and we all know how I feel about hamstring injuries. He will be locked on waivers now but look out for him next waiver period.
That is all for this week my friends. Keep an eye out for the final injury report today and the active/inactive list this Sunday. If there are any major injury developments or changes to inactive/active lists I’ll let you know via twitter.
Good luck this week!