Week 6 overall served as a shot in the arm for barren waiver wires all across fantasyland with numerous widely unowned running backs putting together productive performances. Frank Gore seems to have captured Miami’s backfield, Peyton Barber took advantage of Atlanta’s awful defense, and Ito Smith scored for the third straight week. Marlon Mack was far and away the lead dog in Indy as well and would be near the top of our list if he was more readily available. With the waiver wire rejuvenated, most fantasy owners now have several options they should heavily consider adding to their squad. Fortunately, our featured experts are here to make your life a little easier and explain which guys stand out to them as top options.
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Featured Experts:
Mike Tagliere – FantasyPros
Bobby Sylvester – FantasyPros
Nick Mariano – RotoBaller
Dan Harris – FantasyPros
*Ownership % derived from a consensus of Yahoo & ESPN leagues
Q1. How much are you willing to spend (FAAB %) on your favorite waiver wire target (or two) and why do you like him?
Latavius Murray (RB – MIN) | O.J. Howard (TE – TB) | Taylor Gabriel (WR – CHI)
“Murray should have been scooped up already by the Dalvin Cook owner, but any Cook owner out there in a league where Murray is available needs to throw at least 25% at him. For the rest of you, Howard made a speedy recovery to catch all four of his targets for 62 yards and a touchdown in Tampa Bay’s high-scoring loss to the Falcons. Yes, the Falcons defense is awful, but Jameis Winston clearly loves throwing to his big TEs and Howard is a top-12 TE for the rest of the season. Honorable mention for Gabriel, who has a nice playoff schedule down the road and should continue rolling with Chicago’s rushing game on shaky ground.”
– Nick Mariano (RotoBaller)
“If O.J. Howard somehow hit your waiver wire (he did in more than half of Yahoo leagues), he needs to be added. It’s extremely tough to find tight end talent like him on the waiver wire, as most streamers would know. He’s already had his bye week, yet he sits as the No. 10 tight end in fantasy football. With the way the Bucs defense continues to allow offensive explosions, the pass attempts will continue to rack up for Winston. Howard is worth 20 percent of your FAAB budget, if not more.”
– Mike Tagliere (FantasyPros)
Peyton Barber (RB – TB)
“Especially with bye weeks in full swing, I’d be willing to spend 15-20% of my remaining budget on Barber (who is past his bye week already). This week — against a porous Falcons defense and off a bye — was the perfect setup for the Bucs to get Ronald Jones involved and he received only four touches. For whatever reason, the coaching staff is sticking with Barber, and he did not disappoint in the good matchup. Barber should be guaranteed a starter’s workload over the next several weeks (against the Browns, Bengals, and Panthers), and players like that aren’t usually readily available. I’d hold my nose and target him with a decent bid.”
– Dan Harris (FantasyPros)
Tre’Quan Smith (WR – NO)
“Although I love Howard and Barber like everyone else, I want to talk about Smith, who is also a great pickup. The Saints have been raving about this kid all preseason, but he started the year by playing just 29% of the Saints snaps through four weeks. That finally changed in Week 5 when his 67% share of the snaps was second on the team, and even with Ted Ginn coming back, I’m expecting Smith to continue to be involved enough for him to be fantasy relevant most weeks. and am willing to spend six percent of my FAAB on him.”
– Bobby Sylvester (FantasyPros)
Q2: For owners renting a D/ST in Week 7, what readily available option (under 40%) should they target and why?
“We’ve done this every week, and it’s worked out almost every time. Play the defense who’s going up against the Bills, which means you’ll want to grab the Colts defense who’ll be at home. The Bills have allowed five-of-six defenses to score at least 8.0 fantasy points against them, large-in-part to the 24 sacks they’ve allowed through six games. They’ve also turned the ball over at least twice in four-of-six games.”
– Mike Tagliere (FantasyPros)
“I’ll gladly take Indianapolis at home against the Bills. They’re 6% owned as I type this and have quietly forced a respectable 10 turnovers while their 19 sacks are tied for third-most in the NFL (pending Monday night’s game). Just because you can’t name any superstars anchoring their squad doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take the numbers, especially due to the outside chance Nathan Peterman takes the field again.”
– Nick Mariano (RotoBaller)
“This may seem crazy, but I’d look at the Bills D/ST this week against the Colts. The Colts have allowed the ninth-most fantasy points to opposing D/STs, as injuries and careless play have combined to lead to plenty of miscues on the offensive side of the ball. The Bills may be a disaster, but their defense is underrated, with 19 sacks and 12 takeaways in six games. It’s a road game and if Peterman is the starter, then the Bills are likely to be behind the eight-ball with field position. But, overall, I’d expect them to continue their run of solid overall performances this week.”
– Dan Harris (FantasyPros)
“I understand picking the Colts against Buffalo, of course, but have we forgotten how awful Brock Osweiler actually is? Blake Bortles has a good game every once in a while too, but that doesn’t mean we should ever quit picking on him with our streaming D/STs and the same goes for Osweiler, but more so. That is why I’m using the Lions this week. They are coming off the bye and have 17 sacks already through five games.”
– Bobby Sylvester (FantasyPros)
Thank you to the experts for naming their top waiver targets. Be sure to give them a follow on Twitter if you’re not already doing so and check out our latest podcast below for more great advice.
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