How did the most popular waiver wire additions pan out? I’m going through a few notable waiver wire darlings and exploring their seasons. Below each player, I’ll include the week they were a popular waiver claim as well as whether or not the claim turned out to be a hit or miss.
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Week One, Hit
The excitement of Mitchell’s 19/104/1 week one performance was measured with immediate hesitations due to Kyle Shanahan’s track record of rotating running backs and the looming return of Trey Sermon. The latter never really happened. Jeff Wilson became somewhat of a threat to Mitchell’s workload. Ultimately, though, Mitchell was hampered by injuries. He finished the year as the RB28 but RB18 based on points per game. Despite his only dropping seven points in week two, this waiver claim was a hit.
Week Four, Hit
To buy the touchdown dependency, or not to buy the touchdown dependency, that is the question! It will always be a prominent discussion in fantasy football. What constitutes “touchdown dependency,” and when is it worth buying into? I called Knox the “Better Robert Tonyan” because I was willing to buy into Knox’s “dependency,” but not Tonyan’s. The main factor, for me, is snap counts. Knox was consistently recording 10-20% more snaps than Tonyan, even when Tonyan was scoring most of his points last season. If you added Knox after week four, you’re a happy camper. He scored 21 points in week five and is currently the TE10.
Week Six, Wash
I swear St. Brown had four seasons this year. Weeks 1-3, he was the WR101. Weeks 4-6, the WR31. Weeks 7-12, the WR70, and weeks 13-17, the WR2.
I’m calling this waiver wire investment a wash, not a hit or a miss, simply because he was featured after week six and immediately spent five weeks as the WR70. During that time, you most likely dropped him if you were a firm believer in the talent of Amon-Ra St. Brown and held him leading up to his end-of-year gangbusters weeks. Congratulations.
Week Seven, Miss
The 2021 Philadelphia Eagles backfield was one of the most confusing and frustrating units in the entire league. Gainwell, the Eagles’ shiny and brand new rookie, was getting solid RB2 work with Miles Sanders leading the backfield for the first seven weeks of the season. Gainwell looked like he might even take their RB1 role with Sanders healthy. Then, Sanders gets injured in week seven. That means it’s all systems go for Gainwell. WRONG! Gainwell, in his next four games, scored 17.6 TOTAL fantasy points. He took a backseat to Boston Scott and Jordan Howard and saw more than two carries ONCE between weeks 9-17. Fantasy football, man. Why am I even surprised at these things anymore?
Week 14, Miss
*Sigh* It was never Ronald Jones season. Despite a starting opportunity on a silver platter, in weeks 15-17, Jones took 38 carries for 154 yards and a touchdown, adding five catches for 25 yards. It wasn’t a terrible showing, but in this timeframe, he was only the RB28. RB3/Flex-worthy output isn’t bad for someone you likely claimed off waivers, but my expectations were higher given the opportunity with injuries to Leonard Fournette and Giovani Bernard.
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