This week’s waiver wire advice comes courtesy of several top experts from week 3. As a refresher of how this works, we asked the experts to rank a list (provided by us) of RBs & WRs based off of rest of season value. Their picks were then combined to determine the consensus rankings.
So if you’re a believer in rolling with the hot hand, we’ve got you covered with this crew of accurate experts. Each participant is listed below along with a link (click each name) to their Twitter feeds so you can get more advice.
Featured Pros
Michael Beller – (SI.com)
R.J. White – (FFCafe)
Alessandro Miglio – (Pro Football Focus)
Ken Zalis – (Fans Fantasy Football)
Consensus RB Waiver Wire Rankings*
| Consensus Rank | Best Rank | Worst Rank | Player |
| 1.0 | 1 | 1 | Stevan Ridley (NE) |
| 2.0 | 2 | 2 | Ryan Torain (WAS) |
| 4.0 | 3 | 5 | Kendall Hunter (SF) |
| 4.0 | 3 | 6 | Isaac Redman (PIT) |
| 4.2 | 4 | 5 | Montario Hardesty (CLE) |
| 5.8 | 5 | 6 | Bernard Scott (CIN) |
*Note: Only includes players with less than 40% ownership in Yahoo public leagues
RB Rank Order by Expert
|
Rank |
Michael Beller |
R.J. White |
Alex Miglio |
Ken Zalis |
Kevin Hanson |
| 1 | S. Ridley | S. Ridley | S. Ridley | S. Ridley | S. Ridley |
| 2 | R. Torain | R. Torain | R. Torain | R. Torain | R. Torain |
| 3 | I. Redman | I. Redman | K. Hunter | K. Hunter | I. Redman |
| 4 | K. Hunter | K. Hunter | M. Hardesty | M. Hardesty | M. Hardesty |
| 5 | M. Hardesty | M.Hardesty | I. Redman | B. Scott | K. Hunter |
| 6 | B. Scott | B. Scott | B. Scott | I. Redman | B. Scott |
Consensus WR Waiver Wire Rankings*
| Consensus Rank | Best Rank | Worst Rank | Player |
| 2.4 | 2 | 3 | Jacoby Ford (OAK) |
| 2.6 | 1 | 4 | Victor Cruz (NYG) |
| 3.4 | 1 | 7 | Antonio Brown (PIT) |
| 4.0 | 2 | 5 | Jabar Gaffney (WAS) |
| 4.6 | 1 | 7 | Torrey Smith (BAL) |
| 6.2 | 2 | 10 | Laurent Robinson (DAL) |
| 7.4 | 4 | 11 | Danario Alexander (STL) |
| 7.6 | 6 | 11 | Josh Morgan (SF) |
| 8.8 | 8 | 10 | Donald Jones (BUF) |
| 9.2 | 6 | 11 | Mike Williams (SEA) |
| 9.8 | 9 | 11 | Michael Jenkins (MIN) |
*Note: Only includes players with less than 40% ownership in Yahoo public leagues
WR Rank Order by Expert
| Rank | Michael Beller |
R.J. White |
Alex Miglio |
Ken Zalis |
Kevin Hanson |
| 1 | V. Cruz | T. Smith | A. Brown | V. Cruz | A. Brown |
| 2 | J. Ford | J. Ford | J. Ford | L. Robinson | J. Gaffney |
| 3 | J. Gaffney | V. Cruz | T. Smith | J. Ford | J. Ford |
| 4 | A. Brown | D. Alexander | V. Cruz | A. Brown | V. Cruz |
| 5 | L. Robinson | J. Gaffney | J. Gaffney | J. Gaffney | T. Smith |
| 6 | J. Morgan | J. Morgan | M. Williams | J. Morgan | L. Robinson |
| 7 | T. Smith | A. Brown | D. Alexander | T. Smith | D. Alexander |
| 8 | D. Alexander | M. Williams | L. Robinson | D. Jones | D. Jones |
| 9 | M. Jenkins | D. Jones | D. Jones | M. Jenkins | J. Morgan |
| 10 | D. Jones | L. Robinson | M. Jenkins | M. Williams | M. Jenkins |
| 11 | M. Williams | M. Jenkins | J. Morgan | D. Alexander | M. Williams |
Additional Waiver Targets
We also asked each expert to give us 1 additional player not on the lists above that owners should consider picking up. Here are their recommendations, with the same caveat that each player must have less than 40% ownership in Yahoo leagues:
Titus Young (WR – DET): He’s tied to an elite offense and isn’t ever going to draw a ton of attention with Calvin Johnson on the other side. The Bears have been vulnerable against the pass this year, so this could be your last chance to grab him before he becomes widely owned.
Marion Barber (RB – CHI): If you can’t land the top running backs off the wire, one add I would consider making is Marion Barber. The Bears have already said they want Barber in the goal line role, and they backed up those words in his return, giving him a TD from three yards out. He’s never going to give your team a ton of touches, so his upside is limited, but he has a better than 50/50 chance at scoring in a single week, making him an excellent bye-week fill-in for the next seven weeks.
Alessandro Miglio – Pro Football Focus
Steve Breaston (WR – KC): Despite a bad overall offense, Breaston is quietly performing well in Kansas City opposite Dwayne Bowe. After a slow start he has been targeted six times in each of his past two games, nearly topping 100 yards last week. As byes start to take players out of your lineup, Breaston could be a sneaky good spot starter depending on the matchup.
Ken Zalis – Fans Fantasy Football
Titus Young (WR – DET): Titus Young should be owned in PPR leagues. He is getting more looks and catches than Burleson right now and is on the field more. After missing most of training camp Young has established a nice chemistry with Stafford. With Megatron getting double and tripled team Young could emerge.
Titus Young (WR – DET): With Calvin Johnson facing double teams (which haven’t slowed him down), there are plenty of opportunities for the Lions’ other receivers to make plays in the team’s pass-happy offense. In his past three games, rookie Titus Young has averaged more than 60 yards per game and has more targets (20) than Nate Burleson (15) during that span. As a high draft pick (44th overall), Young has plenty of upside and may potentially serve as a solid bye-week replacement in the immediate future.
___
Thanks to this week’s Featured Pros for sharing their insight! Be sure to check out their respective sites to keep up with all of their latest content.
Best of luck grabbing your waiver wire targets this week!
Photo credit: link