Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups: Wide Receivers (Week 1)

We will have you covered throughout the fantasy football season with our bevy of tools, including our Waiver Wire Assistant. Find the top available players and get detailed analysis on how potential fantasy football waiver wire adds will impact your team. Of course, our team of analysts will also have written advice each week. Check out some of our top fantasy football waiver wire wide receivers to target for the week below. And here are all of our fantasy football waiver wire targets for Week 1.

Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Targets: Wide Receivers

Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups: Wide Receivers

Written by Pat Fitzmaurice

Keenan Allen: 48% rostered

After remaining unsigned for most of the offseason, Allen agreed to a one-year deal with the Chargers in early August. Allen is very familiar with Chargers QB Justin Herbert. When they last played together in 2023, Allen had a career-high 108 catches in only 13 games. He averaged 11.5 targets a game that season. Allen continued to draw targets at a high rate last season with the Bears, commanding a hefty 27.6% target share in the 15 games he played. Ladd McConkey might be the Chargers’ No. 1 receiver now, but Allen isn’t just window dressing. He’s going to be involved. Let your competitors tell themselves that the 33-year-old Allen is washed up while you scoop him off waivers.

Marvin Mims: 42% rostered

Mims averaged 62 receiving yards and scored six touchdowns over Denver’s last seven regular-season games despite playing fewer than half of the offensive snaps in all of them. He averaged 0.72 PPR fantasy points per snap in those seven contests, To put that into perspective, overall WR1 Ja’Marr Chase averaged 0.38 PPR fantasy points per snap last season. Mims played extensively with the starters in the preseason, suggesting that Broncos head coach Sean Payton is going to expand Mims’ role. Mims has been dealing with a groin injury, but he is reportedly on track to play in the Broncos’ season opener vs. the Titans.

Adam Thielen: 28% rostered

With Jordan Addison serving a three-game suspension to start the season and some of the other Minnesota WRs injured, the Vikings swung a deal with the Panthers to reacquire Minnesota native Adam Thielen, who could play a prominent role early in the season. Thielen just turned 35 but is aging gracefully. Over the last six weeks of the 2024 regular season, Thielen had 37-449-4 and was WR13 in half-point PPR scoring over that stretch. Thielen gets a Week 2 matchup against the Falcons and could run a lot of his routes against rookie safety Billy Bowman Jr., whom the Falcons are reportedly planning to use as their nickel slot corner. Thielen also has a seemingly favorable Week 3 matchup against the Bengals, whose defense could be among the worst in the league.

Josh Palmer: 23% rostered

The Bills gave Palmer a three-year, $29 million deal in free agency with $18 million guaranteed, so it’s clear they have plans for him. The Toronto, Ontario, native reportedly had a strong showing in training camp and could quickly become a key weapon for star QB Josh Allen. FantasyPros’ Derek Brown notes that Palmer was targeted on 27% of the routes he ran against man coverage last year. The Bills open with games against the Ravens, who used man coverage at the 11th-highest rate in the NFL last season, and the Jets, who played man at the seventh-highest rate, per PFF.