Week 4 Waiver Wire Pickups
By Michael Visconti September 26th, 2016
Week 3 is all but done and we are staring at the first set of bye weeks in Week 4 (Green Bay and Philadelphia). We are also ready for a 6:30am PST start time live from Wembley Stadium as the Colts and Jaguars kickoff the NFL’s global harmonization marketing strategy. Lame, but I do love early morning football. I am up anyway punching in winning lineups.
More injuries in Week 3! Russell Wilson tore his MCL, Jeremy Langford sprains his ankle, Shane Vereen is out for the season with a triceps injury, and Ryan Mathews hurt his ankle. More news came out on Thomas Rawls this morning keeping him out for an undetermined amount of time. Antonio Gates may miss more time as well. Arian Foster will not play this Thursday. This is nothing new. Injuries happen and we are here to help you spot the correct pickup for the week.
A great strategy each week if you have the roster spot is to spend $1 in FAAB or grab a Free Agent backup RB before the lead back gets hurt. If you have a dud that you can drop use that roster spot on the chance that an injury occurs. Look at our players to watch as a potential list of names of players to grab. If it doesn’t work out, you can always drop them. It really would be nice to have Howard last week rather than spend up to get him this week.
Quarterbacks
Carson Wentz PHI – Turns in another healthy start to his short NFL career. Carson went 23 of 31 for 301 yards and 2 TDs. Carson has a bye in Week 4 but comes back to Detroit and sees a handful of favorable matchups over the next 6 weeks.
Trevor Siemian DEN – Wow. He goes to Cincinnati and lights them up for 4 TDs. He is a must add in all 2 QB leagues and a player to watch as a streaming option in 12+ team leagues.
Ryan Fitzpatrick NYJ – Well that was ugly. Arrowhead is a very difficult place to play and we did not expect much. Fitzpatrick will be fine and this offense will look a lot better next week at home against a stingy Seattle defense. I would not recommend starting him just yet though. Fitzy has some really great matchups between Week 7 and Week 15.
Brian Hoyer CHI – *Only a streaming option for this week. With Green Bay on bye this week you could do worse than Hoyer at home facing the Detroit Lions.
Watch List – Dak Prescott DAL, Tony Romo DAL, Brian Hoyer CHI
Running Backs
Jordan Howard CHI – Jeremy Langford will possibly miss multiple weeks with a high ankle injury. He was on the hot seat any way without the injury and we like Howard to take over this backfield. He will be the hottest pickup of Week 4. Expect to see people spend 40-60% of their FAAB on Howard.
Orleans Darkwa NYG – I predict the Giants resign Andre Williams after the Chargers dropped him this week. That will not help their void in the passing game. Darkwa will fill in as the lead back in New York until Rashad Jennings returns, but he is not the pass catching back that Jennings or Vereen is. Even after Rashad returns his pass catching ability will be hindered with a cast.
Bobby Rainey NYG – Bobby will likely get a big increase in snaps in this pass heavy offense and I like him to get most of the Vereen/Jennings pass targets for the upcoming weeks. He is a sneaky add in deeper 12+ team PPR leagues now.
Dwayne Washington DET – The hot pickup from last week got as many carries as Theo last week with (10). Hardly worth the 40-75% FAAB spend I saw him go for, but he did look the part. He will slowly begin to take over the early down work and I expect him to have a good game this week against the Bears.
Cameron Artis-Payne CAR – As expected Artis-Payne was the lead back in Carolina with Jonathon Stewart out. He out rushed Fozzy 12 carries to 5. The problem is the running back position in Carolina is not a great place to look for points. He is a plugin guy if you are desperate.
Wendell Smallwood PHI – Big shock Ryan Mathews left the game with an injury. Wendell looked pretty good as the lead back and out carried Kenjon Barner 17 to 8 after Mathews left the game. We drafted Wendell in the Pros vs. Joes back in July. Genius! Mathews should be ready to suit up following the week 4 bye, but I don’t believe he will stay healthy nor do I think it will prevent Smallwood from seeing the field. This is not an ideal situation to be in, but Smallwood might be the best available on your wire. The good news is this offense does look legit and he should get plenty of opportunities to be the guy in Philly, after all, they did draft him to be their guy.
Kenyan Drake MIA – Arian Foster is out again this Thursday and Drake looked to be the best of the backs left in Miami. He hit the hole a lot faster than Ajayi did but the problem is that they both were not very impressive at home versus an inept Cleveland defense. It looks like it is a total time share in Miami while Foster is out, but Drake is worth a bench stash in case he breaks out this Thursday night at Cincinnati. He was targeted in the pass game twice while Ajayi was not. They are also working Damien Williams into the passing game.
Kenneth Dixon BAL – It is clear that somebody will need to take over this backfield and Dixon is the most talented back here. He will be returning from a torn MCL at some point in October and should step into the #1 RB spot in Baltimore.
DeAndre Washington OAK – I saw Washington dropped a bunch of times in the leagues I am in. Murray found the end zone but only rushed the ball 10 times for 37 yards and 1 target in the pass game. DeAndre had 6 carries for 57 yards and also saw 1 target in Week 3. He is worth a speculative add as a bench stash and we will see if he continues to creep up on Latavius’ workload.
Watch List – Paul Perkins NYG, Shaun Draughn SF, Dion Lewis NE, Kenjon Barner PHI, Robert Turbin IND, Chris Johnson AZ, Alfred Morris DAL, Devontae Booker DEN, Kenneth Farrow SD, Dexter McCluster SD, Robb Kelley WAS
Wide Receiver
Adam Humphries TB – Well he has 25 targets in his first 3 weeks. He is developing some great chemistry with the budding star Jameis Winston. He hauled in 9 of his 12 targets this week for 100 yards and a TD. He is going to get consistent looks in this offense and there is nothing better than that. Add him in all formats this week.
Cole Beasley DAL– Cole leads the Dallas Cowboys with 25 targets through 3 weeks. He hauled in all 7 of his targets this week for a total of 73 yards. He has become a consistent safety valve for rookie QB Dak Prescott. That means Dak will continue to throw to him. He is a must add in PPR leagues.
Terrelle Pryor CLE – This guy had a game. He handled some snaps at QB while catching 8 of his 14 targets for 144 yards. He is the clear cut WR1 next week in Washington and we expect him to again see a ton of targets. He is worth adding as a WR4.
Jamison Crowder WAS – Crowder looked amazing in the game this week against the Giants. He is quick and has some great moves. The ball was spread around pretty good this week @NYG with DJax getting 8 targets and Crowder and Garcon getting 7 targets. Crowder is a play maker and should be added in all formats and all sizes of leagues. He is a star.
Watch List – Josh Doctson WAS, Dontrelle Inman SD, Rishard Matthews TEN, Kenny Britt LA, Quinton Patton SF, Robert Woods BUF, Nelson Agholor PHI, Chris Conley KC, Jeremy Kerley SF, Brandon LaFell CIN, Jermaine Kearse SEA, Adam Thielen MIN
Tight End
Hunter Henry SD – Hunter played great catching 5 of his targets for 76 yards until he fumbled on the game winning drive. Ugggh. Henry will be fine it was a rookie mishap and the Chargers will likely keep him rolling. As long as Gates is out Henry is a TE2, and a flex play in high stakes formats that give 1.5 PPR.
Kyle Rudolph MIN – This is the Rudolph we have all been looking for! It looks like Bradford trusts him. He has thrown the ball to Kyle 18 times since taking over this offense in week 2. Rudolph converted 8 of his 10 targets this week and looks like he has developed some rapport with Sam.
Cameron Brate TB – With ASJ out of the picture Brate becomes the official lead tight end in town. He probably was anyway, but they no longer have to give ASJ some of his targets. Cameron had 10 targets and 2 TDs this week. I expect Jameis to continue to look for him in the redzone.
Watch List –Ladarius Green PIT, Jesse James PIT, Trey Burton PHI, Ryan Griffin HOU, Jack Doyle IND