A lot of times in fantasy football, players will bust or get injured and you feel your team is basically done for the year. However, without even making trades you can drastically improve your team by working the waiver wire. For those new to fantasy football, the waiver wire is full of ‘free-agent’ players that you can pick up and add to your team.
Oftentimes, there will be a variety of players worth adding to your roster and depending on your team this article might contain most of them or just a few. Therefore, whenever I put a player on this list he will have a 50% ownership percentage or lower to make it so there should be players for everyone to add and make their teams significantly better.
Additionally, all ownership percentages will be based on the ESPN website data but usually the percentages are relatively uniform across platforms from my experience.
I am going to always divide this article into three sections: Running Backs, Wide Receivers, and Tight Ends. So if you need one of those positions more than anything else feel free to just scroll to that given section.
Running Backs:
Jeremy McNichols (2% owned):
As sad as it is to see Derrick Henry get injured, his injury allows for there to be a new potential RB2 to be available in fantasy. McNichols really has not made much of an impact thus far in his career. He has mainly been a third down running back who will have the occasional touchdown. To be fair, he has had an eight reception game on 12(!) total targets in week four to the Jets. He definitely has a ton of upside in PPR formats and is a must pick-up given how run heavy the Titans offense can be.
Boston Scott (5% owned):
I feel like every single year Boston Scott becomes relevant due to an injury to Miles Sanders. Well, Sanders is hurt and out for the foreseeable future so in comes Scott. He had 12 rushes for 60 yards and two touchdowns with a target. While teammate Kenneth Gainwell had 13 rush attempts he averaged a meager 2.1 yards for 27 total yards. Scott seems like the better play in this offense and appears to be the red zone back as well.
Ty Johnson (5% owned):
Johnson is the backup running back on the Jets but still has acquired 11+ points in each of the last three weeks. He’s worth a pick up as a flex play with a solid floor. Mike White has targeted running backs on 42% of throws and so the targets will be there. Johnson has six and seven targets in each of the last two games respectively. Not to mention the fact that the Jets offense has been picking up as of late.
Wide Receivers:
Darnell Mooney (49% owned):
Mooney has had 4+ targets every single week this season. Talk about reliability. He’s a perfect flex wide receiver. I think that Mooney is going to be a player who can take off with Fields as the quarterback. Fields has looked really confident the past couple of weeks and is starting to display the talent we knew he had. Mooney is an awesome deep threat and I have very high expectations.
AJ Green (38% owned):
Green has had a resounding rebound season for the Cards. He has had 9.6+ points in six out of eight weeks. He is a great flex option with touchdown upside. Additionally, Green has six targets or more in six out of eight weeks. Green isn’t just a flash in the pan. He has season-long upside as a reliable target in a high-powered Cardinals offense. Get him while you still can to boost the depth on your roster and even give you a great option to start.
Rashod Bateman (20% owned):
Bateman has been on this list three weeks in a row but due to the bye last week he is still heavily available. I think Bateman can EXPLODE coming out of the bye for the Ravens. He had a bit of a breakout game for 80 yards for the Ravens two weeks ago and has all the talent to dominate the game. The Ravens have been looking for an alpha type of a wide receiver for years and there is nothing stopping Bateman from fulfilling that role.
Tight Ends:
Evan Engram (24% owned):
We all hate Engram because he has let us fantasy owners down too much in the past but I think he is officially back to being fantasy relevant. Engram has had 4+ targets in all of the games he has played this year and just caught his first touchdown against the Chiefs. With tight end as shallow as it is this year, Engram is a great option off the waiver wire.
Tyler Conklin (18% owned):
Conklin has just been consistently good this year. He has 10+ points in back to back weeks and Kirk Cousins clearly views him as a reliable option. In my opinion, he is a great fill-in for a bye week or for an injury and carries a solid floor on a game to game basis. Personally, I am a very big fan of him as a backup.