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:
Rhamondre Stevenson (10% owned):
Injuries happen as per usual for Patriots running backs and Stevenson stepped into the role incredibly. He had twenty carries for 100 yards and two touchdowns, which is great efficiency by the way, not to mention the fact that he had four receptions for 14 yards. Stevenson was nothing short of amazing this weekend and should be on every roster regardless of Damien Harris’ injury availability. He is talented and Belichick knows how to make every running back as productive as humanly possible. Pick him up now and win your league.
Jordan Howard (37% owned): Howard has come out of pretty much nowhere to be a fantasy option. He had 71 yards on the ground in week eight and now had 83 yards this past week against the Broncos. Although his receiving work is pretty much non-existent, Howard is a running back who is getting over ten touches a game and therefore should be nowhere near the waiver wire. It is hard to find running backs who are this good on the waiver wire this late in the season.
D’Onta Foreman (2% owned):
He’s back I guess? I am not going to lie, I honestly did not know he was still playing football. Out of nowhere he had 11 carries for 30 yards and two receptions for 48 yards. The efficiency was not there but he still had 13 touches which is, once again, rare for a running back on the waiver wire this late. He’s not an ideal starting running back but he offers solid flex value if you absolutely need it.
Wide Receivers:
Rashod Bateman (33% owned):
Bateman has 6+ targets in the four games this season and is obviously a huge part of this Ravens offense. He has 50+ yards in three straight games and is as reliable a flex as there can possibly be in fantasy football. He offers low-end WR2 value and I truly believe that he deserves a spot on every single roster in fantasy. His role is massive and Lamar and him clearly have a great rapport already.
Van Jefferson (36% owned):
Even with Woods healthy, Jefferson clearly established himself a component of this offense. He has 4+ targets in every week since week three and has had solid flex production in that time period. Jefferson is a bit of a boom or bust player but his upside is large because a long touchdown is always possible with his big play upside. I like him a lot as a great flex option.
Marcus Johnson (0% owned):
This could be a risky pick up but Johnson went from having no role to getting five receptions for 100 yards and leading the team in targets over AJ Brown. Julio Jones is out for the foreseeable future being on IR and someone is simply going to get the passing volume from Tannehill and I think Johnson could be that guy. He’s not anything special as a receiver but he was productive and stepped up when it mattered in a tough game against the Saints.
Tight Ends:
Dan Arnold (26% owned):
Arnold has seven plus targets in two games in each of the last two weeks and is quickly becoming one of Trevor Lawrence’s favorite targets. He has double digit points in back to back weeks and I think is a very serviceable fantasy football tight end at this point in the year.
Tyler Conklin (40% owned):
Conklin isn’t anything special but he has 9.5 points in the last three games and has backup tight end ability if not starting tight end ability if absolutely necessary. Kirk likes him well enough and he isn’t the worst guy to be starting.