Waiver Wire Week 7 Pickups

After a busy week last week, I would like to give John a shoutout for covering for me in last week’s article. But I’m back and ready to get back into it. For some of you, you may be cruising into a likely playoff spot. But for others, this may be crunch time now that we are more than halfway done with the fantasy football regular season. If your sitting at a sub .500 record the odds are against you to squeak into the playoffs, but not impossible. So let’s take a look at the top waiver wire adds for Week 7. As always, the guys on the list are only owned in less than 60% of leagues. Let’s get started.

Sam Darnold

Quarterback 7.8% owned

Darnold returned from his short stint with mono and went on to pull off an upset that no one saw coming, beating the Dallas Cowboys. Darnold’s return breathed life into the Jets offense and all skill players benefited as a result. If he is somehow available in any Superflex leagues, make sure that is not the case moving forward. For single quarterback leagues, view him as a nice QB2 option moving forward with bye weeks in effect.

BONUS: Both Robby Anderson (58.7% owned) and Jamison Crowder (59.4%) owned are still available in over 40% of leagues. With the return of Darnold, both these guys got a nice boost moving forward after solid games this week. Anderson reeled in five catches for 125 yards and a touchdown and Crowder caught 6 passes for 98 yards. Both should be considered weekly WR3’s with Anderson carrying the higher upside but with Crowder most likely seeing a more consistent floor, especially in PPR leagues.

The Jets are 1-4 with the league's easiest remaining schedule: Home: NE NYG OAK MIA PIT

Road: JAX MIA WAS CIN BAL BUF — Mike Clay (@MikeClayNFL) October 14, 2019

Kirk Cousins

Quarterback 26.4% owned

After getting publicly called out by his teammates, Cousins has been on fire these past two weeks. He has a solid six touchdowns to only one Interception and has not gone under 300 yards. His receivers have to be happy with his recent play and just as a happy wife is the key to any good marriage, happy receivers are key to a Quarterbacks fantasy production. Not to mention, the past two weeks the Vikings have also won, so this slightly pass heavier scheme could be here to stay for the Vikes, putting Cousins back on the redraft radar.

Jamaal Williams

Running Back 25% owned

After a frustrating night for Aaron Jones (a fumble and a brutal drop in the endzone), the Packers turned to Jamaal Williams to help steal a victory from the Lions on Monday night. Williams had 14 carries for 104 yards on the ground and 4 receptions for 32 yards and score through the air. Aaron Jones was clearly having an off game, but the fact that Williams was able to so easily step into the game and produce, will not be hard for the coaches to forget. I think Jamaal Williams is worth stashing for depth.

Mark Walton

Running Back 0.7% owned

Remember two weeks ago when I said to grab Mark Walton before he totally took over this backfield? Well, that window just got smaller this week as Walton clearly surpassed Kalen Ballage and split time with Drake. Walton took six carries for 32 yards (5.3 YPC) and caught five passes for 43 yards, finishing with a solid 12.5 fantasy points this week. He is still slightly behind Kenyan Drake in the snap count, but in a tanking season with the Dolphins seemingly looking for any excuse to trade or sit Drake, Walton could turn into a lead back with little no competition in Kalen Ballage if Drake is traded or benched. Should be owned in all deeper dynasty leagues if he is available.

Darius Slayton

Wide Receiver 4.9% owned

Slayton has been a nice surprise since returning from his injury in Week 3, racking up 12 catches for 189 yards and a touchdown through four weeks. Sterling Shepard is still battling a concussion and early reports are saying that he is a “long shot” to play this week. This puts Slayton into a starting role once again, and this time he gets a plus matchup against the Cardinals. We will see how they utilize Patrick Peterson in his return from suspension, so keep an eye out for that, but I can’t imagine they would choose to shadow Slayton in this one. He is just a WR4 in redraft, but he should be rostered in all dynasty leagues as the heir apparent to the WR2 role in a young and promising offense led by Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley.

Jakobi Meyers

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Wide Receiver 1% owned w

Meyers generated a lot of Pre-Season hype after he was the talk of the town during training camp and OTA’s, but with the return of Josh Gordon and a brief one-week stint of Antonio Brown, he hasn’t really had the opportunity. Well with Brown gone and Dorsett injured, he stepped into three-receiver sets with Julian Edelman and Josh Gordon. Gordon went down early with an injury that thrust Meyers into a near every-down role in which he thrived, making some beautiful catches along the way. It seems as if Dorsett may have a chance to play this week but I would expect Gordon to miss at least one week. The Patriots are smart enough to have taken notice of Meyers play this week and could opt to go with him over Dorsett who has had more than enough time to make an impact up to this point in his career. Meyers is another must-own for those of you in dynasty leagues.

Hunter Henry

Tight End 48.7% owned

For reasons unbeknownst to me, Henry is available in over 50% of leagues for some reason. Well, he returned from injury and annihilated the Steelers secondary on his way to an 8-100-2 line. Henry was always a locked in Top 6 Tight End before his injury and he showed why. With Will Dissly going down for the year, the tight end landscape got even thinner than it already is. Henry is my number one waiver wire add for the week if you are lucky enough to be one of those in 50% of leagues where he is available. Not only does he give you a big edge at the position but in deeper leagues, he could be a solid flex play moving forward with byes in full effect.

Quick Hits

As I stated, Will Dissly is out for the year with a torn Achilles. If you miss out on Henry, two guys I like are Ricky Seals-Jones and Darren Fells. Both seem to have taken over the top spot at their positions and have put together some nice games lately.

James Conner went down this week with another injury which led to Benny Snell Jr. taking 17 carries for 75 yards. If both Conner and Samuels are to miss time, Snell would be a volume-based RB2 and well worth an add.

Emmanuel Sanders went down with an injury and while early indications are that it is not serious, Daesean Hamilton could be a worthwhile add in deeper leagues in the case Sanders has to miss games.

I also mentioned Ryan Tannehill as a possibility to replace Marcus Mariota a few articles ago. Well, Mariota was finally benched this week and Tannehill could be the guy moving forward. Superflexers take notice.

My rookie man crush, Darrel Henderson, finally got his chance this week with Todd Gurley out. He looked better than Malcolm Brown in all aspects and could take on a larger role if Gurley is to miss more time. With Gurley’s injury history and Sean McVay’s concerning usage of him during the fantasy playoff stretch last year, Henderson could pan out big time if he overtakes Brown for the starting job.