Staying One Step Ahead: Waiver Edition

          We’re going into Week 3 now and the waiver wire is starting to dry up. Each week, there will be a few attractive players that become available, but, if you play in a league with a waiver system, then you probably won’t have a shot at them unless you have one of the worst records in your league. If you want to acquire some of the more valuable free agents, you must plan one step ahead.

          When your record prevents you from acquiring the top free agents each week, the next best thing is to stash players who could become valuable down the road. You want to target players returning from injuries & suspensions, as well as players who are playing well on a limited amount of touches.  

Players who fit the mold this year are Golden Tate, Chris Herndon, and Kareem Hunt. These 3 guys would be on nearly 100% of rosters if they weren’t suspended, yet all 3 are currently available in a large number of leagues. Most people will try to claim these guys a week early and let them sit on the bench for a week before they return, which means that if you want to stay ahead, you should be targeting these players 2 or even 3 weeks before their return.

Tate returns in Week 5, and it’s likely that just about everyone in your league will be smart enough to put in a claim for him a week early – next week, before Week 4. That means that if you want to secure him on your roster, you should look to add him this week and let him sit on your bench for the remaining two games of his suspension.

Herndon is back in Week 6. If you find yourself in desperate need for a TE, you should look to acquire him after this week, because most teams will put in a claim for him after Week 4 with the idea of letting him sit on their benches during Week 5.

Kareem Hunt returns in Week 10. People are going to be willing to let a player of his upside sit on their benches for weeks before his return, if not the entire season, which means that you should be looking to add him soon if you want a legitimate chance at snagging him.

In addition to those 3 suspended players, there are also some injured players who may have been released. If there’s nothing on your waiver wire, but you have a guy to drop, consider taking a look to see if anyone dropped injured players like Drew Brees, Tevin Coleman, Hunter Henry, Sam Darnold, Sterling Shepard, or Michael Gallup. Stashing talented players like these guys could have a major payoff down the road.

Another way to stay ahead of the game is to target players who are playing well, but not playing a lot – players who could become quite valuable if they start to see the ball more. This strategy is paying dividends to the savvy fantasy owners who picked up Carlos Hyde after he took 10 carries for 83 yards in Week 1. Now Hyde’s touching the ball more and looking like a solid flex option.

Guys who are playing well right now but aren’t touching the ball much are guys like Raheem Mostert, Rex Burkhead, Alexander Mattison, Jordan Wilkins, Preston Williams, Marquise Goodwin, KeeSean Johnson, Parris Campbell, AJ Brown, Tre’Quan Smith, Diontae Johnson, Gerald Everett, and Taysom Hill. It might take an injury for most of these guys to see an uptick in volume, but all of these guys are worth a stash due to what they’ve been able to do with limited touches.