Weekly Waiver Wire Pickups and The Dump List for Week 2
Waiver Wire Pickups
Mike Thomas, WR, JAC – The Broncos have a decent pass defense, but they should not have been good enough to shut out Mike Sims-Walker. There were a few quiet murmurs about Thomas just before the season, but they went largely unnoticed and probably shouldn’t have. Go get Thomas as I think before long he will prove to be the most viable and consistent fantasy option among all Jaguar receivers.
Eddie Royal, WR, DEN – I saw a lot of Jabar Gaffney questions on game day this week and while he did find the end zone, touchdowns are random. I will take the guy with the most targets and receptions any day. I do not think Brandon Lloyd has what it takes to be a reliable target so go get Royal now while people are focused on the other two.
Michael Vick, QB, PHI – Seems like a no-brainer for Kevin Kolb owners to go out and get Vick to play the role of handcuff while Kolb recovers from a concussion. Often times the first concussion can be recovered from pretty quickly but I would anticipate at least one week off for Kolb. With the Lions coming up this week Vick should be capable of filling in quite well after getting over 100 yards rushing this week to compliment his 175 passing yards and a TD through the air.
Brandon Jackson, RB, GB - Grant has said that he does not plan to miss any time, but can you afford to not have him around? The Packers are going to face a bad Bills run defense (though they played pretty well considering how abysmal their offense was) next week and they should be able to let Grant get back to 100% and still get a win. This seems like an easy decision and so does grabbing Jackson for the easy match up just in case the Packers do the right thing.
Peyton Hillis, RB, CLE – Once Montario Hardesty got hurt, it became increasingly apparent to me that Jerome Harrison was going to be the lead back and get the vast majority of the workload. Clearly, the Cleveland Browns are unable to commit to one single running back and this creates some value for Peyton Hillis. Hillis had 11 fewer yards on as many carries as Jerome Harrison but found the end zone and very surprisingly was the top fantasy RB on the Browns. I wouldn’t be in a rush to start either Harrison or Hillis quite yet till there is some idea who will be the top guy might be.
David Garrard, QB, JAC - Garrard was surprisingly efficient in the season opener and he was able to do so with a less than 100% Maurice Jones-Drew in the backfield. This is not the type of performance you should expect from Garrard, however he is the same type of backup as Vince Young, Chad Henne and Jason Campbell… he will remain a consistent fantasy producer even when the team struggles.
Mike Williams, WR, SEA – I still do not think that the Seahawks can be a playoff team. I also still think that the 49ers will be and will win this division despite a slow start. The woes of the Seahawks will center around the play of Matt Hasselbeck so as long as he is able lead the team on the field as well as off of it, the receivers will be relevant to us.
Dump List
Jabar Gaffney, WR, DEN – Touchdowns are pretty difficult to predict and apart from getting one this week Gaffney did very little against a pretty soft Jaguars secondary.
Rashard Jennings, RB, JAC – Jennings was drafted by some people as a handcuff when people paniced about Jones-Drew. MJD did not have a great game in week 1 but he did enough to demonstrate his injury will not be a lasting concern.
Laurence Maroney, RB, NE - Maroney’s contract is about to expire and the Patriots have never seemed to been a big fan of his. I do not see them trying to pick up his contract at the end of the year nor using him as much as they have in the past. Fred Taylor is the best Patriots RB to own so don’t bother holding Maroney if Taylor is available.
Devin Hester, WR, CHI – I have seen some questions this week about Hester and he should not be on anyone’s roster unless you are in a very deep format.
Anthony Gonazlez, WR, IND – I don’t think of Collie as own-able in a 10 team league yet, but he should certainly have earned the slot receiver job after a great performance this week. This leaves Gonzalez to 4th on the depth chart and useless to fantasy owners even if the injury was very minor.
































