NFL

10 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Targets Heading Into Week 2

With Marlon Mack injured and a big Week 1 workload, Nyheim Hines is a priority waiver target. Who else should you add to your teams?

Week 1 was full of injuries (and a lot of them entering the week, even). We also saw depth chart surprises in the opening weekend that point to some priority waiver wire additions.

Here are some of the best additions you can make to your squads based on everything we know so far. (I'll stick to players rostered on 60% of Yahoo teams or fewer and also list some other viable pickups who may be available in shallower leagues or relevant only in deeper leagues).

Quarterbacks

Jared Goff, Los Angeles Rams

Roster Percentage: 68%

Jared Goff and the Los Angeles Rams kicked off the 2020 season with a 20-17 win on Sunday Night Football, and though he didn't throw for any passing scores, Goff had a pretty efficient night against the Dallas Cowboys. Goff threw 31 times for 275 yards (8.9 yards per attempt) and put up 0.08 Passing Net Expected Points (NEP) per drop back. The NFL average in 2019 was 0.11, so we'd want that to tick up, but what happened was Malcolm Brown stole the touchdowns. Of note, Goff did run 4 times for 15 yards. The Rams travel to face the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2 in a game with a 48.5-point over/under, per NFL odds.

Others to Consider:
Ryan Tannehill (45%), Jimmy Garoppolo (58%), Teddy Bridgewater (22%)

Running Backs

Nyheim Hines, Indianapolis Colts

Roster Percentage: 19%

With the way Week 1 started, Nyheim Hines was trending for a spot on this list long before Marlon Mack's Achilles injury. Hines was involved with the Indianapolis Colts' offense from the opening quarter and wound up playing on 53% of the team's snaps. By comparison, Mack exited after 15%, and rookie phenom Jonathan Taylor played 35%. Hines ended up with just 7 carries for 28 yards (Taylor had 9 for 22), but Hines scored on the ground and through the air. He drew nine targets while Taylor had six of his own. With Taylor not out there on the waiver wire, Hines makes for a strong addition here.

Malcolm Brown, Los Angeles Rams

Roster Percentage: 26%

Malcolm Brown led the Rams in carries in the opener (18 for 79 yards) and also had 2 touchdowns stemming from 4 red zone carries. It's a healthy workload for a back in a positive offense. Brown also had 4 targets for 31 yards. That's heavy usage. In total, Brown played 60% of the Rams' offensive snaps with Cam Akers firmly behind him at 33%. Darrell Henderson saw only five snaps, and it's unclear to what extent his hamstring injury played there. For now, Brown is the Rams' running back to roster.

James Robinson, Jacksonville Jaguars

Roster Percentage: 56%

We'll have to take some care here because the Jacksonville Jaguars aren't likely to win many games, but they did that in Week 1, and James Robinson was involved. He was the only running back to get a carry (unless you count Laviska Shenault), and Robinson soaked up 16 of them. Robinson also drew a target, which won't get us excited, but it's something. The best part of what Robinson's Week 1 displayed was a 68% snap rate with no other back clearing a quarter of Jacksonville's snaps.

Joshua Kelley, Los Angeles Chargers

Roster Percentage: 12%

Joshua Kelley handled 12 carries but didn't see a target in the Los Angeles Chargers' Week 1 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. Kelley was on the field for just 24% of the team's snaps, whereas Austin Ekeler played 68%. But Kelley had high-leverage opportunities by way of four red zone rushes. Ekeler, by contrast, had three red zone carries and 19 total carries. Next week's game against the Kansas City Chiefs (where the Chargers are 8.5-point home underdogs and the total is 50.5) should feature Ekeler more in the passing game. That said, Kelley could be a nuisance in the red zone. If we can't get elite snaps from a running back, we need either targets or a goal line role.

Others to Consider:
Peyton Barber (3%), Boston Scott (58%), Myles Gaskin (0%)

Wide Receivers

Sammy Watkins, Kansas City Chiefs

Roster Percentage: 49%

Sammy Watkins went off in the season opener and led the NFL's best offense (or one of the best if you want to fight me on it) in target share (28%) by drawing 9 targets. No other Kansas City Chief had more than six targets. Watkins also had three of eight red zone attempts thrown his way, and he played 80% of the team's snaps. We can't assume Watkins stays at full capacity all season, but a hot stretch would go a long way for our lineups.

Preston Williams, Miami Dolphins

Roster Percentage: 38%

Preston Williams, last year, sustained a season-ending ACL injury and played only nine games. That led way to a DeVante Parker breakout. Now, it's Parker who is hurt, though it's a hamstring injury. If Parker were to miss time, the Miami Dolphins' depth chart would get super thin. After Williams and tight end Mike Gesicki, there isn't much in the way of guarantees. Williams wound up with 7 targets (catching just 2 for 41 yards) but cleared 100 air yards (with 104). That was 19th-most of any receiver in Week 1.

Parris Campbell, Indianapolis Colts

Roster Percentage: 22%

Parris Campbell led all Colts wideouts in snap rate (82%; T.Y. Hilton played 80%, and then it was Zach Pascal at 62%). Campbell had nine targets, though that equated to just a 19.6% target share in a high-volume week. Campbell did get three downfield targets, however, and those are quite valuable for receivers. Based on what we saw in Week 1, the Colts may not be playing with huge leads often, so that bodes well for Campbell's volume expectations.

Jalen Reagor, Philadelphia Eagles

Roster Percentage: 39%

The good? Jalen Reagor led all Eagles receivers in snap rate in the opener, had 136 air yards, and hauled in a 55-yard bomb. The bad? Despite leading the position in snaps, he hit just a 59% rate and caught 1 of 4 targets. All that said, he out-snapped DeSean Jackson (54%) and was a downfield threat. Reagor may take a few more weeks, but his Week 1 data is promising, and Carson Wentz shouldn't be under duress quite as much as he was on Sunday the rest of the season.

Others to Consider:
Russell Gage (2%), Robby Anderson (31%), Scotty Miller (6%), Allen Lazard (43%), Marquez Valdes-Scantling (7%)

Tight Ends

Dallas Goedert, Philadelphia Eagles

Roster Percentage: 55%

Dallas Goedert is going to be a hot priority because he looks like a fantasy football TE1 despite playing alongside Zach Ertz. Goedert played just four fewer snaps (54) than Ertz (58), but that still put Goedert at a 79% snap rate. Again, Reagor led all wideouts at 59%. Goedert's workload (nine targets, one deep target, and one red zone target) is really all we can ask for from a tight end. On the chance that continues, we have to try to pick up a tight end if we decided to go with the streaming route for 2020.

Others to Consider:
Chris Herndon (52%), Logan Thomas (2%), O.J. Howard (17%)