Wondering who to add/drop or whether or not a trade is fair?
I’m here to help.
After checking out our Waiver Wire Watch, you can post your questions here, and unless you say differently, I’m assuming your league has a standard (non-PPR) scoring system.
If you are wondering who to start in a standard scoring league, please wait until Friday when I’ll release my official Week 4 rankings.
Every week, I highlight a few players that you should target in waivers. I use the ESPN league data when filtering players, so the only guys eligible for discussion here are those that are available on the waiver wire in at least 50% of ESPN’s leagues. I’ll list each player’s percentage-owned after their name so you have an idea of how available they are in leagues around the country. I’ll always try to mention a few players that are available in 90% of leagues for those of you in 12-team leagues or leagues with big rosters. I’ll rank them in the order I’d pick them up in a league with a high-performance, PPR scoring system.
Please note that these rankings are for total value through the end of the year. Players with particularly good matchups this week are in bold.
Matt Hasselbeck (24.6)
Fantasy owners were down on Hass this year because he has had trouble staying healthy, not because he isn’t a good fantasy QB when he is healthy. Right now, he’s healthy, and with the Rams on tap in Week 4, he’s a good start this week.
Mark Sanchez (34.9)
The Jets seem to be limiting him to short drops so that he gets the ball out quick. That keeps the pressure off of him and helps him avoid mistakes. 476 yards and six pass TD later, and Sanchez is looking like a viable QB2, and he has the Bills this week.
Josh Freeman (16.6)
Yes, he struggled in Week 3, but that was against the Steelers, who made Matt Ryan and Vince Young look foolish in Week 1 and Week 2. I still like him as part of a committee — he has great matchups in weeks 10-11 and 15-16. After his bye, things are pretty neutral, so he’d be a solid second guy in two-QB leagues.
Bruce Gradkowski (2.1)
He wasn’t bad against the Cardinals, but he did throw 2-3 passes that should have/could have been picked off. Still, with Louis Murphy, Zach Miller and Darren McFadden, he has enough weapons to look pretty good. With the Texans on deck, he’s a sneaky good start in Week 4.
Sam Bradford (20.2)
The rookie is a shoe-in for 20+ picks if he stays healthy, but he’s also on pace for almost 3,500 yards and 21 TD. With Seattle and Detroit on tap, he isn’t a bad short-term fix.
Matt Cassel (9.5)
Cassel’s 250 yards and 3 TD came out of nowhere against an underachieving San Francisco defense. A pretty nice upcoming schedule — HOU, JAX, BUF in weeks 6-8 — makes him an interesting start in two-QB leagues.
Alex Smith (14.0)
Well, he has thrown for at least 232 yards and a TD the last two weeks. But he’s also thrown five picks in three games. The 49ers just fired their offensive coordinator, so let’s see how Smith fares against the Falcons and Eagles before giving up on him.
Ryan Fitzpatrick (0.3)
Fitzy had a nice game against a very questionable New England secondary. With Jacksonville on tap this week, he should be a good start if you’re in a pinch.
Derek Anderson (7.2)
How long will the Cards put up with Anderson’s play with Max Hall waiting in the wings?
David Garrard (29.3)
He used to be the most underrated QB in fantasy football. But he’s been absolutely brutal lately and has a pretty tough matchup (IND) this week.
Shaun Hill (2.0)
Seneca Wallace (0.8)
Jimmy Clausen (1.7)
Boy, that first start didn’t go very well.
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Staring at an 0-3 start in your fantasy league? Hey, it could be worse, you could have this group of fantasy busts, based on some seriously faulty preseason analysis:
QB: Kevin Kolb
Forget those preseason struggles, it’s all about the system and Kolb looked pretty good in a couple of starts last season. One quarter against the Packers and Eagles’ fans will forget about Donovan McNabb. You think Mike Vick is a threat? The just-got-out-of-jail, can’t-pass-from-the-pocket Mike Vick? Ha!
RB: Maurice Jones-Drew
I personally guarantee that MJD will score at least two touchdowns in his first three games. What more can you ask from your #4 overall pick? The guy hosts a fantasy football radio show, for Pete’s sake! Of course he’s going to be a stud!
RB: Ryan Grant
You’re worried about injury? Are you crazy? Grant simply doesn’t miss games due to injury. The guy is as durable as the day is long. Count on it.
WR: Michael Crabtree
This guy is so good that he can miss all of preseason and still catch 48 passes in the final 11 games. He’s a veritable shoe-in for a 90-catch, 1,200-yard season. Dude is gonna go off in Jimmy Raye’s high-octane passing attack.
WR: Sidney Rice
Bah, hip injury, shmip injury. There’s no way Brett Favre comes back without a guarantee that Rice is good to go. No. Freakin’. Way.
TE: Brent Celek
He has future Pro Bowler Kevin Kolb throwing to him. What more do I have to say?
Let’s start with the best game of the day, NO/ATL, where Michael Turner (30 carries, 114 yards, TD) and Jason Snelling (14 carries, 62 yards) wore down the interior of the Saints’ rush defense to triumph in overtime. A few things to note here: 1) Anyone writing off Tony Gonzalez (8-110-1) is making a mistake, 2) Jeremy Shockey (8-78-1) looks like he’ll get some of the short work originally designed for Reggie Bush, and 3) Lance Moore (6-149-2) can still play, and may have usurped Devery Henderson (2-23) and Robert Meachem (1-5) to be the Saints’ WR2. More likely, Drew Brees will continue to take what the defense gives him, which means any of these WRs could go off on any given day.
Over in Baltimore, the Browns were down Jerome Harrison today with a thigh injury, so Peyton Hillis was the feature back and he didn’t disappoint (to the tune of 29 touches for 190 yards and a TD). Baltimore’s rush defense isn’t as good as its reputation, so I tweeted earlier in the day that Hillis was a decent RB3/flex start, and he turned in an outstanding game. Ben Watson (5-47-1) has posted 12-125-1 on the season and is turning into a decent TE2 option. On the other side of the ball, Anquan Boldin (8-142-3, 11 targets) and Joe Flacco (262 yards, 3 TD) are totally in sync. Flacco isn’t as bad as he looked last week against the Bengals and he isn’t as good as he looked this week against the Browns.
Anthony Stalter (under TheScoresReport) and I (under fantasytips) will be tweeting throughout Week 3. Feel free to ask us questions, call us names, whatever…
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