Well we are done with the first week of 2024 action, so time to finetune your roster with our Week 2 Waiver Wire pickups. This week was certainly one with injuries and drama. If you were caught by any of the injuries from this past week- this should help you navigate your way through.
Making the right moves on the waiver wire is how you can really win your league. Getting those upside depth pieces, and cutting the players that are going to struggle from your roster is going to help you going forwards
Rules for Selection & Order Priority
For a player to be considered to be added, they have to:
- Have an rostered % of 50% or under on ESPN
- Players below are listed by their roster %, not priority. Know your league settings. If there is a high-priority add, you’ll know.
Baker Mayfield (TB) 30.7% rostered
Let Baker cook…well, bake in his case I guess. Mayfield was rewarded for leading the Bucs to the Divisional Round of the playoffs in his debut season in Tampa, with a three-year, $115m contract extension – and he looks to already be good value after his week 1 performance, completing 24-of-30 passes for 289 yards and 4 touchdowns at home to Washington. The Commanders were dead last in passing yards allowed in 2023, so the soft matchup may have played a part in Mayfield’s success – but with the Bucs now travelling to Detroit to face a Lions unit who finished 29th against the pass, followed by the Eagles who were 28th, there could be some multi-week value to be had from Baker. If you were one of the unlucky managers to lose Jordan Love for the foreseeable, Mayfield is a great fill in until October.
Matt Stafford (LAR) 34.7% rostered
If you’re looking for more of a one-week rental and don’t want to burn too much (or any) of your FAAB, can I interest you in a quarterback who threw the ball a league leading forty-nine times in week one? Stafford delivered a QB1 performance in the Rams 26-20 defeat in Detroit despite losing sophomore sensation Puka Nacua to a knee injury in the second quarter (news broke late on Monday night that Nacua was heading to the IR, and will miss at least the next four weeks). A large part of Stafford’s success on Sunday was the re-ignited fire between himself and former triple-crown winner, Cooper Kupp. Kupp may have just turned 31 years-old, but his line of 14/110/1 showed he can still get it done on the field. The Rams head to Arizona in week 2, making Stafford a great streaming option at the position for QB needy teams.
Also Consider – Geno Smith (SEA) 22.5% rostered, Justin Fields (PIT) 9.0%
- Brock Purdy (SF) 24.5% rostered
- Baker Mayfield (TB) 4.1% rostered
Jaleel McLaughlin (DEN) 41.3% rostered
Let’s use the Compliment Sandwich technique here for Jaleel McLaughlin…
- The second year rusher led all Broncos running backs in attempts, yards and receptions.
- Unfortunately, despite a decent level of opportunity, McLaughlin only averaged a team-low 2.7 Y/A on the ground…and lost a fumble.
- However, supposed starter Javonte Williams didn’t look much better, and was barely involved in the passing game, seeing only 2 targets to McLaughlin’s 5
McLaughlin appears to be the back to roster for fantasy purposes, particularly if he continues to be utilised as a safety valve for rookie QB Bo Nix out of the backfield. Don’t spend up on Jaleel, but he’s a worthy bench stash until a leader emerges in this Broncos RB room.
Rico Dowdle (DAL) 36.6% rostered
*Sigh* – Week 1 didn’t turn out exactly as I would have hoped for Dowdle. The Cowboys came out before the matchup with the Browns and said there would be a “pretty even split” of the workload…and in their defense, that’s exactly what we got. Dallas backs ran the ball 19 times, with the veteran Ezekiel Elliot seeing 10 opportunities to Dowdle’s 8 (Deuce Vaughn also had a solitary carry). Zeke was slightly more efficient, running at 4.0 Y/A, with Dowdle managing only 3.3, and to further douse the flames on the pre-match fire for Rico, Zeke scored the only rushing touchdown of the game for the Cowboys early in the 2nd quarter. As with Williams/McLaughlin in Denver, this figures to be a 1A/1B scenario until further notice, but with Zeke now having over 2,000 career carries, expect the younger, more explosive Dowdle to see a steady usage increase as the season goes on. Grab him now while his price is at its lowest.
Jordan Mason (SF) 28.4% rostered
If you’re the Christian McCaffrey owner and you are not one of the 28% of fantasy managers with Jordan Mason on your roster…how are you feeling this morning? In CMC’s absence, Mason exploded for 147 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries against the Jets on Monday Night Football. Only Joe Mixon had more rushing opportunities in week 1, with Mason’s production enough to see him finish as the overall RB3 on the week (behind only Mixon and Saquon Barkley). With doubt surrounding CMC’s availability in week 2, Mason is a must roster in all formats. McCaffrey owners should be more aggressive with their FAAB bids, and after last night’s performance, the price just went way up.
Also Consider – Jaylen Wright (MIA) 22.7%, Bucky Irving (TB) 17.7% & Tank Bigsby (JAX) 4.9% rostered
Rashid Shaheed (NO) 45.2% rostered
All off-season the talks were of the league winning upside of the Saints’ speedy wideout, and it took less than three minutes of week 1 for Shaheed to prove his truthers correct. Derek Carr connected with #22 on a 59-yard bomb to score the opening touchdown of Sunday’s games with only 2:52 on the clock. In true Shaheed fashion, he did little else in the game, adding only two more grabs for 14 yards to finish the week with a stat line of 3/73/1. In truth, this game was over as a contest mid-way through the second quarter, as New Orleans raced to a 30-0 lead over their divisional rivals. Expect Shaheed to be required later in games more often than he was against the Panthers. He’s a great add if you have solid floor players and are looking for a boom/bust option as a WR3 or in the FLEX.
Brandin Cooks (DAL) 29.7% rostered
The sun rises in the east, sets in the west, and Brandin Cooks continues to be undervalued by the fantasy community. After finishing as the WR14 over the back half of the season, Cooks once again has been forgotten about by fantasy managers, being drafted as the WR63 on average in drafts this season. Cooks saw 7 targets from Dak Prescott, hauling in 4 of them for 40-yards and a touchdown. With the likely absence of TE Jake Ferguson due to a MCL sprain, Cooks figures to see an even larger share of looks from Dak as the Cowboys welcome the Saints to Jerrworld. He may be the wrong side of 30, but he’s still got plenty to offer your roster.
Alec Pierce (IND) 0.3% rostered
One for deeper leagues here, and like Shaheed, very much in the boom/bust category. Pierce saw only 3 targets on Sunday from Anthony Richardson, well behind alpha Michael Pittman and rookie Adonai Mitchell. Unlike Pittman and Mitchell however, Pierce hauled in all of his looks, racking up 125-yards and a touchdown in the process. Ashton Dulin was the other TD scorer in the passing game, with Pittman and Mitchell left wanting (Mitchell could have had 3 TDs if not for badly placed passes) – I am not for one second advocating Pierce will be the guy for the Colts, but he does appear to be Richardson’s deep ball target – and with the sophomore QB connecting on shots of 50+ yards on three separate occasions this past weekend – that may be a valuable role for fantasy.
Also Consider – Demarcus Robinson (LAR) 10.0% & Wan’Dale Robinson (NYG) 8.3% rostered
Taysom Hill (NO) 44.3% rostered
If you completely punted tight end in your draft and elected to stream the position, the Saints’ gadget man could be a long-term solution to your problem. Hill really is a unique player – he’s listed as a TE but also has QB eligibility on some platforms, and continuing on from his usage last season, he’ll be seeing plenty of snaps out of the backfield as well. He racked up 35 yards on 5 rushing attempts to go along with his solitary 1-yard reception in the blowout win over Carolina – it could have been so much better for Hill – Derek Carr just overthrowing him in the endzone during the second quarter. Hill could give you nothing on any given week, but he’s just as likely to finish top-5 at the position with his usage at RB and emergency quarterback. He should be rostered in all formats.
Isaiah Likely (BAL) 8.6% rostered
This isn’t an anti-Mark Andrews take, more a pro-Isaiah Likely one. The “backup” tight end for the Ravens started the new NFL season with a bang on Thursday night, hauling in 9-of-12 looks from Lamar Jackson for 111 yards and a touchdown in the loss to the Chiefs. Likely led the team in targets, with 3 more than WR Zay Flowers and a whopping 10 more than fellow tight end, Mark Andrews. In defense of Andrews, he is still playing catch-up after a car accident forced him to miss some of the pre-season…but Likely won’t be going anywhere even when the veteran is back to full fitness. Expect Baltimore to play plenty of 2-TE sets, and for Likely to be a regular top-12 finisher at the position.
Also Consider – Zach Ertz (WAS) 4.1% & Colby Parkinson (LAR) 3.6% rostered
There you have it! Any questions, or want some more specific help for your league on who to drop, just reach out. Reach out on social media, you can find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Or jump into our Discord server. And checkout out rankings for each Week.
