Fantasy Football Waiver Wire: Three Rams to Target

While the Jets’ aspirations of winning a Super Bowl cratered with Aaron Rodgers suffering a season-ending Achilles injury, your fantasy football championship dreams didn’t end with a Week 1 loss. The first week tends to be wacky, and this year was no exception with a lack of offensive touchdowns and low-scoring games. 

Many of the top quarterbacks drafted performed poorly. Tee Higgins, Drake London and Dallas Goedert combined for as many catches as me: zero! No need to panic after one week. The waiver wire has plenty of options and I’ll cover a wide range of league formats. 

I play in many leagues with 20-round drafts, and in them many of the players listed below were drafted. There are several mentioned that weren’t. Keep in mind: We find out about a lot of injuries on Wednesdays, so be sure to monitor the news and outwork your opponents.

Quarterbacks

Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers
Purdy was extremely efficient when he started last season and coming off elbow surgery, he continued to play well on the road in Pittsburgh. The ceiling is low because there won’t be a lot of volume since; the Niners rely on the run and often play from ahead. Purdy went 19-for-29 for 220 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 20 yards on three carries. In a more competitive game, he could have produced better numbers. With one of the best sets of weapons around him, Purdy could finish as a Top-12 QB.

Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers
Love looked good in the season-opener — although most quarterbacks will against the Bears defense. Even without big-play threat Christian Watson and Aaron Jones leaving early with a hamstring injury, Love passed for 245 yards and three touchdowns. He’s a solid replacement if Rodgers was one of the quarterbacks on your roster.

Derek Carr, New Orleans Saints
Carr had a favorable matchup against a weak Titans secondary and passed for 305 yards with a touchdown on 9.2 yards per pass attempt. He has excellent weapons with Chris Olave, Michael Thomas, Rashid Shaheed and Juwan Johnson. 

Running Backs

Kenneth Gainwell, Philadelphia Eagles
Gainwell was drafted in most leagues, but he is available in some. D’Andre Swift barely played and Rashaad Penny was a healthy inactive. Gainwell was the primary back and rushed 14 times for 54 yards while adding four catches for 20 yards. There were reports out of Eagles training camp that Gainwell was the lead back, and that held true for the first game — he played 62% of Eagles’ offensive snaps. Gainwell is dealing with a rib injury and is questionable for Thursday’s game against Minnesota.

Tyler Allgeier, Atlanta Falcons
Rookie Bijan Robinson had an impressive debut and Allgeier was in the mix, too. Atlanta is going to be run-heavy (much to the dismay of those with London and Kyle Pitts on their fantasy teams). Allgeier had 15 carries for 75 yards with two touchdowns and caught three passes for 19 yards. Robinson had 16 touches with a touchdown. The game script won’t be as favorable every week, but Allgeier could be a flex play.

Joshua Kelley, Los Angeles Chargers
Kelley played 44 snaps compared to 41 for Austin Ekeler. Kelley had 16 carries for 91 yards with a touchdown and while he won’t get that many touches every week with Ekeler healthy, Ekeler is dealing with an ankle issue (the severity is unknown as of now). Kelley becomes a great play if Ekeler has to miss time. The Chargers were also more run-heavy in Week 1 than expected. Monitor the Ekeler news before waivers run, as Kelley could be the big pickup of the week.

Kyren Williams, Los Angeles Rams
The Rams’ coaches like Williams. There was talk of him being involved in the offense at the beginning of last season before he got injured. Williams played 53 snaps compared to 28 for Cam Akers. Akers had 22 carries for 29 yards with most of the carries coming in the fourth quarter with the Rams draining the clock. Williams had 15 carries for 52 yards with two rushing TDs. He ran 29 routes compared to four for Akers.

Justice Hill and Gus Edwards, Baltimore Ravens
J.K. Dobbins tore his Achilles and is out for the season. Melvin Gordon will be activated to the roster, but he doesn’t have much left in the tank. John Harbaugh said the Ravens won’t bring in another running back, but it still could happen. Hill received a few goal line carries, scored twice and is better in the passing game than Edwards. After Dobbins left with injury, Hill ran in a score. Edwards then converted the two-point conversion. Edwards has been efficient throughout his career. It will be a split with Hill the preferred option in PPR. 

Zack Moss, Indianapolis Colts
Deon Jackson had a rough Week 1 as the primary back. He had 13 carries for 14 yards and caught five passes for 14 yards, while losing two fumbles. Rookie Evan Hull will miss some time with a knee injury and Moss could return this week coming off a broken forearm after being limited in practice last week. Moss looked good when he got the opportunity last season, averaging 83.5 rushing yards over the last four games, and will be the primary back for at least three weeks until Jonathan Taylor returns.

Tyjae Spears, Tennessee Titans
Spears played more snaps than Derrick Henry and was on the field for all third downs. Spears ran 20 routes compared to 10 for Henry. While Henry is the primary back, Spears should be stashed in case Henry misses time.

Roschon Johnson, Chicago Bears
It might take time for Johnson to earn a bigger role, but it is coming. The rookie had five carries for 20 yards with a touchdown, and caught six of seven targets for 35 yards operating as the third-down back. If Johnson wasn’t drafted, get him on your roster.

Wide Receivers

Puka Nacua, Los Angeles Rams
The Rams offense looked better than most expected, and Matthew Stafford made some great throws on Sunday. Without Cooper Kupp, Nacua filled his role well and will be the priority to add this week. The rookie receiver had 10 catches for 119 yards on 15 targets for a 44.1% target share. As long as Kupp is out, Nacua will be a good play. 

Rashid Shaheed, New Orleans Saints
I was surprised to see how late Shaheed went in deeper leagues; it likely was a groin injury in the preseason that limited him. Shaheed was one of the most efficient receivers last season and averaged 17.4 yards per catch, and third in yards per route run last season. He had an 18.1% target share against the Titans: five catches for 89 yards with a touchdown on six targets, adding two carries for 11 yards. 

Romeo Doubs, Green Bay Packers
Christian Watson missed Week 1 with a hamstring injury and Doubs was coming off a hamstring injury. Doubs was, according to reports, supposed to be limited; he had four catches for 26 yards with a touchdown on five targets. He played 29 snaps, which was tied for third-most among wide receivers on the team. Doubs will still be relevant when Watson returns and will be the go-to receiver with Watson out.

Zay Jones, Jacksonville Jaguars
Jones played in two-wide sets, while Christian Kirk mostly played the slot. Jones played 61 snaps, while Kirk was at 43. Jones caught five of seven targets for 55 yards with a touchdown.

Tutu Atwell, Los Angeles Rams
While Nacua got the headlines, Atwell had a good game, too and he could be overlooked. He had six catches for 119 yards on eight targets, making him an option in deeper leagues.

Allen Robinson, Pittsburgh Steelers
Robinson will see a bigger role with Diontae Johnson out for several weeks due to a hamstring injury. Robinson worked out of the slot and caught five of eight targets for 64 yards.

Josh Reynolds, Detroit Lions
The Lions are thin at wide receiver and Reynolds will be a factor while Jameson Williams (suspension) is out. He had a 28% target share against the Chiefs and had four catches for 80 yards on seven targets. In Week 2 he gets a Seahawks secondary that was shredded by the Rams last week.

Kendrick Bourne, New England Patriots
DeVante Parker sat out against the Eagles with a knee injury and Bourne took advantage. He turned 11 targets into six catches for 64 yards with two touchdowns. The Patriots will likely be forced to pass often again in Week 2 against Miami.

Calvin Austin, Pittsburgh Steelers
Austin is a good addition in deeper formats with Johnson missing time. Austin missed the 2022 season with a Lisfranc injury suffered in training camp. He caught all six of his targets for 37 yards against the 49ers. Three of the catches came after Johnson left the game.

Tight Ends

Luke Musgrave, Green Bay Packers
Musgrave is playing a lot and running a lot of routes. He played 81% of the snaps and had a 14.8% target share in Week 1, and was open on a pass that Love just missed him on. Musgrave was targeted four times and caught three passes for 50 yards.

Hunter Henry, New England Patriots
The good news is Henry played 78% of the snaps. The bad news is the Patriots passed 54 times and that won’t happen every week. Henry had just an 11.1% target share and caught five of six passes for 56 yards with a touchdown.

Logan Thomas, Washington Commanders
Thomas had seven targets, tying Jahan Dotson for the team lead, and caught four passes for 43 yards after missing most of the preseason due to injury. Commanders offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy has a history of making tight ends a big part of the offense. 

Hayden Hurst, Carolina Panthers
Hurst has a difficult matchup in Week 2 against the Saints, who tend to shut down tight ends. He gets the Seahawks and Vikings in the weeks ahead, and with the Panthers lacking good receivers, he had a 22.6% target share. Hurst received seven targets, catching five passes for 41 yards and a touchdown. 

Zach Ertz, Arizona Cardinals
In his first game back from injury, Ertz played 77% of the snaps. He received 10 targets and caught six passes for 21 yards. The Cardinals will be playing from behind often.

Defense/Special Teams

New York Giants
Going against the Cardinals offense will be a weekly theme. The Cardinals had 210 yards of offense against Washington in Week 1. 

Cleveland Browns
The Browns defense isn’t as dominant as their performance against the Bengals would suggest. Still, it was impressive to allow only 154 yards of offense. In Week 2 the Browns get a Steelers offense that looked terrible against the 49ers, and then a horrible Titans offensive line in Week 3.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Buccaneers allowed a lot of yards against the Vikings, but held them to 17 points. This week they get the Bears and Justin Fields, who was sacked four times and threw a pick-six against the Packers.