According to the Data: Who to Target on Waivers Early in the Year

Which free agents are most worthy of being added?

In a game with so much inherent volatility, fantasy football is often won or lost with "the little things." You need to hit on a good number of your draft picks, of course, but starting the correct player one week or picking up the best free agent another week can be the difference between a fantasy championship and missing the playoffs entirely.

The strategies employed with in-season moves, such as waiver wire acquisitions, are often far different from those during the draft. Whereas much of the draft is an attempt to uncover a "sure thing," there are no such guarantees on the waiver wire. Your goal isn't to find a can't-miss player, but rather to maximize your chances of hitting on what will likely turn out to be a dud. You're truly sifting for a diamond in the rough.

I tracked the top-20 Week 1 waiver wire pickups (in terms of how often they were added) each year since 2008. Of those 80 pla

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