If this year's training camp is any indication as to how the regular season will go, this could be one of the more chaotic waiver wires in recent memory. It feels like the term ambiguous backfield is the newest fantasy buzzword that can poison impactful conversation, but it also is an acknowledgement that the community is starved for more meaningful dissection of situations.
I will address both shallow and deeper leagues throughout this column each week, and I'll try to make special distinctions as to how to separate the philosophies. Ultimately the goal is to get everyone as prepared as possible to tackle the waiver wire each week, no matter the league format.
The preseason waiver wire column is both for those who have drafted and already need to pick up players and those who are looking for late-round fantasy sleepers for an upcoming fantasy football draft.
This column is geared toward "standard" 12-team leagues and based upon a $100 free-agent budget. Please adjust for your league based on both the number of teams and remaining budget.
Quarterback
ALL LEAGUES
Trevor Lawrence - The Jacksonville quarterback is effectively on the threshold that he shouldn't be in this article, but I'd make an argument he should be a start in just about every format at least Week 1 against Carolina. What do you ultimately think was real last year? New head coach Liam Cohen made the Buccaneers offense roll last season with similar personnel he'll have up north in Florida. Carolina's
If this year's training camp is any indication as to how the regular season will go, this could be one of the more chaotic waiver wires in recent memory. It feels like the term ambiguous backfield is the newest fantasy buzzword that can poison impactful conversation, but it also is an acknowledgement that the community is starved for more meaningful dissection of situations.
I will address both shallow and deeper leagues throughout this column each week, and I'll try to make special distinctions as to how to separate the philosophies. Ultimately the goal is to get everyone as prepared as possible to tackle the waiver wire each week, no matter the league format.
The preseason waiver wire column is both for those who have drafted and already need to pick up players and those who are looking for late-round fantasy sleepers for an upcoming fantasy football draft.
This column is geared toward "standard" 12-team leagues and based upon a $100 free-agent budget. Please adjust for your league based on both the number of teams and remaining budget.
Quarterback
ALL LEAGUES
Trevor Lawrence - The Jacksonville quarterback is effectively on the threshold that he shouldn't be in this article, but I'd make an argument he should be a start in just about every format at least Week 1 against Carolina. What do you ultimately think was real last year? New head coach Liam Cohen made the Buccaneers offense roll last season with similar personnel he'll have up north in Florida. Carolina's defense was objectively pitiful in 2024, but they return Jaycee Horn and Derrick Brown, who were critical parts of the missing equation. I'm betting the new era of Jaguars football will start with a bang. I'd rather start Lawrence over similar-tiered quarterbacks like Justin Fields or Caleb Williams in Week 1. FAAB: $0
DEEP LEAGUES
Daniel Jones - Look, I wasn't surprised at all that Jones was named the Indianapolis starter. But I'd be truly surprised if he starts as long as head coach Shane Steichen suggests. This recommendation really only applies to deeper single-QB leagues as I imagine everyone already speculated on the job battle in superflex or two-QB leagues, but the reality is Jones likely will provide a solid-enough floor each week that you won't regret rostering him. And when Indy inevitably shuffles the QB deck once again, you can do the same for your fantasy lineup too. FAAB: $0
Running Back
ALL LEAGUES
Jacory Croskey-Merritt - This recommendation is for leagues that drafted early, as "Bill" is currently going in the eighth round in NFFC leagues. That's patently a horrendous fantasy football ADP for a litany of reasons, but I can at least acknowledge that JCM should be rostered no matter the format. Everyone will point to Croskey-Merritt's one lone productive college season at New Mexico as a reason to extrapolate that at the NFL level, but it seems that discourse conveniently ignores the running back was 22 years old against Mountain West competition. If we have to slight Ashton Jeanty (and possibly rightly so?) for the level of competition he dominated last year, I don't understand why the same logic is ignored for the 24-year-old Commanders back. Instead I think we should recognize a different Washington back ... FAAB: $6-8
Chris Rodriguez - … a Washington back who head coach Dan Quinn acknowledged would be at minimum the team's short-yardage and goal-line back. I think Croskey-Merritt and Austin Ekeler likely will cycle through as the team's preferred back between the 20s. I would imagine Jeremy McNichols will also be on tap in the event Ekeler inevitably gets injured. But post-Brian Robinson trade, there's nobody on Washington's roster who can fill the aforementioned role above, and that's obviously a critical one given Robinson averaged 776 rushing yards in three seasons in that capacity with the Commanders. The reality is probably nobody from this backfield emerges as "the" guys early on, but I'd rather acquire the defined role at a cheaper price than whatever arguments are being made for Croskey-Merritt. FAAB: $4-6
Jerome Ford - If you're in need of a Week 1 starting back, there's probably none available better than Ford. Quinshon Judkins presumably won't be ready for the start of the regular season even if he miraculously signs his rookie contract in the next week, and while Dylan Sampson did start Saturday's preseason finale, he split work with Ford, who the team already knows can handle the starting workload. A divisional matchup against Cincinnati probably isn't as good of a fantasy set-up as it'll be later in the season when the Bengals' porous defense will inevitably lose players on the injury report, but Ford can be a volume ballcarrier for Cleveland in a pinch and operate successfully as the backfield's pass catcher. Sampson can arguably only do the latter. FAAB: $6-12 - higher if you need a starter
Deep Leagues
Ollie Gordon - This is admittedly only a player I'd look for as basically my RB5, but I will continue to be steadfast in my belief De'Von Achane simply can't see the same workload he did last year, or if he does the Dolphins will lose. Gordon was an incredibly hot devy league prospect before completely falling off in his final season at Oklahoma State. The value of the rookie running back is likely somewhere in between, so I'd rather ride the fence and block my other league mates from possibly getting a 12-touch back most weeks. FAAB: $3
Wide Receiver
ALL LEAGUES
Christian Kirk - I assume most people reading this article won't be able to add Kirk off waivers, but I'm using this space just to establish for everyone that until the veteran wide receiver is injured, targets like Jayden Higgins and more so Jaylin Noel will be fantasy sinkholes. Kirk has objectively been a terrific NFL wide receiver for a half decade at this point, and while he gets unfairly criticized for the ineptitude of Trent Baalke, it's pretty obvious he just thrives wherever he goes. I don't think we'll ever fully understand why Bobby Slowik deviated from the offensive scheme that made C.J. Stroud so successful his rookie year, but with new offensive coordinator Nick Caley now in the picture, I'm comfortable writing off the sophomore slump. Kirk is a wide receiver I'd comfortably start Week 1 in a pinch, and he's somehow only rostered in 40 percent of Yahoo leagues. FAAB: $6-10
Dont'e Thornton - I try not to fall for training camp hype, but the siren song got me this time. Let's acknowledge the cons first. Thornton's best collegiate season was his last where he finished with 26 receptions for 661 yards and six touchdowns at Tennessee. The Raiders rookie averaged 25.4 yards per reception in his final collegiate season, but we made these same arguments for Jalin Hyatt coming out of the Volunteers' program two years ago, and it's safe to say at this point that the scheme is very friendly for that archetype of receiver. But man, what an archetype Thornton is. At 6-foot-5 and sporting a 4.30 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine, the 22-year-old is a unique physical freak of a wide receiver, and more importantly Las Vegas simply doesn't have a comparable boundary target on the roster. He's going to play right away, and while Thornton might only see big-play targets, I'd rather scoop him up now than chase the production on waivers after the fact if he explodes Week 1. FAAB: $3
Tight End
ALL LEAGUES
Mason Taylor - I've been pounding the table for the rookie since the NFL Draft, and I'm a bit frustrated he's not being drafted higher. It basically costs nothing if I'm wrong about this, but I don't understand what the downside is supposed to be? The Jets have no one besides Garrett Wilson to command targets, and even if Justin Fields only attempts something like 22 passes a game, that was still enough for Cole Kmet to draw 60 receptions in 2021 and another 50-plus catches and seven touchdowns in 2022 when Fields was the starter in Chicago. FAAB: $1
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