- Dontayvion Wicks will need to step up: The Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver should lead the team in targets with DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert out through injury.
- Darren Waller becomes a bigger priority: The Carolina Panthers tight end has seen his role increase, and that should continue, given the injuries the team is dealing with.
- Stay on top of injuries as kickoff approaches: Use PFF's injury dashboard to receive live updates on practice reports, player statuses, actives/inactives and more.
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Every player below (and more) is in the new PFF Waiver Wire Tool, which takes the advice from this article and tailors it to your specific league.
Sync your Sleeper, Yahoo! or ESPN league, and anyone already rostered disappears from the list, so you only see players you can actually add. No synced league? Filter by roster percentage to cut the names who won't be sitting on your wire anyway. From there, you can narrow by position, by matchup or by PFF Tags like Great Matchup, Season-long and Handcuff. Click any player to read the analysis below, plus matchup data, recent stats and a look at his upcoming schedule.
Synced leagues also get the Waiver Cheat Sheet, which puts your roster side by side with everything available in either weekly or rest-of-season order. If a player in yellow ranks above someone you planned to start, that's your move. The tool refreshes early every Monday and updates throughout the week as players get scooped up and injuries create new options. Try it here.
Jump to a position group:
QB | RB | WR | TE
Quarterback
C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans (Rostered in 37.0% of leagues on ESPN)
Tyler Shough and Bryce Young were the two big waiver targets at quarterback over the first two weeks. Both have scored a lot of fantasy points and graded well. They are also young, ascending quarterbacks at a time when no clear-cut “great” quarterback options remain on the waiver wire.
Most starting quarterbacks can put up QB1 numbers in the right matchup. Five quarterbacks available in more than 90% of leagues scored more than 20 points this week, but no available quarterback has averaged more than 20 points per game. The two available quarterbacks who have scored the most points are Kirk Cousins and Deshaun Watson, but neither has graded particularly well, which suggests their strong play might not continue. Both will be fine in the right matchups, but those matchups aren’t necessarily this week. The main reason to pick up a quarterback now is that you need a good option for the week.
The top quarterback who fits that description is Stroud. He hasn’t played as well without Nico Collins, but he is back this week. Stroud scored 20.5 fantasy points with Collins in Week 1. They face a Dallas Cowboys defense that has allowed an average of 27 points per game despite facing Malik Nabers and Zay Flowers on snap counts, as well as the Washington Commanders, who lost Jayden Daniels in the middle of that game.
Houston should be able to put up a lot of points, and a lot of them should come from Stroud’s arm.
Marcus Mariota (18.6%)
Mariota made his first start of the season against the Seattle Seahawks. He averaged only 5.9 yards per attempt but threw for three touchdowns. He also ran the ball five times, although he wasn’t particularly effective on the ground. Seattle was hurting at safety, but the rest of its defense remains strong.
Mariota should have an easier matchup this week against the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts allowed 74 points over the first two weeks before having much more success against the Houston Texans this week, holding them to 17 points.
Mariota isn’t someone to trust in single-quarterback leagues, as the Colts’ defensive improvement could continue. However, his rushing ability provides a solid fantasy foundation, and there is additional upside if the Indianapolis defense falls back toward what we saw over the first two weeks. That makes Mariota a very intriguing option in superflex leagues.
Tyson Bagent, Chicago Bears (0.4%)
Bagent is expected to start for the Bears this week against the New York Jets. Many fantasy managers likely missed the opportunity to pick him up earlier in the week, as Case Keenum was largely expected to keep the job after playing well on Monday Night Football last week.
We don’t know exactly what Bagent will provide, but he has a strong supporting cast in Chicago. Keenum finished as the QB7 last week with 24.5 fantasy points, and Bagent is expected to offer more upside at the position.
The Jets aren’t an ideal matchup, but several quarterbacks around the league face either tougher opponents or worse situations this week. That makes Bagent a viable starting option in superflex leagues.
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