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Because league formats vary, one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to your waiver wire. That’s why I break possible free agent adds into three categories. Follow me on Twitter at @HarrisFootball for the latest on possible additions to your fantasy roster.
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Addable in All Leagues
Kenneth Dixon, RB, BAL (owned in 25% of Yahoo leagues). I don’t know who will lead the Ravens backfield in a month, but the times they are a-changin’. Buck Allen was inactive for Baltimore’s first three contests, and Justin Forsett was a healthy scratch Sunday. Terrance West saw his season’s biggest workload and against the Raiders produced the best day a Ravens rusher has had so far in 2016. He’s a better short-term waiver add, but longer term watch out for Dixon, a rookie out of Louisiana Tech who missed a month with a knee sprain. Dixon is expected to play in Week 5 and while West figures to get a bigger workload against Washington, I still think he’s a bit of a clodhopper. Don’t start Dixon this week, but add him and see how this shakes out.
Jay Ajayi, RB, MIA (30% owned). If Arian Foster can return from his groin injury against the Titans in Week 5, he’s a fantasy flex and Ajayi returns to backup territory. But after a couple games of experimentation, Adam Gase has presumably learned what several other coaching administrations have known: the likes of Isaiah Pead, Damien Washington, and even rookie Kenyan Drake are unremarkable between-the-tackles backs. Ajayi scored the game-winning overtime TD in Week 3 and was obviously Miami’s best back last Thursday. For the moment, I’m guessing we’re back to the Foster/Ajayi combo we expected this summer.
Hunter Henry is getting open. Photo by Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
Hunter Henry, TE, SD (31% owned). Antonio Gates has missed back-to-back games with a bad hamstring. If he misses more, Henry deserves to be a top-ten fantasy tight end. Henry is a rookie, but he’s polished, and the Chargers aren’t asking him to do a ton of blocking. Instead, he’s using advanced route-running chops to get open. Plus, he scored a touchdown Sunday against the Saints.
Ravens Defense (29% owned). I’m not sold on Washington’s offense as some kind of elite power force, primarily because I think Kirk Cousins makes as many bad decisions as good ones. The Ravens haven’t created a bunch of turnovers just yet, but their veteran pass rushers are getting healthier and I like ’em to punish Cousins Sunday.
Players listed in previous weeks who are still adds: Terrance West, RB, BAL (30%); Cameron Artis-Payne, RB, CAR (31%); Chris Hogan, WR, NE (24%)
Speculative Adds
Sammie Coates is high risk, high reward. Photo by Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Sammie Coates, WR, PIT (17% owned). Antonio Brown gets fed first. After that? I’ll take Coates, who’s starting to display the traits of an actual professional wide receiver as opposed to just a freak athlete. In Sunday night’s blowout win over the Chiefs, Coates made his traditional once-per-game deep strike down the sideline, but he also ran a few nice routes and toe-tapped on the sideline. He’d be a high-reward risk if he can replicate the Martavis Bryant role for Big Ben.
Andre Ellington, RB, ARI (2% owned). Chris Johnson came out of Arizona’s Week 4 loss with a groin injury and the Cardinals have already signed Kerwynn Williams, an indication they don’t expect CJ?K to be available for Thursday night’s contest against the 49ers. Maybe Johnson is out longer than that, and if that’s the case, Ellington gets one step closer to the big chair. At the very least, he’d become a handcuff for David Johnson owners.
James White, RB, NE (28% owned). You may have heard that this dude named Brady is returning to the Patriots in Week 5, and that now everything may change. We all looked forward to a reunion between Brady and a healthy Dion Lewis, but Lewis ain’t healthy, and these days Brady likes to throw to his backs. White may instantly regain the PPR flex value we envisioned when Lewis underwent a knee scope in August.
Eddie Royal, WR, CHI (13% owned). Forgive me for not taking the cheese after Royal posted seven grabs for 111 yards and a red-zone touchdown Week 4 against the Lions. Not that Royal can’t score close-in TDs; for a little dude (5’10” and 182 pounds) he’s made a nice habit of racking up bunnies. No, I just remember too many seasons when Royal became a waiver wire cause célèbre and did nothing thereafter. What might give him a bit more staying power in ’16 is if Kevin White’s ankle injury is serious.
Maybe Eddie Royal will deliver the goods this year. Photo by Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports
Dontrelle Inman, WR, SD (2% owned). Tyrell Williams is owned in more than two-thirds of leagues, but it was Inman who blew up against the Saints: seven grabs, 120 yards, and a long touchdown. Inman doesn’t boast Williams’s long speed but otherwise he’s a reasonable facsimile, and there’s no guarantee that any single receiver will replace Keenan Allen on the Chargers’ receiving depth chart. Inman has as good a chance as anyone to post big days.
Matt Asiata, RB, MIN (20% owned). The bye weeks are here and you may be in a league where the waiver wire pickings are a bit slim. It’s never bad to add a running back who can clang in a short touchdown in any given game, as Asiata did Monday night.
Will Tye, TE, NYG (1% owned). Larry Donnell left Monday’s game because of a concussion, and he’s got a history of them. It seems likely that he’ll miss time. In his absence, Tye had four grabs for 43 yards and gains a tinge of sleeper appeal.
Zach Zenner, RB, DET (0% owned). Dwayne Washington injured his foot or ankle in the second quarter Sunday and couldn’t return. Theo Riddick remained Detroit’s prime backfield option, but Zenner got a goal-line carry; he also filled in on back-to-back second-half plays and had a couple nice chunk gains. If Washington is out, Zenner almost certainly will be active Sunday against the Eagles and will see a spike in carries.
Players listed in previous weeks who are still speculative adds: Brock Osweiler, QB, HOU (21%); Paul Perkins, RB, NYG (3%); Alfred Morris, RB, DAL (22%); Wendell Smallwood, RB, PHI (12%); Devontae Booker, RB, DEN (10%); Bilal Powell, RB, NYJ (23%); Fozzy Whittaker, RB, CAR (24%); Davante Adams, WR, GB (9%); Josh Doctson, WR, WAS (4%); Anquan Boldin, WR, DET (20%); Adam Humphries, WR, TB (7%); Jesse James, TE, PIT (21%); Clive Walford, TE, OAK (15%); Cameron Brate, TE, TB (10%)
Deep-League Adds
Into the Woods. Photo by David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
Robert Woods, WR, BUF (7% owned). I’m not a believer in Woods as a fantasy threat, but I’ll admit he did a nice job playing the dink-and-dunk game with Tyrod Taylor against the Patriots Sunday. I suppose there are worse options in deep PPR leagues now that Sammy Watkins is on injured reserve.
Brian Quick, WR, LA (0% owned). Quick lit up the Cardinals with two touchdowns on two catches Sunday. That’s not what you’d call a sustainable ratio, and whenever Quick has teased as a potential fantasy option before, he’s fallen right back down into the muck. But he’s a big dude. You’re allowed to dream.
Danny Amendola, WR, NE (11% owned). Here’s another potential impact add as a result of that Brady guy returning. Maybe Amendizzle gets untracked in Cleveland.
Josh Ferguson, RB, IND (1% owned). Ferguson didn’t run well for the Colts in London and had a bad drop in the receiving game, but he plays on many third downs. I just wish he looked as quick in an NFL uniform as he did in college at Illinois.
Joique Bell, RB, CHI (1% owned). Right now, Jordan Howard is all that stands between Joique and a starting NFL job. Unfortunately, in Bell’s first action for the Bears in Week 4, literally every run he made involved a spin move. Kinda predictable there, Joique-ster.
Players listed in previous weeks who are still addable in deep leagues: Chris Thompson, RB, WAS (7%); Jalen Richard, RB, OAK (5%); DeAndre Washington, RB, OAK (13%); Kenjon Barner, RB, PHI (1%); Alex Collins, RB, SEA (0%); Travaris Cadet, RB, NO (2%); Dexter McCluster, RB, SD (3%); Kenneth Farrow, RB, SD (0%); Bobby Rainey, RB, NYG (3%); Kenny Stills, WR, MIA (10%); Brandon LaFell, WR, CIN (4%); Eli Rogers, WR, PIT (7%); Austin Seferian-Jenkins, TE, NYJ (4%)
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