September 11, 2019
With Week 1 of the NFL season in the books, you've now had a chance to see how the team you drafted performs on the field. And whether you won or lost, there's likely at least one spot on your roster where you could use an upgrade, and potentially more depending on how you drafted and if your players were able to escape the opening weekend injury free.
Unfortunately, if you own Nick Foles, Tyreek Hill, Mike Williams or any other of the players who went down this weekend, you'll have to turn elsewhere for help. Luckily for you, we've got some names of players that could help you — if someone else doesn't snatch them up first.
Here's at least one player at every position to grab off the fantasy waiver wire for Week 2:
The veteran quarterback looked good in Week 1, posting 385 passing yards and three touchdowns against the Cardinals, and he could have another big outing this week against another NFC West team, the 49ers. San Francisco didn't allow much through the air in their opening win over the Bucs, but it's hard to tell if that was due more to their defense or Jameis Winston's incompetence.
With new additions of T.J. Hockenson and Danny Amendola joining Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones, Stafford now has a nice quartet of weapons through the air, and that was on display against the Cardinals. Even if you don't need him for this week, it might not be a bad idea to pick up Stafford now and hang on to him just in case.
BONUS: Josh Allen, BUF
It's hard not to feel bad for Derrius Guice. After missing his entire rookie season with a torn ACL, the former second-round pick is sidelined again, this time with an ankle injury suffered in his team's Week 1 loss to the Eagles. That could open the door for Peterson and Thompson — the former was a healthy scratch on Sunday for the first time in his career and the latter posted 14.8 PPR points without finding the end zone.
In terms of immediate impact, Thompson could be the better pickup given his PPR value and the fact that he was actually on the field in Week 1. Add to that the fact that Washington is facing the Cowboys and could find themselves playing from behind, thus forcing them into passing situations, Thompson seems like the choice here. But don't sleep on Peterson, who was Washington's offensive MVP last season and proved that despite being well into his 30s, he can still post some fantasy points.
Bonus: Malcolm Brown, LAR; Carlos Hyde, HOU
The Ravens rookie wideout certainly turned some heads in his NFL debut, helping lead the way in his team's blowout win over Miami with four receptions for 148 yards and a pair of touchdowns. As is the case with a lot of the players here, it's hard to tell whether or not their Week 1 performance was an outlier or an indication of things to come — and that's especially difficult for a rookie — but if Lamar Jackson continues to play like he did on Sunday, you can expect big things from the speedy wideout.
The only potential issue with Brown is that he wasn't on the field a ton for the Ravens — he only ran 10 pass routes in Week 1 according to NFL.com. On the bright side, he was targeted on five of those 10 routes, so maybe Baltimore will look to get him more involved against the Cardinals, the same team Matt Stafford and the Lions passed all over last week.
Bonus: John Ross, CIN; John Brown, BUF; Jamison Crowder, NYJ
It may not be the guy everyone expected to benefit most from the departure of Antonio Brown, but that's what happened in Week 1. The Raiders tight end led the team in targets with eight, and hauled in seven of them for 80 yards. If Waller can keep up that kind of production going forward, he'll soon be worthy of a starting spot on fantasy rosters. It may be a little early for that now, but you should grab him now before someone else does.
Bonus: Vernon Davis, WAS
[NOTE: Since bye weeks haven't started, there doesn't seem to be any reason to put defenses and kickers in here just yet. We'll get to them soon enough.]
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