October 17, 2017

Deeper waiver wire sleepers and pickups to add for Week 7 of the NFL season. Justin Carter finds lightly owned players for fantasy football owners to target.

Last week I mentioned Brian Hoyer as a good streaming option, which quickly looked like a bad call when Hoyer was benched for C.J. Beathard. But hey--the 49ers offense looks surprisingly not terrible, so maybe I just had the wrong quarterback penciled in! But seriously, I don't know what to think about San Francisco--every week it seems like their offense puts up a decent game by relying on a different skill player. At some point, they've got to run out of those, right?

Some players from last week who you should still be grabbing (and are still under 20%--sorry, Jacoby Brissett, who now misses this list): George Kittle, who looks to be the next solid rookie tight end in a year where rookie tight ends keep seeing the field, and Nick O'Leary, who was on a bye this week so didn't have a chance to prove me wrong yet. Thanks, Nick!

Let's look at deeper waiver wire targets and sleepers for Week 7, players whose ownership is currently under 20% and are likely available in many of your leagues. Note: All ownership percentages are for Yahoo leagues.

Deeper Waiver Wire Targets for Week 7

Note: I'm not going to blurb players who were mentioned last week, but I will note that the following players from last week are still under 20% owned and still worth a look: 

Before I get started, I just want to say this: it looks like every week some 49ers wide receiver not named Pierre Garcon is going to get 10+ targets. I'm done putting that player on this list because it's clear that it's almost all about game flow at this point. There isn't week-to-week consistency.

QUARTERBACKS

Josh McCown, New York Jets - 8% owned

McCown threw for two touchdowns on Sunday--it should have been three, though!--and gets Miami and Atlanta the next two weeks. He's put up 14 or more fantasy points in four of his six starts, with his one disastrous start coming against a Jaguars defense that has made every quarterback they've faced look bad. McCown has solid streaming potential for the next couple of weeks for a Jets squad that has been shockingly competitive.

C.J. Beathard, San Francisco 49ers - 1% owned

Hmm. I watched a lot of Beathard in college because my wife is from Iowa and he never really stood out, but he's now taken over the 49ers job from Brian Hoyer and, in his first action looked...fine. 245 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. The 49ers offense was been better than expected and he's got an underrated advantage--rookie tight end George Kittle also played for Iowa.

Brett Hundley, Green Bay Packers - 0% owned

Brett Hundley was very bad after coming in for the injured Aaron Rodgers, completing only 18 of his 33 attempts and throwing three interceptions. Hundley won't put up numbers even close to what Rodgers does, but it's worth noting that the Packers play the Saints next week and still have the same skill position players they had before Rodgers went down. There are better options, but he could be a sneaky play in leagues that start two quarterbacks.

RUNNING BACKS

D'Onta Foreman, Houston Texans - 15% owned

Foreman returns to this list after a twelve carry outing against the Browns. His stock had been dropping with Lamar Miller reasserting himself in Houston's offense, but they saw an equal number of carries this week and Foreman out rushed Miller. Foreman profiles as an every down back and many still expect him to take over the starting role soon. The Texans are on a bye this week, so it's the perfect time to grab Foreman after waivers clear and hope that the team comes back from the bye with new ideas for how to incorporate him into the offense.

Orleans Darkwa, New York Giants - 10% owned

The Giants won a game and all it took was them losing their top four wide receivers and committing to the run against one of the NFL's best run defenses! Everything makes sense! Football! But seriously, Darkwa's rise over the past two games (69 yards and a touchdown against the Chargers, followed by 117 yards against Denver) has been unexpected. Expect the Giants to stick with him and with the run game because--well, what else can they do? (They can throw the ball to Evan Engram, but that's only going to happen 8-10 times per game.)

WIDE RECEIVERS

Robby Anderson, New York Jets - 17% owned

I've talked before about how I won't trust any 49ers receivers in this column, but it might also be time to add individual Jets receivers to this list? I don't know. What I do know is Anderson was targeted twelve times this week. Sure, that was partly because the Jets threw a lot against a weak Patriots secondary, but Anderson does have three games of 50 or more yards so far. He's not a great option, but he has upside in deeper leagues.

Bennie Fowler, Denver Broncos - 2% owned

With Emmanuel Sanders expected to miss time, Fowler could have a lot of upside. He was targeted eight times against the Giants and should see that usage continue until Sanders is back. With defenses likely keying in more on Demaryius Thomas and C.J. Anderson, Fowler may be in line for some strong games.

TIGHT ENDS

Ryan Griffin, Houston Texans - 8% owned

With the Texans on a bye, you don't need to rush out and grab Griffin, but he's a solid option moving forward for teams that need a tight end. The Texans are becoming a pass-first offense under quarterback Deshaun Watson and Griffin is benefiting from it.

Vernon Davis, Washington Redskins - 6% owned

Maybe you expected Davis not to see the field with Jordan Reed back. You'd be wrong. The veteran caught three passes for 65 yards against the 49ers. With Reed's continued struggles, fantasy owners might not want to give up on Davis yet.

Darren Fells, Detroit Lions - 1% owned

Who should be given up on? Eric Ebron. Darren Fells has replaced Ebron as the Lions primary option at tight end and with Golden Tate injured owners should expect to see a slight uptick in Fells's usage. He's pretty boom-or-bust--three of his four catches over the past two weeks have gone for touchdowns--and the Lions are on bye this week, but Fells should be picked up in deeper leagues simply because he's a tight end capable of scoring touchdowns in the red zone.

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