Whether you are a die-hard dynasty owner or a casual redraft player, leagues are won and lost in the trenches. In this case, the trenches are waiver wires. If you are in a redraft league, you will probably have the opportunity to snatch up plenty of players throughout the course of a season. Dynasty leagues are where owners need to be quick and sharp.

The waiver wire becomes even more competitive in the wake of an injury and can be a vital for the owner who just lost a player to injury. On the flip side, you can really put a damper on a competing owner's season by grabbing their replacement and then rub it in just a little more, by riding your pickup to the playoffs.

In what has been a season full of surprises, the players who will be hot adds this week really are not surprises. However, we need to put to bed any doubt you may have about adding these guys who other owners have probably given up on already. Don’t let the hesitation of using your waiver on a veteran player be the reason you miss out on someone who could be a huge help the rest of the year.

#TrendingUp

Latavius Murray (RB, MIN)

Anytime a player goes down with a major injury you feel bad. Anytime a young running back who was clearly a Rookie of the Year candidate goes down, you feel even worse. After a great start to the season for the Minnesota offense, it has been downhill since. Case Keenum isn’t going to win a bunch of games by himself, but with the help of a really good defense and an improved offensive line, Minnesota can control the game through the run. This is where Latavius Murray steps in and offers great value for a fantasy owner in 2017 and maybe even some into 2018. Murray spent 2015 and 2016 in an Oakland offense that was molded around their quarterback and wide receivers and found success averaging 4.0 yards per carry. To top that off, he had 18 touchdowns the last two years as well. The Vikings do not have a timetable on the return of Sam Bradford, and until they do, you have to figure Murray is going to be called upon to help stabilize that offense.

It was clear that Minnesota was looking to feature the run game this year as Cook had 74 carries through three and a half games. Murray is a must add for me in dynasty formats if someone hasn’t already rostered him. If you do own him and you don’t have Cook on your team, start sending offers to the Cook owner right away. It’s hard to replace the type of output Cook was providing owners, so adding the player who replaces Cook in the same situation is as close as you’ll get. Murray will get a little extra time to get ready this week as Minnesota won’t play till Monday night against the Bears. If you’ve watched the Bears recently, you know this could be a good opportunity to get going.

Thomas Rawls (RB, SEA)

Thomas Rawls didn’t make it into this article till late. Typically, I start writing during Sunday night football then take Monday and Tuesday to adjust, but I wasn’t even planning on using Rawls until the news that rookie Chris Carson suffered a fractured leg against the Colts. The Seahawks backfield received a lot of attention over the offseason but Carson’s name didn’t really come up till we got closer to Week 1. Between the signing of Eddie Lacy, second year breakout candidate CJ Prosise and oft injured Thomas Rawls, the backfield was extremely crowded to start. Carson was the one to breakthrough though and has seen his usage climb every week as he set himself apart from the others.

This pickup is going to take a little extra faith because the backfield is still a mess and Rawls has only played in one game this year (five carries for four yards), but head coach Pete Carroll did hint at Rawls being the starter moving forward. We may just need to believe him though as Lacy (two games, 3.4 yards per carry) and Prosise (3 games, 2.5 yards per carry) haven’t been good enough to run away with carries. Prosise is going to carry a lot of PPR value moving forward and Lacy and Rawls do not have the abilities to help in this aspect of the game plan. The Seahawks are struggling right now and if it wasn’t for a big second half against the Colts, they would be closer to 1-3 then 2-2. The Seahawks need to get back to hardnosed football, running the ball down the oppositions throat and knocking down other teams with their defense. Rawls is the best back on the roster to help them regain that identity. During his rookie campaign, Rawls averaged 5.6 yards per carry on route to 830 yards rushing in just 13 games. Injuries have been a bigger factor for Rawls the past year than anything, and if he’s healthy, he could offer a ton of value moving forward. Based on Rawls being inactive twice this year and options galore for the Seahawks, there is a really good chance you can find this guy on waivers.

#TrendingDown

Amari Cooper/Michael Crabtree (WR, OAK)

For the second straight year, Derek Carr will miss time with an injury. It was revealed Monday that Carr will miss 2-6 weeks with a transverse process fracture in his back. The good news is that owners should have Carr back for the stretch run. The bad news however, lies with owners of Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree. If you have either of these guys and expected them to be your WR1, you’re going to be hurting for the next few weeks. EJ Manuel stepped in last week and tried to lead a last minute comeback against the Broncos but came up short. The Raiders have four weeks until their bye week and in that time, they face three of the top-10 defenses in passer rating (Baltimore, Kansas City and Buffalo.) Last year, Cooper and Crabtree had to face Denver in Week 17 and Houston in the first round of the playoffs without Carr and the numbers were not appealing. Cooper had four catches for 49 yards and one touchdown while Crabtree had seven catches for 80 yards. The Raiders would have some tough matchups even if they had Carr but owners cannot expect Manuel to fair much better. Cooper himself is driving owner’s crazy with seven drops in this young season. Crabtree led all receivers with nine drops in 16 games last season.

If you are a dynasty owner, the time to grab Cooper is now as his value may never be lower outside a major injury. He is still extremely talented and has more upside than almost any other receiver in dynasty formats. He has been frustrating but he will come around and could help lead your team to a fantasy championship after Carr returns. Crabtree, who missed last week with a chest injury, has continued to be valued higher than Cooper. Crabtree has had a huge red zone target share the last two years with 33.3% in 2015 and 23.3% in 2016, but Cooper has cut into that in 2017 (31.3% to 12.5%). Cooper has closed the value gap significantly this season even though the traditional stats don’t show it. Even though Cooper is currently #TrendingDown, the time to move is now for rebuilding franchises looking toward the future.

Jay Ajayi (RB, MIA)

As high as I was on players like Kareem Hunt and Ty Montgomery this offseason, I was just as low on Jay Ajayi. If we look at this from a dynasty perspective, my main argument is longevity. His knee issues were well documented coming out of Boise State in the 2015 draft. Running backs don’t rate high on the longevity scale but running backs with knee issues coming out of the draft raise all sorts of red flags for me. Ajayi was going late first/early second in dynasty drafts this offseason, but I wasn’t willing to take the risk. Outside of that, he really hasn’t been as good as people argue him to be. If you argued that Ajayi would have the workload to be a top back, you had a good argument. There is no one on the Miami roster pushing Ajayi for carries, but there is a huge difference between workload and quality workload. Ajayi had three games last year in which he had over 200 rushing yards. Those three games accounted for 49% of his rushing yards for the season. Ajayi was only able to surpass 100 yards one other time.

Let’s focus in on this year though since we are talking #TrendingNow. The Miami offense has been atrocious so far. If it wasn’t for a three-yard touchdown from Jay Cutler to DeVante Parker at the end of regulation against the Jets, the Dolphins would have been shut out in back to back weeks. Ajayi had a solid Week 2 with 28 rushes for 122 yards, but has been nonexistent in Weeks 2 and 3 averaging 2.69 yards per carry. Rich Hribar from Rotoworld.com had a great Tweet that really sums up Ajayi’s performance since he became a regular last year:

Jay Ajayi has now been a top-20 scoring RB in just four of his past 11 games dating back to last year with one RB1 week.

— Rich Hribar (@LordReebs) October 3, 2017

If that doesn’t say #TrendingDown, then I don’t know what does. Ajayi does not offer any value in the passing game and really, no running backs for the Dolphins have offered any value in the passing game. The Dolphins have some poor rush defenses coming up, but he wasn’t able to turn in good performances against the Jets and Saints who rank 29^th and 18^th respectfully in rush yards against. There is good news if you are an Ajayi owner though. Someone in your league is probably still on the bandwagon and willing to pay top dollar for him. It’s early enough in the season that some have not pushed the panic button though. I am here to tell you that it’s time to push the panic button and sell, sell, sell.

More 2017 Dynasty League Strategy

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