Waiver Wire Watch: Week 10
Editor’s Note: We’re happy to announce the arrival of 4for4 Contributor Pat Fitzmaurice (formerly of Pro Football Weekly), who will work in conjunction with Senior Editor John Paulsen to compile this list of the top waiver wire pickups each week.
Here is a look at the top waiver wire pickups for Week 10. To be eligible for discussion, the player must be owned in 50% or fewer ESPN leagues, though we’ll stretch the rules a bit for the RB position, which is usually very thin. We’ll also include suggested bid prices (with a $100 budget) for those leagues that use Free Agent Acquisition Budgets. Of course, player value depends on league characteristics and team needs. Players are listed by position in order of importance. For extremely shallow or extremely deep leagues, be sure to review our Rest-of-Season Rankings (updated every Tuesday) to get an idea of how to value players not on this list.
* Players with an asterisk next to their name were mentioned in last week’s Waiver Wire Watch.
Eagles QB Nick Foles ($8)
What are we to make of Foles after his seven-TD tour de force against the Raiders? While performing surgery in Oakland, the second-year quarterback completed 22-of-28 passes for 406 yards and didn’t commit a turnover. In light of how well Foles played in earlier games against the Giants and Buccaneers, he probably deserves a pass for a lousy Week 7 game against Dallas (11-for-29 for 80 yards) in which he sustained a concussion. Foles could nail down the starting job with good games against Green Bay and Washington before the Eagles’ Week 12 bye, and the Packers and Redskins are favorable matchups over the next two weeks. The Eagles’ fast offensive tempo is another reason for optimism here. Bid confidently.
Next up: Packers, Redskins, BYE
Raiders QB Terrelle Pryor* ($3)
Pryor left Sunday’s blowout loss to the Eagles with a knee injury, so double-check his status before adding him to your roster. Before he departed, he threw for 288 yards and ran for another 94 yards, but he produced no TDs and threw a pair of interceptions. In his last two games Pryor has run for 200 yards and a TD, but he hasn’t thrown a TD pass in either game. It’s a mixed bag to be sure, but the rushing ability makes him a dangerous fantasy performer.
Next up: Giants, Texans, Titans
Titans QB Jake Locker* ($2)
He’s made some nice strides this year, but Locker can still be a scatter-armed thrower, and we saw some of Locker’s worst on Sunday, when he completed 13-of-22 passes for 185 yards with no TDs and two interceptions in a win over the misbegotten Rams. But Locker has had some very productive passing games this season, and he scored his second rushing TD of the season on Sunday. Locker’s upcoming schedule doesn’t look too bad, although it gets harder late in the regular season.
Next up: Jaguars, Colts, Raiders
Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill* ($2)
Tannehill was held without a TD pass for the first time all season last week against the Bengals, but he made it up to his fantasy owners by scoring his first rushing TD of the season. He has a semi-favorable matchup against the Buccaneers this week, then a highly favorable matchup against the Chargers in Week 11.
Next up: Buccaneers, Chargers, Panthers
Buccaneers QB Mike Glennon* ($2)
After attempting 43 or more passes in each of his first four starts, the lanky rookie threw only 23 passes against the Seahawks on Sunday but was very efficient, completing 17 throws for 168 yards, with two TDs and no interceptions. After games against Carolina and Seattle, the schedule now starts to ease up for Glennon (though the Dolphins are no pushovers this week). And with the wayward Buccaneers likely to be playing from behind quite a bit, expect a lot of passing attempts.
Next up: Dolphins, Falcons, Lions
Texans QB Case Keenum ($2)
The Keenum bandwagon is starting to pick up momentum after two games’ worth of impressive numbers. The erstwhile backup followed up a 271-yard performance against the Chiefs with a 350-yard, three-TD effort in Sunday night’s loss to the Colts. Keenum has a reputation for doing his best work underneath, but he and WR Andre Johnson connected on several deep balls, including TDs covering 62 and 41 yards. (Johnson also had a 5-yard TD catch.) The Texans’ starting job is now Keenum’s to lose. (Well, for this season, anyway.) His next game is against the Cardinals, among the stingiest teams in the league in QB points allowed, but ensuing matchups against the Raiders and Jaguars are more promising.
Next up: Cardinals, Raiders, Jaguars
