Week 1 is over and whether you finished the week in victory or a loss, it’s time to grind the waiver wire. A very underappreciated part of fantasy football. If you’re looking for who you should be taking your shots at this week, I listed them in order of highest priority to lowest.
Elijah Mitchell
If only there was someone, anyone, that tried to tell you Sermon wasn’t the best rookie running back on his own team. It’s too bad no one did. But man, this kid absolutely balled, going for over 100 yards and a touchdown. He did this on a 79.2% opportunity share. Sure, Shanahan will annoy you with his deployment of these backs on a week-to-week basis, but this is your chance to get a high upside running back on the waivers. IF, and it’s a big IF, Elijah Mitchell gets somewhere in the range of rushing usage he got in week 1 (and lack of receiving usage) we can get rookie production comps like this.
Alfred Morris? Shanahan knows that guy.
Kenneth Gainwell
This was a surprise from the first week. The Gainwell usage wasn’t one that I was expecting. He owned a 33% rushing yard market share (non QB), which isn’t much, but it was second in line behind Sanders. What should be looked at was his 8.6% target share. That’s quite healthy and could potentially mean he’s in line for a healthy amount of receiving work. Which we know that targets are worth much more than carries. A running back with a path to opportunity is a running back we want.
K.J. Osborn
We really don’t know all that much about Osborn. He was a bust prospect that was a punt returner for the Vikings last year. We have no receiving data to go off for him aside from his college profile. In which he achieved a 30.4%-yard market share his junior year and never eclipsing just 20% in any of his other games. But we did see him play week 1 where he owned a surprising 19.1% target share good for 9 targets and 72 yards. This shouldn’t be a top priority on the waiver wire but it’s worth a flier.
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