Fantasy Football 2012: Waiver Wire Adds at Every Position for NFL Week 1

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Danny Amendola
David Welker/Getty Images

It's time to do a little tune up of your roster before the fantasy football season starts this week. Maybe one of your players saw a down grade on his team's depth chart after your draft. Maybe you are a little thin at one position. In either case, a quick trip to the waiver wire might help you.

So for all positions except kicker, I have a few suggestions for you to check out.

All of the players identified are available in at least 45 percent of Yahoo! leagues.

Wide Receivers

David Nelson
Jim Rogash/Getty Images

If you need help at WR, there are quite a few widely available players you could pick up off waivers. The percent availability that I show in the following table is the percent of Yahoo! leagues where the player is not on a roster.

Name	Team	% Available
James Jones	Packers	78
David Nelson	Bills	91
Steve Breaston	Chiefs	95
Danny Amendola	Rams	60
Devin Hester	Bears	84

If you play in a league where return yardage counts, Danny Amendola and Devin Hester deserve a look. Amendola might have been over looked in your draft because he missed last season. Take a look at his 2010 numbers and you might just rush to pick him up.

Both Nelson and Breaston had 61 receptions last season. Both of them play for teams that could find themselves playing from behind frequently this season, increasing the passing game.

In the case of Jones, anyone who has Aaron Rodgers throwing to him merits consideration.

Hester's return yardage can be an extra bonus.

Running Backs

Kendall Hunter
Bob Levey/Getty Images

The waiver wire for running backs is not as rich as it is for wide receivers. But there are still a few players that you might want to examine.

Name	Team	% Available
Kendall Hunter	49ers	80
Taiwan Jones	Raiders	95
Isaiah Pead	Rams	81

Kendall Hunter had 668 yards from scrimmage last year. He is the handcuff for the fragile Frank Gore. He should not be on the waiver wire.

Isaiah Pead is second on the running back depth chart for the Rams. But maybe even more important, he could be the team's primary kick and punt returner, which is key if your league gives points for return yards. In doing research for this article, I noticed Pead was available in one of my leagues, so I grabbed him.

Darren McFadden missed the last nine games of the 2011 season with a foot sprain. In the three seasons before that, he missed 10 of 48 games due to toe, knee and hamstring issues. Taiwan Jones is the handcuff. Enough said.

Tight Ends

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

The tight end ranks are pretty thin to start. Trying to pick a good one off waivers is not much easier. I did find two that should be on a roster. I always like to have the tight end on a team with an inexperienced quarterback. Sometimes the short passes to the tight end are just the security blanket that is needed.

In the case of Coby Fleener, since he played with Andrew Luck in college, we should expect an even stronger bond between the two players.

Name	Team	% Available
Coby Fleener	Colts	49
Kyle Rudolph	Vikings	66

Quarterbacks

Nick Foles
Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images

If you have Michael Vick, but haven't taken Nick Foles as the handcuff, you shouldn't be playing fantasy football.

Alex Smith is an interesting situation. He has two new receivers this year in Mario Manningham and Randy Moss. And he only threw five interceptions last year. So if your league penalizes interceptions, he might be a better value than a gunslinger like Ben Roethlisberger, who should have more touchdowns but also many more interceptions.

Russell Wilson might have been overlooked in your draft because the Seahawks recently announced him as their starting quarterback over Matt Flynn.

Name	Team	% Available
Nick Foles	Eagles	98
Russell Wilson	Seahawks	62
Alex Smith	49ers	55

Individual Defensive Players

Javier Arenas
Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images

If your league counts return yardage, there are two IDP's that you might want to examine.

Name	Team	% Available
Javier Arenas	Chiefs	46
Brandon Boykin	Eagles	99

Each of these players might play a modest amount of time in nickel coverage as well as serving as their team's primary kick returner. Look at these typical games:

Stat	Quantity	Fantasy Points
Return Yards	80	4
Solo Tackles	2	3
Pass Defend	1	1
Total		8

That's a pretty good base contribution for an IDP. Arenas has a history of racking up return yardage but Boykin is a rookie who showed promise in the preseason.