Week 7 Waiver Wire: Early Pickups and Breakout Fantasy Football Candidates
At this point in the NFL season, between bye weeks and injuries, the waiver wire becomes even more crucial to winning games in your league.
Sometimes, a player has such a breakout week that the waiver claim makes itself. And sometimes you need to know some context—for instance, a running back who only had a handful of carries and a couple dozen yards this week is still worth picking up if he's going to become the primary or even No. 2 back on a team that's dealing with injuries in the backfield.
Let's take a closer look at three skill position players who are smart adds ahead of Week 7.
For our purposes, for a player's performance to be considered a "breakout," they must not have been rostered in more than 40 percent of leagues as of Week 6.
Kendrick Bourne, WR, Patriots
1 of 3
Rostered: 16 percent
Week 6 stats: 10 rec, 89 yds, 19.30 pts
With New England wideouts Demario Douglas and JuJu Smith-Schuster inactive in Week 6 due to head injuries each suffered in Week 5, the opportunity was there for Kendrick Bourne to keep the ball moving through the air for the Patriots.
Bourne delivered, racking up nearly 20 points (PPR scoring) with 10 receptions on 11 targets and 89 yards in all. Bourne's 11 targets were far and away the most any New England pass-catcher saw in Week 6; Rhamondre Stevenson was the second-most-productive, with six targets.
Obviously, the ideal scenario in fantasy is to have a skill position player who isn't dependent on touchdowns to make their point totals, and that was certainly the case for Bourne on Sunday. Even if Douglas and/or Smith-Schuster is cleared to play in Week 7, Bill Belichick likes to keep opponents guessing, and Bourne has proven that he can be trusted with the ball.
Jordan Mason, RB, 49ers
2 of 3
Rostered: 3 percent
Week 6 stats: 5 att, 27 yds, 1 rush TD, 8.70 pts
Taken alone, Jordan Mason's stat line in Week 6 isn't overly compelling. Sure, the 49ers running back found the end zone, but if he hadn't, five carries and 27 yards would be nothing to write home about.
However, Mason lands on our list not necessarily because of what he did in Week 6 but because of what he could do in Week 7. The 49ers may have to lean on him, given that their powerhouse running back Christian McCaffrey, who leads the league in rushing, suffered both an oblique and a rib injury in the loss to the Cleveland Browns.
San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan doesn't have an update on how severe McCaffrey's injuries are or how much time he could miss, but if he's out for any amount of time, Mason is a must-add heading into Week 7. The 49ers are second in the league in rushing attempts per game, at 34.6.
Salvon Ahmed, RB, Miami Dolphins
3 of 3
Rostered: 18 percent
Week 6 stats: 6 att, 23 yds, 1 TD
As with Jordan Mason, if Miami Dolphins running back Salvon Ahmed hadn't found the end zone in the Dolphins' Week 6 win over the Carolina Panthers, his six-carry, 23-yard stat line wouldn't be anything groundbreaking.
However, Week 6 gave us some valuable intel as to what the Dolphins run game will look like with breakout running back De'Von Achane on injured reserve with a knee injury after leading the team in rushing this season. Ahmed emerged as the clear No. 2 behind Raheem Mostert; though Chris Brooks also had six carries, they came late in a 42-21 trouncing by the Dolphins.
Much like Mostert was still seeing healthy usage as the No. 2 behind Achane, Ahmed becomes a smart waiver pickup ahead of Week 7.
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