Week 7 Waiver Wire: Reviewing Top Pickups and Drops Likely Available

Week 7 is shaping up to be a particularly complicated, difficult week for some fantasy football owners. Three of the league's best teams—all undefeated—have a bye in Week 7: Cincinnati, Green Bay and Denver (Chicago is the fourth team off).

For fantasy team owners in IDP leagues or those loaded up with non-blue-chip players on those strong squads, there could be some very painful decisions to make in terms of adding and dropping players. Early believers in Andy Dalton or James Jones will have to go without, and those that just picked up Ronnie Hillman are now again trying to figure out who to slot in the lineup.

This is a week where many will be taking an especially close look at their bench options and the waiver wire in order to find the right spot starter.

Here are the top adds and drops in ESPN and Yahoo Sports fantasy football leagues heading into Week 7. These tables exclude players owned in more than 50 percent of leagues to account for the larger 12- and 14-player leagues, with a couple of exceptions for players with particularly notable declines or gains in ownership. 

Top ESPN Pickups
Top Yahoo Pickups
Player	% Owned	% Change last 7 days
Titans D/ST	43.6	+35.9
Knile Davis, RB, Kansas City	52.1	+28.6
Vikings D/ST	42.2	+24
Christine Michael, RB, Dallas	31.5	+22.9
Javorius Allen, RB, Baltimore	21.3	+19.8
Blake Bortles, QB, Jacksonville	47.0	+19.5
Antonio Andrews, RB, Tennessee	37	+15
Theo Riddick, RB, Detroit	26	+10.8
Josh McCown, QB, Cleveland	14.5	+10.3
Richard Rodgers, TE, Green Bay	52.8	+9.2
Player	% Owned	No. of Monday adds
James Starks, RB, Green Bay	20	28,113
Christine Michael, RB, Dallas	39	20,364
Stefon Diggs, WR, Minnesota	7	19,349
Brandon Lafell, WR, New England	51	12,317
Michael Crabtree, WR, Oakland	46	9,306
Benjamin Watson, TE, New Orleans	10	8,045
Blake Bortles, QB, Jacksonville	44	7,600
Charles Sims, RB, Tampa Bay	25	7,320
Austin Seferian-Jenkins, TE, Tampa Bay	28	5,428
Tavon Austin, WR, St. Louis	44	4,584

Top ESPN Drops
Top Yahoo Drops
Player	% Owned	% Change last 7 days
Giants D/ST	24.4	-31
Boobie Dixon, RB, Buffalo	13.2	-28.8
Jaguars D/ST	11.3	-19.5
Owen Daniels, TE, Denver	47	-18.1
Colts D/ST	13.3	-16.3
Nelson Agholor, WR, Philadelphia	32.0	-13
Alex Smith, QB, Kansas City	40.4	-12.4
Terrance Williams, WR, Dallas	54.7	-11.9
Jared Cook, TE, St. Louis	15.7	-11.4
Alfred Blue, RB, Houston	26	-11.2
Player	% Owned	No. of Monday drops
Thomas Rawls, RB, Seattle	42	12,965
Richard Rodgers, TE, Green Bay	50	10,458
Javorius Allen, RB, Baltimore	22	7,779
Knile Davis, RB, Kansas City	42	6,645
Percy Harvin, WR, Buffalo	43	6,029
Leonard Hankerson, WR, Atlanta	46	5,071
Ty Montomgery, WR, Green Bay	16	4,325
David Johnson, RB, Arizona	43	4,312
Mike Vick, QB, Pittsburgh	10	4,179
Kamar Aiken, WR, Baltimore	32	4,032

Reviewing Top Pickups

Christine Michael, RB, Dallas

Stacy Revere/Getty Images

It looks like Joseph Randle might be the one leaving meat on the bone this year in Dallas.

The Dallas Cowboys could be set to let Christine Michael take over in the Cowboys' committee backfield. According to DallasCowboys.com's Bryan Broaddus, Michael—traded to Dallas by Seattle in September—took the majority of reps with the first-team on Monday.

The Dallas Morning News' Jon Machota passed along this encouraging quote from Michael's position coach on Monday: 

Randle has had an up-and-down season thus far. He's rushed for 289 yards and four touchdowns in five games, but three of those scores came against the Atlanta Falcons and he's had two games in which he's averaged less than three yards per carry.

Michael has hardly seen the field this year, biding his time behind Randle, Darren McFadden and, until his season-ending injury, Lance Dunbar. He performed well in limited field time in two seasons with Seattle, carrying the ball 52 times for 254 yards.

Despite a stellar offensive line, Dallas has bee a middle-of-the-pack rushing team this year. Part of this is due to having the ineffective Brandon Weeden at quarterback in place of an injured Tony Romo, allowing teams to key in on the run.

There is a chance the offense runs more smoothly with Matt Cassel in line to start, but fantasy football owners must also be aware of New York's staunch rushing defense (sixth in yards per game allowed). Randle isn't likely to drop off the face of the earth either; he will still get his touches. Michael is definitely worth rostering and should start on fantasy teams in Randle's stead. If you have better options at RB, however, don't feel pressured to start either player. Consider Michael a high-upside flex play.

Stefon Diggs, WR, Minnesota

Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

Teddy Bridgewater hadn't yet established a fruitful, symbiotic relationship with any of his wide receivers before rookie Stefon Diggs burst onto the scene in the past two weeks.

With 13 receptions in two games, Diggs is already third on the team in that category, behind Mike Wallace (22) and Kyle Rudolph (16). It's possible he could take the starting spot of the injured Charles Johnson, who has just six receptions in three games this year and hasn't played in October.

Head coach Mike Zimmer has been noncommittal on the subject of Diggs quickly jumping into a starting role.

“You don’t lose your starting job because of injury but you lose your starting job because of performance,’’ Zimmer said, per Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “But, no, I have not decided that yet.’’

Opponent, Date	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	TGTS
Denver, October 4	6	87	14.5	0	10
Kansas City, October 18	7	129	18.4	0	9

Unlike fellow sophomore QBs Derek Carr and Blake Bortles, Bridgewater hasn't taken much of a leap in his second year after arguably being the most polished of the bunch in 2014. He's thrown just three touchdowns in five games this year.

Then again, his top two passing performances of the season have come in the past two weeks with Diggs in the fold, and one of them was against Denver, who have put together the league's most terrifying defense.

Diggs should see plenty of snaps in Minnesota's upcoming contest with Detroit. Minnesota won their first matchup with the Lions 26-16 in Week 2. Bridgewater threw the ball just 18 times while Adrian Peterson carried the ball 29 times for 134 yards. Even if Minnesota pounds the rock with Peterson again, Bridgewater should throw more as the team looks for more balance on offense.

Diggs is a flex play in Week 7 with little added value in points-per-reception leagues considering Minnesota could have a run-heavy game plan again.

 Benjamin Watson, TE, New Orleans

Gerald Herbert/Associated Press

Benjamin Watson is getting plenty of looks from fantasy football owners after scoring in his past two games and busting out for 10 receptions and a career-high 127 yards Thursday in the Saints' surprise win over previously undefeated Atlanta.

Tight end is always a tough position at this point in the season. Unlike wide receivers or running backs, it's difficult for more than one tight end per team to accrue many fantasy points, and not all perform well in any case.

One would think Watson would be a safe pickup with Drew Brees at quarterback, and yet the veteran tight end hadn't caught more than four passes in a game this year before his recent outburst. ESPN Stats and Info showed his performance was rare for a Saints tight end: 

With Brees finding success throwing the ball to the likes of Willie Snead and Mark Ingram while still showing Brandin Cooks a fair amount of attention, Watson has plenty of other targets to compete with for, well, targets, in this offense. 

The Saints' Week 7 opponent is Indianapolis, who sport a pass defense that has allowed a 11 touchdowns, 1,735 yards and a 93.9 rating to opposing QBs, per ESPN.com. He'll have his opportunities in Week 7, but don't expect a repeat of his performance against Atlanta. He's a fill-in starter at best.