Week 10 Waiver Wire: Top Pickups and Drops

Quite a few star players went down with injuries in Week 9 of the NFL season, many of them to star players, many of them very serious in nature. The apparent uptick in notable injuries is a worrying trend, one that will very likely face greater scrutiny in the weeks to come. 

Players will have to step up or adjust to new roles, while coaches might shift strategy or alter game plans. That, and the health of the players, are the most immediate concerns in the wake of so many injuries across the league.

These new situations still, of course, form the world of fantasy football, and, as in so many other weeks, the top pickups and drops are heavily influenced by long-term injuries reshaping teams' seasons.

Here are the top pickups and drops in both ESPN and Yahoo Sports fantasy football leagues heading into Week 10.

To account for the larger 12- and 14-player leagues, players owned in more than 50 percent of leagues are not included in the tables, except in particularly notable cases related to performance or opportunity (which usually means the player ahead of them on the depth chart got hurt).

The lists focus on skill players, not kickers and defenses, when possible. Drops do not include players placed on season-ending injured reserve, since it's pretty clear they won't have an impact on fantasy football going forward.

Top Yahoo Pickups
Top ESPN Pickups
Player	% Owned	No. of Monday Adds
Brandon Bolden, RB, New England	4	38,583
James White, RB, New England	4	33,362
Wes Welker, WR, St. Louis Rams	4	29,685
Karlos Williams, RB, Buffalo Bills	38	26,229
James Starks, RB, Green Bay	41	23,449
Joique Bell, RB, Detroit	25	17,919
Ka'Deem Carey, RB, Chicago	1	10,999
Dorial Green-Beckham, WR, Tennessee	14	10,631
Richard Rodgers, TE, Green Bay	24	6,727
Marcus Mariota, QB, Tennessee	35	6,263
Player	% Owned	% Change last 7 days
Vernon Davis, TE, Denver	55	+39.8
Caleb Sturgis, K, Philadelphia	36.9	+33
Mike Nugent, K, Cincinnati	27.7	+24.1
Jacob Tamme, TE, Atlanta	28.1	+22.4
Heath Miller, TE, Pittsburgh	54.5	+18.7
Cowboys D/ST	27.1	+17.8
Jameis Winston, QB, Tampa Bay	32.6	+15.2
Nick Folk, K, New York Jets	28.1	+15.1
Sebastian Janikowski, K, Oakland	30.4	+14.7
Pierre Thomas, RB, San Francisco	13.9	+13.8

Top Yahoo Drops
Top ESPN Drops
Player	% Owned	No. of Monday Drops
Heath Miller, TE, Pittsburgh	49	7,936
Christine Michael, RB, Dallas	19	7,189
Pierre Thomas, RB, San Francisco	17	6,833
Brandon Bolden, RB, New England	4	6,737
Robert Woods, WR, Buffalo	21	6,579
Dwayne Harris, WR, New York Giants	24	5,628
Charles Clay, TE, Buffalo	49	5,344
Kendall Gaskins, RB, San Francisco	11	5,093
Orleans Darkwa, RB, New York Giants	12	4,884
Jacob Tamme, TE, Tampa Bay	26	4,338
Player	% Owned	% Change last 7 days
Joseph Randle, RB, FA	31.7	-46.5
Chandler Catanzaro, K, Atlanta	21.6	-31.2
Ladarius Green, TE, San Diego	28.7	-26
Ameer Abdullah, RB, Detroit	55.1	-20.7
Kendall Wright, WR, Tennessee	53.2	-18.6
Larry Donnell, TE, New York Giants	37.3	-19.9
Colin Kaepernick, QB, San Francisco	21.2	-17.9
Eric Ebron, TE, Detroit	28.5	-15.8
Matthew Stafford, QB, Detroit	59.5	-15.5
Andre Ellington, RB, Arizona	56.1	-13.7

Top Pickups

Brandon Bolden and James White, RBs, New England

Stacy Revere/Getty Images

With Dion Lewis placed on injured reserve with a devastating ACL injury, fantasy owners are hoping either Brandon Bolden or James White will pick up where Lewis left off as a top pass-catcher and change-of-pace runner out of the Patriots backfield.

Bolden emboldened fantasy owners to grab him after catching three passes for 27 yards and a touchdown against Washington on Sunday. However, he had seen only eight touches all season, prior to Sunday, all of them coming in the first two games of the year.

Instead, ESPN.com's Mike Reiss tabs James White as first man up to replace Lewis: 

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James White, a 2014 fourth-round draft choice out of Wisconsin, is the top candidate for an expanded role. White was a healthy scratch Sunday, but he was the top option when Lewis was sidelined in the team's Oct. 25 win over the New York Jets, playing a season-high 43 snaps in that game. Bill Belichick has expressed his confidence in 5-foot-10, 205-pound White being able to handle the role.

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Both players are certainly worth taking a flier on in deeper leagues, as they will be playing in one of the league's best offenses. Lewis had 622 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns in seven games this year. That's a hefty bit of production for New England to replace.

Steven Senne/Associated Press

However, for those who do snag either Bolden or White, it might be prudent to hold off starting them right away (unless you're truly desperate). This situation will almost surely be a frustrating one for a great many fantasy owners. The ever inscrutable Bill Belichick is liable to go with either player moving forward, playing the matchups as he sees fit. It could be White in Week 10, then maybe Bolden in Week 11.

In 2014, New England saw several different running backs take a lead role in the offense.

Player	Games	Rushing Yards	Yards per Carry	Receiving Yards	Total Touchdowns
Jonas Gray	8	412	4.6	7	5
Shane Vereen	16	391	4.1	447	5
Stevan Ridley	6	340	3.6	20	2
LeGarrette Blount	5 (with NE; spent 11 games with Pittsburgh in 2014)	281	4.7	18	3
Brandon Bolden	16	89	3.2	8	1
James White	3	38	4.2	23	0

Although those spread-out numbers had much to do with injuries, it shows that there's often little in the way of a sure fantasy play in the New England backfield. At the same time, it does tell fantasy owners that the receiving yards out of the backfield tend to go to a single player. Last year, it was Shane Vereen. This year, Lewis. Now it could go to White and/or Bolden.

It also could be that both Bolden and White disappoint. With the emergence of Brandon LaFell on the flank, Tom Brady might spend less time checking down to his backs, especially if they prove unable to replicate Lewis' success in the open field. The Boston Globe's Ben Volin also noted the Pats have other backs in the fold who might also step up:

For Week 10, the safer bet appears to be White. If he comes up with a good game, it's likely Bolden gets mop-up duty and focuses on his role as a special teamer. If White doesn't perform, all bets are off.

If anything, Lewis' absence is a boon for LeGarrette Blount, who could see even more time on the field and is probably less likely to get some of his carries taken away.

Wes Welker, WR, St. Louis Rams

Jack Dempsey/Associated Press

Wes Welker hasn't played a lick of football this season, but that didn't stop thousands of fantasy football owners from putting in waiver-wire claims for the diminutive wideout as soon as he signed a one-year deal with the St. Louis Rams on Monday, per NFL Insider Ian Rapoport (via NFL.com's Marc Sessler). 

Welker was ostensibly signed to replace wide receiver Stedman Bailey, who is suspended four games for violating the league's policy on substance abuse, per Rapoport: 

The Rams are getting a proven playmaker in Welker, who has caught passes from the likes of Brady and Peyton Manning and been a nearly constant thorn in the side of defensive coordinators for years with his ability to pick up big chunks of yards after reeling in simple bubble, step and slant routes. 

He's unlikely to be an immediate fantasy impact as he learns the Rams playbook and develops a rapport with Nick Foles, who is having a tough season and is nowhere near the talent level of Brady or Manning. It should also be noted that his numbers declined in each of his past four seasons in the NFL. 

Season	G	REC	TGTS	YDS	AVG	TD
2011	16	122	172	1,569	12.9	9
2012	16	118	174	1,354	11.5	6
2013	13	73	110	778	10.7	10
2014	14	49	64	464	9.5	2

Also worrying for fantasy owners, but more so for Welker himself, is his history of concussions, a fact clearly not lost on Bleacher Report's Mike Freeman: 

Welker was cleared to play months ago by a concussion specialist, so the 34-year-old has done what he's needed to do to prove to NFL teams that he can still play. Rams coach Jeff Fisher was impressed with his physical condition following a workout, per ESPN.com's Nick Wagoner:

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He's in outstanding shape. We saw that early this morning. He's anxious and eager to play. He's moved the chains for two potential Hall of Fame quarterbacks, and he's good at what he does. Whether he's active this week, I can't predict. I think he'll be able to move some chains for us.

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If Welker can stay healthy and recapture any bit of his old form, he could be a quite the fruitful midseason pickup for fantasy owners. The Rams have a solid running game foundation to work from thanks to rookie Todd Gurley, and no receiver has really emerged as a true No. 1 target for Foles.

Of course, Welker was never the prototypical idea of a No. 1 wideout even as he was stringing together 100-reception seasons. He operates almost exclusively out of the slot, and it will be interesting to see how the Rams integrate him into an offense that already features the pint-sized Tavon Austin running plenty of short and intermediate routes.

Welker would appear to be a high-risk, moderate-reward player, and he should only be considered for flex duty early on, even in PPR leagues.