Week 6 Waiver Wire: Top Pickups and Drops

Though it takes until Monday night for a full weekend of NFL action to officially come to a close, in the forward-looking world of fantasy football, owners are already thinking about the upcoming week about midway through Sunday's action. 

Some players fail to produce, others pick up injuries and still others emerge as surprise contributors—and may not yet be rostered in your fantasy football league. Trades are made, but don't always come to fruition.

Some owners are finally coming to terms with the fact that, yes, they did draft way too many players with the same bye week, and oh goodness, cobbling together a lineup for the next week is going to be like pulling teeth.

Even those owners who are dominating their leagues are constantly looking for that extra edge, the deep sleeper or obvious stash that will pay dividends down the line. For the rest, submitting the right waiver-wire claim can make or break a week, or even a season. 

Here's a look at the top pickups and drops heading into Week 6.

Pickups and drops info is courtesy of ESPN.com and Yahoo Sports. For the pickups category, players owned in more than 50 percent of leagues are not included on the following tables in order to account for those scouring the waiver wire in larger fantasy football leagues. 

Top Yahoo Pickups
Top ESPN Pickups
Player	% Owned	No. of Monday Adds
Jacquizz Rodgers, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers	20	36,716
Sammie Coates, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers	38	16,095
Cameron Meredith, WR, Chicago Bears	5	15,838
Cameron Artis-Payne, RB, Carolina Panthers	24	11,780
Jeremy Kerley, WR, San Francisco 49ers	9	8,897
Devontae Booker, RB, Denver Broncos	9	5,247
Fozzy Whittaker, RB, Carolina Panthers	32	4,871
James Starks, RB, Green Bay Packers	10	4,179
Derek Anderson, QB, Carolina Panthers	11	3,996
Player	% Owned	% Change Last 7 Days
Cameron Brate, TE, Tampa Bay Buccaneers	42.2	+33.3
Eddie Royal, WR, Chicago Bears	41.2	+32.2
Sammie Coates, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers	39.8	+28.3
Jacquizz Rodgers, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers	26.3	+24.5
Dontrelle Inman, WR, San Diego Chargers	23.1	+22.4
James White, RB, New England Patriots	38.5	+16.6
Joe Flacco, QB, Baltimore Ravens	46.4	+14.5
Kenneth Dixon, RB, Baltimore Ravens	33.9	+13.1
Robert Woods, WR, Buffalo Bills	23.0	+12.7
Brian Hoyer, QB, Chicago Bears	16.6	+12.7

Top Yahoo Drops
Top ESPN Drops
Player	% Owned	No. of Monday Drops
Charles Sims, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers	63	43,005
DeAndre Washington, RB, Oakland Raiders	58	8,702
Cameron Brate, TE, Tampa Bay Buccaneers	41	5,234
Orleans Darkwa, RB, New York Giants	27	5,172
Jacob Tamme, TE, Atlanta Falcons	45	4,894
Ryan Tannehill, QB, Miami Dolphins	39	4,728
Dontrelle Inman, WR, San Diego Chargers	14	4,696
Kyle Rudolph, TE, Minnesota Vikings	87	4,634
Wendell Smallwood, RB, Philadelphia Eagles	15	4,606
Victor Cruz, WR, New York Giants	45	4,479
Player	% Owned	% Change Last 7 Days
Justin Forsett, RB, Baltimore Ravens	22.9	-39.6
Kevin White, WR, Chicago Bears	27.0	-35.2
Josh Gordon, WR, Cleveland Browns	22.4	-29.7
Sammy Watkins, WR, Buffalo Bills	47.6	-29
Dwayne Washington, RB, Detroit Lions	14.3	-19.8
Eric Ebron, TE, Detroit Lions	46.4	-19.3
Coby Fleener, TE, New Orleans Saints	74.8	-17
Julius Thomas, TE, Jacksonville Jaguars	67.0	-16.7
Trevor Siemian, QB, Denver Broncos	12.2	-15.5
Charles Sims, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers	69.7	-15.5

Examining Top Pickups

Jacquizz Rodgers, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Fleet-footed Jacquizz Rodgers earned a lead-back test in Week 5 against the Carolina Panthers due to injuries to Doug Martin and Charles Sims, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers showed great faith in him. Rodgers finished with 101 rushing yards and 28 receiving yards on 35 total touches in his side's 17-14 win, sending fantasy owners scrambling for his services.

Pro Football Focus' Nathan Jahnke noted the shifty back was at his defender-fooling best in the game:

Tampa Bay head coach Dirk Koetter knew the diminutive Rodgers had workhorse capabilities, per the Tampa Bay Times' Greg Auman: 

As good as his performance was, Rodgers' ultimate fantasy value is still murky. Coming into the game, Rodgers had just 69 rushing yards and 12 receiving yards on the entire season. With Sims on injured reserve, Rodgers stands to see more of the field, but the Bucs are on a bye in Week 6 and Martin should return from a hamstring injury soon after. 

However, with few promising running backs available on the waiver wire, he might still be the best short-term bet. The Bucs should reward him with more touches based on his big day, and many fantasy owners who relied on Sims will be inclined to hope Rodgers plugs into his vacated role.

Plus, the Bucs are on the road against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 7, a team that has allowed the fifth-most fantasy points to running backs this season, per Yahoo Sports. 

With the pickings slim, Rodgers might be good as a flex play or plug-and-play option in Week 7. His workload in that game and Martin's recovery will go a long way toward determining his fantasy viability. 

Sammie Coates, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers

Justin K. Aller/Getty Images

Fantasy owners appear loath to let Sammie Coates slip through their fingers heading into Week 6, even though the wide receiver himself often lets the football do exactly that.

Coates had the biggest game of his young career in Week 5 against the New York Jets, catching the ball six times for 139 yards and two touchdowns.

However, Coates was targeted 11 times, but four of those five missed connections were on him and left a ton of points on the field, per Rotoworld's Patrick Daugherty: 

CBS Sports' Will Brinson noted that Coates' inconsistency shouldn't come as a surprise: 

Of course, fantasy owners can be forgiving as long as Coates keeps coming up with big plays week after week. A performance like this has looked like an eventuality for some time now, as Coates is averaging 22.2 yards per reception and has seen his targets increase as the season has gone along.

While the 23-year-old can get points in bunches, the fact that the brilliant Antonio Brown plays alongside the second-year pro means he's going to keep getting plenty of one-on-one situations where he can use his speed and athleticism to get open for the big play.

Of course, if the drops continue to be a problem, Coates could see his playing time diminish, even with the big-play threat. All it takes is a key drop late in a close game for him to potentially see the dog house. 

There is plenty of risk in picking up Coates, but the potential rewards may be too great to ignore for some fantasy owners. However, there could be more security to be found in the next players on the list.

Jeremy Kerley, WR, San Francisco 49ers

Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

Jeremy Kerley is a solid veteran wide receiver on a bad team with a bad quarterback situation. Despite those two things working against him, he's put up great fantasy numbers the past two weeks and solid numbers overall. 

As Yahoo Sports' Andy Behrens notes, he's essentially all the 49ers have working when it comes to the receiving department:

"

With five games now in the books, Kerley leads the Niners in every receiving stat that matters. He’s caught 26 balls for 305 yards on 46 targets, and he’s crossed the goal-line in back-to-back weeks. No other San Francisco skill player has more than 13 catches or 135 receiving yards. Kerley is an undersized veteran receiver without exceptional speed, but he’s a technician with a talent for separating from coverage. Under normal circumstances we might sweat the looming quarterback change, but not when the incumbent is Blaine Gabbert.

"

Kerley has a tough matchup on the road against the Buffalo Bills in Week 6, but then things could get much better for him with the Buccaneers and New Orleans Saints coming to the Bay Area in Weeks 7 and 9. Per Yahoo Sports, The Bucs and Saints are giving up the third- and eighth-most fantasy points to wide receivers, respectively.

Though the idea of picking up a wide receiver who relies on either Blaine Gabbert or Colin Kaepernick can't be too appealing to fantasy owners, it's rare to snag a team's No. 1 receiver off the wire this late in the season.

The 49ers are going to find themselves playing from behind more often than not this season, which means Kerley should get plenty of looks his way most weeks. 

Devontae Booker, RB, Denver Broncos

Brian Blanco/Getty Images

Slowly but surely, rookie running back Devontae Booker is working his way into the Denver Broncos offense. He had his most productive outing of the season on Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons, carrying the ball six times for 23 yards while catching four passes for another 36 yards.

These aren't viable fantasy numbers just yet, but it could be a sign of greater things to come. As NFL.com's Alex Gelhar notes, Booker earned 29 snaps on Sunday, up from a previous season high of 18 snaps.

5280 Sports Network's Jake Marsing felt Booker outperformed the Broncos' current lead back, C.J. Anderson: 

Anderson has never been much of a receiving option, so Booker's solid performance in that aspect of the game could eventually tilt the snap battle in his favor. As poised as Trevor Siemian has looked early on, a young quarterback can always use a good safety valve out of the backfield.

Plus, Anderson's 3.5-yard-per-carry average this season is lackluster and lags behind Booker's 4.0 rate, though the latter's sample size is obviously much smaller. 

If Rodgers nor the Carolina Panthers' Cameron Artis-Payne excite you because of the looming return of each team's respective lead back, Booker might be the player to target, as he could be the lead back of the future in Denver.