Week 7 Waiver-Wire Pickups: Sleepers Available in Majority of Fantasy Leagues

The past week or so has provided quite the jolt to the fantasy football waiver wire as the season turns the page to Week 7. 

First, it was Adrian Peterson exploding with a new team, totaling 25.4 points during his debut with the Arizona Cardinals. Then it was the injury to Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, which throws the dynamics of the position and probably a few leagues on its head. 

What's left is owners trying to pick up the pieces and adjust. Good news—the Week 7 wire, like most before it, offer strong options at all positions as the wild ride that is 2017 continues. 

Here's an overview of the biggest names to target.  

Week 7 Waiver-Wire Targets

Ryan Fitzpatrick, QB, TB 

Josh McCown, QB, NYJ

C.J. Beathard, QB, SF 

Brett Hundley, QB ,GB

Teddy Bridgewater, QB, MIN

Chris Ivory, RB, JAX 

Dion Lewis, RB, NE

Elijah McGuire, RB, NYJ 

Nelson Agholor, WR, PHI 

Josh Doctson, WR, WAS 

Marqise Lee, WR, JAX 

JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR, PIT

Robert Woods, WR, LAR 

Austin Hooper, TE, ATL 

Zach Miller, TE, CHI

Nick O'Leary, TE, BUF

Brett Hundley, QB, GB

Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

Normally it would be advisable to ignore a rookie quarterback stepping into a high-pressure situation.  

The aftermath of the Rodgers injury isn't exactly normal, though, and this year hasn't been either. Remember—Houston Texans rookie signal-caller Deshaun Watson is one of the top overall scorers despite not even acting as starter in Week 1.  

So, yes, Brett Hundley has a chance to act as a viable contributor right out of the gates. He looked like the cliche deer in the headlights when called upon after Rodgers went down, but conventional wisdom says he should see a jump in performance once going through a week of prep as the starter. 

"I'll feel a lot better, I can tell you that much," Hundley said, according to ESPN.com's Rob Demovsky. "It's different as a backup when you don't get any reps during the week and then you're sort of out there."

This isn't necessarjly suggesting owners up and start Hundley as soon as Week 7, but it doesn't hurt to mention he gets the New Orleans Saints, the team allowing the 10th-most points to opposing quarterbacks on average. 

Hundley has a chance to make notable headway from the standpoint of fantasy production and is worth a stash.  

Dion Lewis, RB, NE

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Here we go again with New England Patriots running backs, right? 

This time the notable pickup option is Dion Lewis, a name most are familiar with. He watched as Mike Gillislee fumbled in Week 6 against the New York Jets and got benched. Given a significant portion of the workload after, Lewis tallied 11.2 points on 11 carries by scoring a rushing touchdown. 

The vibes surrounding Lewis point to the arrow on the up, as captured by Zach Cox of NESN: 

Lewis hadn't seen north of 10 carries in a game before Week 6. After the outburst, it's hard to imagine the New England coaching staff won't loop back to him and ride the hot hand. 

As an aside, Lewis could have one of the top days of any running back outright in Week 7 thanks to a game against the Atlanta Falcons. They cough up the ninth-most points to opposing backs and especially struggle against guys who can catch the ball the way Lewis does, hence big games permitted to Tarik Cohen and Ty Montgomery. 

JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR, PIT

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JuJu Smith-Schuster makes for quite the stash candidate right about now. 

The Pittsburgh Steelers rookie has two touchdowns over six career games already, and he hasn't been totally eclipsed while playing on the same offense as Antonio Brown and Martavis Bryant. 

In fact, JSS only sits 10 targets behind Bryant, yet he's scored more touchdowns and is starting to see more snaps in a hurry, as noted by NFL Network's Aditi Kinkhabwala: 

In a pass-happy offense (220 attempts to 165 rushes), it feels like only a matter of time before JSS has a big breakout game and becomes a guy most owners target. 

Owners who have the luxury of getting out ahead on an angle like this can do much worse than the rookie, who even without an injury or something else clearing the way to more playing time, continues to rise at a locale where it is difficult to do so, which says much about his future outlook. 

Nick O'Leary, TE, BUF

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With Charles Clay on the shelf with an injury, Buffalo Bills tight end Nick O'Leary becomes the latest intriguing name at what has been an iffy position so far this year. 

In Week 5, O'Leary turned six targets into five catches for 54 yards, good for 5.4 points. While not the most inspiring line, the Bills had a bye week and figure to have drawn up a few more ways to get the 2015 sixth-round pick involved. 

After all, there isn't much else for Tyrod Taylor to work with through the air. Bills head coach Sean McDermott hasn't held back when talking about his new starting tight end, per journalist Nick Wojton: 

It would be fitting for O'Leary to put up a monster game sooner rather than later based on the up-and-down nature of this position. 

With little else to lean on, the Bills will at least make sure O'Leary has quality usage numbers. 

All scoring info, points-against info and ownership stats courtesy of Yahoo standard leagues.