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

With each passing week of the 2019 NFL season, the value of the fantasy football sleeper continues gaining clarity.

In Week 6, Kyler Murray was the fifth-best fantasy producer at quarterback, per NFL.com. Kirk Cousins landed one spot behind. The running back spot saw Jamaal Williams and Miles Sanders finish as top-10 scorers. At wide receiver, Robby Anderson and Golden Tate held down the seventh and eighth spots, respectively.

Sleeper lists aren't compiled to fill content quotas or populate the digital space. They are meant to provide tangible production to your team at a discount.

With the Carolina Panthers, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers all catching a breather this weekend, the importance of identifying worthy plug-and-play streamers should be obvious.

To help in that endeavor, we have identified three waiver-wire targets available in 50-plus percent of Yahoo leagues, per Fantasy Pros.

Week 7 Waiver-Wire Pickups

Daniel Jones, QB, New York Giants (29 Percent Owned)

Burned by Daniel Jones in Week 6? We'd love to say we feel your pain after Mr. Dimes managed just 15 completions for 161 yards with one score against three picks, but instead we'd ask: What did you expect?

The matchup was B-R-U-T-A-L. The New England Patriots have yielded the fewest fantasy points to the position, per Yahoo Sports. That's a tall task for any quarterback, let alone a 22-year-old rookie.

Then, when you consider he entered the contest without Saquon Barkley, Evan Engram, Sterling Shepard and Wayne Gallman, Jones was effectively set up for failure.

But that was then. Now, he draws an infinitely more favorable matchup in the Arizona Cardinals, who allow the third-most fantasy points to the position and just surrendered a 356-yard, four-score performance to Matt Ryan. Plus, Jones could have several of his top weapons back in action.

While Jones has predictably encountered some peaks and valleys as a rookie, this matchup is so inviting that the contest could make several appearances on his season-long highlight reel.

Jamaal Williams, RB, Green Bay Packers (17 Percent Owned)

Forget everything you thought you knew about the Green Bay Packers' running back situation, which probably wasn't a ton.

One week after Aaron Jones seemingly took a stranglehold on the top spot with a 182-yard, four-score breakout, a fumble and dropped would-be touchdown potentially landed him in the doghouse. That opened the door for Jamaal Williams, fresh out of the concussion protocol, and he seized the opportunity with 14 carries and four receptions for 136 scrimmage yards and the backfield's only score.

"I feel like our team, you don't just have to worry about the starters," Williams told reporters. "You have to worry about backups and people coming in the game because we're all good, we all know what we need to do."

Fantasy owners, of course, don't know what his emergence means for the rushing hierarchy in Green Bay. But the strength of this offense is arguably its ground game, especially with Davante Adams battling a turf toe. In other words, there might be more than enough production to satisfy owners of both Jones and Williams when this team locks horns with the Oakland Raiders on Sunday.

Auden Tate, WR, Cincinnati Bengals (23 Percent Owned)

Players can transform from unknowns to household names seemingly overnight in the fantasy realm.

For instance, last season Auden Tate was an anonymous seventh-round rookie for the Cincinnati Bengals. He played seven games, caught four passes and never sniffed the end zone.

This year, opportunity came his way via injuries⁠—first to A.J. Green, later to John Ross⁠—and the 22-year-old has answered its knock. The 6'5" sophomore has been targeted 34 times over the past four weeks. In three of those games, he had at least four receptions for 50 yards; in the other, he scored the first touchdown of his NFL career.

He's not just making catches, he's putting on a show when the ball comes his direction.

"Andy [Dalton] and him have a good relationship," Bengals receiver Alex Erickson said. "Andy knows where Tate feels comfortable and Tate knows where Andy feels comfortable so they do a great job feeding off that."

With Ross on injured reserve and Green's return uncertain (both due to health and the potential he gets traded), Tate has a chance to keep making things happen.

Up next is a Jacksonville Jaguars team that just traded away star cornerback Jalen Ramsey.