Fantasy Football Week 3 Waiver Wire: Pickups and Drops After Two Weeks of Action
Injuries are unavoidable. They happen every year to some of the best players in the league, and even though they can suck the life right out of your team, you deal with them and move on because hey, this is fantasy football, not fantasy badminton.
So now that you've come to terms with the reality that your best wide receiver is out for the season, what do you do? Hopefully, you have a little depth that you can plug right in there, but what if you don't?
This is where the all-important Waiver Wire comes in handy and why you need to know exactly who to pick up...and who to drop.
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Pickup: QB Cam Newton (Carolina Panthers)
1 of 19This one is a no-brainer. We had Cam as a pickup after the first week, but if he is still available in your league, grab him immediately.
First and foremost, the 2011 No. 1 overall pick threw for over 400 yards in each of his first two games, a feat accomplished only seven times in NFL history.
Second, from what I can tell, it looks like he'll run in eight-plus TDs this year on top of what looks to be WAY more passing yards than anyone thought possible.
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Pickup: QB Rex Grossman (Washington Redskins)
2 of 19Sexy Rexy is back.
The Redskins are going to be much better than people thought this year, partially due to their play at QB. Sure, Rex "F^#* it I'm just going to chuck it" Grossman will throw up a doughnut soon enough, but for now, ride him while he's hot. Four TDs and four yards short of 600 yards after the first two weeks of play looks a lot better than what Ben Roethlisberger's stats look like right now.
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Pickup: QB Chad Henne (Miami Dolphins)
3 of 19Let's be honest, Chad Henne can be downright awful at times...but he is getting better.
If you have a deep bench of garbage and think the Dolphins will get better, he does have a few playmakers surrounding him and appears to be the sure-fire QB1 all season for the 'Fins.
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Pickup: QB Matt Hasselbeck (Tennessee Titans)
4 of 19Hasselbeck is no idiot. He fully understands that Public Enemy No. 1, Kenny Britt, may be the best weapon he's ever had the opportunity thrown to in his 13-year career.
After a 358-yard passing day last Sunday and 621 yards overall, you have to consider him if your QB play has been garbage thus far.
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Pickup: RB Thomas Jones (Kansas City Chiefs)
5 of 19It's obvious the man is in decline after a superb and mostly unheralded career, but with Jamaal Charles out for the year, Thomas Jones is the Chiefs RB1.
That said, we are announcing a fire-sale of any of your players on the Seahawks or Chiefs. Still, an NFL RB1 is a fantasy pickup no matter what, especially if you had the guy running in front of him.
If he's available on the waiver wire, go ahead and grab him. He might just surprise us all once again.
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Pickup: RB/WR Dexter McCluster (Kansas City Chiefs)
6 of 19After mentioning Thomas Jones earlier, we would be remiss not to mention Dexter McCluster.
This little jitterbug is going to see a lot more action now that Jamaal Charles is down, but again...the Chiefs are going to be one of the worst teams in the league this season, so fantasy numbers might not come easily.
Still, in most leagues, he can be used as either a running back or a wide receiver, which is a major rarity to say the least.
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Pickup: RB Daniel Thomas (Miami Dolphins)
7 of 19In all likelihood, someone in your league already has him stashed on their bench somewhere. If not, go grab this 230-pound workhorse immediately.
The rookie had his first career 100-yard game in his first game as a pro last weekend, which frankly, says a lot more than you might think. He carried the ball 18 times (compared to Reggie Bush's six), so I think we all know who the every-down back is going to be.
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Pickup: RB DeMarco Murray (Dallas Cowboys)
8 of 19DeMarco has the most upside of any Dallas Cowboys RB, but he's also a rookie, so he could be kept off the field for either missing blocks that protect Romo (and his cracked rib) or for generally not knowing the playbook in total detail.
I like him, though. He's a hard runner that could end up splitting time with Felix in the long run regardless of his injury.
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Pickup: RB Roy Helu (Washington Redskins)
9 of 19Helu had a nice game last Sunday, albeit against a terrible Cardinals defense.
Ten carries for 74 yards tells me he's not only going to help Redskins backfield, but also help Coach Shanahan and RB Tim Hightower torment fantasy owners all season long.
If you are looking for consistency, you might want to stay away from Roy, but he looks like he can play. Plus, as I mentioned back with the Grossman pickup, the Redskins look to be a solid team this season.
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Pickup: RB Tashard Choice (Dallas Cowboys)
10 of 19I'm really only putting Choice here if it turns out Felix Jones is out with his dislocated shoulder for any amount of time. Personally, I wouldn't pick him up, but I still wanted the name here so you can make your mind up for yourself on him.
Keep in mind that he's had plenty of chances to make his mark on this Cowboys backfield the past few seasons...but hasn't.
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Pickup: RB Le'Ron McClain (Kansas City Chiefs)
11 of 19Don't pick this guy up yet, but if Thomas Jones and/or Dexter McCluster end up to be blowhards in place of Jamaal Charles, he may be a contributor later on in the season.
This one is obviously a real stretch, but keep it in the back of your mind.
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Pickup: WR Jerome Simpson (Cincinnati Bengals)
12 of 19I said it all preseason; the Bengals have a top-flight WR corps this year and Simpson is a significant part of the foursome (Green, Simpson, Caldwell & Gresham).
I doubt Andy Dalton is going to go over 332 yards (his Sunday total) many times this year, but the Jerome did have a nice four-catch, 136-yard performance (albeit against a terrible Denver defense).
With Jordan Shipley lost for the season, Simpson becomes especially tasty on the waiver wire if he's there.
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Pickup: WR Denarius Moore (Oakland Raiders)
13 of 19Holy COW, does this kid have some serious skills. Denarius is already the most complete wide receiver on the team, and he's only been playing a couple of weeks!
If Al Davis doesn't get involved in the situation and force the coaching staff to sit him on the depth chart behind Darrius Heyward-Bey and Louis Murphy when they come back from their injuries, Moore has a real chance to make a splash in the fantasy world this season.
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Pickup: WR Eric Decker (Denver Broncos)
14 of 19With Brandon Lloyd unexpectedly out last weekend, Eric had himself quite a game putting up two TDs (including a 52-yarder) to go along with his 113 yards receiving.
He also happened to have nine targets compared to Eddie Royal's three, which tells me that even when Royal comes back, Decker will still be higher on Orton's target-list over little Eddie.
In PPR leagues especially, you have to consider Decker a great waiver find.
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Pickup: WR David Nelson (Buffalo Bills)
15 of 19This guy is a huge target at 6'5" and could become a major part of the offense with WR Roscoe Parrish done for the season.
Last week, Nelson had 10 catches on 13 targets and is now looking like the WR2 on what is shaping up to be a prolific passing attack manned by QB Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Stevie Johnson was one of the best finds on the waiver wire last year, so why not another Bills receiver earning the same glory this season?
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Pickup: WR Nate Washington (Tennessee Titans)
16 of 19This one is another flier that you can probably wait off on if you so choose.
Last week, Nate was targeted 11 times, with seven of them hitting for 99 yards. Don't expect much, but if you are playing in a deep league or your WR crew is as bad as they come, you might want to give this guy a look.
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Pickup: WR Kevin Ogletree (Dallas Cowboys)
17 of 19Kevin Ogletree has done absolutely nothing during his first two years as a pro, but the guy is 6'2" and can run a 4.4 40-yard dash, so at least he's intriguing.
With Dez Bryant already nursing his first injury this season and Miles Austin now on the shelf for at least a week or two, you could do worse than having a starting WR in a pass-happy offense.
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Pickup: TE Fred Davis (Washington Redskins)
18 of 19If nobody picked Davis up after the first week, don't even finish this article and go grab him immediately. Anyone who watched Freddy play the last two weekends could see how good this guy is and believe me, it wasn’t a fluke.
Due to both age and injuries, Chris Cooley is on the downside of his career…and the Redskins know it. They didn’t draft the 6’4”, 257-pound Davis in the second round of the 2008 NFL Draft for nothing.
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DROPS: Anyone on the Seattle Seahawks or Kansas City Chiefs
19 of 19At this point, I would try to trade any Chiefs and/or Seahawks players that you may have drafted in the first 10 rounds of your fantasy draft, as it seems these two teams appear to be a fantasy football fallout this season.
I would also drop any of the secondary guys you picked up in the later rounds and look for better value players that aren't on such terrible teams.
The fact is, with Charles lost for the season, the Chiefs are officially done from a fantasy football perspective, and frankly, the Seahawks were never going to be any good, so I'm not in the least bit surprised at their ineptitude.
Basically, cut bait now while you still can.
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