Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Week 6: Why You Must Add Earnest Graham

With Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back LeGarrette Blount questionable for Sunday's game against the New Orleans Saints, fantasy owners should keep an eye on Earnest Graham.

The powerful change-of-pace back has just 14 carries on the season, for 84 yards, and 23 receptions for 143; as the starter, however, he could get up to 20 carries and a similarly high number of looks from quarterback Josh Freeman.

This makes him a valuable addition to your fantasy roster, should Blount not play or be extremely limited this week. However, his limited carries when Blount is at full health means that he is just an injury replacement or a bye week fill-in for this week only, and should not have much long term value aside from being a handcuff for Blount.

If you have needs, then Graham is certainly worth picking up. If you're in a PPR league, he's even more valuable. Freeman loves to check-down to Graham, which is pretty clear by his carries-to-receptions ratio and the yardage he's able to gain from those grabs.

He's a bruising back, which means he lacks the kind of speed that would give him significantly more yards, but without Blount on the field he's going to be the team's primary back. Against the Saints less-than-impressive run defense, he has a pretty good chance of putting up a solid performance.

While Graham is not the flashiest waiver wire pickup this week, he's certainly one of the most useful. He will get you guaranteed points should he be the primary back on Sunday, and anything that helps the cause of winning clearly has high upside. Keep an eye on Blount's injury and grab Graham (available in 80 percent of Yahoo! leagues) this week.