Week 7 Waiver Wire: DeMarco Murray and 5 Players to Get More Touches This Week

The big fantasy news this week has revolved around the quarterback position.  

Carson Palmer gives the Raiders an upgrade on offense and has increased the fantasy value of the receivers in Oakland’s offense. Christian Ponder will be making his first start with the Vikings and for now it’s a huge risk to trust anybody on that unit aside from Adrian Peterson.  

The waiver wire for non-QB positions is a bit thin this week, but five guys stand out as players either benefiting from injuries in front of them, or are young and beginning to learn the game and gaining trust from the coaching staff.  

Here are five players who are poised to get more touches in Week 7 and beyond:

5. Montario Hardesty, RB, Cleveland Browns

Disclaimer: Hardesty isn’t a great running back. He is small, struggles to break tackles and can’t block very well.

Yet with the injury to Peyton Hillis’ hamstring, it’s Hardesty that will get the start against Seattle. Hardesty had 11 carries for 35 yards in relief of Hillis on Sunday and should be getting around 20 touches against the Seahawks.

While picking up anybody in the Browns offense is a risky move, 20 touches is 20 touches. With the murky situation between Hillis and the Browns only getting worse…who knows how long Hardesty will be getting starter reps.

For now, he’s a great pickup for Week 7 against a Seahawks team that has given up double-digit fantasy points four times this season despite having a solid yards-per-carry mark.

4. Nate Burleson, WR, Detroit Lions

While he may only be available in about 45 percent of ESPN standard leagues, it used to be a much smaller number early in the season. Once he got of to a slow start, owners were dropping him faster than a ball to Brandon Marshall in the end zone.

Finally he had his breakout in Week 6, catching four balls for 34 yards and a touchdown.

Teams are beginning to really make an effort to shutdown Calvin Johnson around the red zone and that is music to the ears of Burleson. Considering he had a season-high 10 targets on Sunday, expect the numbers to only get better.

3. Jackie Battle, RB, Kansas City Chiefs

Battle had a breakout Week 5 before his team sat out last week with a bye. Against the Vikings he had a whopping 19 carries for 119 yards in addition to 21 yards receiving.

He should continue to see the bulk of the load as Thomas Jones ages before our eyes and Dexter McCluster seems destined to become the next Reggie Bush.

This week the Chiefs play a Raiders defense that has already surrendered six TDs to opposing running backs, with four backs having already reached double-digit fantasy points on the black and silver.

Pick up Battle this week and start him right away.

2. Jake Ballard, TE, New York Giants

Ballard has come from nowhere to be a top-10 fantasy tight end.

His soft hands, ability to make tacklers miss and a knack for finding the soft spot in zone coverage makes him fantasy gold for a tight end.

The Giants are clearly a passing team and even when they run the ball 31 times, Ballard was still able to get 81 passing yards. This is after two straight games where he hit pay dirt.

New York is on a bye this week, but gets two horrible pass defenses in Miami and New England afterward.

Pick him up now and expect him to get pouring in the big points.

1. DeMarco Murray, RB, Dallas Cowboys

Felix Jones suffered a high ankle sprain on Sunday that will keep him out for the next couple of weeks. Then backup Tashard Choice had a costly fumble in the red zone and was promptly benched in favor of the rookie Murray.

He had a team-high 10 carries for 32 yards and showed some of the power and bursts that made people believe he was the next Adrian Peterson. Injuries derailed his college career,  but he now has a fresh start with the Cowboys.

The Cowboys play the winless Rams this week; so expect Murray to put up great fantasy numbers this week. Getting 15-20 touches sounds about right for the next two to three weeks.