Waiver Favors™: 2020 Week 2 Fantasy Football Pickups

By Ha Kung Wong  Week 6 Fantasy Football Pickups

Twitter: @FBGarbageTime

As I do every year over the last 8 years, I’m here to help with waiver wire adds via my weekly Waiver Favors article!  And I’m assuming if you’re a returning reader, you won your fantasy football championship last year, so congratulations!

But it’s a new year, so I’ll make a couple suggestions for after Week 2 of the 2020 fantasy football season.  You’re welcome.  Again.

As usual, all pickups are available in at least 50% of Yahoo standard fantasy football leagues (with some minor exceptions) as of Sunday evening.

Justin Herbert

QB – Los Angeles Chargers – 3% Owned

Surprisingly, Tyrod Taylor was ruled out with a chest injury during pregame warmups and the Chargers first round draft pick, Justin Herbert, was pressed into service. And boy did he perform, completing 22 of 33 passes for 311 yards, a TD and one interception, plus 18 rush yards and rushing TD, driving the defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes to OT and almost beating them. He’s sure to be the talk of the town, and is a good bet to continue starting, so feel free to grab him as a backup in all 12-team leagues or deeper, and all two QB leagues of any size.

Tevin Coleman

RB – San Francisco 49ers – 53% Owned

Raheem Mostert broke off an 80 yard TD early in the first quarter and then sprained his MCL leaving the game for good. Tevin Coleman took over and rushed 14 times for 12 yards and caught two passes for 28 yards. His line wasn’t good and Coleman also had a mild knee injury, but I mention him just because if Mostert sits out next week, and we already know that Jimmy Garoppolo will be out with a high ankle sprain, Coleman will be the man by default in a run heavy offense, which has got to be worth your consideration in 12-team leagues or deeper based on potential volume alone.

  • UPDATE – 9-21-20 PM – Looks like Coach Shanahan is concerned about Coleman’s MRI, so it may be time to pivot to Jerick McKinnon (24% Owned) as the last man standing, who actually rushed three times for 77 yards and a TD in Week 2.

  • UPDATE – 9-23-20 PM – Coleman now on IR, so McKinnon is the add to make.

Darrell Henderson

RB – Los Angeles Rams – 30% Owned

In Week 1 we all went nuts for Malcolm Brown in the Rams backfield. This week, it’s Darrell Henderson’s turn. The odds on favorite the lead the backfield in the preseason, nursing an injury into the season essentially got him “Wally Pipped”. But in Week 2, with Cam Akers leaving early with a rib injury, and Brown having a finger injury, Henderson rushed 12 times for 81 yards and a TD, adding 2 receptions for 40 receiving yards. Ultimately, he out-touched Brown 14 to 11 and out-gained him 121 to 47. If Akers is out, Henderson could be a decent fantasy RB2, so scoop him up in all 10 team leagues or deeper, and definitely if you’re an Akers owner.

Dion Lewis

RB – New York Giants – 5% Owned

Poor Saquon Barkley got injured in the first half and the current info points to an ACL tear, which would end his season. What a shame. That meant that Dion Lewis was the de facto lead back for the Giants and he proceeded to rush 10 times for 20 yards and a TD, also catching 4 of 5 targets for 36 receiving yards. If the Giants don’t pick anyone else up in free agency, Lewis becomes a volume dependent fantasy RB3/Flex in all 12-team leagues or deeper. I’d like to say that if you’re a Barkley owner, you should scoop up Lewis too, but I really hope you have a better option. (UPDATE 9-22-20 PM – With Devonta Freeman signed, Lewis’ time as the bellcow back may be limited to just Week 3, but he’s still worth a pick up as we see how this sorts out).

Laviska Shenault

WR – Jacksonville Jaguars – 17% Owned

Laviska Shenault had a decent Week 1 for a rookie debut with 2 carries for 10 rush yards and catching 3 of 4 targets for 37 yards and a TD.  He followed that up in Week 2 with 5 carries for 37 rush yards and again catching 3 of 4 targets for 35 yards.  He’s clearly being used like a change of pace back behind James Robinson along with occasional WR sets.  That’s some good volume that’s starting to trend up for the speedster.  He’s got some interesting upside playing with an overachieving Gardner Minshew, and is worth a look in all 14 team leagues or deeper.

  • OK, so now comes a whole bunch of Tight Ends that happen to be suddenly relevant. Typically, I put them in ownership percentage owner. But since there’s so many this week, I’m putting them in order or preference for waiver claims.

Dalton Schultz

TE – Dallas Cowboys – 1% Owned

With Blake Jarwin out for the season with a torn ACL, there was some speculation regarding who would take over as the top tight end target in Dallas. Turns out, that guy is Dalton Schultz, as he managed to snag 9 of 10 targets for 88 yards and a TD in an improbably win against the Falcons. True, this game had the hallmarks of a shootout and zero defense on either side, and Dallas was in comeback mode for the entire game, so temper expectations in terms of targets. But the usage was real, and that means he should be on your map just based on potential, since he had more receptions than each of Amari Cooper, CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup. Go get him in 12-team leagues or deeper.

Drew Sample

TE – Cincinnati Bengals – 1% Owned

It’s pretty clear that Joe Burrow likes throwing to his tight end. With C.J. Uzomah out with an Achilles injury, Drew Sample, the Bengals 2019 second round draft pick, showed a real connection with their 2020 first round draft pick catching 7 of 10 targets for 45 yards. His arrow is pointing up and he’s worth a speculative pickup for tight end needy teams in 14-team leagues or deeper.

Mo Alie-Cox

TE – Indianapolis Colts – 1% Owned

Both Jack Doyle and Trey Burton were out with injury leaving just Mo Alie-Cox at tight end. And he surprisingly answered the call in spades catching 5 of 6 targets for 111 yards in Week 2 against the Vikings. He led the Colts in both receptions and yards by a significant margin. It’s unclear when Doyle will be back, but it looks like Philip Rivers likes targeting Alie-Cox, so he’s worth a speculative pickup for tight end needy teams in all 12-team leagues or deeper.

Jordan Reed

TE – San Francisco 49ers – 7% Owned

We all know Jordan Reed. We also know he’s always injured. Turns out, he’s the beneficiary this time of someone else’s injury, in particular, George Kittle’s knee injury, as he took his place in Week 2 and caught 7 of 8 targets for 50 yards and two TDs. Of course, no Jimmy Garoppolo makes it tougher, but if Kittle is out again, he’s a reasonable streaming tight end play for 14-team leagues and deeper.

UPDATE (9-21-20)

Mike Davis

RB – Carolina Panthers – 5%

It’s now been confirmed that Christian McCaffrey has the dreaded high ankle sprain, and will be out 4-6 weeks.  In fact, there’s even been some rumblings that he’ll be put on the IR.

With CMC out, Mike Davis stepped in and caught all 8 targets for 74 yards in Week 2 against the Buccaneers.  That reflects essentially only one full quarter of work, and it’s pretty clear that Teddy Bridgewater is going to continuing dumping the ball off in negative game scripts for the rest of the season, so Davis could have so high RB2/low RB1 value with all that volume.  He’s a must add for all RB needy teams in 10-team leagues or deeper, and definitely for CMC owners.

Devonta Freeman

RB – Free Agent – 13% Owned

With Saquon Barkley confirmed out for the season with an ACL tear, the Giants are looking for help beyond incumbent backup Dion Lewis, who isn’t the prototypical every down back.  In steps Devonta Freeman who is scheduled to visit with the Giants Tuesday. I’m not saying he’s a must-add, but keep in mind that the last time he played all 16 games back in 2016, he had 1079 rush yards, 462 receiving yards and 13 total TDs leading to his second Pro Bowl nod.  He’s only played 16 total games in the last two years, so you can look at that at rust or rest, but either way, he makes for an intriguing speculative add in 12-team leagues or deeper.

UPDATE (9-22-20 PM) – Devonta Freeman is officially a New York Giant.  He’ll likely not play until Week 4, but if worth the speculative stash in the meantime.

UPDATE for Monday Night Football

Derek Carr

QB – Las Vegas Raiders – 17%

Listen, I’ve been off the Derek Carr bandwagon for a very long time, and don’t think he’s actually the future there, but it’s impossible to ignore his performance on Monday Night Football against a supposed strong Saints defense.  Carr completed 28 of 38 passes for 282 yards and a whopping 3 TDs in the win.  Sure, he doesn’t get these often, and the Saints Marcus Davenport was out with an elbow injury, which made things a lot easier on him, but its clear that as long as Darren Waller is healthy, Carr can have big lines.  Nearly half of Carr’s targets (16 of 38) went to Waller and over a third of his yards (103 of 282) came from Waller.  But they all count the same.  Feel free to take a look in 12-team two QB leagues or deeper.

And here’s who I’ve recommended in previous weeks that I still think deserve a look:

10-Team Leagues

None

12-Team Leagues

QBs – Gardner Minshew

RBs – Malcolm Brown, Joshua Kelley

WRs – Robby Anderson, Keelan Cole 

TEs – None

14-Team Leagues

QBs – None

RBs – Nyheim Hines (PPR)

WRs – Parris Campbell (PCL Injury – stash only as out indefinitely)

TE – None

16-Team Leagues

QBs – None

RB – Benny Snell Jr.

WR – None

TE – None

Check back every week for more Waiver Favors!

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