Transcription
This is going to be a short video. There are definitely a couple players that you should be looking at with the waiver wire this week, but there are not a lot of them.
Now, Devin Neal is one of those guys that should be rostered now in every league. And obviously, the reason is Alvin Kamara suffers a sprained MCL. From what I can read on Twitter about this is it seems like this kind of injury means Alvin Kamara is going to miss anywhere from one week to four weeks. And I don't have much more information than that. But what I can say is the New Orleans Saints, they're not playing for anything at this point. So there's no reason for them to rush Alvin Kamara back.
Now, of course, I know not everybody watching this plays dynasty fantasy football all offseason and spends all day long looking at these average to below average running backs coming into the NFL like Devin Neal. So just a quick little explanation of what kind of player he is. He is a volume grinder that is also a capable receiving running back. He had a ridiculous amount of volume in college. He gets to the NFL combine. He proves he's not a great athlete. He doesn't have a ton of juice. And this makes him fall to the sixth round of the NFL draft. So, would I expect Devin Neal to come in and be the next J.K. Dobbins, be the next Bijan Robinson? No. No. No. I think he's going to be a hell of a lot more like the next Zack Moss, the next Devin Singletary, the next running back that if you put him in a starting role, yeah, he's startable in fantasy, he's not going to win you your league, but he can help you survive at that running back two spot, especially in an offense like the New Orleans Saints where obviously it's not like fantasy points are easy to come by. But Devin Neal still very much will be a borderline top 24 running back in my rankings this week because this week he gets to play against the Miami Dolphins. And the benefit that you are going to get with Devin Neal for those full PPR formats is you go back to his time at Kansas, he was a very capable receiver. And then honestly, he already had a game this year where he posted more targets and more receptions than Alvin Kamara has all season this past week. So Devin Neal has proven that he is a capable receiving running back. He has the size to be used at the goal line. I don't think he has a ton of juice. I don't think he is an elite level talent by any stretch of the imagination, but he's good enough to be a top 24 running back and good enough to be an RB2 fill-in.
Now moving over to Raheem Mostert. I know a lot of people in the comment section were losing their minds given the fact that Austin Ekeler had fallen in my rest of season rankings this week despite Chip Kelly getting fired for the Raiders and they failed to forget about the fact that Austin Ekeler got injured. Okay, and very similar to Alvin Kamara, this Raiders team is playing for nothing, but they do need to be building around Austin Ekeler here for the long term. So, the firing of Chip Kelly, if anything, this may actually make a bigger difference for the running back that's going to be in there. And the running back that's actually going to be in there looks to be Raheem Mostert here in the short term. Now, we did get positive news on Monday that Austin Ekeler's ankle injury is not believed to be severe, which obviously that is great, especially for all my basketball teams that I drafted Austin Ekeler on. Um, but with Mostert, I'm gonna be honest. I don't view him anywhere close to the same range as Devin Neal in pickups. Like, if you had a FAAB bidding system, I would put like 10x the budget on Devin Neal in comparison to Raheem Mostert because best-case scenario here with Mostert, he comes in, he plays two weeks. He has to play against the Los Angeles Chargers, the Denver Broncos, then the Eagles, then the Houston Texans. He's not a great receiving running back. He's in an absolute garbage offense. And the dude's 33 years old. So Mostert probably in your deeper leagues, if you are desperate for running back points, should be looked at. But I'm not going to sit here and tell you that he's going to solve all your problems or win you your league.
Now, moving over to Jayden Reed. Um, obviously a lot of y'all are going to be playing in leagues where you have IR slots. Jayden Reed's just been sitting on the IR all year, but he's only rostered in 41% of Sleeper leagues at the moment. So, felt like it was worth talking about him. And obviously, when I make these videos, it's difficult for me to know exactly who's going to be available in your league, right? Because in my league, Devin Neal's already rostered. In my league, Jayden Reed's already rostered. So, I would recommend not just relying on videos like this for your waiver wire. Your waiver wire moves are important enough to just take the 10 seconds. Link your league with FlockFantasy.com. On the My Teams page, it's completely free. In the far right column, you'll see the best waiver wire pickups for your league specifically. The apps, whether it's ESPN, Yahoo, Sleeper, they do a really bad job sorting by the waiver wire because they just show whoever has the highest projected points for that week. And in reality, your waiver wire moves should be more about long-term upside rather than just weekly projected points. So, please make sure you take the 10 seconds, link your league. It's going to make your waiver wire moves 10 times easier. The link to FlockFantasy.com, it's I'm going to leave it in the description and the comment section.
But Jayden Reed has his IR 21-day practice window opened and at the same time he comes back and last week tweets out a picture of him gearing up getting ready for an NFL game. And all signs point to at this point Jayden Reed coming back in either week 13 or week 14. Now I can't sit here and tell you like, oh, Jayden Reed is immediately going to be a top 24 wide receiver in my rankings. Like far from it to be completely honest. But what we do know is Matthew Stafford dealing with a multitude of injuries, still not healthy. It's not like Christian Watson's ever proven to be a world-beater. Dontayvion Wicks still continues to do nothing. So, this Green Bay Packers offense, especially with the loss of Tucker Kraft, is still very much looking for a playmaker. Jayden Reed's coming back at the exact right time. The only hesitation I would have is I'm not wanting you to start him his first weekend in. I would really recommend just seeing him play a week and then if he does prove, oh, he can play 70% of the snaps. You're not going to get any more than that with Jayden Reed. Um, and he can draw seven, eight targets. You're not going to get any more of that with Jayden Reed. Then at that point, you can start him the following week.
Now, Treylon Burks is a wide receiver that looks very compelling at this point just because everybody in Tennessee is injured. He comes through this past week. He has the return touchdown. That is, I believe, the second return touchdown that he's actually had so far this season. And at the same time, he has a regular receiving touchdown. He drops 20 fantasy points. Now, I'm going to be honest. There is one thing that's going to be holding back Treylon Burks, and that will be he plays for the Tennessee Titans. And I don't know if you've been following the National Football League this year, but the Tennessee Titans are no bueno and there are not many points to be scored. So, while yes, he looks to be the wide receiver one, while yes, he looks to be an exciting rookie, and while hopefully this Titans offense can at some point turn things around, um he does look to just be a desperation, a deep pickup. Jalen Higgins will be our next name that we are looking at. Honestly, I think that Jalen Higgins is a better player than Treylon Burks. I think Jalen Higgins is in a better offense than Treylon Burks, but he also does have more target competition. So, if we are looking at these two players, it's going to be up to you. I would probably prefer Jalen Higgins between the two of them. So, I maybe should have talked about Jalen Higgins first. I mean, he has had at least seven targets in three straight games. And over the past three weeks, he's played at least 50% of the snaps every week. And after the really strong performance against the Buffalo Bills, I wouldn't be surprised if we get him out there a little bit more.
Now, let's move over to Cole Kmet. I would prefer Kmet over the wide receivers for sure because I honestly think that Kmet may score just as many points. Um, but ultimately this is a player that I see on a ton of waiver wires when we review teams on the live streams. And I don't exactly understand why because you have the draft capital. He's flashed already this season that he has the talent profile. He's playing more and more in this offense. Even with Cole Kmet back, he's had back-to-back games where he's now at this point averaging about 70% of the Chicago Bears snaps. I know you have some tough matchups coming up where you have to play the Eagles this next week. Then you get Green Bay week 14, Cleveland week 15, and then Green Bay yet again in week 16. But I would still stand by that Kmet has the upside to be a top 10 tight end down the stretch.
Pat Freiermuth, a lot of people are going to look at picking up. My only hesitation with Pat Freiermuth is I don't think he's that good. I don't think his offense is that good. And at the same time, you're gonna have Diontae Johnson coming in taking more targets. But again, Pat Freiermuth in deeper formats for sure is a viable tight end if you needed one.
Now, I'm going to mention this for half a second. Dameon Pierce signs with the Chiefs, but he signed with the Chiefs' practice squad. Um, unless you are the deepest of deep formats, Dameon Pierce is not somebody you should pick up. But I saw that he was trending on Sleeper, so I felt like maybe to throw him in the video so I can just get that PSA out there.
And then in terms of streaming DSTs, the best defenses on the week, the Seahawks get to play against the Minnesota Vikings where J.J. McCarthy has been so bad that they are now um opting to pretend that he has a concussion so they do not have to play him this next week. The Los Angeles Chargers get to play the spiraling Raiders who have already fired their offensive coordinator. Um, the Niners get to play Sanders and the Cleveland Browns. The Jacksonville Jaguars get to play against the Tennessee Titans. The Los Angeles Rams, I'm very excited to start them against Bryce Young there on my own team. The Miami Dolphins get to play against the New Orleans Saints and the Atlanta Falcons get to play against the New York Jets.
But I think that's all I got in this video. I know this wasn't a long one, but there aren't too many super interesting players to talk about, but really appreciate you. And of course, I want to advise you, make sure you link your league with FlockFantasy.com. It's completely free. It's going to give you a much, much better sense of who you should actually be looking to go ahead and pick up and also who on your roster you should be looking to drop as well. But I think that's all I got for you. Appreciate you and hope I get to see you out with the live stream later.