Transcription
Week one was crazy. Like, stupid, unbelievable type crazy. I mean, just think of this. How many of you out there would have thought I was losing my mind had I ranked Daniel Jones as the QB3 overall in week one? Better yet, what if you would have watched the running back rankings video, saw that I had Javvante Williams as the RB3 on the week, you would have thought I was nuts. Now, had you watched the wide receiver ranking video and saw that I had Quinton Johnston as my wide receiver, too, you probably would have unsubscribed for sure. But right now, all of those are realities. And oh, yeah, three of the top tight ends suffered some sort of injury.
So, what do we do now? What is going on, Headliner Nation? Hopefully, everyone is doing well out there. Hopefully, you enjoyed week one of fantasy football. I'm feeling great. I'm sounding like Shrek because I'm battling a cold, but you know what? The waiver wire don't stop for no one. Plus, I won like $800 on Underdog Pickhams this week, so that's making me feel a little bit better. Heck, we had a member of our community win over $4,000 on Underdog just in week one. A lot of great things happened for sure. I posted plays in our Discord and 75% of them hit this week. There was just, there was virtual money flying all over the place in our Discord. If you missed out on it, I hate that for you. But it's not too late. All you got to do is head over to Underdog Fantasy or download the app. Create a new account using the referral code headliners when you do so. Then just make your initial deposit. They're going to throw some bonus funds into your account. You're going to get a free player pickum and you can play alongside us for the rest of the season. I'll be giving away a few free picks every Friday here on the channel. But if you really want to dive in deep, you got to become a member and join our Discord 'cause it is popping off here to start the season. Now, links to everything right there at the top of the description if you're interested.
Now, we're going to be going over a few different things here today. Some of the top injuries that were suffered in week one. How about some week one overreactions as well, and 15 of the best options out there on the waiver wire for you right now. But I'm going to give you more than just that. I'm also going to go through and rank the waiver wire options. I see that a lot of times in the comment section. That's great. These guys are out there, but which one do I want? So, I'll go through and rank them for you. Kind of do a, do a waiver wire power rankings edition. But I'm also going to tell you if these guys are more of a bench stash or more start-worthy if needed. But because it's week two and I'm feeling like Fantasy Santa right now, I'm all hopped up on Dayquil. I'm also going to be giving you some recommendations on how much of your FAB budget you should be spending on these players. Now, there are timestamps down below to each one of these sections, so feel free to use them or just watch the video at 1.5x speed 'cause it's going to be a banger. But all right, let's go ahead and start off with a few of the major injuries first.
Now, I met with the doc and the five players that we're paying really close attention to this week are Drake London, Brock Bowers, George Kittle, Evan Engram, and Xavier Worthy. Now, for Drake London, he seemed to drop a touchdown late in the game. Killed a lot of fantasy lineups. That's for another time, another place. But he did suffer a shoulder injury. Could be an AC joint sprain. Something he could play through, could miss a week. Somebody we really need to pay attention to in practice reports this week. How about Brock Bowers? A possible mild MCL sprain. Not considered serious. Could miss some time. Could also play through the pain as well. Now, it's not a serious injury. He's already come out and said that he should be fine, but another name we need to follow closely. How about George Kittle? He suffered a hamstring strain. Now, that is somewhat concerning given his history. We're really looking at one to four weeks, barring the news of how bad this strain really is. But brace yourselves, we could be without George Kittle for a few games potentially. How about Evan Engram? He suffered a calf strain. Now, typically players will miss less than three weeks, but we also know that Evan Engram does have a history of missing some time. We're definitely expecting a week or two minimum to not have Evan Engram. And then lastly, Xavier Worthy. It happened on Friday Night Football in Brazil. It was friendly fire between him and Travis Kelce and he suffered a shoulder dislocation. Now, typically that injury is looking at right around three weeks or so for recovery. It's possible that he returns in two weeks, but really would surprise us to see that. So, hopefully we get Drake London and Brock Bowers back fairly quick. We could be without George Kittle, Evan Engram, and Xavier Worthy though for at least a week or maybe more.
But these injuries were just the start of things. I also want to touch on a few week one overreactions that I'm already seeing. Now, we had a laundry list of studs who absolutely dutted in week one. And I'm going to go through them here with you real quick. How about AJ Brown, George Pickens, Mike Evans, Drake London, Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, T. Higgins, Brian Thomas Jr., Tyreek Hill, Malik Nabers, Terry McLaurin, Bo Nix, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Nico Collins. Look where these guys currently are after the first week of the season. AJ Brown is the wide receiver 87. Pickens is the wide receiver 53. Evans is the wide receiver 34. Drake London's at wide receiver 23. Joe Burrow barely inside the top 24 at the quarterback position. Last year's Triple Crown winner Ja'Marr Chase currently wide receiver 68. People are flipping out. You can see where they finished here after week one. But don't forget this happens every single season. But I feel like a lot of us, myself included at times, forget that this happens every single season. So I wanted to pull up a list of players, a list of studs who dutted in week one last season in 2024. But then I'm also going to show you where they finished the season. I'm hoping that that gives you a little bit of hope to not overreact so quickly in fantasy football. I say this every offseason: there's going to be slow starting studs and that's because a lot of these guys don't do a whole lot in the preseason. It takes them time to get ramped up, but once they do, they absolutely explode.
So, let's look back to 2024 here real quick. In week one, Joe Burrow was the QB 29. He's on both lists. He ended the season as the QB3 last year. Brock Purdy started off as the QB 25, finished as the QB14. Bucky Irving started off as the RB 31 after one week, finished as the RB14. How about Drake London? He started off as the wide receiver 80 last year after just one week. Finished as the wide receiver five. We had Terry McLaurin start off as the wide receiver 78, finishing as the wide receiver six. Amon-Ra St. Brown the wide receiver 77 after week one finished as the wide receiver three. How about JSN? Jackson Smith-Njigba started off as the wide receiver 75, finished as the wide receiver 10. Then we got DK. Started off as the wide receiver 63, finished as the wide receiver 32. Sutton started as the wide receiver 57, finished as the wide receiver 13. And the list goes on. Puka Nacua, DeVonta Adams, Garrett Wilson, Malik Nabers, and Ja'Marr Chase all well outperformed where they started the 2024 season. Now, there's also two things worth noting on both these lists. First thing, heavily influenced by the wide receiver position. So many people worried about early round running backs in fantasy football. It's the early round wide receivers that really tend to start slow. But secondly, look how many of the same names are on both lists. Joe Burrow, Drake London, Terry McLaurin, Amon-Ra St. Brown. I mean, there's, there's numerous guys on both lists that just start off slow. And that leads to the point that we always say: it's 'cause they're not playing in the preseason. Please do not freak out. Do not trade your studs after one week of fantasy football.
But I do know that a lot of us have that one guy on our bench that's kind of somebody that we can switch out with people on the waiver wire. So, now let's dive into my top 15 adds for the waiver wire in week two. And we'll start off with a couple guys who are pretty highly owned. I try to keep these ownership percentages under 50%. I want them to be wildly available to a lot of people. But when there's some of these guys who are on the fringe, I'll include them anyway just in case they happen to be on your waiver wire. Now, I pull all of these ownership percentages from Sleeper, Yahoo, ESPN. If they're different in your league, take it up with the sites. This is what they're publishing.
Now, at the top of the list, it's Quinshawn Judkins of the Cleveland Browns. He's currently owned in 52% of leagues and has a matchup this upcoming week with Baltimore. Now, yes, like I mentioned, he is just over 50% owned, but a lot of people were sick of just waiting to find out what was going to happen with his contract situation. Well, he just signed a four-year, $1.4 million guaranteed contract. And that right there is what's important. There were only eight second-round picks alongside Quinshawn Judkins who got a guaranteed contract. And that says something considering the legal issues he had earlier in the offseason. The fact that they're willing to guarantee him the money means they're going to use him immediately. He's going to be the starter in this backfield and getting 15-plus touches in the very near future.
Now after him is Dylan Samson, Quinshawn Judkins' teammate. He's 46% owned as of right now, but he just led the team in carries in week one with 12 and had eight receptions on eight targets. And that is huge in PPR leagues. Now, he's not going to be the bell cow back in Cleveland. We just talked about Quinshawn Judkins, but Samson has earned the right, has earned the role to be the change-of-pace back in this backfield. It's going to be Quinshawn Judkins and Dylan Samson going forward. Sorry, Jerome Ford truthers. These guys are just better. So take a look, see if he's sitting out there.
Now after him is Trey Benson of the Arizona Cardinals. He's 45% owned. A great matchup this week going up against Carolina. We talked about him all offseason long and how he was going to eat into the role of James Conner. Well, he went out in week one, had more total yards than Conner did. Now, he was able to break a huge run which really boosted his overall production, but this kid is going to keep getting touches in the Arizona offense each and every week. Now, if something happens to James Conner, he could find himself being a top 15 running back on the season.
Now, after him is Will Shipley of the Philadelphia Eagles. He's currently 19% owned. He's the guy who got the first crack at touches behind Saquon Barkley. Now, he still had the same amount of total touches at the end of the game as AJ Dillon. However, Will Shipley really looked like the more explosive back. Sure, Dillon could get that short yardage if something were to happen to Barkley, but we just saw Will Shipley average 8.7 yards per carry. He's a little bit more of a handcuff for me at this point. I think we all know that if something were to happen to Barkley, it's going to be a split backfield. But, Will Shipley looks to be like the guy you'd want to own if you're a Saquon Barkley owner.
Now, after these guys, we go down to Hollywood Brown of the Kansas City Chiefs. He's currently 42% owned with a matchup this upcoming week against the Philadelphia Eagles. And really, this has everything to do with process of elimination. Rashee Rice is out. Xavier Worthy just suffered that shoulder injury we talked about. Travis Kelce, he isn't soaking up a bunch of targets anymore. We know that Skyy Moore is living underneath and Kadarius Toney is stretching the field. That means the entire middle of the field is Hollywood Brown. He had 16 targets, 10 catches, and 99 yards in week one. We've seen him be a thousand-yard receiver in the NFL again. And honestly, given the weapons, the current weapons they have, the healthy weapons they have, he could easily see huge volume each and every week.
Now, after him is Kahan Booty. Booty, booty, booty, booty rocking everywhere. And man, I talked about this guy all offseason long. This is like watching one of your children succeed at something that they've done because he is on waiver wires everywhere still at only 1% owned and it has me pretty freaking excited. Everyone is so consumed about DeMario Douglas and Kyle Williams and Stefon Diggs, but we have been talking about Kahan Booty who just went out in week one and led the entire team in targets, receptions, and yards. The kid is still criminally slept on and needs to be paid attention to on the waiver wire.
Now, after Booty, we got Quentin Johnston of the Los Angeles Chargers. He's only 8% owned going up against Las Vegas. And the Chargers really took that run-heavy approach and just said, "F it" in week one. Justin Herbert was out there looking like an MVP. They were throwing the ball even when they should have run the ball. They did not care. Keenan Allen and Ladd McConkey took coverage and senior oven mitts Quentin Johnston went out and capitalized on some big plays. I also expect him to be a huge red zone threat going forward. Now, is he going to remain touchdown dependent? Probably. But if Justin Herbert plays like he did in week one, touchdowns could be a plenty in 2025.
Now, after him, we got Josh Palmer of the Buffalo Bills. He's currently 20% owned. And another guy we talked about all offseason long. Now, while I will agree that safer options in this Buffalo offense are guys like Keon Coleman and Khalil Shakir, they are highly owned in fantasy football. Josh Palmer is available and he was right there with them in week one with nine targets. But what I really love to see is they weren't a bunch of checkdown small targets going the way of Josh Palmer. They were deeper down the field, which means that volume could regress slightly and we still have a fairly decent floor just due to the amount of yardage he can get per reception.
Now after him we got Ray-Ray McCloud of the Atlanta Falcons, only 4% owned right now with a matchup coming up against Minnesota in week two. We know that Darnell Mooney missed week one and it's uncertain whether or not he returns in week two and then we just talked about an injury to Drake London. Does he play? Is he limited? Now, Ray-Ray McCloud would be in line for a huge target bump. He may not be a huge touchdown guy, though, but I would not be surprised if we see him in that eight-plus target range, especially if Drake London were to miss.
Now, up next, we got Troy Franklin of the Denver Broncos, only 2% owned with a matchup going up against Indianapolis. And with all the options in Denver, it was Troy Franklin who was second on the team in targets behind Courtland Sutton in week one. Now we have an injury to Evan Engram and how much time does he miss because of it? Because that could be an immediate bump in targets going the way of Troy Franklin. Don't forget that Franklin and Nix played together in college at Oregon. There's some chemistry there.
But I hear you out there. You're like, Jake, there's injuries to tight ends all over the place. We need some tight ends on the waiver wire. I got a few of them for you that should be out there. First one, Brenton Strange of the Jacksonville Jaguars. He's 22% owned and he was one of our sleeper tight ends this offseason and it was great to see him have an immediate role right out the gate. He was third on the team in targets and reeled in 59 yards. What really killed the flow of this game was a weather delay that took forever. I saw screenshots of Jacksonville. I didn't see any bad weather in the area. However, apparently there was a lightning strike like 9.8 miles away, which caused this delay, which took forever and really killed the flow of the game.
How about Harold Fannon of the Cleveland Browns? He's only 1% owned in leagues. And Fannon being involved in this offense was not a surprise. Having him lead the team in targets, that right there was an absolute surprise. He's really more of a safety valve than he is a big play threat here, but the volume at the tight end position is irreplaceable.
Now, speaking of volume, look at Juwan Johnson of the New Orleans Saints in a matchup going up against San Francisco. He's only 1% owned. And like I mentioned, we can't ignore the volume. And Juwan Johnson just had 11 targets, eight receptions, and finished as a top five tight end in week one. Now, I don't think that's something we can count on weekly, but there aren't a lot of tight ends out there that have that type of volume upside. Plus, we know that New Orleans is probably going to be trailing in most of their games, having to play catch-up, which means they'll be throwing the football.
Now, you may also have Jonnu Smith out there on your waiver wire as well. The Pittsburgh Steelers, he's 30% owned with a matchup coming up against Seattle. I have to include him just because of the way that Aaron Rodgers looked in week one. He was able to move the ball down the field with ease and that bodes well for almost all the Pittsburgh Steelers weapons. Now, Jonnu led the team in receptions with five for 15 yards. They weren't going down the field at all to Jonnu Smith. He was really saved by a touchdown that was basically a run play if we're being honest. So, it's great he led the team in receptions, but I still think Fannon and Johnson and their volume are slightly safer than that touchdown upside of Jonnu Smith.
And then lastly, let's pay attention to Michael Mayer in Las Vegas. Now, he's only 1% owned as of right now, but this one right here has everything to do with the health of Brock Bowers. If he were to miss any time, Mayer would be the guy that we would want to start in his place. We saw this Las Vegas offense really focus in on their tight ends in week one. We saw Bowers go out there and make play after play after play. Now, if he were to miss some time, Michael Mayer is capable of doing something similar. But I also need to tell you this: if Brock Bowers does play, Michael Mayer can probably just stay on your waiver wire.
But all right, now I told you I was going to power rank these guys. If I'm looking at all the guys top to bottom, how would I rank them in the order that I would grab them off the waiver wire? And this is what we came up with. Number one is Quinshawn Judkins. Very rarely this early in the season do you have a chance to grab a running back who's probably going to be a starter in the next week or so. Then we got Hollywood Brown. Immediate targets due to the injuries in Kansas City. Then we go Booty, Booty, Booty, Kahan Booty of the New England Patriots. As long as he stays healthy, he will probably be the best wide receiver in New England come season's end. Then we got Quentin Johnston and his touchdown upside of the Los Angeles Chargers. Then we move down to Josh Palmer and the high-powered offense of the Buffalo Bills. Then we'll go down to Dylan Samson who will have that change-of-pace role in Cleveland, eight targets in week one, that is great to find on the waiver wire, especially when you're talking about the running back position. After Samson, we go Trey Benson. Sure, he may be somewhat serviceable in really deep leagues, but does need that James Conner injury to really take the next step. How about Brenton Strange of the Jacksonville Jaguars? He's next up on the list, followed by Harold Fannon. And really, the reason I have Strange above Fannon is for the touchdown upside in Jacksonville over Cleveland. Then we get Ray-Ray McCloud of the Atlanta Falcons. Really maybe more of a deeper league PPR style option with the bump of targets. He could be seen if they're without Mooney and London. Then we go down to Jonnu Smith in Pittsburgh. We know Arthur Smith loves the guy. We know Aaron Rodgers is playing great. We just don't know how often are they going to give him more than like a yard down the field target. Which then takes us to Juwan Johnson next to New Orleans. We love the volume, but it still is the New Orleans Saints who are not going to score a ton of points. Then we got Will Shipley. A little bit more of a handcuff there for Saquon Barkley, followed by Troy Franklin in Denver. Now, Denver has a lot of other options to spread the ball around. It's not like Franklin is the only guy that's going to see a bump. Don't forget about Marvin Mims there either, but Franklin is definitely a guy that could see more volume if we're without Evan Engram for any length of time. And then lastly, the tight end in Las Vegas, Michael Mayer. Really needing to find out what's going on with Brock Bowers first. The fact that he came out and said he's going to be okay probably means he's going to be on the field, but just something to monitor just in case.
So, now we move on to the part of the show where we talk about are we stashing these guys? Are they potential starts for us here in week two? Now, really, we'll go through the same list. And for Quinshawn Judkins, even though he's expected to return this week, I may stash him for a week to really find out what's going to happen. Remember, the kid just signed his contract. He hasn't been out there. He's going to need a little bit of time to get back up to game speed. Then we have Hollywood Brown. He's a potential start for us in week two. Kahan Booty, another potential start. Quentin Johnston in deeper leagues, I could see him being a start this week as well against Las Vegas. Josh Palmer, a little bit more of a bench stash. Let's see how that volume looks after the second week when they're not playing from behind as much. Dylan Samson, a little bit more of a bench stash. I'm hoping you have better running back depth than having to rely on Dylan Samson already in week two, but he still is intriguing. Same with Trey Benson. A bench stash for me there as well. Then we got Brenton Strange. He's a potential start if you need a tight end this week. Same with Harold Fannon. Ray-Ray McCloud, more of a bench stash for right now. Hopefully we don't have to start Ray-Ray in week two. Then we got Jonnu Smith and Juwan Johnson. A couple tight ends if you need to start one in week two due to injury, they're options. And then lastly, Will Shipley, Troy Franklin, Michael Mayer. All bench stashes for right now. But I will say this, if for some reason Brock Bowers does get ruled out, Michael Mayer will definitely be somebody who becomes a potential start.
Which means all we need to talk about now is the recommended FAB budget to spend on the players that we just covered in today's show. Now, for Quinshawn Judkins, I will probably go up to 50% of my FAB budget for the year only because at this point of the season, it's really hard to find a running back that has RB1 potential. They drafted this kid to be their starting running back. And while it may take a couple weeks to get him up to speed, by the time we hit mid-season, it would not surprise me if he's easily getting more than 15 touches a game. He has the potential to really help you down the stretch. And that's why I'll pay up just a little bit for that running back position. But after that, it's a pretty steep drop off. We got Hollywood Brown, up to 15% of your FAB budget. Remember, his value is somewhat limited depending on the length that we're without Xavier Worthy. And then at some point, Rashee Rice comes back into the mix and that will hurt Hollywood Brown as well. Kahan Booty, up to 15%. Quentin Johnston, the same thing with Josh Palmer, Dylan Samson, and Trey Benson. I'm not going over 15% of my FAB budget because I really view these guys as solid options to have on my bench, but not guys that I want to just grab and just plan on starting rest of season. So, if that's the case, I don't want to just totally empty my budget on them.
Now, after them, we got guys like Brenton Strange, Harold Fannon, Ray-Ray McCloud, Jonnu Smith, and Juwan Johnson. I'll pay up to 10% of my FAB budget for those players. And then lastly, Will Shipley, Troy Franklin, and Michael Mayer, not doing any more than 5%. So, there you have 15 players that give you an option for week two. But like I said at the start of the show, the most important thing at this point of the fantasy football season is please, please, please don't overreact yet. [music]