Bjorn Yang Vaernet examines which players on the waiver wire are worth prioritizing for Week 6 and highlights others to preemptively stash.
One aspect I like about this part of the football season is that with five Sundays completed, I can start to feel more confident about the usage and plans of attack that each team is going to use on game day. This can also help translate to waiver wire pickups as identifying the players who will likely provide the most upside is the most important part of picking players to stash or start in a pinch.
The waiver wire is one of the most important pieces of season-long draft leagues. It is the easiest way to acquire new players and every year there are gems to be found. The goal of this article will not only be to highlight which weekly breakout players to prioritize but find others to preemptively pick up before the breakout happens.
This article will be published once on Mondays with a quick run through my favorite pickups and again on Tuesdays with more charts and data points added in.
This article will only reference players that are less than 50% owned in ESPN leagues. The players are categorized by position group and within each group is the order of how I would prioritize them. In lieu of free agent acquisition budget percentages, which are highly dependent on the makeup of each league, I have highlighted which players I would prioritize on the week.
Quarterback
Geno Smith (Available in 85% of Leagues)
The Geno Smith experience is wild. Smith continued to amaze in Week 5, leading the Seahawks’ offense to 32 points on the road against a tough Saints defense. During the last three weeks, Smith has been a top-12 QB, scoring 18.9, 31.7, and 24.0 fantasy points. While Smith doesn’t quite have the top-end ceiling as some of the rushing QBs that account for a higher percentage of their team’s offense, if he can keep up this efficiency, he won’t be the reason a fantasy lineup loses.
As mentioned last week, Smith has a really favorable schedule in the next four weeks, playing Arizona twice, Los Angeles Chargers, and the New York Giants. The strength of schedule streaming app gives the Seahawks the seventh-best schedule for QBs between Weeks 6 and 9.
Running Back
Kenneth Walker (Available in 52% of Leagues)
Rashaad Penny’s insanely unlucky run of injuries continued in 2022. Penny went down in Week 5 with a fractured fibula and is likely out for the season. After Penny left the game, Kenneth Walker took over his early-down role and received five of the six RB opportunities. Walker highlighted his upside and speed on a long fourth quarter TD run.
Kenneth Walker III goes 69 YARDS and the @Seahawks take the lead!
📺: #SEAvsNO on FOX
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/X4lelc0SFE pic.twitter.com/vHH47E0n0A— NFL (@NFL) October 9, 2022
Walker was Shawn Seigele’s top Zero RB candidate in his 2022 Zero RB Countdown. One of Shawn’s main arguments was that Walker had elite athletic metrics — 4.31 40-yard dash and 91st-percentile Freak Score. While Walker will likely cede some passing snaps to DeeJay Dallas, there’s no reason he can’t take over that role as well. In fact, Walker actually ran more routes than Dallas in Week 5 despite trailing nearly all game.
