Bjorn Yang Vaernet examines which players on the waiver wire are worth prioritizing for Week 7 and highlights others to preemptively stash.

Week 6 was a great reminder of why the waiver wire is so important. Here’s a list of the top RBs that were missing from each team heading into this week (and this is only Week 6):

• Arizona – James Conner, Darrell Williams
• Atlanta – Cordarelle Patterson
• Denver – Javonte Williams
• Indianapolis – Jonathan Taylor, Nyheim Hines
• Los Angeles Rams – Cam Akers
• New England – Damien Harris
• Seattle – Rashaad Penny
• San Francisco – Elijah Mitchell

This list doesn’t even include teams whose already been hit by early RB injuries such as Chicago, Detroit, and New Orleans. While not all backfields will yield a plug-and-play fantasy starter, hopefully, this column can help shed light on which teams have players worth rostering and/or playing.

Week 6 was a relatively healthy week from a position player perspective, but there are always trends to monitor and players to churn at the back of the team. Let’s get to the players below.

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

No QBs to highlight this week. There are 18 QBs that are rostered in more than 50% of ESPN leagues. The remaining QBs on the waiver wire do not have enough upside for consecutive weeks to warrant a mention. For streaming recommendations for Week 7, make sure to check out Dave Caban’s weekly QB streaming article.

Update: Initially there were no QBs to highlight but it was revealed on Monday that Carson Wentz left Sunday with a fractured finger. He had surgery on Monday morning and is expected to be out for four to six weeks. His replacement is expected to be:

Taylor Heinicke (Available in 100% of Leagues)

Taylor Heinicke started every single game for the Commanders in 2021. This means that Heinicke will likely be comfortable operating the offense right away. While Heinicke did not finish 2021 on a strong note, he started the year with six QB1 performances in the first 10 games–19.6 fantasy points per game. Notably, in those first 10 games, Heinicke averaged 4.5 rush attempts compared with 2.5 in the last six games. While it is uncertain whether Heinicke will produce like his first half of 2021, the fact that he has consistent 20+ point upside makes him a player worth keeping an eye on as bye weeks start.

Running Back

Rachaad White (Available in 74% of Leagues)

Rachaad White is the RB that I would prioritize on the waiver wire, especially on weeks when not a lot of strong waiver wire adds are available. Players like White have a ton of asymmetric upside because of their expected role if the player in front of them goes down. In fact, no other backup RB widely available on the waiver wire has his type of upside at all. These backups are typically all rostered at a high rate– e.g. Tony Pollard 84% or AJ Dillon 85%. Unlike a direct handcuff, White has already started to work into the offense more as the year has gone on. During the past three weeks, White has had opportunity counts of eight, nine, and eight.