Fantasy
10/14/24
8 min read
Fantasy Football 2024: Week 7 Waiver Wire Targets
The month of October keeps on giving.
Hopefully, Week 6 didn’t bring too many tricks for managers looking to keep their season alive, and there are certainly several fantasy treats worthy of highlight and celebration.
This week’s waiver wire is full of some familiar names and a couple of surprise young players who must be rostered immediately.
Let’s not waste any more time:
Fantasy Football Week 7 Waiver Wire Adds
Drake Maye, QB, New England Patriots
- ESPN Rostership: 3.8 percent
- Yahoo Rostership: 7 percent
Given the context of the situation, Drake Maye performed exceptionally well in his first career NFL start.
Yes, the Houston Texans’ front got to the rookie early and often (four sacks), but it didn’t stop Maye from tossing a handful of scores. The North Carolina product produced 20 completions on 33 attempts with 243 passing yards, three touchdowns, and a pair of interceptions.
Also notable is that Maye led the Patriots in rushing on Sunday, recording 38 yards on five carries. These results track with the 43.7 rushing yards per game that he averaged across two seasons as a starter in college, according to Campus2Canton.
If you remember from before Week 1, I suggested stashing Maye for managers with uncertain quarterback situations in 1-QB leagues. Even in a tough spot against a top defense, the third overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft delivered usable fantasy production.
Taking a look Maye’s way, or keeping an eye out for Minnesota Vikings QB Sam Darnold’s name if he got dropped on the bye week, is likely the best strategy for the waiver wire.
Isaac Guerendo, RB, San Francisco 49ers
- ESPN Rostership: 0.9 percent
- Yahoo Rostership: 4 percent
It’s understandable that some of the events from Thursday night games will be forgotten by the end of the football weekend. In the case of Week 6, I’m sure no one is glossing over Jordan Mason's sprained A/C joint, which could cause him to miss time.
Now down their top two backs, San Francisco will look to rookie fourth-round pick Isaac Guerendo for the time being. The former Louisville product accumulated 99 yards on 10 carries against the Seattle Seahawks, including a 76-yard scamper that set up a Kyle Juszczyk touchdown late in the fourth quarter:
For those unfamiliar with Guerendo, he recorded the fastest 40-yard dash time among running backs at the NFL Combine (4.33 seconds) at the stout size of 6 feet and 221 pounds. The familiar archetype of 49ers backs under coach Kyle Shanahan has always been “big and fast,” and Guerendo is no different.
Even if Mason only misses abbreviated time, few players are more valuable than the starting back of the 49ers. Scoop Guerendo with high priority.
Jaylen Warren, RB, Pittsburgh Steelers
- ESPN Rostership: 44.9 percent
- Yahoo Rostership: 42 percent
Week 6 didn’t see a blowup game from Jaylen Warren, who returned from a multi-week absence due to a hamstring injury. The box score isn’t impressive, but the amount of work he received is notable.
The former UDFA received nine touch opportunities (carries + targets) behind teammate Najee Harris, who led the way with 16. Still, if we zoom in a bit, Warren tied with Harris in targets (three) and still put together a respectable 4.8 points in point-per-reception (PPR) scoring on Sunday.
Warren immediately being trusted with a near-double-digit workload is significant. If you don’t remember, we’re talking about a player who shouldered a 42.3 percent share of the Steelers’ backfield touch opportunities in 2023 with an average of 11.6 PPR points per game, per FantasyData.
It might take a while for him to ramp up, but Warren is a potentially flex-worthy player on a weekly basis. Managers might've dropped him out of frustration while waiting for his health to return.
Cash in on that mistake, and add Warren if you haven’t already.
Alexander Mattison, RB, Las Vegas Raiders
- ESPN Rostership: 35.6 percent
- Yahoo Rostership: 51 percent
Alexander Mattison continues to figuratively and literally run away with the RB1 job in Las Vegas.
The reverse side of the contest between the Raiders and Steelers saw the veteran put up a robust 65 scrimmage yards on 19 touches, including a rushing touchdown. These efforts boosted Mattison to 17.5 PPR points on Sunday, a total that likely aided in pushing the needle toward a win for any manager who started him.
This is far from the first time Mattison has been discussed. Even before teammate Zamir White sustained a groin injury that kept him out for consecutive weeks, he was already losing ground to Mattison.
At this point, the changing of the guard is complete — this is Mattison’s backfield.
While he may technically not qualify for this article per his Yahoo rostership, ESPN leagues seemingly indicate that you can broadly scoop this starting runner off the wire. Make it happen!
Josh Downs, WR, Indianapolis Colts
- ESPN Rostership: 49.1 percent
- Yahoo Rostership: 48 percent
Hopefully, this section is a farewell to Josh Downs.
The second-year wideout has been a regular stalwart of conversation in several recent articles and is finally doing enough to the point where I believe this will be the last week he qualifies for this waiver column.
Downs erupted again on Sunday, leading the Colts in targets (nine), receptions (seven), and receiving yards (66) to go along with a touchdown against the Tennessee Titans. At this point, he’s trending up to a point where he cannot be ignored.
According to FantasyData, Downs has registered 10 targets, 72.3 receiving yards, and 19.2 PPR points per game in the last three weeks and ranks first on the team in each category. Yes, this surge is all under Joe Flacco’s time as the starting quarterback, but why bother being scared by the looming return of Anthony Richardson?
Just go with it, y’all. He’s the WR1 in this offense. What more do you need to see?
DeMario Douglas, WR, New England Patriots
- ESPN Rostership: 21.1 percent
- Yahoo Rostership: 7 percent
The primary beneficiary of Maye’s ascension is DeMario “Pop” Douglas.
The speedy slot receiver ended Sunday’s action with six receptions on nine targets for 92 receiving yards and a score, the Pats’ top contributor in each category. Now that the New England offense might be heating up, it might be a good idea to add their top wideout.
In the past four weeks, Douglas has led the team with 7.5 targets and 13.1 PPR points per game. It’s not much, but considering that Jacoby Brissett’s time under center overlaps with that timeline, we’re looking at someone potentially capable of low-end WR2 relevance.
Honestly, if you miss out on adding Downs, Douglas is a great consolation prize who can add some "pop" to your lineups.
Zach Ertz, TE, Washington Commanders
- ESPN Rostership: 53.6 percent
- Yahoo Rostership: 25 percent
Though we’ve yet to see a true breakout game from him, this veteran tight end is slowly becoming one of the more consistent fantasy options at his position during the past few weeks.
In case you didn’t know, Zach Ertz has seen at least five targets in all but one game so far in 2024. The amount of production it amounts to for fantasy (7.8 PPR points per game) isn’t a lot, but it’s good enough to rank 15th among tight ends entering Sunday night’s action.
That’s not nothing, especially at a position that has been hard to pin down this season. As long as the Commanders’ offense stays strong, Ertz can be a nice safety blanket for QB Jayden Daniels and fantasy managers too fearful to start some random name who was good the week before.
The consistency and safety of a scoring floor are more important than the big spike upside that a tight end brings to the table. If you want to feel good, maybe not great, but comfortable about your tight end every week, consider Ertz off the wire.
