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Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 3

JamesStarksEvery Tuesday I will be bringing you the NFL players who have somehow flown under the fantasy radar and are owned in far too few leagues given their production and/or ceiling. Injuries and byes are inevitable, too.

With the first game of the week a mere 48 hours away, here are some players that are on quite a few waiver wires out there that simply shouldn’t be.

 

Quarterback

Ryan Tannehill, Miami Dolphins (Yahoo 16% owned; ESPN 9%) – 11% FAAB

Am I not talking loud enough? The Miami Dolphins are a good football team and they proved it for a second consecutive week with a nice win in Indianapolis. Tannehill, again, was very accurate (completed 23 of 34 pass attempts) and took what the defense gave him. In week one, he used crafty possession receivers in Brian Hartline and Brandon Gibson to exploit the Browns prevent defense.

This week, he opted to used his new big play target in Mike Wallace (nine catches on 11 targets for 115 yards and a touchdown) and his beefy tight end/fullback Charles Clay (five catches for 109 yards). That type of versatility is impressive given Tannehill’s youth and has me sold that he can be a top-15 fantasy quarterback this season. He’s the lone QB through two weeks to complete at least 70% of his passes with an aDOT (average Depth Of Target) over 8.6 yards (his currently stands at 9.5).

 

Phillip Rivers, San Diego Chargers (Yahoo 41% owned; ESPN 34%) – 10% FAAB

Based on the percentage of Free Agent Acquisition Budget, you can tell that I’m not entirely on board with a quarterback who still needs to show me something when it comes to throwing the ball down the field, but there are only a few roadblocks in an otherwise manageable schedule for the hot Chargers signal caller.

Through two weeks, Rivers has completed a higher percentage of his passes than Peyton Manning and has an aDOT of 9.0, a figure that trails on Michael Vick and Eli Manning among quarterbacks who have tossed at least four touchdowns. His lack of a deep passing game has played into his favor early this season (only one interception as a result of low risk passes), but he is throwing the ball deep enough to produce at a high level.

 

Running Back

 

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