Fantasy Football Waiver Wire: Week 2

By Kevin Hanson (@EDSFootball)
Updated: Monday, September 11, 2023

Every week, I list players to potentially target on your league's waiver wire that could help your fantasy team in the short and/or long term.

To maximize the potential that these players are available in your league(s), I only include those that are available in 50% or more of Yahoo! leagues.

Some of the players below more offer more short-term value, others may other more long-term value.

MORE: Fantasy Football Rest-of-Season (ROS) Rankings

Week 2 Fantasy Football RB Waiver-Wire Rankings

1. Kenneth Gainwell, Philadelphia Eagles (46% rostered in Yahoo! leagues): In what had the potential to be a four-way committee, Rashaad Penny was inactive in Week 1 and Gainwell ended up dominating RB touches (18, 81.8%). No other Eagles back had more than two touches, and Gainwell finished with 14 carries for 54 yards and added four receptions for 20 yards. While I wouldn't expect it to remain so lopsided, Gainwell is the clear lead back and should be rostered in all formats and league sizes.

2. Kyren Williams, Los Angeles Rams (5%): At first glance at the boxscore, Cam Akers (22) had more touches than Williams (15). That said, Williams (53 snaps, 65%) played more than Akers (28 snaps, 35%), and it was tilted even more in Williams' favor when the game was close. Williams out-snapped Akers 26 to four in the first half, and half (11) of Akers' touches occurred over the final 9:09 of the game. Maybe it's too soon to say that it's Williams, not Akers, who operates as L.A.'s lead back, but it seems to be a committee, at worst.

Continue reading our Fantasy Football Waiver Wire: Week 2

2023 Fantasy Football Rest-of-Season (ROS) Rankings

By Kevin Hanson (@EDSFootball)

FantasyPros tracks the accuracy of fantasy football rankings and Hanson's rankings have finished:

2022: 8th (out of 163 experts tracked)
2021: 6th (out of 172 experts tracked)
2020: 9th (out of 149 experts tracked)

With two AFC East quarterbacks yet to play in a Monday Night Football showdown, it's the other two AFC East quarterbacks that currently rank as QB1 and QB2 on the fantasy scoreboard.

Especially given his Week 1 matchup in a projected shootout with the Chargers, it's much less surprising that Tua Tagovailoa is the QB1 through Sunday.

Tagovailoa completed 28-of-45 for 466 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. Roughly half of the yards (215) went to Tyreek Hill, who was virtually unguardable.

As long as he can stay healthy, there's a lot to like about Tagovailoa's outlook.

Meanwhile, New England's Mac Jones threw 54 pass attempts, a league high through Sunday's games, for 316 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.

While Jones is much less likely to string together two consecutive strong fantasy performances, the Patriots and Dolphins will meet in Week 2.

These fantasy football rankings are the for the rest of the season, and they will be updated at least weekly — more often in response to significant news.

Continue reading our 2023 Fantasy Football Rest-of-Season (ROS) Rankings

More Rest-of-Season (ROS) Rankings:

2023 Fantasy Football 12-Team Half-PPR Mock Draft

KEVIN HANSON (@EDSFootball)
Updated: Saturday, August 26th

The best way to become good at something is to practice. So, what should you do if you want to draft a better fantasy football team?

Practice, of course!

Leading up to the start of the 2023 NFL season, we will use the Fantasy Football Mock Draft Simulator to complete fantasy football mock drafts.

We will use a variety of scoring formats — point per reception (PPR), half-PPR, standard scoring and even 2-QB leagues — and league sizes. The goal is to provide you with a good representation of the team that you may be able to construct given your league settings and the rationale of why we made the picks we did.

> Our mocks will be tracked here: Fantasy Football Mock Drafts.

That said, nothing beats practicing yourself so (check out the simulator) and complete a mock in a matter of minutes.

Half-PPR Mock Draft: 12 Teams, 8th Pick

1.08 - Cooper Kupp, WR, Los Angeles Rams

Kupp pulled off the rare triple crown of receiving in 2021, finishing with 145 catches for 1,947 yards and 16 touchdowns. While he missed roughly half of his follow-up season, the 2021 NFL Offensive Player of the Year had a better season than maybe most realized.

Who led ALL receivers in half-PPR fantasy points scored in 2022 on a per-game basis? Yep, it was Kupp — not Justin Jefferson, or any other receiver.

2.05 - Derrick Henry, RB, Tennessee Titans

There are certainly concerns — age, cumulative career workload, the team's offensive issues, etc. Even so, Henry has led the NFL in rush attempts in three of the past four seasons (including 349 in 2022) and he's guaranteed a massive workload, as long as he remains healthy. He set a career high in receptions (33) in 2022, but he actually averaged more receptions per game in 2021 (2.3) than 2022 (2.1).

Of course, it would be preferred for Henry to be more involved as a receiver, but his relative lack of involvement in the passing game has been an over-emphasized reason to avoid Henry (at least in half-PPR formats). Here is where Henry has finished on a points-per-game basis in half-PPR scoring over the past four years (min. 8G played): third in 2022 (17.9), first in 2021 (23.0), third in 2020 (20.2) and second (tied) in 2019 (19.0), respectively.

Continue reading our 2023 Fantasy Football 12-Team Half-PPR Mock Draft

Fantasy Football Rankings 2023

KEVIN HANSON (@EDSFootball)
Updated: Friday, August 25th

FantasyPros tracks the accuracy of fantasy football rankings and Hanson's rankings have finished:

2022: 8th (out of 163 experts tracked)
2021: 6th (out of 172 experts tracked)
2020: 9th (out of 149 experts tracked)

Some teams have already played their final preseason game and as the NFL preseason winds down, we are that much closer to the Kansas City Chiefs hosting the Detroit Lions on Thursday Night Football.

That also means that we are in the thick of fantasy draft season.

To help you prepare for your fantasy football drafts, we will continue to keep our fantasy football rankings updated until the start of the 2023 NFL season.

Fantasy Football Rankings 2023: Quarterbacks

1. Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills

Fantasy managers know exactly what they're getting when they draft Allen, who has finished as fantasy's QB1, QB1 and QB2 over the past three seasons, respectively. Few quarterbacks have as much weekly upside and consistency as Allen. Last season, he finished as a top-six weekly QB in 12 of 16 games played and finished as a top-12 weekly quarterback in two more games.

2. Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles

Hurts set career bests in passing — 66.5% completion, 8.0 Y/A, 4.8 TD%, 1.2 INT%, and 101.5 passer rating — in 2022. Despite his improvement as a passer, aided by the trade for A.J. Brown last offseason, it's especially the rushing production that makes him an elite fantasy quarterback. Over the past two seasons (30 games), the former Oklahoma (and Alabama) quarterback has rushed 304 times for 1,544 yards and 23 touchdowns. That's an equivalent to 9.75 fantasy points per game (from his rushing stats alone).

3. Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs

Despite losing Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins, Mahomes didn't miss a beat and won his second NFL MVP award in 2022. He threw for 5,250 yards and 41 touchdowns, both of which led the NFL last season. While he doesn't have as much rushing upside as Josh Allen or Jalen Hurts, he has more than 300 rushing yards in three consecutive seasons and multiple rushing scores in five consecutive seasons.

Continue reading our Fantasy Football Rankings 2023: Quarterbacks

Fantasy Football Rankings 2023: Running Backs

1. Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers

After two injury-plagued seasons, McCaffrey played a full 17-game slate in 2022 split between the Panthers and 49ers. If there's a concern (albeit only a slight one), it's the potential for the 49ers to scale back CMC's workload to preserve his health for a full season including the playoffs, especially given their talented supporting cast when at full strength.

When healthy, however, few, if any, running backs have a higher floor and ceiling due to his ability as a runner and receiver. From Week 7 (when SF traded for him) through the end of the season, he tied Tennessee's Derrick Henry for the most fantasy points per game (half-PPR). McCaffrey has a minimum of 80 catches in each of his four full seasons, and he's averaged 113.1 yards per scrimmage per game over his career.

2. Austin Ekeler, Los Angeles Chargers

Granted permission to seek a trade early in the offseason, Ekeler enters 2023 with fresh incentives added to the final year of his contract. As one of the league's best receiving backs, Ekeler's elite production is game-script independent. In addition, he has led the NFL in touchdowns in each of the past two seasons with a total of 38 during that span. Ekeler led all running backs in half-PPR fantasy points in 2022, and he finished second behind Jonathan Taylor in 2021.

3. Nick Chubb, Cleveland Browns

Chubb has a career average of 5.2 yards per carry, but he has also yet to average fewer than 5.0 YPC in any of his first five NFL seasons. The talented back carried the ball 302 times last season for 1,525 yards and 12 touchdowns, all of which set or tied career highs. While he's averaged only 1.6 receptions per game over his career, his passing-game role may (or should) expand with Kareem Hunt no longer on the roster.

Continue reading our Fantasy Football Rankings 2023: Running Backs

Fantasy Football Rankings 2023: Wide Receivers

1. Justin Jefferson, Minnesota Vikings

What more can Jefferson do? Not only has he improved his production in each successive season, but he broke Randy Moss's record for receiving yards through a player's first three seasons. During those three seasons, he's racked up a total of 324 receptions for 4,825 yards and 25 touchdowns.

2. Ja'Marr Chase, Cincinnati Bengals

Chase missed five games in 2022, but in some ways, his numbers were even better in his second season. Chase averaged a 7.3/87.2/0.75 line and fell short of 50 receiving yards in only one of 12 games last season. As a rookie, he averaged 4.8/85.6/0.77 per game, but he failed to reach 50 receiving yards in six games in his debut season. Assuming that Chase stays healthy, bigger and better things should be expected in his age-23 season.

3. Cooper Kupp, Los Angeles Rams

Who led ALL receivers in half-PPR fantasy points scored in 2022 on a per-game basis? Yep, it was Kupp — not Justin Jefferson, or any other receiver.

Continue reading our Fantasy Football Rankings 2023: Wide Receivers

Fantasy Football Rankings 2023: Tight Ends

1. Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs

While age (turns 34 in October) is still a potential concern, he's shown no signs of slowing down after posting his seventh consecutive 1,000-yard season. Without Tyreek Hill, he posted either his best or second-best numbers across the board — 152 targets, 110 receptions, 1,338 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Absolutely dominant compared to other tight ends, Kelce (15.4) averaged more than double the half-PPR fantasy points per game than the last TE1 (Dalton Schultz, TE12, 7.6 PPG). In fact, if Kelce were a wide receiver, he'd rank ahead of all but five wide receivers in fantasy PPG last season.

2. Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens

Andrews missed a couple of games in 2022, and his year-over-year production declined to 73/847/5. Even so, Andrews scored the fourth-most half-PPR fantasy points (third on a PPG basis). The additions at wide receiver creates greater competition for targets, but he remains the clear top fantasy option in Baltimore's passing game.

3. T.J. Hockenson, Minnesota Vikings

Hockenson was traded midseason within the division, and he averaged 8.6 targets and six receptions per game after the trade to the Vikings. Despite the midseason trade, he finished as fantasy's TE2, but part of that was aided by two monster games — 8/179/2 for the Lions in Week 4 and 13/109/2 for the Vikings in Week 16. Other than those two huge games, he had double-digit (half-PPR) fantasy points in only two other games.

Continue reading our Fantasy Football Rankings 2023: Tight Ends

Top 200 Overall Fantasy Football Cheat Sheets:

2023 Fantasy Football QB Strength of Schedule

A fantasy football strength of schedule (SOS) helps fantasy managers determine which teams and players have favorable (or unfavorable) schedules for the 2023 NFL season.

Based on each team's opponents for 2023 NFL season, we have tallied the average fantasy points allowed by each of those opponents to the position.

While strength of schedule should not be the sole factor in determining who to draft/add, it could help potentially break a tie between two players that you may view as comparable.

Rank	Team	Player	Fantasy SOS
1	Green Bay Packers	Jordan Love	19.106
2	Los Angeles Chargers	Justin Herbert	18.783
3	New Orleans Saints	Derek Carr	18.689
4	Chicago Bears	Justin Fields	18.661
5	Carolina Panthers	Bryce Young	18.524

MORE: Full Fantasy Football Strength of Schedule

Note: Fantasy SOS = Average fantasy points per game allowed of each team's 2023 opponents.

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