5 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Stashes to Add NOW Before Week 2 (Ep. 2205)

This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. The Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast is brought to you by Grainger. If you're an operations manager at a manufacturing plant, you're calling plays every day to keep production on schedule. It's why you count on Grainger's deep roster of products, from spare parts like bearings and motors, to safety equipment like insulated gloves, eye protection, and everything in between. It's this extensive on-hand inventory that helps you get the products you need same or next day, helping you stay in the game. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click grainger.com, or stop by. Grainger, for the ones who get it done. Yes, we are back to make sure you are the smartest fantasy football manager in your league. The one that stays two to three moves ahead of their league mates on the waiver wire. Last week, in this very video, we talked about Caleb Douglas, Devon Valle, and now they became top waiver wire ads at the start of week two. I'm Lucas Wentzel here at Fantasy Pros, bringing you my top five waiver wire stats, dashes ahead of week two, and next week's waiver run as well. Before we dive on into this week's players, though, we've got a special deal going on for you all, where you can get up to six months of Fantasy Pros Premium for free. Just head to fantasypros.com slash premium, click go premium for free, choose Polymarket or one of our partner sports books, make a deposit, and complete your first paid contest. Again, that's fantasypros.com slash premium, new users only, terms apply. The first player on our list this week is Washington Commanders wide receiver Antonio Williams. Who is rostered in 21% of leagues. Williams was the highest scoring Commanders wide receiver in week one, catching all four of his targets for 64 yards and a score. What's important to consider here, though, is that his 16.4 fantasy points came on the fourth fewest snaps of Commanders wide receivers and only running 11 routes on 38 dropbacks. Damian Brown actually played 12 more snaps and ran 11 more routes than Williams did on Sunday, but that's a narrative I actually think starts to flip relatively quickly. Now, 11 routes and four targets don't sound like compelling numbers for Williams, but the other reality you do have to consider here is that those numbers mean Williams was targeted on 36% of his routes. Of all wide receivers who ran at least 10 routes in week one, that was the ninth highest rate on the week. He also gained a first down on all four of his receptions, and it's actually remarkable stuff on limited participation for Williams in week one. Before the Stefan Diggs signing, Antonio Williams was a player I thought could actually make some noise in fantasy football for the Commanders this year. His skill set fit perfectly into what they needed, right? He's a savvy route technician. He's great at working over the middle of the field and finding holes in zone coverage. But if you think this is just like a flash in the pan, I would argue players like Antonio Williams are the players you should be looking to stash this early in the season. Rookies typically peak over the back half of the season and potentially bring you home fantasy football championships. Now, you're probably thinking that only applies to guys like Justin Jefferson, Malik Neighbors, the elite tier players, but go back and look at guys like Elijah Moore, who averaged 20 points per game from week nine on in his 2021 rookie season. Both Tank Dell and Jaden Reed averaged 16 plus points per game in 2023 during that same span. We're not asking Antonio Williams to pay immediate dividends for our fantasy teams. We're stashing him to see if his impressive week one continues to earn him a full-time role so that you could potentially have a league winner down the stretch. The second player on our list this week is New England Patriots wide receiver, Mac Hollins, who was rostered in 13% of leagues. And if you just let out a disgruntled sigh or massively rolled your eyes, look, I get it because Mac Collins is like that promotional coffee tumbler that you got for free in the back of your cupboard, right? You never use it on a daily basis, but you can't get rid of it either because eventually it is going to come in handy. Now that AJ Brown is on IR, that's exactly the case that we're looking at here for Mac Hollins. Four catches on five targets or 41 yards really isn't that impressive, but it's also not nothing. His 50 snaps were the most of any Patriots wide receiver in week one. He still out-targeted Romeo Dobbs despite running seven less routes than him. And there's already proof that Hollins can be a full-time player moving forward while AJ Brown nurses his high ankle sprain back to health. Go back to last season. Take a look from week seven on. Mac Hollins played 65% of snaps in all nine contests and played at least 75% of snaps in six of those. And not only was Hollins on the field, but he was earning targets during that span as well. He earned a 19% target share while drawing six plus targets in five of those nine games. He was top 25 in total air yards during that stretch. He gave you four games with double-digit fantasy points as well. Now, I understand you have Romeo Dobbs in the picture now, right? But keep in mind, both Stefan Diggs and Keishon Butte were members of the New England Patriots during that nine-game stretch last year. Neither of them are on the team anymore. So based on his week one usage and proof from last season that the Patriots do find value in you utilizing Mac Hollins, I'm tossing him at the end of my bench to see what comes of his week two role and beyond. Third up on our list this week is San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Demarcus Robinson, who is rostered in 7% of leagues. It pains me to remind you that everyone's preseason darling Deshaun Stribling is going to miss at least 10 weeks. But that means the 32-year-old vet steps in as the 49ers wide receiver three behind Mike Evans and Debo Samuel after Stribling exited against. The Rams in Australia, Robinson caught two of his three targets for 50 yards and a score on route to 13 fantasy points on the week. Now, I understand that's not a monster stat line to any extent, but maybe the more important metric to track is that per JJ Zacharyson, Demarcus Robinson led the 49ers with a 77% route share after Stribling left the game. And let's not pretend that the 49ers boast exactly the cleanest bill of health either, right? They've notoriously been one of the most nicked up teams in recent history. Mike Evans. He's dealing with multiple injuries throughout the entire preseason. Debo Samuel has mostly stayed on the field the last two years, but he hasn't been immune to soft tissue, lower body injuries in the past either. So not only is this stash for an immediate role upgrade in the offense, but there could still be weeks where something happens to a Mike Evans or a Debo Samuel and all of a sudden, well, now you're looking at Demarcus Robinson as the de facto wide receiver two in this offense that has turned vets into weekly studs in the past. Think Juwan Jennings, obviously you got Kendrick Bourne. In 2025, he posted back to back 142 yard games. Shoot, Demarcus Robinson himself last season went for 111 yards and a score on six receptions in the wildcard round. Plain and simple. You just want pieces of this 49ers pass attack. They look lethal in week one and Robinson should absolutely be stashed in the majority of leagues with the Sean Stribling out. The fourth player that comes in on our list this week is Minnesota Vikings running back to Mont Claiborne, who is rostered in 7% of leagues. Jordan Mason has landed on IR. He'll miss at least the next four games, if not more, and I think at least one other Vikings running back will get opportunity behind Aaron Jones because here's the reality all offseason. The beat reporters out of Minnesota were murmuring that Aaron Jones just hits a wall after 150 touches at this point in his career, and you can't ignore the fact that Aaron Jones has missed at least five games in two of his past three seasons. So there's two lines of thought here about how we get value out of the Mont Claiborne. Aaron Jones gets, you know, 15 to 18 touches per game, let's say, and then the Mont Claiborne and DJ Dallas fight for who is the next man up behind him. I would personally pick the Mont Claiborne between the two, right? The rookie out of Wake Forest. He's got clear 437 breakaway speed. He's got a great feel for his own blocking. He's got solid contact balance as well. Now, DJ Dallas, while he's on his fourth team in the last three seasons, probably for a reason, and this is a good opportunity to see what the Vikings actually have in their rookie running back without making him the feature back. Right? The second path forward, though, is let's say KOC does decide to run the breaks off of Aaron Jones at 31 years old. My guess is that Aaron Jones won't make it a full season if they burn 80 to 90 of his 150 touches over the next four to six weeks, let's say. So once Jordan Mason is back, he operates as a lead back, and then you can still get some squeeze out of the Mont Claiborne as a change of pace back filtering into the receiving game as well. Assuming Aaron Jones would miss some time down the stretch, then all I'm trying to say here is that you can find the upside. For DeMond Claiborne in a multitude of ways, and I didn't even mention the possibility of Aaron Jones getting hurt while Jordan Mason is out because that would then really boost the value of DeMond Claiborne in what is a very, very thin Vikings backfield right now. So get DeMond Claiborne stashed now, especially if he is out there in your deeper leagues. And the last player on our list this week is Los Angeles Rams tight end Terrence Ferguson, who was rostered in 13% of leagues. I'm not throwing in the towel yet after a goose egg from T Fergan week one because I don't want to overreact to an offense that clearly looked like they took a 16 hour 7500 mile flight less than two days before kickoff. So here's the positives we can at least pull away for Terrence Ferguson after week one. He had a 73% route share in the first half and ran more routes than any other Rams tight end. The Rams still ran a ton of 13 personnel in week one, 36% of the time they were in 13 personnel. The Bills actually topped them at 40%, but no other team in the league. Lined up in 13 personnel more than 18% of the time, three tight ends on the field. And you did see T Ferg actually occasionally as a solo tight end in 11 personnel as well. Now, because I do also care about transparency, I fully realize his route share plummeted to 22% in the second half. That's not great, but the Rams passing attack also didn't look great in the second half, which is why I'm still willing to exercise a bit more patience here on the potential Terrence Ferguson breakout. All the buzz this offseason, right, is that Terrence Ferguson's route tree. was going to expand. He was going to operate as more of a suit wide receiver for this team as their potential downfield option his average depth of target last season 18.3 yards per fantasy points data that's the highest of any tight end with 25 plus targets in their recorded history so with how starved we are as fantasy football managers uh for tight end options i'm willing to chase the potential ceiling here for ferguson because if he does hit in the rams offense nobody nobody will be able to shut up about him and it'll be too late at that point to snag him off the waiver wire so if you roster him now the breakout happens everyone's going to be looking at you as the smartest fantasy manager later and there you have it my top five waiver wire stashes ahead of week two go sprint to your waiver wire right now quick just to make sure that none of these guys are still available they're all rostered in less than 30 percent of leagues so there's a good chance you may be able to find a few of them on your waiver wire but before we sign off here remember we do have a special deal going on for you all where you can get up to six months of fantasy pros premium for free just head to fantasypros.com slash premium click go premium for free choose polymarket or one of our partner sports books make a deposit and complete your first paid contest again that's fantasypros.com slash premium new users only terms apply thanks for listening to the fantasy pros fantasy football podcast if you love the show the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on apple podcasts at fantasypros.com slash review or on spotify follow us on x instagram and tiktok at fantasy pros and subscribe to the fantasy pros podcast to our youtube channel at youtube.com slash fantasy pros whatever you're chasing flex your next with new on plus 12 milligram nicotine pouches crushing that big prezzo lock in blowing up a new personal best psych up planning the next guy's getaway get after it with the strength to satisfy and the comfort of nickel silk mesh flex your next with on plus the 12 milligram done right find a store on nicotine.com product for tobacco consumers 21 years of age or older warning this product contains nicotine nicotine is an addictive chemical if you own a small business you know that dealing with the books is part of running the business you started because you had something you wanted to build but then you realize you got all these numbers you got to keep track of from accounting and payroll and payments and cash flow that's why i want to tell you about zero that's x e r o zero puts your accounting payments payroll analytics all in one connected platform it's great so you can get a clear picture of what's actually happening in your biz you got visual dashboards reports forecasts to help you understand what's actually happening in your biz you got visual dashboards reports forecasts to help you understand your cash flow zero can even provide ai powered insights to help make you smarter and make smarter decisions okay so it's easy to navigate but even easier to understand in fact 91 percent of customers agree zero is easy to use and most things aren't more than five million customers worldwide are already using zero x e r o if you're a small business owner you're looking for a simpler way to stay on top of your finances it's time you try zero learn more x e r o zero puts your accounting payments payroll analytics platform i love my phone but not my carrier what do i do well there are 250 reasons to join t-mobile like what you can keep your phone and your number and t-mobile helps pay it off up to 800 per line so i wouldn't have to buy a new phone yep plus your plan price stays the same for five years on experience plans nice find your reason at t-mobile.com be a virtual pre-paid guard card typically takes 15 days after rebate submission price guarantee on talk text and 5g data exclusions like taxes and fees apply some people use chat gpt to answer questions others use it to get real work done with chat gpt work you bring the goal plus real inputs like briefs notes files feedback data and project plans it can help turn them into an analysis tracker deck outline prototype or workflow you can review and keep shaping you stay in control giving direction and choosing the final decision output put chat gpt to work on your most ambitious ideas and projects get started at chat gpt.com by selecting work mode available on plus and pro plans this is an iheart podcast guaranteed human