FANTASY FOOTBALL ADD/DROPS
Week 10 working the waiver wire: Shopping for a used Carr
Nov 5, 2019, 2:44 pm
Photo via: Raiders/Facebook
Week 10 is already on the horizon, so let's see which free agents are still available. This week, 6 teams won't be playing so expect this to be a pretty busy week on the waiver wire. Keep in mind the owner % mentioned is for 10-team standard ESPN PPR leagues. Some of these players below are good for the short-term, while others have more long-term value. You have to make the call on what your team needs. Immediate help to start this week, or a player to stash on your bench and hope he breaks out. Let's get started.
QB
Jimmy Garoppolo: He's only rostered in 33% of ESPN 10-team leagues, which makes sense. You'll probably have trouble finding him in 12-team leagues. He faces the Seahawks and Cardinals over the next 2 weeks, so the matchups are good. Plus, he just threw 4 TDs against Arizona, so you there's a good chance he lights them up again in 2 weeks.
Derek Carr: I know it's hard to trust Carr off of name value, but he's been good for fantasy. His rookie RB Josh Jacobs looks like a stud, and Tyrell Williams has been a nice addition. He also has a good o-line and a below average defense, which are both great for fantasy. He's rostered in 37% of 10-team leagues, and he has good matchups against the Bengals and Jets coming up after this Thursday's game. Caution: This week could be tough since he's playing the Chargers, but at least the game is at home and stashing him to use for Weeks 11 and 12 could pay big dividends.
Nick Foles: Foles will be the starter when they play in Week 11. His matchups won't be great having to face the Colts at Indy and the Titans on the road, but if you're desperate he might help you out. He's widely available.
RB
Ronald Jones: Bruce Arians is finally giving Jones a sizable workload getting 20 touches against the Seahawks last week. He's only rostered in 38% of 10-team leagues, and this might be your last chance to pick him up.
Adrian Peterson: He's still out there in 40% of 10-team leagues, and he's clearly more valuable in non-PPR. He has 2 great matchups after the Redskins off week, so he's worth grabbing. Also, he might get dropped since he doesn't play this week, so add him if he's available. We'll see if Guice is ready to return from his knee injury after the off week, so that could change things. We'll have to wait and see.
Derrius Guice: If Guice is ready to return from injury he could make Peterson worthless. It's hard to know what the Redskins will do though. Maybe just stash him and see what happens. His first 2 matchups are great if he returns for Week 11.
Alexander Mattison: This guy could win your league for you if Dalvin Cook goes down. He's worth stashing for sure.
WR
DeVante Parker: I didn't want to trust Parker when I wrote this article last week, but he can't be denied anymore. Which probably means he'll put up a goose egg this week...You can't argue with his production because he's scored in 4 out of his last 5 games. His schedule isn't great though facing the Colts and Bills over his next 2 games. He's only rostered in 23% of 10-team leagues.
Zach Pascal: He's a decent #3 WR until Hilton returns from injury, and he plays Miami this week. He's widely available.
Josh Reynolds: He's worth consideration until Brandin Cooks returns, but he faces tough matchups against the Steelers, Bears, and Ravens. He's available in almost every league.
Josh Gordon: I'm not going to take a flyer on this guy, but if you're desperate for upside maybe he'll prove me wrong. He's rostered in 54% of leagues.
Corey Davis: I'll give him one more shot hoping he does something against the Chiefs' underwhelming defense. If he can't get things going, we might have to label him a bust. He's out there in about half of 10-team leagues
A.J. Brown: Just like Davis, the matchup could help him this week, and he's been the more productive WR for the Titans as of late. You can pick him up in about 85% of leagues.
TE
Gerald Everett: He's likely owned, but grab him if he got dropped during his off week.
Darren Fells: He's been a huge addition for the Texans, and Watson clearly loves throwing to him. Hell, Watson will even throw him the ball blindly as we saw against the Raiders. Fells scored again against the Jags, and he's very much a part of the offense. He's off this week, and gets the Ravens in Week 11. He might get dropped, so keep that in mind.
Noah Fant: I know it was just one big game last week (115-yards, 1TD), but there's a reason he was drafted in the 1st round, and he should continue to get targets with Emmanuel Sanders in San Francisco now. He's widely available.
DEF
The Ravens and Colts are good streaming options this week, and Baltimore's defense is only rostered in 34% of 10-team ESPN leagues. They get the Bengals on Sunday, so it doesn't get much better than that. The Colts play the Dolphins, enough said.
If you have any questions, feel free to hit me up on Twitter. Be sure to check out my show MoneyLine with Jerry Bo on ESPN 97.5FM. We're on every Sunday morning from 10-noon, and we'll talk a lot of fantasy football and NFL gambling getting you ready for kickoff every Sunday.
- It’s the first place Houston Astros against the first place Los Angeles Dodgers as they open their latest head-to-head series. This is not a recording. The two most dominant powers in the sport over the last decade gather at Dodger Stadium this Independence Day weekend. The Astros have a sizable lead in pursuit of their eighth American League West championship in the last nine years. The Dodgers have an even more sizable lead as they chase their fourth straight National League West crown, which would be their 12th in 13 years. Each franchise has won two World Series in that time frame, each has lost two. All Astro and Dodger parties would sign off immediately on a 2025 World Series matchup. This three-game set carries no big picture significance, but every game counts, and it’s just fun seeing these two get after it. It would be more fun if the Astros had Yordan Alvarez available. Then again, the Dodgers won’t have Josh Fields.
Both continue to roll along despite rashes of injuries. When the Astros awoke May 24 their record sat at 26-25. Since then they have gone 26-10. That is a dominant stretch despite this clearly not being a dominant team. The still Alvarez-less offense is mediocre. So is the starting pitching apart from the one-two awesome punch that Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez have been. When Brown or Valdez has been the Astros’ starting pitcher this season, the team record is 25-9. With anyone else making the start, 27-26. They have been every bit as dynamic a duo so far in 2025 that Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole were for the Astros in 2019 when Verlander edged out Cole to win his third Cy Young Award. Brown is a lock to be named to his first American League All-Star team this Sunday. Valdez is worthy of a third consecutive selection but could get caught in a numbers squeeze. Eight or nine starting pitchers are picked for each league.
The Dodgers won’t face Brown this weekend, but will have to deal with Valdez on Saturday night. His mound counterpart will be Shohei Ohtani. Oooooooh! Framber didn’t give up a run in 13 innings over his last two starts, and over his last 10 outings has a super-spiffy 1.72 earned run average. The amazing Ohtani is easing back into pitching after his second Tommy John surgery. Ohtani has started three games, totaling just four innings. He has yet to throw 30 pitches in an outing. Saturday he probably will be allowed 30 to 40.
Arms race
While Friday’s outing isn’t remotely a make or break start for Lance McCullers, it does speak to a significant question the Astros hope to find a pleasing answer to over the remainder of the regular season. Who is their third starting pitcher in a playoff series? After Brown and Valdez there is simply no one who inspires confidence at this point. McCullers has been awful his last two times out, jacking up his ERA to 6.61 eight starts into his season. 20 walks issued in 32 2 /3 innings pitched is glaringly bad. McCullers is still reasonably in ramp up mode, but given his injury history along with performance concerns, the third starter spot can’t be considered his to lose. Spencer Arrighetti’s resume is thin but his return at the level he pitched at after the All-Star break last season would be massive. Colt Gordon and Brandon Walter have both done some nice fill-in work, but no one plausibly wants them starting what would be a do or die game if the Astros wind up in a game three of a best-of-three Wild Card series.
Historic achievement
Not as if it’s subplot or anything this weekend, but let’s call it notable that the two active career hits leaders in Major League Baseball share the field this weekend. Jose Altuve this week vaulted past Jeff Bagwell for second in Astros’ history behind Craig Biggio. Altuve enters the weekend 743 hits behind Biggio. He is no lock to catch him before Altuve’s five-year contract expires at the end of the 2029 season. Altuve will be 39 then. Biggio was 41 when he rapped his 3000th hit, then added 60 more before beginning the waiting game for election to the Hall of Fame.
Like Biggio got and presumably someday Altuve will get, Dodger first baseman Freddie Freeman will get the call from Cooperstown some day. Like Altuve, Freeman is 35 years old, has won a Most Valuable Player Award, one Gold Glove, and with his selection this week been named an All-Star nine times. Aaron Judge may change this in the next couple of years, but among active players only Mike Trout (by a long shot) has compiled more Baseball-Reference offensive Wins Above Replacement than Freeman (second) and Altuve (third).
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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