Waiver Wire: Week Two

In the mad scramble to get the waiver wire page up last week we didn't get a chance to give it much of an explanation.  While it is pretty self-explanatory, there are a few things I'd like to point out.  The list is sorted by last week's fantasy points.  This is a quick and easy way to see who were the top performers for the past week. If you want to sort by total points for the year you can easily do so.   

To help show which of these players might be available, we've added a percent-owned filter courtesy of U-Sports.  The page default is to show only those players available in 50 percent or more of U-Sports leagues.  The stats and U-Sports data will be updated by noon on Sunday.  This way you don't have to wait for our waiver wire article to do your own research.

Even with this powerful tool we'll still mention a few top waiver picks in our Saturday Rewind, and take a deeper dive in Monday's Waiver Wire piece.

Top Performers

Here are the top performing players from week two at each position with at least 50% or more availability.  For more see our waiver wire page

* injured

Quarterback

Toledo's Aaron Opelt makes his second trip to the waiver wire page, proving that week one against Purdue was no fluke.  Opelt torched a struggling Colorado team for six scores (two rushing) last Friday night (nice scheduling by the Buffs).   I don't think playing him against a pissed off Ohio State team is a real good idea, but you should grab him for when the MAC schedule hits and hope he makes it through Saturday in one piece.

Michigan's Tate Forcier didn't have the look of a true freshman in the win over Notre Dame last week.  Being on campus this spring has certainly helped.  It remains to be seen how he will react when the Big Ten bullets start to fly, but there is no reason not to play him this week against Eastern Michigan and the following week against Indiana.

West Virginia's Jarrett Brown has surprising availability.  An upcoming game against Auburn will be a test and then WVU is on a bye.  After that they have Colorado and Syracuse.  Those two games alone are worth picking up Brown and holding on to the WVU leader.

Keep an eye on Kirk Cousins of Michigan State this week at Notre Dame.  Despite the loss to Central Michigan he was sharp throwing the football.  I wouldn't be surprised if Mark Dantonio goes with one quarterback this week...at least he should.  Dantonio needs to circle the wagons and ride his team captain.

Running Back

Purdue's Ralph Bolden and Kansas State's Daniel Thomas are back on the list with repeat performances.  Bolden was particularly impressive once again as Danny Hope fed him the ball early and often against Oregon.  Look for this trend to continue.

Auburn is running the ball with a purpose and both starter Ben Tate and freshman Onterio McCalebb are posting solid numbers.  Grab one or the other.

Surprisingly Virginia Tech running back Ryan Williams is showing 43% availability.  I can't imagine he is still available in your league, but weirder things have happened.  For those have David Wilson, I would hold onto him.  If Williams goes down, Wilson will step in.

Once Jamelle Eugene was ruled out for last week's contest against Murray State, Toney Baker became a fantasy option.  With Gardner-Webb up next, I can't see the Wolfpack rushing Eugene back.  Hopefully we can all connect the dots here.

Remember those insurance policies we took out at the beginning of the year?  Well it might be time to cash in on Keith Toston of Oklahoma State as it doesn't sound like Kendall Hunter is coming back anytime soon.

Wide Receivers

Last week I mentioned that I picked up Hawaii's Rodney Bradley before the season started.  Turned out to be a nice little pick up.  Greg Salas would have been better.

All those that jettisoned Texas Tech's Lyle Leong after week one are probably kicking themselves right now.  I don't see Leong or any of the Tech receivers consistently putting up multiple touchdown games, but if you have one, you may as well play them as they can pay off in a big way as we've seen the last two weeks.  This week's starters were Alex Torres (Z), Tramain Swindall (H), Detron Lewis (Y) and Edward Britton (Y).  It will be interesting to see if Leong continues to come off the bench.  Swindall appears to be out of the Mike Leach doghouse.

With Andre Jones moving to corner, Deryn Bowser is off to a nice start for Akron.  Next week against Indiana is not a bad little play.

If Stephen Williams is going to miss more time with a shoulder injury, then freshmen Eric Page, Kenny Stafford and Danny Noble will be the beneficiaries.  Page has the most upside, he's a burner that can catch the deep ball.  He won't catch as many balls as Williams (when healthy) but he is a threat to score with it in his hands.

Tight End

Michigan's Kevin Koger has caught touchdown passes in two straight games.

Before you're too tempted to pick up North Carolina's Zack Pianalto, note that he dislocated his foot celebrating a touchdown.

TE/WR Dorin Dickerson of Pitt has four touchdowns in two games.

Time to Cut Bait

From Terrelle Pryor lazily chasing down linebacker Chris Galippo after his first interception, to Daniel "Where was the Boom" Herron stutter-stepping at the goal line, to Matt Barkley's erratic performance, anyone that came away thinking Ohio State and USC are championship caliber teams needs to have his head examined.   Pryor's performance was the most concerning.  He needs to start playing with a little more passion and running with more reckless abandon before I would consider him in my lineup.

Speaking of Big Ten quarterbacks, I wouldn't wait around for Illinois' Juice Williams to get healthy.  I also wouldn't wait around for Arrelious Benn to catch a touchdown pass.

Tulanes's Andre Anderson and Ball State's MiQuale Lewis are off to slow starts this season.  I would hold for one more week before they become free agent fodder.  I'm also giving DuJuan Harris of Troy one more week.  Anderson and Harris had tough matchups last week so I won't hold it against them.

I'm not doing the same with LSU's Charles Scott.  Keiland Williams is finally starting to see some carries, and let's be honest, LSU doesn't exactly have an electric offense.  That also means Brandon LaFell is out.

Before you give up on Trevor Vittatoe, Jeff Moturi and Kris Adams remember that UTEP started out slow last year as well.  Also remember the numbers they put up during playoff time.  I sure do.  If they can't show something against New Mexico State this week though, I may advise dropping them and picking them up later.