The Wire – Week 4: Time to wake up and smell the Coffee
Here’s our waiver wire recommendations heading into week four, leading off with a guy who should have been a mandatory handcuff heading into the season, but apparently was not. As usual, The Wire is organized into four categories: Get ’em in there, Pick up and hold, Stopgaps, and Pretenders. “Get ’em in there” are the players worth of a start right away, while “Stopgaps” are the players who will get you through a short-term injury or bye week. “Pick up and hold” is just what is sounds like and “Pretenders” are those players who might have had one good week and immediately picked up in every Yahoo Public league out there…don’t waste a roster spot and waiver claim on them. In addition, you’ll find the Yahoo! ownership rank (in parenthesis) for each player so you know which guys have a better chance of being available in your league.
UPDATE! I’ve added Tashard Choice and Dante Rosario to this list after last night’s game, just to let you know.
Get ’em in there
- Glen Coffee, RB, 49ers (48%) – It looks like Frank Gore will be out a week or two, so all of you who handcuffed Coffee to him in the draft are happy right now…the others, not so much. Glen didn’t play all that well, but he was going against a tough Vikings defense. He should put up decent numbers in Gore’s absense, as the team plays the Rams and Falcons in their next two games.
- Denver DEF (64%) – Who ever thought they’d be the top ranked defense after three weeks?! Seems that they’re the real deal.
- Correll Buckhalter, RB, Broncos (67%) – He had 108 yards on Sunday and while he splits carries with Knowshon Moreno, he makes for a decent injury fill-in RB2 or flex play from week-to-week.
- Mike Sims-Walker, WR, Jaguars (69%) – Sims-Walker is trying his hardest to wrestle the WR1 role away from Torry Holt and now has 12 receptions over his past two games. He makes a decent WR3 or flex play at this point.
- Brent Celek, TE, Eagles (79%) – This guy is one of the best tight ends in the league so far this season and is still only owned in 79% of the leagues out there. I assume he’ll be taken in at least 95% after Sunday’s 104 yard and a touchdown performance.
Jeramie, 
Squish and 3 others are discussing. 
Wolf, and
Wolf 8:53 pm on September 28, 2009 Permalink |
I currently have Carlson and Olsen for my TEs (I started Olsen week one and two with no luck.. switched to Carlson for week 3 and guess what? Olsen had a great game on my bench).. Now I am unsure of what to do with Either of them and Brent Celek is available for me to grab up. Any words of wisdom?
Squish 2:37 am on September 29, 2009 Permalink |
I was an Olsen owner in many of my leagues and I’ve been dumping him by the wayside. Even though his game looked decent, he still didn’t do too well overall. Until this week, he was only the third ranked TE ON HIS OWN TEAM! I’d keep carlson as he’s still getting plenty of targets. If Celek is available, go after him! He’s the most targeted TE so far this year and both Kolb and Mcnabb like throwing to him.
Brandon 8:34 am on September 29, 2009 Permalink |
As Squish says, grab Celek for sure. The guy has been HUGE so far this season. As for the other two guys, I still think Olsen has more upside and his receptions have increased each week. Carlson has more value when Hasselbeck is the team’s quarterback, so the sooner he can come back, the better.
Wolf 10:17 am on September 29, 2009 Permalink |
Well, due to the byes coming up, I am already squeezing one extra bench around to fill in spots, so to pick up Celek means dropping Olsen or Carlson.. and Celek has a Bye week, so I have to play whoever I keep. Olsen is up against the Lions this week (Carlson is against Colts), so would you agree I should drop Carlson for Celek and then play Olsen during week 4?
Brandon 10:31 am on September 29, 2009 Permalink |
Yeah I think it’s worth it to drop Carlson and play Olsen this week, if it means you have Celek on your team for the rest of the season.
J L 11:28 pm on September 29, 2009 Permalink |
Grab him!!
Eric 9:54 pm on September 28, 2009 Permalink |
Fellas – I’m contemplating a big risk-reward kind of trade right now. We start 1 QB, 2 RBs, and 4 WRs, no flex backs. I’m pretty solid at RB and QB – McGahee, LT, Gore, and Brown (at least once everyone is healthy) and Warner/Flacco/Palmer. I’m not so hot at WR… Braylon, Henderson, Bryant, Moore, Bennet, Sims-Walker, and Breaston… Although Sims-Walker and Breaston are showing life, and I have faith in Henderson/Moore most weeks. One of the guys in my league is pretty solid at WR, but needs a backup QB, and his best RB is Slaton, even with his slow start. He also has Berrian, who I think could have a big rest of the season now that Favre is starting to heat up and throw more downfield. I’m thinking about offering McGahee and Palmer for Slaton and Berrian… crazy or a solid risk play given my situation?
Brandon 8:39 am on September 29, 2009 Permalink |
I wouldn’t trade McGahee, even for Slaton at this point. The Ravens offense is running on all cylinders right now and Willis is their goalline guy. Plus, you probably want to target a better receiver, as I don’t see Berrian being much better this year than the guys you already have. As you’ve seen already from the Vikings, most of the time they run the offense through Adrian Peterson, so Favre has to do his best to distribute the ball to Harvin, Rice, Berrian, Taylor and Shiancoe.
Shirley 11:27 pm on September 28, 2009 Permalink |
Even though week 3 isn’t officially over, I’m 0-3 in one league which will put me again #1 in the waiver order with which I’ll take Pierre Garcon….
Dilemma #1: I have Hasselbeck & Warner at QB. Warner has a bye and I don’t know if Hasselbeck will be back next week.
I wanted to grab the 49ers DST (vs. STL) to replace Packers DST (vs. MIN) to start & sit Jets DST (@NO). Since it seems you can’t count on defenses to do well or poorly as predicted, should I just find pick up a QB on the waiver wire and drop the Packers DST?
ON WAIVER WIRE — Brett Favre, Josh Johnson, Kyle Boller, Matthew Stafford, Seneca Wallace, & Chad Henne
Dilemma #2: I have 4 RBs (Ryan Grant, Michael Turner, LeSean McCoy & LenDale White. Turner & McCoy have a bye next week.
This wouldn’t be a problem but I want to try and offer one of my RBs to a player who has banged up or mediocre RBs in order to get DeSean Jackson.
List of my current WRs: Derrick Mason, Roddy White, Mario Manningham, & Michael Clayton (will drop him for Garcon).
So assuming the owner will go for it, should I trade a RB to get DeSean?
Brandon 8:42 am on September 29, 2009 Permalink |
Defenses are really hard to predict in most cases, so I would focus your waiver pick on a position player. Brett Favre looked really good last week and will probably put up the best numbers out of all those guys you mentioned. Given how the Bills played against the Saints this past weekend, you might just keep in the Jets defense, as they look pretty solid these days.
Bob 11:48 am on September 29, 2009 Permalink |
I was offered Shaub for Slaton before this weeks games. Don’t know if the other owner will still do it but do you think it’s a good trade? I’m concerned that Kubiak is going to continue the Slaton – Brown (semi) time share with Brown vulturing TD’s. Will Brown’s fumble this week will give Slaton an opening for some red zone touches? Also, with the Texans defense being so miserable Schaub should be throwing a whole lot more when they are behind.
Brandon 3:58 pm on September 29, 2009 Permalink |
It seems that this season the offense is going through Matt Schaub, as opposed to Steve Slaton like last year. The passing game is off to a great start, while the team can’t seem to run the ball with any consistency. It depends on who your quarterback is though, as well as your other running backs.
Bob 7:13 pm on September 29, 2009 Permalink |
I have Flacco and Farve as my QB’s and Gore, Coffee, Rice, and Moreno as my RB’s. Thanks!
Brandon 8:50 pm on September 29, 2009 Permalink |
With that group of running backs, you might want to keep Slaton around. I know he’s struggled early, but he should turn it around and put up better numbers than Moreno and Rice in the long run. Your quarterbacks should hold down the position if you play the match-ups (Flacco is much improved over last year!)
Jones 1:13 pm on September 29, 2009 Permalink |
This week in my league TJ Housh, Santana Moss and Wes Welker were dropped from teams. Mike Sims-Walker is also available. My WR’s right now are Wayne, Driver, Smith (NYG), Harvin and Evans. I’m thinking of dropping Evans and adding Moss.
Brandon 3:54 pm on September 29, 2009 Permalink |
Wow, that’s crazy that those guys were dropped and they should all be universally owned (even if they’re of to rough starts.) How many teams are in your league? I like Welker the most out of the group, as he’ll be putting up solid numbers once he actually gets back on the field. Can you pick them all up? Hah. Maybe you can trade some of your receivers and pick up those guys, as they should put up solid numbers at the position for your squad.
Jones 3:53 pm on September 30, 2009 Permalink |
8 teams in the league. I can’t pick them all up because these are my RBs (Gore, Westbrook, Williams) so I have to pick up Coffee or Choice by dropping R Bush. I already picked up Welker when I saw he was dropped and I’m going to try to add S Moss by dropping Evans. Would you drop Harvin for TJ Housh?
Brandon 9:51 pm on September 30, 2009 Permalink |
That’s a tough one. If your league awards points for return yards, definitely stick with Harvin. You might just wait a week or two and see if Housh is still available. By then, maybe your situation has changed and you’re in need of his services, but until then, it looks like your team should be more than equipped to hold down the WR position.
RB 8:25 pm on September 30, 2009 Permalink |
I would need to see Harvin have a bad week first, and see Hasselback return. Last week with Seneca QB’ing in Seattle, Burleson was target number 1, not Housh. I’d ride Harvin until you see some cracks.
Jeff 2:41 pm on September 29, 2009 Permalink |
should i drop mike bell for tashard choice?
Brandon 3:51 pm on September 29, 2009 Permalink |
Choice has the most immediate value, as Bell is still nursing an injury at this point. When Mike Bell returns, he’ll most likely be the backup to Pierre Thomas, who looked really good this past weekend. Once Marion Barber and Felix Jones are back though, Choice’s value diminishes dramatically. Not sure if this helped at all, but if you shed a little more light on what you are looking from either of these guys (start right away, depth, etc) maybe we can be more helpful.