Week 6 Waiver Wire Top Pickups & Adds: Is Chase Claypool For Real?

Week 5 continued the chaos with the multiple games being moved around. We saw a lot of odd scoring and players that broke out, yet you might have no clue who they are. One thing we continue to not want to do is overreact to those random big games and waste waiver wire opportunities or FAAB money. Volume still reigns king here. Tune into our Week 6 fantasy football rankings & projections, to help guide you throughout the week with any decisions that you have.

Running Backs

Damien Harris – New England Patriots

Average % Rostered: 42%, FAAB: 8%

While Damien Harris didn’t lead the team in snaps, he led the team in touches and yards with 17, going for 100 yards. Harris has been talked about all camp long and looked great. While this Pats backfield is still not one of my favorite ones to target, we need to be looking at options for volume, and Harris is going to be in that mix with Sony Michel on IR. The Patriots eventually got their bye week and will be playing as scheduled moving forward. In a run-heavy Patriots offense, Harris has some value.

Chase Edmonds. – Arizona Cardinals

Average % Rostered: 44%, FAAB: 8%

Chase Edmonds put up a big game against the Jets and now has 35 fantasy points in his last two weeks. Edmonds has three double-digit fantasy point games. While he is still seeing fewer snaps and touches in comparison to Drake, Edmonds has been involved in the passing game with ten receptions over the last two weeks. Edmonds should get another bump in ownership this week as he continues to produce despite the limited touches and snaps. The Cardinals have some beatable defenses over the next few weeks with Dallas and Miami on deck.

Jamaal Williams – Green Bay Packers

Average % Rostered: 15%, FAAB: 5%

This is for deeper leagues as the running back position is just completely dried up at the moment. With Green Bay being limited with options they have gotten creative with using their backs in the passing game. We have seen this before, and while we were worried this would be a three-headed backfield, Williams has still been the standalone number two. Williams is also of course a solid handcuff. He is coming off of a week where he had eight catches for 95 yards, and that isn’t much of a coincidence. Williams will face Tampa, Houston, Minnesota, Jacksonville, and San Francisco over the next four weeks. This Packers offense should keep on rolling.

Wide Receivers

Mecole Hardman. – Kansas City Chiefs

Average % Rostered: 37%, FAAB: 7%

With Sammy Watkins leaving the game with a hamstring injury, it opens up some potential snaps and targets moving forward with Mecole Hardman. He has mostly been a boom or bust candidate and while he still be down on the pecking order for targets in comparison to Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce, the snaps will be up. It also doesn’t hurt that he is involved in one of the best fantasy offenses and the best quarterback in football right now. If Watkins’s injury is severe, Hardman is a must-add.

Laviska Shenault Jr. – Jacksonville Jaguars

Average % Rostered: 31%, FAAB: 5%

Laviska Shenault Jr. had another strong game and this time it was all through the air. He had a 7-79-0 line against Houston and saw a career-high in targets with eight. He now has double-digit fantasy points in four of the five games this season. The Jaguars schedule is still fairly soft with the Lions, Chargers, and Texans again over the next three weeks. The Chargers defense has been banged up with injuries and is no longer a team we shy away from. You can also look at Brandon Aiyuk at wide receiver who is used in a similar fashion.

Tee Higgins – Cincinnati Bengals

Average % Rostered: 40%, FAAB: 10%

Tee Higgins ran the most routes in the loss against Baltimore, which was against a very good defense. He still posted double-digit fantasy points and has averaged that this season. AJ Green pulling up with a hamstring injury is a major concern for his career outlook but helps Higgins moving forward. Both him and Tyler Boyd would be the featured options moving forward, and on a team that has to air the ball out 50 times a game to try and keep things close. Higgins will have some easier secondaries over the next three weeks with the Colts, Browns, and Titans, barring any other schedule changes.

Chase Claypool – Pittsburgh Steelers

Average % Rostered: 9%, FAAB: 12%

You might be wondering where did Chase Claypool come from this week? While he got some help from the Eagles secondary but Diontae Johnson also left the field early and didn’t return. Claypool has a ton of talent but he was always going to have to work his way up the ladder to get some playing time to be relevant for fantasy. Well, he had 11 targets and three carries in the win over Philadelphia, finishing with 116 total yards and four touchdowns. They have drawn up plays for him and he is averaging over 15 yards per reception this season. While there will be some dud weeks mixed in, Claypool is the real deal.

Tight Ends

Eric Ebron – Pittsburgh Steelers

Average % Rostered: 36%, FAAB: 5%

Eric Ebron has been trending upwards in just about everything over the last few weeks. Coming off of a long bye week, he finished with a 5-43-0 line but also had a fumble that nearly cost them the game. Ebron was still looked at six times this week and this offense is producing solid numbers. While there is a lot of weapons and Ben Roethlisberger’s disposal, Ebron is becoming a bigger part of this team week-to-week.

Robert Tonyan – Green Bay Packers

Average % Rostered: 47%, FAAB: 9%

Robert Tonyan took a hefty hit up in ownership as expected last week but still not high enough. While Davante Adams is likely to return this upcoming week, Allen Lazard is still out for most of the season and it was Tonyan who showed up against Atlanta and delivered. He has 11 targets over the last two weeks, and double-digit fantasy points in each of the last three games. He should be rostered just about everywhere after this week.