Today’s Best Bets
Sam Choudhury
Week 1 of the 2023 NFL season hasn’t kicked off yet, but wise fantasy football managers may already be looking to the waiver wire to get a head start on the competition.
As we do every year, this article will get ahead of the game by helping you make some early waiver claims before the season even starts. It should go without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that these are speculative waiver adds. But it’s better to be early than miss the boat entirely.
Here are six players to claim for before Week 1 even starts (all players owned in fewer than 50% of Yahoo leagues).
Sam Howell, QB, Washington Commanders
Sam Howell spot-started one game last year and threw for 169 yards and a score and added 35 rushing yards and a TD on the ground as well – resulting in a top-10 fantasy week. He earned the starting role in Washington after a solid preseason:
|
Comps. |
Atts. |
Yds |
TDs |
Rush Atts. |
Rush Yds. |
|
28 |
37 |
265 |
3 |
4 |
25 |
It’s a small sample size, of course, but what we’ve seen from Howell in the pros has been good thus far. And he was a fantastic rusher in college. He is owned in 22% of Yahoo leagues and is about to play the worst team in the NFL.
If he has a strong Week 1 game, we’ll see his ownership double overnight.
Devin Singletary, RB, Houston Texans
Dameon Pierce is the dude in Houston, but Devin Singletary has been a perfectly capable RB for several years with the Bills. His 26% ownership at the moment suggests people think he will be a pure backup.
And that may be the case. But if this is closer to a 65-35 split, Singletary will have some standalone value as well as plenty of upside should something happen to Pierce. Singletary posted better DVOA than Pierce as both a rusher and receiver last year. He’s no slouch.
Jaylen Warren, RB, Pittsburgh Steelers
Jaylen Warren is currently owned in 49% of Yahoo fantasy leagues. After Week 1 – when he shows that the Pittsburgh backfield is more like a 60-40 split – Warren is going to be one of the hottest commodities on the wire. He’s Austin Ekeler part two, but his per-touch efficiency does remind me a little of Ekeler pre-breakout. He ran for 89 yards and two touchdowns this preseason on just six carries.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire, RB, Kansas City Chiefs
Is this definitely going to happen? No. It probably won’t.
But if it does, there’s still something very alluring about having a piece of the Chiefs offense. With Travis Kelce injured, Isiah Pacheco recently returned from injury and Jerick McKinnon used in a very specialized role, CEH may see the field more than we expect.
The Chiefs declined his fifth-year option. There’s no doubt this pick has not panned out for them. But we’ve seen his talent flash plenty of times, and he was sharing first-team reps with the other RBs mentioned above during the preseason.
Zay Jones, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars
Calvin Ridley and Christian Kirk are going to command most of the targets, but Big Play Zay is going to be on the field a ton for the Jaguars, as the preseason usage indicated Kirk would remain mostly in the slot.
He may be inconsistent, but he will be explosive.
Jalin Hyatt, WR, New York Giants
Jalin Hyatt is going to pop for the Giants as a rookie. The WR room is weak:
Hyatt, a third-round pick this year, is apparently bonding well with QB Daniel Jones, and head coach Brian Daboll already showed us he can cook up some spicy downfield plays for the speedster:
