Waiver wire once again decided title
WITH legitimate fantasy football championship battles now fought and we begin to close the door on the 2021 NFL regular season, it is always important to remember how we got here.
In a season that saw stalwarts such as Christian McCaffrey and Derrick Henry miss time with injuries, and players like DeAndre Hopkins and DK Metcalf go from heroes to zeros, those who found themselves in the playoffs did so with strong and savvy work on the waiver wire.
Without a major injury, it is a rarity to find a quarterback on the waiver wire who can provide you with the steady production needed to win. You may find someone who can hold down the fort for a week or two, but landing someone like Kirk Cousins can provide you with the quarterback security you need each week. Overlooked in most fantasy drafts, Cousins was the 11th-highest scoring quarterback in fantasy with six 300-yard efforts, 30 touchdown passes and just seven interceptions on the year. Fantasy-wise, he outproduced the likes of Lamar Jackson and Russell Wilson.
The injuries at the running back position were abundant, and those who acted fast and snatched up Cordarrelle Patterson reaped massive benefits. Patterson’s production started early in the season as he outplayed Mike Davis during training camp. Still, due to his track record, few believed in him, and he languished on waivers until his three-touchdown game in the fourth week of the season. Over 1,000 yards from scrimmage and 11 total touchdowns later, he was a huge find for fantasy managers.
Though Detroit’s Amon-Ra St. Brown spent most of the season in fantasy oblivion, he truly earned the moniker of league-winner for those lucky enough to grab him off waivers the last week of the fantasy regular season. From Week 13 on, he had 8.6 catches and 90.2 yards receiving per game, with an additional 49 total on the ground in that time, with six total touchdowns and an average of 25.0 per game in PPR. All over the final five weeks, just in time for the fantasy playoffs.
At tight end, the honors easily go to Dawson Knox. The Bills tight end went from relative obscurity to fantasy hero after scoring five touchdowns in his first five games. He went undrafted in most leagues, but never saw the waiver wire again after Week 4’s two-touchdown game.
If you want to wrap up this celebration, do it with a lesson learned. No one wins their league on draft day. Playing the waiver wire is just as, if not more, important as having a good draft.
Howard Bender is the VP of operations and head of content at FantasyAlarm.com. Follow him on Twitter @rotobuzzguy and catch him on the award-winning “Fantasy Alarm Radio Show” on the SiriusXM fantasy sports channel weekdays from 6-8 p.m. Go to FantasyAlarm. com for all your fantasy sports advice, NFL player rankings.