7 Must Add Players Before Week 1!

Introduction we are here it is officially week one and I know it might sound a little weird to start looking at waiver wire pickups right now but there are a handful of players available in a ton of leagues still that I believe need to be added today possibly for free before they start to break out and the first player Jaleel McLaughlin, RB DEN on this list is a player that I've talked about on this channel before but recent news has elevated his breakout potential even more and that is Jalil mcclaflin running back for the Denver Broncos who is now locked in for the rb2 role in Denver after samaj R was cut and ultimately signed with the Kansas City Chiefs now the upside for mclin in this Broncos backfield is tremendous considering the type of player that he is he is very explosive he breaks a ton of tackles and his college production profile is ridiculous with 1900 yards in 15 touchdowns during his final season we also know that Shawn Payton absolutely loves throwing to the running back position I mean Nick calano from bdge just posted this chart showing how Payton offenses have ranked in terms of Target share to the running back position since 2013 and it's top five every single year including multiple Seasons like last year as the team with the highest percentage of overall targets to the running back position and then there is this tweet from Scott Barrett highlighting that in 18 years as an NFL headit coach Payton's team rb2 in terms of actual carries has averaged 16 and a half fantasy points per game five times and for perspective 16 and a half fantasy points per game is equivalent to Travis etn last year at rb7 overall I also double checked this and only one of those five occurrences was Alvin Kamara collectively across all 18 Seasons Payton's rb2 averages 13.8 points per game which is equivalent to James Cook last year as the rb19 and the final cherry on top mcclaflin and P Ryan combined for 229 fantasy points last year which would have been the rb13 on the season and now like I said samaj perine is gone it would not surprise me at all if Mofford saw 80 to 90 plus Targets this year plus maybe another 8 to 10 carries per game and we could be looking at a potential 200 Touchback with highly explosive capabilities I mean that's essentially what Jaylen Warren was doing last year as the Steelers rb2 and he finished as the rb21 overall same goes with Austin Eckler as the rb24 or even the ultimate upside of Alvin Kamar with over 1100 yards and six touchdowns as the rb12 on the year that is the upside that you could be getting with jul mcclaflin and you're getting him on Waiver Wires right now and just Handcuff RBs while we're on the topic of running backs in general there are two handcuffs that I would 100% be adding right now just the stash in case an injury happened because you could be looking at legitimate rb1 upside if these guys became starters in their offenses first is Marshon Lloyd running back for the Green Bay Packers and the second is Jordan Mason running back for the San Francisco 49ers both of these guys became extremely valuable handcuffs after their main competition itions for the rb2 job went on season ending IR so if Christian mcaffrey or Josh Jacobs were to get hurt at all which we've seen both of them do throughout their career these guys would be League winners that you got for free right now in week one Will Levis, QB TEN all right now I usually don't roster two quarterbacks in my fantasy leagues but if I did my second quarterback pick would be taking the Home Run swing on Titans QB will Levis who is probably the biggest winner from the entire 2024 offseason with all of the moves that Tennessee has made since the beginning of March really in a lot of ways this feels similar to what the Eagles did with Jaylen Herz a couple years ago just loading him up with weapons after showing flashes of potential here and there but if he doesn't produce there is no excuse other than the fact that he's just not a good quarterback and I'm not saying that will Levis is going to turn into Jaylen Herz but there is a ton of upset here because of all the weapons that Levis has now plus the upside from just the type of player and quarterback that Levis is the Titans already had DeAndre Hopkins on the team but but then they went out and they signed Calvin Ridley and Tyler Boyd at the receiver position two older but extremely productive and experienced veterans that gives Levis more receivers that can separate at multiple levels of the field and even though they lost Derrick Henry in free agency they signed Tony Pard to add to Tai Spears both of whom can be very dangerous receivers out of the backfield as well and can be a competent Runner to add a quality Rush attack to the offense too and then let's not forget maybe the most important addition to the Titans offense this year the hiring of new head coach Brian Callahan from the Cincinnati Bengals and offensive coordinator Nick Holtz from the Jacksonville Jaguars Callahan's experience as the Bengals offensive coordinator since 2019 is extremely important here as his offenses have ranked top 12 in passing yards in each of the past three seasons with Joe burrow and his receiving core of Chase Higgins Boyd and Mixon out of the backfield you also look at holz's resume who doesn't have all the experience that Callahan has but was the passing game coordinator for the Jaguars last year who were also eighth in the NFL in passing yards in 2023 so between both of the new offensive coaches resumes plus all the moves that they made in the off season of allowing Derrick Henry to walk plus signing actual quality wide receivers there's really only one logical goal for the Tennessee Titans this year throw the ball more and throw the ball effectively which is the complete opposite of what the Titans offensive philosophy has been since like forever so now bringing it all back to will Levis who just from his eight starts last year was already on Pace for 3,800 pass yards and 17 touchdowns which would have made him a top 20 fantasy quarterback if we just moderately bump his yards to 4,000 and his touchdowns to 20 that now makes him a top 15 quarterback just from the passing stats alone not even mentioning if he actually starts to run and scramble like he did in college if we give him 300 rushing yards in the year which is in that daak to Jordan love to Sam how range now he's a borderline fantasy qb1 as essentially this year's version of Sam Hal I mean that's really all it takes here but that's not even accounting for the possibility that Levis drastically improves in year 2 that the Callahan offense and all the new weapons raises Lev's production even more that Levis himself doesn't run a 100 plus times this year like a lesser version of Josh Allen his range of outcomes is seriously anywhere between not being a starter in the NFL by the end of the year to an okay streamer in the right matchup to this year's Sam how to this year's Jordan love that is the entire spectrum of outcomes for Levis this year and I think we're going to find out very quickly in the season just where on the Spectrum he lands now moving to the wide Curtis Samuel, WR BUF receiver position I was quite shocked to see how available Curtis Samuel was in both ESPN and Yahoo leagues especially for the upside that he could have as the wide receiver W for Josh Allen I know everyone's in love with khil Shakir Keon Coleman is the fun new rookie but the most productive and experienced veteran on this team is Curtis Samuel and I would not be shocked at all if he outproduced everybody on this team for fantasy let's not forget that Curtis Samuel is already familiar with a Joe Brady offensive system as he played under Brady on the Panthers back in 2020 and what is actually his most productive fantasy season of his career at over 14 fantasy points per game and that was while Curtis Samuel was the wide receiver three on the team behind DJ Moore and Robbie Anderson catching passes from Teddy Bridgewater and don't forget too that Samuel has been used as a runner he had 41 Rush attempts that year with Joe Brady for over 200 rushing yards and two rushing touch touchdowns but even just as a receiver that season he still averaged 12 PPR points per game which is not nothing that is right where Chris Godwin courin Sutton George Pickins and Garrett Wilson all were last year as fantasy wide receiver 3es if that is all that Curtis Samuel gives you this year that is more than worth a roster spot on your roster as a weekly Flex consideration but just imagine if Samuel does put it all together and does succeed with hands down the best quarterback that he has ever played with and as the cherry on top of getting a little bit of rushing work he doesn't have to replace Stefon Diggs but what if he's Jaden Reed who also showed some dual threat ability with 900 total yards and 10 touchdowns averaging 13 and a half points per game last year or maybe he's Adam thielen and is just a PPR safety blanket for Allen with over a thousand yards and a handful of touchdowns that is still a fantasy wide receiver too or maybe his ultimate upside is like Debo Samuel last year doing a little bit of everything on the offense with over 1100 yards double digit touchdowns on a fantastic offense and finishing as a top 15 guy there are multiple paths here for Curtis Samuel to more than pay off as a waiver wire ad right now and be anywhere from a possible Flex guide during the season to an every week starter another wide Michael Wilson, WR ARI receiver that I have a ton of Interest this year is Cardinals Receiver Michael Wilson who is currently in line for the wide receiver 2 duties behind Marvin Harrison Jr especially after the news that Z Jones is going to be suspended for the first five games of the season now if you're not familiar with Michael Wilson he is a secondy year receiver drafted in the third round of the 2023 NFL draft out of Stanford he is a big bodied receiver at 62 213 lbs runs a sub 46 and has a 372 inch vertical so he's pretty athletic for his size his main concern basically all of his career has really just been injuries as he only played in 14 games throughout his college career and last year was in and out of the lineup throughout the season to but he did make some Splash plays and he totaled six plus Targets in five of his 13 games played three of which actually came with Kyler Murray at the second half of the season so now like I said Wilson is currently the wide receiver too for the Cardinals and what I believe to be a much improved offense as a whole this year with a healthy Kyler Murray Marvin Harrison and Trey mcbrien garnering the main focus in defensive attention so Wilson has the ability to be a solid fantasy Flex player here we have seen Kyler Murray sustain multiple receivers at a time for Fantasy Football I mean even AJ Green at 30 3 years old put up 850 yards in three touchdowns back in 2021 while playing with DeAndre Hopkins Christian Kirk Rond Del Moore and Zack Herz I'm not saying he's due for some massive breakout second season but I do think that he has upside to be a home run swing flex play Alla Gabe Davis or Rasheed Shahed or Brandon Cooks or maybe he has some consistency kind of like what we got from courland Sutton last year I think we find out pretty quickly what Michael Wilson is with this opportunity early in the year to where you can decide to keep him or you can cut him for something better in a week or two and lastly I am Josh Palmer, WR LAC also a big fan of chargers wide receiver Josh Palmer this year and he is still very available in a ton of fantasy leagues out there but I actually broke down all of the reasons why I love Josh Palmer in a previous video which you guys can check out right up here