The opening weekend of the 2024 NFL season is almost in the books. After a handful of surprising performances and a few noteworthy injuries, the fantasy football waiver wire should be pretty active this week.
Here is a closer look at the fantasy waiver wire rankings entering Week 2 of the 2024 NFL season.
Who Are the Top Players To Target on This Week’s Waiver Wire?
1) J.K. Dobbins, RB, Los Angeles Chargers
Most fantasy managers assumed Gus Edwards was best positioned to lead this Los Angeles Chargers backfield after signing a multi-year deal while J.K. Dobbins came off of another season-ending injury last year. However, Dobbins’ debut in a powder blue uniform produced 135 rushing yards and a score on just 10 rushing attempts in Week 1.
Is it reasonable for fantasy managers to still be a bit skeptical about this performance — which saw him produce 236.8% over expectation in Week 1 — before automatically rolling him into their starting lineup in Week 2? Sure, but I believe it to be foolish to outright dismiss this overwhelmingly encouraging performance.
An eye-opening 30% of Dobbins’ carries went for over 10+ yards, and he was on the field for 59% of the offensive snaps. Edwards saw one more carry than Dobbins against the Raiders but produced 109 fewer rushing yards. Additionally, Edwards was only on the field for 40.7% of the offensive snaps, which suggests Dobbins was the preferred option in Week 1.
The pass-catching role appears to be firmly in favor of Dobbins, after running 16 routes to Edwards’ five in the season opener.
Don’t overthink this. If Dobbins is on your waiver wire, he is the top priority to add entering Week 2.
2) Jaleel McLaughlin, RB, Denver Broncos
This ranking could be a bit more problematic, but I still see Jaleel McLaughlin’s Week 1 usage as a major positive regarding his rest-of-season fantasy outlook.
The snap counts may have favored Javonte Williams — who was on the field for 52.2% of the offensive snaps over McLaughlin’s 34.8% — but the touches favored McLaughlin by a nice margin of 15 to nine.
Unfortunately, both players had an incredibly rough efficiency day at the office — but five targets to Williams’ two is another encouraging sign that McLaughlin is going to be involved in the capacity you want when projecting this backfield moving forward.
McLaughlin was touted as the more explosive option out of this backfield based on what we saw from both of these players last year, and he still managed to produce a rush of 10+ yards while Williams did not in the opener against the Seahawks.
It wasn’t pretty for the entire Denver offense, but McLaughlin should still be a player to target on the waiver wire in Week 2.
3)Â Isaiah Likely, TE, Baltimore Ravens
You may wonder how a player who has outscored every other fantasy TE through the first 15 games of the Week 1 slate isn’t the No. 1 waiver wire priority this week.
Well, as great as Baltimore Ravens TE Isaiah Likely’s nine-reception, 111-yards-and-a-score performance was against the Kansas City Chiefs in the season opener, I still believe this could be a bit of an outlier when we take a look back at the entire 2024 NFL season.
Mark Andrews (74% of the offensive snaps) was still on the field more than Likely (66%) in the opener and ran more routes than Likely in Week 1.
When you watched the game, it was clear to me that Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo clearly was prioritizing trying to limit Andrews’ impact on the game — which simply made throwing the ball the correct decision by Lamar Jackson and not an indictment on Andrews’ level of performance.
Will Likely be a factor in this passing attack in 2024? Yes, his snaps, targets, and production all suggest he is set for an expanded role — which puts him in the low-end TE1 conversation entering Week 2. Yet, I think realizing how the game script and the opponent’s defensive strategy drastically impacted the Week 1 stat line is appropriate before setting top-five TE production weekly for Likely moving forward.
4)Â Zach Charbonnet, RB, Seattle Seahawks
This feels more like a speculative add with the realization that Kenneth Walker III is dealing with an oblique injury he picked up in the second half of the team’s win against the Denver Broncos.
Walker was by far the more efficient and preferred option out of this backfield in Week 1. This was evident by the dominating snap share (66.7% for Walker over Charbonnet’s 33.3%), touches (22 for Walker over Charbonnet’s 10), and total yards (109 for Walker over Charbonnet’s 41).
Yet, both players managed to find the end zone in this contest, and Charbonnet was the only other Seattle running back to see meaningful work behind Walker against Denver — which gives him great upside if Walker is unable to play in Week 2.
5)Â Baker Mayfield, QB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Baker Mayfield’s outstanding Week 1 performance may see him start the season as the QB1 overall entering Week 2 of the 2024 NFL season. His 289 passing yards and four scores with no turnovers against the Washington Commanders were nothing short of outstanding.
Mayfield even left a little bit of meat on the bone with a mild overthrow to Jalen McMillan early in the first quarter, which was one of just six incompletions from the former No. 1 overall pick in the season opener.
Mayfield is set to enter Ford Field to take on a Detroit Lions defense that he lit up to the tune of 349 passing yards and three scores in the Divisional Round of last year’s postseason.
If Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and the aforementioned McMillan can build off their great debut against Washington, we could see Mayfield light up the scoreboard again in Week 2.
6)Â Devaughn Vele/Josh Reynolds, WR, Denver Broncos
Another pair of Denver Broncos making this list isn’t exactly ideal after this unit’s performance against the Seahawks in Week 1, but the potential for a reliable fantasy role could be present alongside Courtland Sutton based on their usage in the season opener.
Devaughn Vele Week 1 Stats
- Targets: eight
- Receptions: eight
- Receiving Yards: 39
- Snap Share: 49.3%
Josh Reynolds Week 1 Stats
- Targets: eight
- Receptions: five
- Receiving Yards: 45
- Snap Share: 79.7%
Neither of these options lit it up in Week 1, but to be fair, they were facing off against a secondary that features Riq Woolen and Devon Witherspoon in a revamped defensive scheme under Mike Macdonald with a rookie quarterback making his starting debut in the NFL.
Both of these players outscored Sutton in full-PPR formats in Week 1, which makes them both worthy of a speculative add to see how their role looks in Week 2.
7)Â Alec Pierce, WR, Indianapolis Colts
The vertical element of this passing attack is definitely present with Anthony Richardson under center.
Need proof? Just take a look at Richardson’s numbers for his Week 1 performance against the Houston Texans.
Richardson’s Week 1 Stats (Positional Rank):
- Air Yards per Attempt: 16.4 (first)
- Air Yards per Completion: 17.9 (first)
- Total Air Yards: 163 (second)
- EPA per Dropback: 0.22 (sixth)
- 50+ Yard Passing Completions: three (first)
This aggressiveness in throwing the ball down the field should benefit the deep threats on this football team, which includes Alec Pierce, who went for 125 yards and a score on just three receptions in Week 1.
Can we expect this type of production to continue? Probably not at this level every week, but his ability to be a competent vertical threat in this scheme should not be ignored.
Pierce was on the field for 83.7% of the offensive snaps against Houston — which was the second-highest behind Michael Pittman Jr. and 22.6% higher than the mark we saw from Adonai Mitchell.
Since Josh Downs is still dealing with an injury, I do believe Pierce is worth a look in Week 2.
8)Â Jalen McMillan, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
One reception for a 32-yard touchdown may not be a stat line that is going to get many fantasy managers super excited, but I’m here to tell you this performance could’ve been a much bigger NFL debut than the stats suggest.
The first thing we have to discuss is simply how much McMillan was on the field in his first professional game.
Buccaneers WR Snap Percentage in Week 1:
- McMillan: 82%
- Chris Godwin: 77%
- Mike Evans: 68.9%
Buccaneers WR Routes Run in Week 1:
- McMillan: 30
- Godwin: 28
- Evans: 28
McMillan’s role in the season opener against Washington should be something that gets your attention because he had a walk-in touchdown in the first quarter just out of his reach and drew a pass interference call against Emmanuel Forbes Jr. that could’ve resulted in another 30+ yard score.
McMillan gives this offense an explosive third option at WR for a unit that ran 11 personnel at the fourth-highest rate in the league in Week 1 at 82%.
McMillan should only see his targets and receptions rise throughout the rest of the season, which makes him a player to stash away on your fantasy bench before his price claims throughout the year.
9)Â Justin Fields, QB, Chicago Bears
Everyone may be quick to pile on Pittsburgh Steelers QB Justin Fields’ disappointing Week 1 fantasy stat line, but he made a compelling case with his clean football game that led his new team to a road win against a quality opponent to start the season.
Fields was heavily utilized in the running game with 12 carries for 42 yards on QB-designed runs.
Sure, these numbers didn’t pay huge fantasy dividends in Week 1 — but if this type of usage continues then the elite rushing floor we saw from him back in 2022 could enter the range of outcomes for the former Ohio State Buckeye in his first year with the Steelers.
Fields starting status being up in the air paired with his low fantasy output against Atlanta make him a player you can add on the waiver wire with elite upside at a reduced cost if he gets the start again in Week 2.
10)Â Tucker Kraft, TE, Green Bay Packers
Quite frankly, this is definitely more of a speculative add to stash away on your fantasy bench for when Jordan Love returns, but I feel like we have a pretty definitive answer as to who the TE1 is in Green Bay.
Tucker Kraft absolutely dominated the work from the tight end position over Luke Musgrave in the season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Green Bay TE Production in Week 1:
- Tucker Kraft: three targets, two receptions, 37 yards, and 86% snap share
- Luke Musgrave: two targets, zero receptions, zero yards, and 25% snap share
Oddly enough, it was actually Kraft who dealt with an injury throughout the majority of the preseason. This makes his 64 snaps to Musgrave’s 17 incredibly noteworthy.
Unfortunately, the injury to Love means Kraft will be reliant on either Malik Willis or Sean Clifford to get him the football over the next few weeks — which isn’t ideal from a short-term fantasy outlook perspective.
Yet, a tight end in this offense could be a valuable fantasy asset down the road — which makes Kraft worth a speculative add to stash away on your bench who could pay big dividends later in the season.
