Week 1 is wrapping up and chaos is already afoot. Allen Robinson and David Johnson were just two of the fantasy stars to fall to serious injuries on the first Sunday of the new season. It's a reminder that pain is always present in the joy that is fantasy football. Now we must look forward to options to assist in beefing up our fake teams to move forward, whether it be long-term replacements or a streamer just to get by.
It's just those sort of symptoms that the Deep Dive is prescribed to help alleviate. NFL Fantasy's editorial overlord Alex Gelhar dutifully attacks the waiver wire to give you the top adds for the coming week in hopes of bolstering your roster. However, in this arena, we'll look at options to help those of you looking to go a little bit further down the rabbit hole, whether you play in a deeper format or are at the mercy of your incredibly sharp league-mates who scour the waiver wire relentlessly. A player can only qualify for the deep dive if they're owned in less than 10 percent of NFL.com leagues. With that, here are 11 players you can consider adding before Week 2 either as deep FLEX plays or simply as bench stashes.
**Written pre-Monday Night Football** Color me skeptical that the Dallas defense truly found its groove Sunday night in their season opener. Their thrashing of the
New York Giants had much more to do with the embarrassing state of their division rival's offense without
Odell Beckham in the fold. If you're digging to the bottom of the barrel for a floor play at quarterback, Siemian makes sense. He's attached to two strong wideouts in
Demaryius Thomas and
Emmanuel Sanders and the injury to top corner
Orlando Scandrick puts an already thin Dallas secondary in a bind.
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Perhaps it was just an anomaly due to the Week 1 blowout, but the Colts backfield smelled more like a committee than most expected coming into the season. Frank Gore went out for 18 plays against the Rams, while Robert Turbin (14) and Marlon Mack (17) nipped at his heels. Turbin is the presumed No. 2, so it was interesting to note rookie third-day draft pick Mack earn more playing time. Of course, Mack saw 12 of his 17 plays come in the second half at which point the game was already 27-3. Yet, he still saw work with the top offensive players in the opening quarter, including a long catch and run that should have resulted in a score. The Colts offense desperately needs more explosive elements integrated into the mix right now and the explosive Mack might be able to provide some of that. At worst, he's worth stashing in case the team finally begins to shy away from Gore if he's truly at the end of the line or suffers an injury.
Washington fell behind early and trailed the Eagles for the rest of their opener. Starter Rob Kelley is always going to struggle in those game scripts, as he's a near non-entity in the passing game, and totaled just 30 yards on 10 carries. Meanwhile, rookie Samaje Perine didn't see a single snap on offense. Chris Thompson, on the other hand, went out for just three fewer plays overall than Kelley and was on the field for 56.8 percent of the team's pass plays. He lined up in the slot four times and another out wide. Thompson looks more electric than ever and made a dazzling 29-yard catch and run for a touchdown. There's a little bit of a guessing game that needs to come with Thompson in order to nail the game scripts where he'll be on the field more than usual but he presents value as he has a clear role in an offense that should drop back at an above average rate all year.
Carlos Hyde is the total workhorse for the
49ers. The veteran back was on the field for 78 percent of the team's plays, handled nine of the team's 15 rush attempts in a negative game script and absorbed six catches for 32 yards. There is no standalone value for undrafted rookie
Matt Breida but there might not need to be considering he's behind a player in Hyde who played in 20 of 32 possible games from 2015 to 2016. The
49ers have a tough opening defensive slate following their loss at home against Carolina, with road trips to Seattle and Arizona sandwiching a home game tilt with the
Rams. However, the outlook lightens up a bit after that with games against the
Colts,
Redskins and
Cowboys. It's unlikely Breida would be a fantasy game-changer in this offense even in the event of a Hyde injury, but he does need to be squarely on your radar.
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The Eddie Lacy era looks like it's already over well before it even started. The veteran back went out for just seven plays with the Seahawks offense against his old team in Green Bay, checking in behind C.J. Prosise (16) and more notably rookie Chris Carson, who led the running backs in playing time at 52 percent. The seventh-round pick only totaled six carries for 39 yards but notably took his four inside runs for 36 yards. At 5-foot-11 and 218 pounds, Carson more than fits the bill of what Seattle looks for in a sustaining rusher. Thomas Rawls' return after missing Week 1 could dampen the optimistic shine on Carson at the moment, but remember that Rawls only got his shot because of the "competition over everything" mantra that permeates Pete Carroll's Seahawks. All Carson must do is produce to win the top spot on the depth chart.
The rookie wideout was on the field for the same amount of plays (59 percent) as top wideout Sammy Watkins and drew one more target than his veteran counterpart. Watkins obviously presents a better season-long and weekly ceiling as the top outside receiver but Kupp has the trust and faith of Jared Goff. Even better, Kupp's 12.9 air yards per target led all Rams receivers, and more than doubled Watkins' 6.2 average. Of course, the matchup with the Colts was the ideal spot for all Rams players but the team has a rather ideal schedule to kick off the year to keep its offense rolling. Los Angeles welcomes Washington in Week 2 before going on the road to square off with the 49ers and Cowboys. Do take a note of a daunting turn in the schedule after that with the Seahawks, Jaguars and Cardinals on the ledger before their bye week followed by games against the Giants, Texans and Vikings.
With Allen Robinson officially out for the 2017 season, opportunity opens up in the Jaguars wide receiver corps. However, it's unclear if that opportunity will be worth all that much. The Jaguars made their intentions well known with their Week 1 game plan. Blake Bortless registered just 21 attempts on the day. Only Joe Flacco (17) threw less among quarterbacks who finished their Week 1 games. Hurns and Lee tied for the team lead in targets on Sunday ... with four. If Jacksonville is on its preferred game script there just isn't much passing volume to gobble up, and when they're bumped off that, we should have enough questions about Blake Bortles' ability to not rush to invest in the ancillary receivers here. With that being said, Hurns and Lee are worth adding in deep formats that start three or more wide receivers. Prioritize Hurns over Lee as he has the better NFL history to this point.
Chasing fantasy production in the Jets offenses is barely worth your time. In fact, you're better off just passing. However, if there's anyone in the New York aerial "attack" who has the profile of a dart throw worth taking, it's Robby Anderson. The second-year wideout was on the field for 100 percent of the Jets Week 1 plays and finished 10th among Sunday's pass catchers with a 34.7 percent share of his team's intended air yards. New York draws matchups with the Raiders and Dolphins over the next two weeks.
**Written pre-Monday Night Football** In the wake of preseason action, the
Chargers were looking to move veteran wideout
Dontrelle Inman, who posted 810 yards for the team last season. The willingness to deal Inman all but signaled that
Travis Benjamin is locked-in as the team's third wide receiver. While that won't leave much juice to suck out of the passing rotation behind
Keenan Allen,
Tyrell Williams and their two tight ends, the Los Angeles offense looks set up to be one of the better units in the league. Benjamin is clearly the best deep threat of the group, as Allen is a possession-based route runner and Williams excels as a yards-after-catch maven on crossers. Benjamin will carry explosive potential in plus matchups and the
Chargers play the cornerback starved
Dolphins and
Eagles over the next three weeks.
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The Bears suffered yet another season-ending injury to their wide receiver corps with Kevin White headed to IR, joining Cameron Meredith. Zach Miller led the team with a paltry 15.9 percent share of the team's intended air yards and his six targets trailed only Tarik Cohen. Miller finished behind fellow tight end Dion Sims in terms of playing time, going out for 60 percent of the team's plays to 70 percent for his counterpart, but latter is the preferred blocking option. Miller may collect usable volume in the Bears' Week 2 contest against the Buccaneers, a revenge game for his quarterback Mike Glennon.
The rookie tight end is indeed on top of the 49ers depth chart after the trade of Vance McDonald. George Kittle went out for a whopping 94 percent of the team's plays against the Panthers and drew six targets. San Francisco and Kyle Shanahan deployed him all over the field, doling out 33 percent of his snaps in the slot and another 10 percent lined up out wide. Kittle and his 4.52 40-yard dash time fit the profile of the move tight end that is so popular in the NFL. Opportunity is everything in fantasy and it's clearly knocking for George Kittle. Seattle looks like a daunting matchup and therefore Kittle might not be playable just yet but bear in mind that the Seahawks just let up nine catches to interior receiver Randall Cobb and another three for 46 yards to tight end Martellus Bennett.
Matt Harmon is a writer/editor for NFL.com, and the creator of #ReceptionPerception, who you can follow on Twitter _@MattHarmonBYB_ or like on Facebook.
