Top Waiver Wire Pickups For Week 6

The waiver wire has always been one of, if not the most important part of winning a fantasy football championship. Injuries happen every year, so picking up players to replace your injured players is extremely important.

This year, however, the waiver wire is even MORE important. With games being postponed with very little warning, giving your players an unexpected bye week, you must have quality players on your bench.

Waiting to pick somebody up when you find out your players team isn’t playing is likely too late, as the other members in your league have probably already picked up anybody worth having, with roster sizes being increased throughout fantasy football, whether in the way of extra bench spots or added IR spots.

So here are some players you may want to look at for your top waiver wire pickups for week 6! The percentage rostered is in parentheses (%).

Quarterbacks

Gardner Minshew – Jacksonville Jaguars (51%)

For those of you looking for a consistent quarterback to replace your player that went down with injury, Minshew is as good as you are going to find on most waiver wires.

In 4 of 5 games he has multiple touchdown passes, the sole game where he did not was a clunker against the better – than -we – thought Miami Dolphins in week 3.

With the Detroit Lions up next, pick him up with confidence.

Ryan Fitzpatrick – Miami Dolphins (21%)

Speaking of the Miami Dolphins, they are 2-3 with their 3 losses coming from some of the best teams in the league (Seattle, Buffalo, and New England).

Nobody is going to mistake the Bearded One with Patrick Mahomes, but the last 4 weeks he has put up very good numbers, scoring at least 23 fantasy points in traditional PPR leagues. The Jets are up next for the Dolphins.

Andy Dalton – Dallas Cowboys (3%)

Obviously he will not be able to put up the numbers Dak Prescott was, but he is still playing on a team with one of the worst defenses in the Cowboys.

Plus he still has all of those weapons around him, and when he had weapons in Cincinnati he did put up good numbers.

Bonus pickup – Justin Herbert – Los Angeles Chargers (52%)

Herbert as a bye week in week 6, so he wouldn’t help you this week, but he has shown over the 4 games that he has started that he is a viable quarterback option, both in real life and in fantasy football.

He has multiple touchdowns in 3 of those 4 games, culminating in a 4 touchdown performance that was a missed field goal away from beating the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football.

Running Backs

Devonta Freeman – New York Giants (75%)

The running back waiver wire is typically tough to find a starter by this point in the year, and this season is no different. If Freeman is still available in your league, make sure you add him soon!

He had his best game of the year on Sunday, granted against the Dallas Cowboys. But more importantly his touches have gone up each game, from 5 his first game, to 15, to 19 this week.

As he gets back into football shape expect the Giants to run their offense through him and try to protect young quarterback Daniel Jones.

Myles Gaskin – Miami Dolphins (77%)

Gaskins is another up and coming back who has taken over the backfield in Miami, this week rushing 16 times for 57 yards and a touchdown while catching 5 passes for another 34 yards.

With a match up with the winless Jets up next he should have another solid game, so if he is available in your league pick him up!

Adrian Peterson – Detroit Lions (55%)

Peterson and the Lions enjoyed a scheduled bye in week 5, and now come back to face the Jacksonville Jaguars. Peterson has quietly put together a nice year, and is the lead back on early downs, but unfortunately not involved in the passing game for anything more than a RB3 or flex position.

Wide Receivers

Chase Claypool – Pittsburgh Steelers (17%)

Rookie wide receiver Chase Claypool burst onto the scene this week for the Steelers. With Diontae Johnson out with an injury, Claypool took full advantage, catching 7 of his 11 targets for 110 yards and 3 touchdowns.

He also wan the ball 3 times and scored another touchdown on the ground. Claypool will not score 40 points every week, but he has shown he can contribute to the Steelers offense and I do not see him not being utilized moving forward.

Travis Fulgham – Philadelphia Eagles (3%)

The Eagles have been struggling all year, and even into last year with injuries, particularly at the wide receiver position. Fulgham has now played two weeks with the Eagles, after bouncing around for his first two years in the league.

After a pedestrian first week in which he caught 2 passes for 57 yards and a touchdown, Fulgham had 13 targets Sunday against the Steelers, catching 10 of them for 152 yards and a score.

With the rest of the Eagles receivers struggling just to get on the field, Fulgham is a safe option especially as he gains the trust of Carson Wentz, who desperately needs someone he can depend on to get open and catch passes.

Laviska Shenault Jr – Jacksonville Jaguars (34%)

I have put Shenault on this list a few times now, not because he is getting 30 point fantasy games, but because he has been fairly consistent.

He has scored over 13 fantasy points in 3 of his 5 games, and his lowest this season was 8.3 points, in PPR leagues. With the Jaguars looking to be down early and often this year, and Gardner Minshew growing as a quarterback, I believe Shenault will have fantasy relevance throughout the year.

Tight Ends

Jimmy Graham – Chicago Bears (41%)

Graham does not get the number of targets some of the other big name tight ends do, but he doesn get the targets where it counts, in the red zone.

He has scored in three of the 5 games, and with Nick Foles throwing the ball, look for Graham to be even more involved especially in the red zone, where Trubiski sometimes focused a little too much on Allen Robinson.

Rob Gronkowski – Tampa Bay Buccaneers (53%)

Gronk is obviously not the player he was while playing with Tom in New England, but he still has skills and the ability to make plays.

With OJ Howard out for the season and Chris Godwin hurting, Brady may have to lean on his old friend to score points moving forward. With a lot of tight ends not playing as well as expected, it may be time to add Gronk to your roster.

Austin Hooper – Cleveland Browns (55%)

As has been the case with most players switching teams this year, Hooper has been slow to put up numbers in the young NFL season.

The last two weeks Hooper has seen many more targets (17) than the first three games (10). He has caught 5 passes in each of those two games, and got his first touchdown in a Browns uniform.

Conclusion

Hopefully your fantasy season has not been ravaged by injuries and unsuspected bye week. Luckily, even if it has, the season is still early. Get on a run now and make the playoffs, then anything can happen!

Remember there is still a game Tuesday tonight, so something may happen to add waiver targets. I will add those to the comments section.

Who are you targeting this week? What is your record so far? Let me know in the comments below!