NFL Week 7 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Additions

Oct 17th 2022

Sosa Kremenjas

Week 7 in the NFL is right around the corner. Let's address the best waiver wire additions available in fantasy football leagues ahead of this slate of games.

All stats and data are sourced from PFF and Sports Info Solutions. Rostered percentages are sourced from Yahoo Fantasy leagues.

Top-10 Adds of the Week:

1. Jacksonville Jaguars WR Zay Jones - 20% rostered

Jones continues to play a major role in the Jaguars' passing offense. No receiver had more snaps (62) or higher route participation (87.5%) in Week 6. While Jones had just five targets, he's been a symbol of consistency, playing over 48 snaps and running at least 25 routes in every game that he's been active. The production hasn't entirely followed suit, with Jones putting together two double-digit point weeks, two weeks with fewer than six fantasy points, and 9.2 points this past week.

Jones doesn't offer must-start upside at this point in the season, though most players available on the waiver wire don't. What he does have is consistent usage metrics and a combined 37 targets across five contests. That's a target share of 18.3%, despite missing a week.

2. Green Bay Packers WR Romeo Doubs - 64% rostered

The Packers are a terrible offense, but Doubs needs to be rostered in every league moving forward. Green Bay just lost Randall Cobb to an ankle injury that looks like it could be serious, and are considering stashing Christian Watson on the sidelines as he continues to deal with a lingering hamstring injury. Veteran Sammy Watkins could return from IR any game now, though Doubs looks to have carved his role in the offense out.

This past week, Doubs secured a 97.3% snap share, a 20% target share, and a 98% route participation metric. Over the course of the season, Doubs has registered the second-most snaps and most targets and routes run on the roster.

3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers WR Russell Gage - 33% rostered

The Buccaneers are still figuring out their frustrating receiver usage, though Gage is primed for a strong slot role at least until Julio Jones comes back. Once Julio returns, the two are likely to rotate in that role, though Gage has flashed some good play for the Bucs.

This past week, Gage played in 55 out of 72 snaps and ran 34 routes on 42 dropbacks. The slot receiver only had four targets in this game, but has been fairly involved this season:

Clearly, Gage won't have the upside we typically like to chase in fantasy football, especially not with such a low target share. The Bucs have a loaded offense and Gage is just one of the many options that present themselves to quarterback Tom Brady. Unfortunately for him, he's not the first or second option when broken down by rankings, either. But still, he is a good football player who is playing a good chunk of snaps and has a route participation of 80% or higher in three of the past five contests.

4. Arizona Cardinals WR Rondale Moore - 46% rostered

DeAndre Hopkins is returning from his suspension this week and that will knock Moore out of two-receiver sets, but Marquise Brown also suffered an injury Sunday and that could play a role in opening the same pathway up for Moore moving forward. The severity of Brown's injury will really dictate how much FAAB should be spent on Moore, or if he can be considered a startable fantasy option.

As of now, there is no reason to believe Moore shouldn't at least be rostered. He played in all but one snap this week and ran a route on all but one dropback, while also being tied for the team lead with nine targets. Sure, Moore's value takes a tremendous hit if he no longer lines up in two-receiver sets, but Brown's injury could very well allow for Moore to continue playing in two-receiver sets if the speedster is forced to miss time. Since debuting in Week 4, Moore hasn't played fewer than 63 snaps in any game.

5. New York Giants WR Wan'Dale Robinson - 8% rostered

There is ample playing time and opportunities available for Giants receivers, and Robinson finally made his return in Week 6 after sitting out every game since the opener. The rookie played just 15 snaps and ran just 11 routes, but it's understandable why his role was limited and scaled back. As the weeks pass and Robinson continues to progress, he should continue to carve out a larger role and heftier target share. No receiver had fewer snaps on the field, yet Robinson's 14.8% target share already tied for leading the team.

Also, the team is already deploying some of their designed plays for the diminutive receiver:

6. Indianapolis Colts RB Deon Jackson - 43% rostered

Jackson could be ranked higher or lower on this list, depending on the health and statuses of Jonathan Taylor, Nyheim Hines, and Jackson himself. In the event that both former starters miss another week, Jackson would climb this list and would represent an opportunity to grab an RB2 for at least one more week. It all depends on Jackson's health as he left Week 5 with a quad injury. Once both Taylor and Hines are back, Jackson has played well enough to carve himself out a minor role moving forward.

Over the past two weeks, Jackson's played 100 out of 160 snaps, has had 25 rushing attempts, and ran a route on 75.8% and 81.0% of passing plays. No running back is getting more work on the roster throughout the past two weeks. And oh yeah, Jackson's also rattled off 41.2 fantasy points. That's the seventh-most among all running backs in that same time span.

7. Los Angeles Rams RB Kyren Williams - 8% rostered

Williams is purely a dart throw at this point, but certainly, one worth making. The rookie running back suffered a high-ankle sprain in Week 1 and was immediately stashed on IR. While we don't have any firm timeline on when he'll return, it could happen any game after the Rams' Week 7 bye week.

As we know, Los Angeles is shopping Cam Akers, and he's very likely played his last down for the team according to national media. That leaves just Darrell Henderson in the RB1 role and Williams — who was going to play a legitimate role in the offense in Week 1 prior to suffering his injury.

While Williams will likely never get the bulk of the work or operate in a workhorse-like role, he could at the very least factor in as the pass-game back on passing downs while stealing some of the early-down work. The Rams were clearly reluctant to give Henderson an expanded role over the past few weeks, even while Akers was struggling.

8. Arizona Cardinals WR Robbie Anderson - 11% rostered

Yes, you read that correctly. Anderson is now an Arizona Cardinal after the team struck a trade with his former team, the Carolina Panthers. Of course, the receiver room is quite loaded in Arizona now and that blockade is going to be tough to navigate. The receiver room includes:

DeAndre Hopkins (returning from suspension)

Marquise Brown (injured in Week 6)

Rondale Moore

Robbie Anderson

A.J. Green

We have yet to find out the severity of Brown's injury and that will obviously play a major role in determining how high Anderson should be on this list. He's a vertical field stretcher, similar to Brown, and this trade might indicate that Brown's injury could be a serious one.

Through six weeks, quarterback Kyler Murray ranks just 28th in average depth of target (aDOT) at 7.1. While that may be the case, Murray has attempted the second-most 20-plus yard pass attempts (252) among quarterbacks this season.

Over the course of his career, Anderson's averaged a 13.5 aDOT, though that number has gradually decreased over the past few seasons. To begin his career, Anderson's aDOT was 16.9, 13.6, 17.3, and 15.8. He should be a good addition for an offense that is looking for vertical spacing and someone to take the top off the defense, though the volume of targets likely won't follow suit.

9. Baltimore Ravens RB Kenyan Drake - 4% rostered

Drake doesn't have any standalone value, but he could be in a position to see an expanded role depending on what is going on with J.K. Dobbins. The starting running back has popped up on the injury report a few times over the past two weeks with random ailments (ex: chest) and played just 16 snaps compared to 34 for Drake in Week 6. Head coach John Harbaugh mentioned Dobbins' knee "tightening up" as the reason for his lack of work. That is certainly something to note moving forward.

In addition, Gus Edwards is likely to be activated from IR any week now and is sure to factor into the backfield, too.

10. Green Bay Packers TE Robert Tonyan - 42% rostered

The Packers are a terrible passing offense, but someone is expected to step up. Tonyan scooped season-high marks across the board in this game — targets, routes run, and snaps, though his route participation was the lowest it's been this season. The tight end hasn't had a route participation metric lower than 92.5%. While the targets have yet to match (outside of this past week), he's at least being utilized as a receiver far more often than a lot of remaining tight ends. His time looks likely to come, though Tonyan probably won't masquerade as a set-it-and-forget-it option at the position.

Honorable mention: Atlanta Falcons WR Olamide Zaccheaus - 1% rostered

Regrettably, Zaccheaus should make this list. The Falcons' passing offense is not one we should be targeting, but the veteran has played an important role over the past few weeks and looks like he'll continue to produce within it. Here is his route participation and wide receiver ranking by fantasy points scored per week:

Zaccheaus owns a small share of a gross passing offense but has at least some spot-start potential in bad weeks. The bright spot? He's scored less than 0.5 fewer fantasy points than star Brandin Cooks.

Must be rostered:

Seattle Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker III - 90% rostered

Just one running back has forced more missed tackles than Walker (14) over the past two weeks. Walker is the RB9 over the same span of time with 33.8 fantasy points and ranks in the top 10 in rushing attempts and red zone carries. Seattle has their new RB1.

Arizona Cardinals WR DeAndre Hopkins - 87% rostered

The man known as "Nuk" is coming back after serving a six-game suspension for performance-enhancement reasons. Hopkins should be rostered in 100% of leagues and is likely to once again force his way into a must-start fantasy football option across the board.

Los Angeles Rams RB Darrell Henderson Jr. - 86% rostered

Henderson is the clear RB1 option for the Rams moving forward barring any trades. The veteran secured a 70.8% snap share and ran a route on 74.3% of pass plays in his first game sans Cam Akers. He also had four targets and 12 rushing attempts.

Baltimore Ravens RB Gus Edwards - 15% rostered

The final player that needs to be rostered is Edwards. He is "getting close" to returning per coach Harbaugh, and that could be as soon as this week. Of course, he'll likely be on a snap count limitation for the first few weeks, though the Ravens' backfield hasn't exactly been the pillar of health and Edwards has yet to average fewer than 5 yards-per-carry in any professional season. Add him.