The season is still young, and many of these moves can’t be fully judged yet – BUT, that’s not gonna stop me from doing it anyway. We’re almost done with Week 5, and while a few games still remain undecided for the week, some of the roster moves made since the draft have already shown great impact.
So let’s first look at the short-term gains. These are guys who’ve only played once on their new team, but so far appear to be shrewd pickups.
Let’s start with the Commish, who didn’t need it, but just to rub it in his brother-in-law’s face during rivalry week picked up Giants kicker Graham Gano, who dropped 332 points on the Cowboys in a losing effort. This is actually a nice foil between Chris’ season to this point, and Dave’s historically bad run. The “2008 Lions” also made a move at Kicker, in what was maybe the worst call of the season so far. Dave dropped the Dolphin’s Jason Sanders (355 points this week) after only 4 days on his roster to pickup Seahawks Kicker Jason Myers, who scored a whopping 30 points in a game that saw Miami dominate San Fran, while Dave went belly up for his brother in the Alley Bowl.
The Quasars made a trio of nice pickups this week, grabbing Josh Jackson through Waviers, and then both Chase Edmonds and Henry Ruggs III via Free Agency. Luckily for Timmo! they all sat on the bench, combining to score 524 points. Meanwhile, the players who started in their stead (Chark, Gibson, Edwards-Helaire) mustered only 202. That’s a 322 point swing, in a game where Sanchez currently trails 504 points with 3 guys left to play. On the other side of that match, Timmo also made a nice pickup, and one that might prove to be potentially season-changing. We all watched Chargers Rookie Justin Herbert put up big numbers the last few weeks, but it took that huge Scottish dong to pull the trigger and start the kid.
As for the most impressive players through multiple weeks so far, here’s my Top 10…
10. RED BANK MALLRATS: Aldon Smith
(Waivers – Week 2)
As consistently productive DL are always hard to come by, Aldon Smith has been mostly solid, though not spectacular. As Smith was a FA in Week 1 (since we all forgot he existed), that opening 230 point effort is of no consequence. In the four weeks since, he’s only had one monster game (270 in Week 3), with his other three outings totaling only 180. But DL are almost always Boom or Bust, so I’m not unhappy with the 70 point games. Plus, without that Week 3 effort, the Mallrats are sitting at 1-3 rather than 2-2. That said, if he can’t put up some numbers in Week 6, might be time to move on.
9. FLYING DUTCHMEN: Jerick McKinnon
(Waivers – Week 3)
Following the plethora of injuries the 49ers suffered in Week 2, Trigger picked up McKinnon and got two really nice games out of him in Weeks 3 and 4, where he averaged 162 points. Now in Week 5 he had one carry and only put up 35 points, but the entire Niners team shit the bed so that’s not entirely his fault and maybe the result of game script. He is TD dependant for the most part, and his usefulness might be coming to an end, but he gave Trigger a couple solid weeks in there, and all it cost him was Mecole Hardman.
8. TIMMO!: Darrell Henderson Jr.
(Waivers – Week 3)
The Timmos have a couple names on this list, first is Henderson, who is part of a crowded Rams backfield, playing under the infuriatingly inconsistent Sean McVay offense. So far though, it’s been mostly good news. In his three weeks on the Timmos, Henderson has had 2 good games with a stinker in the middle. So while it’s hard to trust him every week, he is staying involved, even his bad game Malcolm Brown only had one more carry than he did. He’ll likely be worth keeping rostered all year, though he’s sure to frustrate McLeod from time to time.
7. RED BANK MALLRATS: Jeremy Chinn
(Waivers – Week 2)
While Chinn hasn’t been spectacular, he’s been about as consistent as you could ask of a Rookie Safety. His status on this list is also aided by how early he was picked up, starting for the Mallrats in all but the first game of the year. Averaging close to 200 a week before Stat Corrections (and about 142 after), the young DB is on the field a lot and recording tackles, which is a most consistent indicator of success. Now, if he can start forcing some turnovers, perhaps he’ll climb up this list a bit…
6. TIMMO!: Eric Wilson
(Waivers – Week 4)
Eric Wilson hasn’t been rostered here as long, but I put him ahead of Henderson because he’s got a much higher floor. He has scored at least 100 points every week this year, and since Anthony Barr’s season-ending injury, Wilson has averaged 190 points per game. He should be good for around 150 a week for the rest of the season, which is something you can usually lean on.
5. THE QUASARS: Jonnu Smith
(Free Agent – Week 2)
Steve will be looking for a big game tonight from Smith, who is coming off a COVID Bye, and likely to be well-rested. Jonnu is among the league leaders for PPG among TEs so far – but he’s only played 3 games. If he can keep up these numbers, and he should (averaging almost 7 targets a game) as long as Tannehill is in there, it’ll be one of the biggest position upgrades in the league so far, as previously Sanchez was rolling with Ebron and Hooper at TE. Let’s see how the Titans look tonight post-COVID…
4. RED BANK MALLRATS: Kyzir White
(Waivers – Week 4)
White has turned into a Fantasy Stud following the season-ending injury to Drue Tranquill earlier this year. Since taking over as the team’s top 3-down LB he’s averaging 195 per week, and that jumps to 220 over the past 3 weeks. The Mallrats picked him up before the Week 4 matchups began, and over the past 2 weeks has become the team’s best IDP.
3. THE QUASARS: Myles Jack
(Waivers – Week 2)
My dilemma after Week 1 was who to put atop my Waiver Priority, and I went with Aldon Smith over Myles Jack based on position, but so far Jack has outperformed Smith in all but one week (week 3). When he plays, the guy is a monster, but the problem is he has an extensive history of severe injuries. This showed up in Week 5 when he sat out against the Texans and none of Steve’s other LBs got more than 150 points. Jack averaged 192 a game through Week 4. His latest ankle injury doesn’t seem too serious, so assuming he’s back quick, this could be the best IDP of the year. Currently, despite the lower average and missed game, he ranks ahead of Kyzir White because he was added so early.
2. SC4_SKIPPERS: Mike Davis
(Waivers – Week 3)
Conventional wisdom should have made Mike Davis the #1 Waiver target following MacCaffrey’s injury in Week 2, but both Dave and Steve went Need over Talent, grabbing Jared Goff (WTF) and N’Keal Harry – both of whom were later dropped – and allowed Davis to fall to Jones and the Skippers. There is still no definitive word on when CMac will return, and in his absence, Davis hasn’t done much – except average over 200 points a week and become a must-start at RB. This would take the top spot on the list if CMac wasn’t expected back at some point, putting a clock on Davis’ usefulness.
1. SECOND DECK: Robby Anderson
(Free Agent – Week 1)
So far, hands down, the best pickup of the year happened before the games even started. Matt picked up Robby Anderson via Free Agency, and the former-Jets wideout, now out of Adam Gase’s reach the 27-year-old is averaging 150 a week, and had gotten double-digit targets in 3 of the first 5 games. Targets that rightly belong to DJ Moore. If this keeps up, Anderson could catch 100 balls, after
Other Notable Pickups…
- SC4_SKIPPERS: Alexander Mattison – Should Cook miss multiple games, there could be real value here.
- RED BANK MALLRATS: Laviska Shenault – Back-to-Back 100 point games, seems worth a roster spot.
- Plus several Kicker moves I’m not gonna waste your time with.
There were also some shrew pickups that were used to trade for other pieces, but I’ll save that for a Trade Post later.
SC League Forever 