Week 5 Waiver Pick-ups

There weren't a ton of pick-ups when the waivers first went through this morning (5 to be exact) but as the day has gone on, I added to the list along with Jason. Overall there ended up being 9 pick-ups this week between five teams, four of which added a running back, and then I went crazy adding Giants to my bench. Here they are:

MeAndJulioDown ByTheSchoolYard: add Jerick McKinnon, drop Adrian Peterson

I knew this was coming at some point. Obviously Peterson is out and will, in all likelihood, be done for the season, so there is no reason to keep him at this point. It's especially unfortunete for Louie because he used his keeper on Peterson, which of coarse means it cost him his first round pick. Im guessing someone will see that name in the free agents and eventually pick him up but for now it's nice to see he is not on a team, now if only Chris would drop Ray Rice. Jerick McKinnon had a breakout performance Sunday against the Falcons, and looks to be a much better running back than current Vikings starter Matt Asiata. The carries were split evenly between the two backs but I would expect McKinnon to start taking over the majority of the carries, although Asiata will probably steal some goal line carries since he's a much bigger back. Going into Thursday night's game against the Packers, it wouldn't suprise me if Louie started McKinnon because the Packers have struggled to stop the run.

Show Me Them TD's: add Eli Manning, drop Charles Clay

So as I stated above, I went on a New York Giants binge picking up three of their players this week. The first of which was the guy I said I wanted to do bad the rest of the year in yesterday's post. However, the fact is I think the Giants are going to be a decent team this year and the offense looks like its coming around. Since I traded Philip Rivers to Josh last week, I wanted a good back-up quarterback to ocassionally use if Matt Ryan has a bad matchup and for his bye week. Charles Clay really hasn't done anything so far. His highest point total for a week is 3 points in a Dolphins offense that at times looks terrible. Since I have Jimmy Graham I really don't feel the need to worry about a back-up tight end for any other week but next week (the Saints are on bye next week). As you will see later I went and picked up another Giants player to fill that back-up role as well.

Multiple Scoregasms: add Eddie Royal, drop Kendall Wright

This is a Charlie Whitehurst

Over the last two weeks Eddie Royal has had fantastic games. Similar to the begining of last year, Royal has been a touchdown catching machine. The next two weeks he plays the Jets and the Raiders, not exactly great pass defenses. This is part of the reason I think Jason picked up Royal, to go along with the fact that he actually has a competent quarterback to throw to him. Kendall Wright on the other hand has a usually injured Jake Locker or something called a Charlie Whitehurst. On a different team, Kendall Wright may be a decent fantasy option, but as long as he's stuck in Tennessee with those quarterbacks, he's not going to do much.

Smokin Blounts N Drinkin Fortes: add Lorenzo Taliaferro, drop Lions D/ST

Looks like Tom has now decided that if he can't figure out who the starting running back is for the Ravens, he'll just try to own all the guys fighting for the job. At one point in the season, Tom had Bernard Pierce, but then decided that Justin Forsett was probably the bettter option since Pierce fumbles alot. Now Forsett has lost a majority of playing time to Taliaferro, who has put together two double digit permances in a row. So, of course, Tom went and picked him up. Overall, the Ravens backfield is going to be a guessing game. When Pierce gets healthy and comes back they are going to have 3 average running backs that can all do about the same thing. Im guessing its just going to be a situation where whoever gets hot will get the most carries, and Tom's got 2/3 of the backfield so the odds are in his favor. Dropping the Lions defense was an easy decision I'm sure. Tom has the Seahawks D/ST and just needed a stop gap for last week while they were on bye.

Rolling Meadows Mustangs: add LaGarrette Blount, drop Darren McFadden

Darren McFadden has not been good all year. The most rushing yards he's had in a game is 59 and with his bye week coming up this week it was time for Zach to let him go. The interesting part of this is that Zach picked up another guy who hasn't done much this season (he did have a good week 3). The Steelers have been relying mostly on LeVeon Bell, who has been one of the highest scoring fantasy players so far this year, and therefore Blount isn't getting many carries. I understand that Zach wanted a back-up running back, but I feel like he could've went with someone who is going to get more carries, like Roy Helu or maybe Andre Williams, oh wait....

Show Me Them TD's: add Andre Williams, drop James Starks

Williams is the second Giants player I picked up, and I'll make this short and sweet. This was simply a swap of back-up running backs. The Packers running game hasn't been good and Starks has recieved minimal carries. Andre Williams, on the other hand, is getting more and more carries in the newly improved Giants offense. Though Williams is still solidly behind Rashaad Jennings in New York, I believe he will get more carries (especially in goal line situations) than Starks will in Green Bay, which is why I pulled the trigger on this move.

MeAndJulioDown ByTheSchoolYard: add Steelers D/ST, drop Dolphins D/ST

The one and only defensive swap is brought to you by Louie for the sole purpose of needing a new defense becasue the Dolphins are on bye this week. The Steelers D/ST hasn't been all that great this year but they play Jacksonville this week so they should be fine. The Jaguars are the worst offense in the league and are starting a rookie quarterback which will most likely lead to turnovers and scoring 14 or less points. I believe we may see alot of picking up defenses who play Jacksonville throughout the season.


Smokin Blounts N Drinkin Fortes: add Mike Nugent, drop Dan Carpenter

Kicker Swap! Dan Carpenter has had two straight weeks of only putting up 5 points and with the Bills offense struggling who knows if those numbers will increase. By adding Nugent, Tom can atleast rest assured that the Bengals are a good team which has an offense that can drive down the field consistenly and set up field goal oppurtunities for their kicker.

Show Me Them TD's: add Larry Donnell, drop Riley Cooper

This was my third and final Giants player that I picked up. Donnell has been a hot pick up in many leagues after his huge performance against the Redskins last Thursday. It looks like he is the most targeted guy for Eli, especially in the red zone. I picked him up because he could be a good young tight end and I wanted a back up tight end since I got rid of Charles Clay this week, and I wanted someone decent for Jimmy Graham's bye week next week. The Giants play the Eagles that week so I think Donnell will have a solid game since the Eagles pass defense is very not good. I dropped Riley Cooper becasue he hasn't done jack shit all year. In that explosive Eagles offense, Cooper seems to get little to no targets (they all go to Sproles and Maclin). I also had no problem getting rid of him since the wide reciever position is so deep.