Fantasy Football live updates and Q&A: Week 3 waiver wire, sleepers, Cordarrelle Patterson's value, rankings, start/sit (2024)

Now that Week 2 is behind us, it's time to get scouting on the waiver wire. Jake Ciely's much larger and more thorough column is live (and he answers pretty much everything you ask in the comment section). We took on your questions throughout Tuesday — who to add, where to rank them, how much to bid, and more. Just sticking our finger up into the wind, it seemed like Rondale Moore, Daniel Jones and Cordarrelle Patterson were the big names this week.

We'll make updates throughout the rest of the week sporadically — who ended up being the most added after waivers, any new names that pop up as viable add candidates, and anything else that hits us as appropriate for this weird little live blog.

Good luck! May your bids all win and your claims go through!

The Panthers led the way as the most-added "player" in the CBS universe, followed by Cordarrelle Patterson, Rondale Moore, Sterling Shepard, and Henry Ruggs.

Most dropped players (of the non-injured variety) included Marquez Callaway, Jameis Winsston and Laviska Shenault.

I'm very much into Cordarrelle Patterson —he passes the eye and stats tests. I love Daniel Jones — he is a very good runner and I think him looking like Eli Manning somehow causes people to conflate him with the Giants legend. I'm not a huge Rondale Moore guy, but that's just the way I look at players — there's a very compelling case to put him on your waiver wire list.

But again, if you're not thrilled with what's out there, wait a day and see who gets dropped. You might find some speculative plays who will come much cheaper than these top options.

Cameron T.: I'm RB needy and have plenty of WRs. Is sending Brandin Cooks for James Robinson a good idea? My current RB2 is either Ty'Son or Mike Davis, while Cooks is my WR4 or 5 with Tee Higgins.

Brandin Cooks is having a great season — he always does, really — but if he's your 4th or 5th WR then you have enough depth to go after someone like Robinson. I'm not sure the Jaguars know what to do with Robinson right now but the good news is his YPC looks great and he's involved in the passing game. Maybe it's just going to take a couple more games for Urban Meyer to get him comfortable in a role, but Robinson should start rounding into fantasy form, too. Don't worry if the other team "wins" this trade — you're getting what you need here for a player you'd rarely start

A K.: Is Ryan Tannehill droppable?

Noooooo. He has elite WRs in A.J. Brown and Julio Jones, and Derrick Henry is getting targeted this year out of nowhere (credit to the new OC, Todd Downing). And he just threw for 347 yards (although no TDs). He'll be fine, the TDs will come. Tannehill is a very strong hold.

Matt M. asks: Who has the better outlook the rest of the season: Sterling Shepherd or Rondale Moore?

This is a very hard one for me. On one hand, the Giants have Engram coming back, Golladay yet to emerge, Slayton in the mix... there are possibilities. But the Cardinals go all the way down to A.J. Green as far as WR depth. Moore is most definitely capped as a No. 2 with Hopkins there (I can see him possibly passing Kirk), whereas Shepard could — COULD — be the No. 1 if Golladay doesn't click. However, the Cardinals are going to pass more. So we're back to even. I'll give the 51.0001 to 49.9999 slight edge to Shepard on the chance he's the top target all season for the Giants.

Q. Currently have Baker Mayfield as QB in 14 man league. I’m 1-1. Currently have #2 waiver position. Should I use it this week for Daniel Jones or save it for top notch Flex in coming weeks?

I think you should consider using your claim on Jones. Only Lamar Jackson has produced more rushing fantasy value at the QB position, which is not a fluke — Jones has recorded 20+ rushing yards in 17 of his 29 career games. He also has a great matchup this week hosting an Atlanta team that has allowed eight TD passes thru two games. And Baker Mayfield is running the most conservative aerial show in town, averaging just 24.5 pass attempts per game with just one TD pass to show for it.

Q. Drop Lativus Murray for Michael Carter? I have Eckler, Jonathan Taylor, Jamal Williams and Tyson Williams already. Just think Murray too TD dependent in an already weird backfield.

I'm on board with this move. Carter looked like the Jets' best back in Week 2, and it was nice to see one of the three Jets backs (Tevin Coleman) get kicked to the curb in terms of usage. You have the best looking back in Baltimore, and if something were to happen to Ty'Son Williams, Baltimore would just bring Deonta Freeman and perhaps Le'Veon Bell more heavily into the mix. Carter has the better chance to secure a decided majority of the Jets' backfield snaps at some point in the coming weeks.

Q. I have Tyler Boyd as my WR4 right now. Would you consider dropping him to take a flyer on Rondale Moore? I'm in a PPR league with Diggs, Godwin, and DJ Moore as my main receivers

No, I would not drop Boyd for Moore. Boyd had nearly twice as many snaps as Moore in Week 2 (48 to 28). And the nine targets for 7/73 line for Boyd is the classic PPR line that you wanted from Boyd when you drafted him. Joe Burrow and Boyd had a nice roll going last season (esp. in a PPR sense) before Burrow's injury, and I'd keep Boyd around as I expect more Week 2-type production. Moore is liable to be a peak-and-valley producer consider his usage, whereas Boyd will provide that steady consistency off the bench that you are looking for when you have to sit one of your top three receivers.

Q. What is Chase Edmonds' value right now? Top 25 RB? I have a bit of a TE problem and I am being offered Gronk/Andrews. League is 14 teams.

I think Edmonds is somewhere in the RB 25-30 range. I like him better than Conner because Edmonds is getting all the work out of the backfield in the passing game Kyler Murray has called his own number for both of the team's rushing touchdowns (disheartening for those looking for Conner to get that work). In a 14-team league, where the what little reliable talent there is at the TE position is even more spread thin, getting Gronk or Andrews is a perfectly fine move. And I'll lean in Gronk's direction as he is looking well on his way to a double-digit TD season, while Andrews seems to (finally) be losing target share to receivers Marquise Brown and Sammy Watkins.

Q. Drop Trey Sermon or Ronald Jones II for Cordarrelle Patterson in 12 team PPR league?

If I was ranking them for the rest of the season, I'd go Sermon, Jones, Patterson. But Jones' ceiling is limited by a timeshare with Leonard Fournette and and the riches in the passing game that has led Tampa to attempt the fourth-most passes, and fourth-fewest rushes, to this point. If you want to chase the potential for Patterson to become a heavily-used Swiss Army knife for the Falcons, I don't have any problem with that. But I'd keep Sermon. He should soon be getting solid run in the 49ers backfield, even if it is a lesser share of a platoon split with eli Mitchell. A humming 49ers offense can support Sermon as a RB3/Flex play for fantasy purposes.

Yahoo waivers run on Tuesday in some leagues, so we have some data!

Most added: Carolina D, Vegas D, Cordarrelle Patterson, Rondale Moore, Daniel Carlson, Matt Prateer, Baltimore D, KJ Osborn, Tony Pollard, Sterling Shepard, Daniel Jones

Alex K.: Is AJ Dillon droppable for maybe Pollard, Corarelle, of Carter? I drafted him as a handcuff and some stand-alone value but it seems the stand-alone value is lacking.

You can't drop Dillon if you have Aaron Jones. You may end up wasting that roster spot all season, assuming Jones stays healthy, but if he gets a high ankle sprain or something, Dillon is going to have (presumably) that entire backfield to himself. And not to keep referring everyone to KC Joyner, but we brought him in for a reason. He has some stats on Dillon in his column and actually answers this question in his column. The money quote:

Dillon has been on the field for only 11 rushing play snaps in two contests. He has generated 22 pass play snaps and ran routes on 17 of those plays but posting one reception per game just isn’t going to cut it fantasy-wise.

Christopher D.: Who to drop for cordarelle patterson, if anybody, out of ronald jones, zach moss, nyheim hines? Leaning towards jones as he has not done anything and does not look like that's going to change, but is it too early to give up on him?

It's Jones for me. Hines has a very solid and repeatable role in the offense, which should be QB-agnostic. Moss —I don't know. He'll get TDs and snaps. Not sure how many and I'm still not sure that we should cast aside that Week 1 inactive (or that Week 2 clutch fumble). But Jones has to sit behind Leonard Fournette in a pass-happy offense, and still content with Gio Bernard for some of those snaps he would have gotten last year. Jones hay have a couple good weeks, but they'll be impossible to predict.

Cole S. asks: How would you prioritize these deep league (16 teams) TE options for the rest of season - Doyle, Maxx Williams, Freiermuth, other?

I really like Friermuth, but I don't think he's going to take off until later in the season. If we're talking snaps to see who's getting in games, Williams has 100, Doyle has 92, and Friermuth has 62. I'm not really inspored by any of them. I mentioned Njoku earlier — he's getting a lot of targeted air yards this season, but not a lot of targets. Dan Armold was a trendy sleeper pre-season. He hasn't done a ton yet — 55 snaps and 7 targets — but my guess is that grows more as we go along.

So I guess I'd begrudgingly take Doyle because he's producing right now. But Arnold and Njoku are the ones I find more exciting.

Andrés P. asks: Would you drop Robby Anderson and Waddle to take two of Rondale Moore / Zach Pascal / Henry Ruggs?

I would drop them both for Ruggs and Moore. I'd keep Waddle if it came down to him vs. Pascal.

Michael G.: Is Mike Davis toast? He was supposed to be my RB 2. I am pretty stacked at WR but...well, Mike Davis was supposed to be my RB2. I snagged James White off the wire last week (who out performed Davis) but I have Belichick and RB related PTSD. I am unlikely to get Patterson because my league does worst to first waivers...who else should I try to pick up to flex seal this sinking canoe at RB?

I don't think Davis is toast. He has 13 targets so far this season; I think he's just getting railroaded by the team being behind in both games (although this week was a little closer) and by Patterson emerging as a more intriguing dual threat. Patterson is big like Derrick Henry, and that was Arthur Smith's gem the last couple years in Tennessee. So maybe there's something to that. But hold onto him for the game against the Giants. It could be closer, they may go more traditional with Davis, and he could emerge with 20-plus touches and 100 total yards.

If he still doesn't, then I'd worry.

KC Joyner has a massive review of all the games — he asks one question (to himself) for each game, and then answers it with a lot of really cool stats, like vertical pass attempts and good blocking metrics. There's some great stuff on Josh Allen in there, and his abysmal vertical completion rate.

Michael Salfino has a Week 2 scouting report that's the perfect complement to KC's — a totally different spin on the games and what things mean going forward.

Read them before you add and drop! There are some valuable nuggets in there!

DEREK O. Jonnu Smith... I see I'm not the only one to ask this question regarding the TE but I'm desperate at 0-2. I play in a league where the champ creates a rule change, this year you have to start (2) TEs (Kittle & Jonnu for me) and you can't carry more than that. Evan Engram is on waivers, do I dare drop Jonnu and pick up Engram and hope he starts ?

That rule change idea is awesome. I may steal that. Although you have to start two and you can only carry two — that's interesting. Man. Jonnu should be doing so much better. we had such high hopes! And calf injuries are tricky. Calves are tricky cats, as Jimmy Rollins once said. But here's the thing. Engram will play at some point, and he'll have a good game, and then you're not going to get him. Smith could do the same, but I think engram should have more sustained goodness on a week-to-week basis — Jones loves him and Jason Garrett ran an offense in Dallas for years that made Jason Witten a stud.

I'd take the risk. I'd just hit up Inside Injuries on twitter and directly ask if he's going to play. Because then you could be out a couple TEs and have to go total garbage for a starter.