Working the Waiver: Week 5

Jackie Battle (Owned in 10% of Yahoo leagues)
When Jamaal Charles landed on Injured Reserve, the question on everyone's mind was how would Thomas Jones and Dexter McCluster pick up the slack. It took 3 weeks for the dark horse, Jackie Battle, to emerge as likely the Chiefs RB to own going forward. A report last week gave us a clue that Battle would be worked in more this week, and he was in fact slowly worked in during the first half of Sunday's game against the Colts. When his effectiveness became apparent, he took over the main back role, racking up 119 yards, and 2 catches for 21 yards. Thomas Jones and Bad-DMC just are not built to carry the load. Perhaps Battle is. As we mentioned last week, it sucks to pay for a player only to drop him the next week, but this week, I'm cutting Jones and McCluster to pickup Battle. Of course, he might not pan out either, but the potential is why he's my number one waiver wire add this week.   

Tim Tebow (10%) 
Coach Fox finally caved when Kyle Orton's weak first half performance gave him an out. Fox hasn't announced his Week 6 starter yet, but I expect it to be Tebow. Let the Tebow hype begin! He completed just 4 passes for 79 yards and a TD, but added 38 rushing yards and a TD on the ground. Like Cam Newton, he is their best goalline back. I think it's a bad move for the Broncos as an NFL team and probably not good for Brandon Lloyd and Eric Decker, but the rushing potential is why he needs to be added in fantasy leagues. When given the gig in the last two games of last season, Tebow put up great fantasy numbers, adding a rushing TD in both games. Tebow could easily be Cam Newton-light, which really says a lot about how much I love Newton for the "light" version of him to be worth an add in all leagues.

Victor Cruz (60%)
Okay, shame on us for being super late the to Cruz party, but we thought Mario Manningham's return to his usual WR2 role would push Cruz back into obscurity. It didn't. To be clear, there's nothing wrong with Manningham. He played his second outside receiver role all game, and ran good routes. But Cruz managed to make big plays in the slot too, racking up 8 catches for 161 yards another TD. Call me stubborn but I still don't see this keeping up with two solid outside receivers getting targets (Nicks and Manningham). The 3 game streak cannot be ignored however, so if he is available in your league, go cruising for Cruz.

Greg Little (7%)
It's rare for a player to make his way into this esteemed column after not playing that week. But the Browns announced today that Greg Little is officially in the starting lineup as the X receiver. The Browns spent their bye week trying to solve their passing game, and landed on Little as the answer. In their west coast offense style, and with a surprisingly decent QB in Colt McCoy, Little all of the sudden has significant fantasy value. In the first four weeks, Little only caught 14 balls for 131 yards, but now he's a PPR sleeper. I'm a little excited to see what Little will do with his new role against Oakland next week. (Did you see what I did there? Did you?)

Darrius Heyward-Bey (8%)
Isn't it ironic that two players that Al Davis was criticized for drafting too early shined in a huge victory the day after Davis' passing? Many thought it was a mistake to draft Heyward-Bey over Michael Crabtree, and that Davis should not have drafted a kicker in the first round. Sebastian Janikowski and DHB avenged Davis on Sunday with 4 long field goals, and 7 catches for 99 yards and a score respectively. Keep in mind this is coming off a 115 yard effort from DHB, who looked like a beast on the field Sunday. He's worth an add to see if he can make it 3 good games in a row, but I'm not super excited about anyone in this muddled WR core. It looks like Denarius Moore and DHB will play the outside receivers and Jacoby Ford will remain entrenched in the slot, while Derek Hagan and Chaz Schilens rotate in. We were high on Moore and Ford in the preseason, but let's be honest, you can't feel comfortable starting any Raiders WR in standard leagues on a weekly basis yet. Right now, the three will likely trade off good games. Hopefully, there can be some clarity soon.

Curtis Painter (8%) 
Let's paint by numbers! Painter had 277 passing yards, 2 TDs, and 0 interceptions on Sunday. This is coming off a similarly decent zero-Int game in Week 5. Painter is basically the new Peyton Manning. That was a joke, but Painter has some talented receivers to throw to, and has exhibited superb chemistry with Pierre Garcon who has four TDs in the past seven days. Neither Painter nor Collins was able to use Dallas Clark effectively, so it may finally be time to cut your 5th round pick unfortunately. Painter has been in Indy for a while, so he knows the system and the players. He has a very tough Week 6 matchup against the Bengals, but he could prove to be a serviceable QB2 after that.

Steve Breaston (16%)
With Dwayne Bowe getting defensive attention (and apparently requiring even more if he is to be stopped), Steve Breaston is suddenly stepping it up. He hauled in 4 catches for 50 yards and 2 TDs yesterday. Last week, he caught 4 balls for 91 yards. Breaston was a fashionable sleeper when we thought he'd be Kevin Kolb's #2 WR option. When he was traded to the Chiefs, he lost his sleeper shine. Now it's back baby! Matt Cassel has increased his fantasy output in every week since his Week 2 outing, which is admittedly easy given that he started with negative points that week. It's always hard to add a player who is about to be on his bye because you'll have to wait two weeks to see if Breaston can keep it up, but he may be worth the wait.

Earnest Graham (14%)
The extent of LeGarrette Blount's injury is unclear because they would have held him out even with a minor injury during the Niners trouncing. But Coach Morries intimated today that Blount very well may miss next week's game. On Sunday, Earnest Graham carried the ball 5 times for 30 yards, and is averaging a healthy 4.7 YPC on the season. What's more, he's got great hands with 23 catches and 143 receiving yards on the season. If Blount should miss this week, the 31 year old Graham would be a decent start against New Orleans. I question Graham's ability to carry the load for the long haul, but if Blount is out a few weeks and you just need a flex option in the next 2 or 3 bye weeks, Graham could be the guy for you.

No Thanks
I'm saying No Thanks to some muddled RB situations here. Delone Carter and Donald Brown are only worth adding in deep leagues. It looks like Joe Addai will miss some time, and Donald Brown and Delone Carter will probably split the load in his absence. Theoretically, each of them would half of Addai's fantasy points. I don't have a calculator handy but half of crap is just crappier crap. If Addai is only out 1 or 2 weeks, then you probably will never even start Brown or Carter. If Addai looks like he's missing more time, I wouldn't blame you if had to drop him in shallower leagues.

I similarly am not racing to grab Jonathan Dwyer even though he ran for 107 yards while Mendenhall and Redman nursed injuries. 76 of those yards came on one carry, leaving a 3.0 YPC for the remaining 10 carries. Plus, Mendenhall was actually active in this game as an emergency backup option, which strongly suggests that he will be back and starting next week.

Finally, don't bite on Jacob Hester. The Chargers are on a bye next week, and Ryan Mathews and Mike Tolbert could both be back by then.