Fantasy Football: Waiver wire targets and the toughest players to rank for Week 1 (2024)

With Week 1 officially here, you might be wondering what kind of coverage you can expect from the Fantasy Football Todaycrew. Here's what we'll have coming for you every week this season:

• Eight FFT podcast episodes
• Seven FFT in 5 episodes
• Six FFT episodes on CBS Sports HQ -- Mon-Fri, 12 p.m. ET, Sunday at 10 a.m.
• Three live streams on the FFT YouTube channel-- Tuesday from 8-9 p.m. (waiver wire questions), Thursdays from 2-3 p.m. (lineup help), and Sunday from 11:30-1 (start/sit questions)
• 2 FFT DFS Show episodes -- Tuesday with an early look at pricing and lineups, Thursday with a game-by-game deep dive, and lineups

And, of course, I'll have the newsletter here in your inbox every morning, Sunday through Friday, with an additional Sunday night version with a quick recap of the day's actions plus an early look at the waiver wire.

The sprint to the end of the season has already begun, and today's edition of the newsletter is here to continue to help you get ready for Week 1. If you've still got a draft coming up in the final few days before the season kicks off, make sure to head to our Draft Day Cheat Sheet, where you can find all of our rankings, position previews, sleepers/breakouts/busts, and more, including my top-200 rankings to get ready for your draft.

Here's what else today's newsletter has in store:

• Jamey Eisenberg's Week 1 Waiver-Wire Targets🎯
• Week 1's Toughest Rankings❓
• Injuries, News, and Notes🚑

If you've got any questions about your Week 1 lineups or any early trades you're trying to make, send them to Chris.Towers@ViacomCBS.comwith the subject line "#AskFFT", as always, for tomorrow's mailbag!

Week 1 Waiver Targets

Jamey's top waiver-wire targets for Week 1 also doubles as a late-round sleeper target list for those of you still drafting, so definitely head here to see what he's got to say about the 45 players he's looking for in either scenario. Here are his top picks at each position:

• Quarterbacks: Justin Fields (66%), Ryan Tannehill (55%), Baker Mayfield (35%), Carson Wentz (23%), Marcus Mariota (17%)
• Running backs: Zamir White (61%), Raheem Mostert (65%), Isiah Pacheco(68%), Brian Robinson Jr. (61%), Khalil Herbert (45%)
• Wide receivers: Kadarius Toney (68%), Nico Collins (48%), Marquez Valdes-Scantling (63%), Michael Gallup (67%), Julio Jones (65%)
• Tight ends:David Njoku (52%), Tyler Higbee (61%), Irv Smith (47%), Isaiah Likely (22%)

Week 1's Toughest Players to Rank

These are the 10 players I'm having the most trouble pinning down heading into Week 1:

• Tom Brady, QB7 – Brady's track record is unimpeachable, but he's not going to be the best quarterback in the NFL forever. In the long run, Father Time is undefeated – it's just a question of whether an athlete can outrun him long enough to retire before the dropoff happens. Brady had that weird excused absence from training camp, which isn't really a concern for me, as much as the injury question marks around him. The Buccaneers lost their starting center in camp and are missing another projected starter along the interior line, plus we don't know if Chris Godwin, Brady's favorite target, will be good to go. I'm ranking him pretty high in a projected shootout with the Cowboys, but I'm a little worried.
• Trey Lance, QB15 – Lance's rushing abilities should make him a viable Fantasy option, but it's not necessarily a guarantee – he had 89 rushing yards in his first start but then managed just 31 in his second. And, it's worth pointing out that the 49ers offense was pretty miserable in that first start, managing just 10 points in a loss to the Cardinals. Reports out of camp on Lance's development were pretty mixed, and while the matchup against the Bears should be a pretty easy one, Lance is no sure thing. It wouldn't take much for me to move him into my top 12, but he's outside of it for Week 1 at least.
• Najee Harris, RB7 – There was some talk about the Steelers possibly limiting Harris' exposure after he played massive snap shares pretty much his entire rookie season, and I was inclined to dismiss them until we found out about that Lisfranc injury he suffered during camp. Harris is, by all accounts, fully past the injury, but I definitely worry about a recurrence of the injury, along with any lingering effects slowing him down. I'm bullish on Harris discovering more efficiency in his second season, but if he's a half-step slow coming off the injury, that could make things a lot harder.
• Javonte Williams, RB14 – Benjamin Allbright has been hammering home the point that the Williams-Melvin Gordon split is going to be more like 55-45 in favor of Williams than whatever Fantasy players might want it to be, and that seems to have helped bring the hype around Williams somewhat to a simmer. I'm pretty confident in where I have Williams ranked, but all it would take is for the Broncos to tip that more to 65-35 for me to end up too low.
• Cam Akers, RB25 – As I pointed out in Monday's newsletter, we don't have much evidence of Sean McVay being willing to use a committee at running back – Darrell Henderson played 60% of the snaps in 10 of the 12 games he played last season, with Sony Michel topping 70% in the other seven games. But we did hear rumblings of a timeshare early in camp, which might be the only way for the Rams to keep Akers and Henderson both healthy. If it is a timeshare, I might be too high on Akers even at this ranking; if he's going to play 70% of the snaps, there's at least a chance he taps back into that top-12 upside he showed before his Achilles injury.
• Davante Adams, WR3 – I'm still assuming Adams will be among the league leaders in target share in Las Vegas – maybe not the 31-33% guy he often was in Green Bay, but I have him projected for a 27% target share in the sixth-most pass-heavy offense in the league. If I'm overshooting one or the other, Adams can probably still be a top-six wide receiver; if I'm too high on both, he might struggle to be a top-12 option.
• CeeDee Lamb, WR6 – I'm projecting Lamb for just a 22% target share, which is really low relative to the league as a whole, but still higher than we've seen anyone in Dallas' offense under Kellen Moore manage. I'm a little more lukewarm on Lamb than many in the Fantasy community for that reason alone, but if the Cowboys buck tradition and funnel a bunch of targets his way, I could end up way too low on him – both for this week and for the season as a whole.
• Courtland Sutton, WR33– There's been so much talk out of Broncos camp about Sutton being Russell Wilson's favorite target – "not particularly close," is how Allbright put it – that I can't just ignore it. I started out the summer expecting Jeudy to be the top target in the offense, but I have them projected for an identical 22% target share now. Which means I'm not necessarily buying the idea that Sutton is the obvious No. 1 – the way his target share absolutely collapsed when Jeudy was healthy last season is really hard for me to ignore. Plus, Sutton is more of a downfield target than Jeudy, which often makes it harder to garner big target shares. I'm treating this situation with a lot of ambiguity right now, though – the truth is, we've seen very little of Sutton and Jeudy together, and none of them in game situations with Wilson. So, this is one of the toughest situations to predict, and I'm ready to look very wrong.
• Chris Godwin, NR – Godwin hasn't been cleared for contact in his recovery from his torn ACL, so I'm still assuming he won't play this week. And if he is ruled out, I'll probably move Russell Gage and Julio Jones into my top 36 for that matchup against the Cowboys – in my first run-through of projections without Godwin, Jones was a top-24 WR. The tougher thing to project would be what the offense looks like if Godwin does play – you can't project him for his typical snap and target share in his first game after being limited for all of camp, but whether that means 25% of his typical role or 80% is impossible to know. Which makes it pretty hard to know how to value Gage or Jones. I imagine if Godwin is cleared to play, I won't have anyone but Evans inside of my top-30 at WR.
• Cole Kmet, TE10 – I have passed on Kmet in all of my leagues, preferring late-round fliers on guys like Albert Okwuegbunam or Gerald Everett. Mostly because I just don't think Kmet is particularly good – he averaged 6.6 yards per target, and while I think there was some bad luck in him not scoring any touchdowns, it's not like you could reasonably argue he should've scored more than a few touchdowns. The Bears figure to remain one of the least productive passing games in the league, and while Knox doesn't have much competition for targets, he didn't last year either. Where I pause is in writing off a 23-year-old recent second-round pick at a position that often takes a few years to click. I'm worried Kmet is just plain better than I'm giving him credit for.

Injuries, news and notes

The Packers enter the NFL season with a ton of question marks about their receiving hierarchy, and there's a chance we won't learn as much about it as we would like in Week 1. Because, while coach Matt LaFleur told reporters he is hopeful Christian Watson will be able to play after missing the preseason coming off knee surgery, Allen Lazard's status suddenly seems to be up in the air.

Lazard missed last week of practice for "undisclosed reasons," per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Monday, and LaFleur didn't commit to Lazard being available for Week 1 against the Vikings. At this point, that's all we know, but the nice thing about being out of training camp and into the regular season is, by Tuesday, the Packers have to list Lazard on their practice report, so we'll get some more details then, at least.

I'm treating the Packers like they don't have a real No. 1 receiver, which isn't necessarily how most people have been drafting Lazard, who tends to be drafted about five rounds or more before the likes of Watson or Romeo Doubs, let alone presumed starters Sammy Watkins or Randall Cobb. Which is to say, I haven't drafted Lazard this year, though I do have Doubs and Watson on a few teams as upside bets late. It would be frustrating if Lazard didn't play in Week 1 simply because it would delay getting real information on the hierarchy here, so we'll certainly have to keep an eye on this one throughout the week. But I wouldn't plan on starting Lazard this week at this point.

We got a lot of other wide receiver news Monday, and most of it was good news. Here's a quick recap of some of the other WR notes before we move on to the rest of the news from around the league

• Jaylen Waddle (leg) returned to practice – Waddle has been dealing with an unspecified lower leg injury for a few weeks, but coach Mike McDaniel had been pretty consistent in his belief that Waddle would be able to play in Week 1 against the Patriots. That's a tough matchup, but Waddle is still worth viewing as a WR2 for the opener.
• Drake London (knee) returned to practice – London suffered the injury during the Falcons' preseason opener and this is the first time he's been able to practice. The Falcons are being cautious with their prized first-round pick, but missing those key practice and preseason reps makes it tough to trust London as a Fantasy starter even if he is cleared to play in Week 1 against the Saints. That's a tough enough matchup that you probably want to steer clear either way.
• Tee Higgins (shoulder) returned to practice – Higgins underwent surgery in the offseason but there has been little concern about it in Fantasy circles, as he's a borderline WR1. He's been limited throughout camp at practice but looks on track to play in Week 1 against the Steelers, as expected.

Here's the rest of the news and notes from Monday you need to know about, starting with mixed news on one high-profile WR:

• Chris Godwinshed his knee brace -- The good news is Godwin was spotted at practice Monday without his knee brace for the first time as he continues to work his way back from a torn ACL. However, he still hasn't been cleared for contact, and that'll be the last big step before we can expect him to play. It's possible that comes this week, but in my first Week 1 rankings, I'm expecting Godwin not to play. That would putJulio JonesandRussell Gageinto play as top 40 WRs in what should be a shootout with theCowboys.
• James Robinsonwill be active for Week 1 --Jaguarscoach Doug Pederson told reporters they will have Robinson available for Week 1. Robinson suffered a ruptured Achilles in Week 16 last season, but after watchingCam Akersreturn from the same injury in less than six months, it's not shocking that Robinson is ready to go. The bigger question is what kind of role he's ready for and whether he can be effective. Robinson is a fine late-round dice roll, and his presence is a complicating factor if you've been draftingTravis Etiennein the third or fourth round, but it's also entirely possible he just won't be effective enough to matter as more than a role player.
• Zach Wilsonhasn't been ruled out for Week 1-- Wilson suffered a sprained knee during the team's preseason opener and was given a 2-4 week timetable to return - that was about four weeks ago now, so it's not out of the question he'll be able to return. However, he has yet to practice, and theJetsaren't likely to throw their 2021 first-rounder out there unless he's 100% healthy, so I'm still expectingJoe Flaccoto be the starter against theRavensSunday. Head coach Robert Saleh said the teamwill make a decision Wednesday.
• Logan Thomasis still in question for Week 1 -- Thomas told reporters Monday his knee "feels good,"but there hasn't been a decision made about Week 1 yet. Earlier in training camp, ESPN reported that the team expected Thomas to play by Week 2 at the latest, so it shouldn't be long either way. However, we obviously want to give Thomas a chance to get his legs under him coming off a torn ACL, so let him prove he is healthy and effective before expecting him to make an impact for Fantasy.