I don’t know about you guys, but I found myself throwing my hands up in the air in disbelief about 100 times this weekend. Obviously, from a football perspective, I couldn’t believe my eyes as NIU took down #5 Notre Dame at home, and half the top 25 either outright lost or struggled mightily with their competition.
From a CFF perspective, I was also throwing my hands up. It was certainly a weekend that reminded me that CFF can be a cruel and unforgiving force sometimes. Tet McMillian and Damon Ward, two guys who looked to be in for monster seasons after week one, registered a combined three catches. Ollie Gordon drafters were in disarray until some wacky ref ball allowed overtime between Oklahoma State and Arkansas, and finally, Gordon found the end zone. That’s not even touching on the insane number of injuries we’re looking at with some of the biggest players: Omarion Hampton, Tory Horton, Luther Burden, Tahj Brooks, and Jaydn Ott. Thankfully, most of these don’t seem to be serious long-term, but they still made for a frustrating afternoon for their managers.
While the rest of your league is recovering from the wild Week 2, it’s time to get ahead of the competition and take a look at who you could be grabbing off the waiver wire to either continue your dominance or turn your season around! All players mentioned are sub-30 % rostered in Fantrax CFF leagues.
Quarterbacks
Eli Holstein – Pittsburgh – Ros: 16%
I’m going to be real with you guys. If you’re looking for some quarterback help off of waivers this week, I think you’re gonna be left wanting. There are just very few guys to grab that are worth dropping your already-rostered options for, at least to this point in the season.
The one guy I would feel great about adding this week is Pitt quarterback Eli Holstein. Pitt made one of the more interesting off-season hires at offensive coordinator when they brought in Kade Bell, the former OC of Western Carolina. The CFF community was largely dismissive of the hire, as Pat Narduzzi has been known to hold back OCs in the past. That doesn’t seem to be the case for Bell through the season’s first two weeks.
Holstein has managed to put up over 300 yards and pass for at least 35 attempts in his first two games as a starter. We also saw him use his legs more in Week 2, rushing ten times for 36 yards. This all amounts to two games where he’s given his fantasy managers 25+ points in each matchup. As Holstein gets more comfortable as a starter, I feel we’ll see his ceiling grow, especially as he gets into the teeth of his ACC schedule. I would worry about his playoff schedule, where he’ll have to play Clemson in Week 12, and a potentially spicy defense in Louisville.
Anthony Colandrea – Virginia – Ros: 22%
Like Holstein, you can find some potential value with another ACC QB, Anthony Colandrea. In his true freshman year, Colandrea was a favorite among CFF players last season. Not because he was valuable for CFF but because he fed Malik Washington and Malachi Fields over and over again, and he would constantly be throwing to them deep down the field.
In the first two games of the year, we’ve seen Colandrea eclipse 28+ points in both of his matchups (4pt passing TD scoring). He’s thrown for 297 yards+ in both matchups, the first of which he was pulled early and got significantly less volume in.
Against Wake Forest, we got a good look at what kind of usage we can expect from Colandrea in ACC play, to the tune of 43 pass attempts. This resulted in 357 yards passing and three passing TDs. He only ran for 23 yards in this matchup, but when know he can produce more if called upon him. With Virginia’s inconsistent running game, Colandrea should see a few opportunities throughout his schedule to play hero-ball, leading to sky-high CFF weeks.
DJ Lagway – Florida – Ros: 26%
In my opinion, there’s a pretty big drop-off behind Holstein and Colandrea for waiver QB options. However, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the potential of 5-star true freshman DJ Lagway as the starter for the Florida Gators. Lagway came in as most people’s highest or second-highest-ranked QB for this class, and on Saturday, we got a glimpse as to why.
Lagway lit up the scoreboard against an admittedly outclassed Samford team. Lagway ended the day with 456 passing yards and 3 TDs on just 25 attempts. For those keeping track at home, that set the record for the most yards in a game by a freshman quarterback at Florida and was only 28 yards short of Florida’s all-time single-game passing record (cite).
With an impressive debut that totaled 31.84 fantasy points on the day, I’m stopping short of calling Lagway a must-add for redraft purposes. Lagway cannot be expected to continue to put up 18.2 yards per attempt week in and week out. After all, this is a Samford defense we’re talking about, and in case anyone forgot, Florida has the toughest schedule in the country, and this is the easy part. Lagway may be able to make up some production with his legs moving forward, but I’ll need to see it to fully buy-in.
Honorable Mentions
- Matthew Sluka – UNLV – 24%
- Skyler Locklear – UTEP – 0% (More watchlist than actual add)
- Kadin Semonza – Ball State – 3% (More watchlist than actual add)
Running Backs
Braedon Sloan – Ball Sate – Ros: 5%
I’ve got to shout out to my friends Justin Leo (@VolumePigs) and Mitch Hardt (@Aceholesrule) for being earlier on this guy than anyone I’d seen. Braedon Sloan is a transfer add from Eastern Kentucky, where last year he put up 765 yards on 143 attempts on the ground, with an additional 40 (!) catches for 467 yards, with 13 combined TDs. Ball State needed a new bell-cow after Carson Steele transferred out, and the Marquez Cooper experiment failed greatly. Sloan came in as a late enrollee for Ball State, so I was skeptical he’d climb the depth chart that quickly. However, after this past week’s performance, I was wrong to doubt him.
Sloan came out strong, with 21 carries on the ground for 103 yards and a TD. He also reeled in 6 catches for 46 yards and an additional TD. Granted, this performance was against Missouri State’s defense, but that isn’t a knock here like it would normally be for Power 4 players. The most important thing is the volume, with Sloan getting 27 touches on the day. That screams future bell-cow, and if Sloan can be anything close to what Carson Steele was a few years ago, he just became the most valuable waiver add this week.
Kaleb Johnson – Iowa – Ros: 30%
Despite true sophomore Kamari Moulton surprising everyone atop the Week 1 depth chart for Iowa RBs, it is quickly becoming clear that Kaleb Johnson is back to being the man we thought he’d be in Iowa City. With Tim Lester as the offensive coordinator, there was always a possibility of a CFF relevant back at Iowa, given his extensive history of top RB production during his time at Western Michigan. The problem was the CFF community didn’t know who it’d be between Johnson, Leshon Williams, or Moulton. Well, Johnson has emphatically made his case in the first two weeks.
Johnson is currently leaving the rest of the Iowa offense in his dust. On just 36 rushing attempts, Johnson is already north of 306 yards and 4 TDs, averaging 8.5 yards per carry. In last week’s game, he officially overtook Moulton as the RB1, getting 25 carries against Iowa State, where he almost hit 200 yards vs the Cyclones. If this is what we can expect from Johnson, CFF players will want to get as much of it as possible. One should note that scoring opportunities will always be lower in an Iowa offense, but if the last two weeks are any indication, Johnson will be the primary choice to get those few scores.
Demond Claiborne – Wake Forest – Ros: 22%
Hell must be freezing over because Dave Clawson is properly utilizing his running back talent. He must have finally learned his lesson after Kenneth Walker’s departure a few years ago. It’s also possible that lackluster QB play last season seems to have forced his hand. So far, through the first two weeks of the season, Claiborne is averaging 19 touches a game, a minor miracle for a Clawson RB.
Claiborne will continue to be a significant part of this offense moving forward, even with improved QB play. I was initially worried that Claiborne would fade if Bachmeier started putting up numbers. However, based on their Week 2 game against Virginia, Bachmeier’s success may help Claiborne by lightening his box. Wake Forest has some tough matchups going, with Ole Miss on deck in Week 3 and Clemson there in the middle of October. Otherwise, Claiborne should be able to provide a solid floor for CFF managers each week.
Honorable Mentions
- Jevon Jackson – UTEP – 26%
- Rahjai Harris – East Carolina – 6%
- Henry Parrish – Ole Miss – 19%
- Micah Bernard – Utah – 15%
- Dante Dowdell – Nebraska – 1%
Wide Receivers
Trebor Pena – Syracuse – Ros: 26%
Not to pat myself on the back too much, but I did tell people that Syracuse’s receivers were somewhere to look when it came to hidden CFF value. Now, admittedly, I championed Zeed Haynes, who is off to a slow start, but I also championed one Trebor Pena, who had been mentioned as one of the receivers McCord had the most connection with. So far, in 2024, Pena has been a force to be reckoned with.
Pena started the season with a 3-TD game against Ohio and then followed it up with a 2-TD affair against Georgia Tech the next week. What’s even more exciting is the way Pena gets his work. Not only does Pena work out of the slot, which usually sees the highest target share, especially with first-time OCs, but we’ve also seen Pena get work on jet sweeps and other rushing attempts.
I would like to see Pena’s volume increase a bit more than the seven targets per game that he’s seeing. Considering his efficiency so far, he doesn’t need a lot of opportunities to get CFF managers what they need. Syracuse has the ninth-easiest schedule in the Power 4, according to our numbers from C2CWinningedge. If Pena continues to do what he’s been doing, he won’t leave your lineup for the rest of the season.
DT Sheffield – North Texas – Ros: 7%
I’m still twitching from Damon Ward’s performance this past week (4 tgts – 1 rec -16 yards – 0 TD). Do you know who didn’t disappoint for the Mean Green? Ward’s clear partner in crime, DT Sheffield. While many, like myself, were gushing over Ward’s performance in Week 1, Sheffield quietly had a solid game, seeing ten targets for seven catches and 74 yards. He followed it up with 11 targets this week, pulling in 6 for 74 yards and 3 TDs.
It seems as though Sheffield is the clear #2 option for this offense, even with the return of true-sophomore Landon Sides. Historically, a slot WR hasn’t been a priority for Eric Morris’ offense. However, we may be looking at an exception this year. Some may remember that Sheffield initially committed to Washington State out of community college back when Eric Morris was the program’s offensive coordinator.
After things didn’t work out at Washington State, Sheffield followed Morris to North Texas the year after. Morris made it a priority to bring Sheffield to his team, not once but twice, and that tells me Sheffield should continue to see a great workload down the stretch. He and Ward, if Ward returns to form, could be this year’s Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas.
Treon Sibley – Liberty – Ros: 26%
For those of you during the off-season who were looking for who would replace CJ Daniels’ role at Liberty this off-season, it seems like we’ve found him. His name is Treon Sibley. Liberty as a team hasn’t gotten off to the hottest of starts, but one bright spot is Sibley’s emergency as the top option for Kaidon Salter. Sibley has been impressive so far, averaging 26.4 yards per catch and hitting 100 yards in each of the season’s first two games. He’s seen 13 targets for 264 yards and a TD to this point.
Some may wonder why I’m not knocking Sibley’s efficiency on a relatively low target volume. After all, 26.4 ypc on only 6.5 targets per game isn’t my usual cup of tea regarding waiver options. You’d be right, but you dear readers know I’m quite fond of my systems and offensive patterns year to year. Last year, CJ Daniels filled almost this exact same role, with 19.3 yards per catch and 5.9 targets per game. He still managed to be a CFF-relevant option most weeks, so long as Salter and this offense kept their efficiency. If we get a repeat of last year, Sibley will be a fantastic grab-off waiver right now.
Honorable Mentions
- Mac Dalena – Fresno State – 2%
- Donavon Green – Wake Forrest – 12%
- Konata Mumpfield – Pittsburgh – 16%
- Theo Wease – Missouri – 24%
- Dalen Cobb – Georgia Southern – 15%
Tight Ends
Tanner Koziol – Ball State – Ros: 26%
I’m hesitant to write this recommendation for a couple of reasons. One, doing so might make me admit that Chris Kay (@realestchriskay) is right about one of his guys, and I can’t allow that. The second and more important reason is that I got on the Koziol ride last year, and boy, did I not enjoy it. After a phenomenal freshman year, when Koziol finished as the TE12 in CFF despite missing two games, I was ready to see Koziol take off in his second year. He returned my investment with a TE46 finish in CFF 2023, with only three TDs on the year.
Koziol is off to an excellent start this year, seeing seven targets in the last week, pulling in six for 60 yards and a TD. It’s rare to find that kind of volume in a TE, especially where you know he’ll be a focal point of the offense week in and week out. Koziol had the most pass snaps of Ball State’s weapons and saw the second most targets. That should provide an excellent floor you can’t find elsewhere most weeks. Do be warned, Koziol also started hot last year before fading considerably in the second half.
Honorable Mentions
- Alex Bauman – Tulane – 7%
- Gunnar Helm – Texas – 3%
