We are six weeks into the college football season. If your league is active and competent, there should be slim pickings on the college waiver wire at this point. That doesn’t mean that nothing is available, though, and as always, if your league has unlimited waivers you should be churning the bottom of your roster for potential league winners.
Due to the varied nature of campus to canton waivers, I find it difficult to write this article on a weekly basis. Between your NFL and college squads. You probably have 75+ players rostered. You’re probably weak at some positions and strong at others. You may be rebuilding. You may not care about winning a cff championship (you should, but that’s a different matter). You may not care about rostering devy assets. And the trade market in your league is probably much different than in others. Your league mates also may not be very sharp or active. I’ve seen big-time players on waiver wires at multiple points this offseason.
So before I give you a couple of names you should target, I have a job for YOU (the reader) this week. I need you to go to the free-agent player pool in your league. You may not know this is an option, but I want you to change your settings to look at the top scorers in your league, sorted by week. You can do this by following the layout in the screenshot below. I want you to look at the last three weeks of data. Is there a name that appears multiple times at the top? There are your weekly pick-ups. I also suggest you sort by freshmen to see if anyone is starting to break out, but may not be scoring league-winning points yet.
LIMITED WAIVERS
Devontez Walker, WR – Kent State: Walker should be rostered in all leagues in all formats, but he currently sits at a measly 13% rate. Over his past four games, Walker has scored at least 16.2 PPR points each week and has been held to single-digit points just once this season against Oklahoma. He’s seen 32 targets over his past three games. Since the MAC season kicked off, Walker has produced 6/107/0 against Ohio and 11/159/2 against Miami (OH). Maybe he just really hates the state of Ohio. I don’t know.
Walker is 6’3, 192 pounds, and a pretty good athlete. There’s a non-zero chance he makes it to the NFL at some point. But for now, he’s paired with a very good college QB in an offense that isn’t afraid to air it out. He should not be on the waiver wire in your league. Go get him.
Percy Agyei-Obese, RB – James Madison: James Madison has been a breath of fresh air this season. 2022 is their first year at the FBS level, and all the Dukes have done is go undefeated through their first five games and average 44.2 points per game in the process. This is a legit college fantasy offense with multiple weapons.
Percy Agyei-Obese is the team’s starting running back. When he’s healthy, he receives the bulk of the carries and averages 5+ yards per touch. He’s picking up a ton of yards after contact, which suggests his stat lines aren’t the result of fluky plays. JMU might be the favorite to win the Sun Belt at this point, which means lots of games with leads and lots of rushing touches to milk the clock. Agyei-Obese could be a 20+ point guy down the stretch.
UNLIMITED PICK UPS
Tucker Gregg, RB – Georgia State: Tucker Gregg has scored at least 18.4 PPR points in three of his last four games and has gone over 20 points twice in that span. I don’t think I need more information than that. At this stage of the season, players getting 20 or more touches per game should be rostered if you have unlimited waivers. He’s a nice bye-week plug-in option.
DJ Irons, QB – Akron: Irons is not a future NFL quarterback, and he’s probably not even startable half the time. But he plays in the MAC, and he gets a ton of rushing volume, which gives him a solid floor and the possibility for boom weeks. Two weeks ago, Irons rushed for 105 yards and threw for another 224. This past week, he threw for 418 yards and added 23 yards on the ground. MAC defenses are soft, so Irons could be a bye-week option for managers with thin QB benches. I’ve already started Irons once this season in a league in which I am a contender and will probably do so at least once more.
Xavier Weaver, WR – USF: Xavier Weaver is a key part of the USF passing offense. Unfortunately, it’s not a particularly great passing attack. Despite limited QB play, Weaver has scored double-digit points each of the past five weeks, and has scored over 15 points in three of those games. He’s seen 13(!!) targets three times this season. QB play will hold him back, but he should be rostered based purely on target volume.
WATCH LIST
Michael Wiley, RB – Arizona: Wiley struggled against a stout Oregon defense this week, but before this week, he’s scored 13+ points in his last four games. He does not receive the entire workload on the ground, but he’s seen multiple targets in 4 of his past five games. He had six targets against Colorado and 5 against Mississippi State. I probably wouldn’t start Wiley outside of soft matchups, which is the main problem Here. Arizona has Washington, USC, Utah, and UCLA over the next month, none of which are obvious start situations. I’m just monitoring Wiley at this point.
