Fantasy Football Waiver Wire: 4 deep stashes to consider adding heading into Week 2

https://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy/article/fantasy-football-waiver-wire-4-deep-stashes-to-consider-adding-heading-into-week-2-153705057.html

Justin Boone identifies under-the-radar stashes to consider adding to your roster before they become top fantasy football waiver-wire pickups in future weeks.

While the bar might move occasionally, the general focus is to search among the group of players who are rostered in 15% of Yahoo leagues or less.

Elic Ayomanor, WR, Titans (6% rostered)

This is a deep stash where you can capitalize on your leaguemates who are box score surfers because Ayomanor only had two catches for 13 yards in his debut. However, there’s a lot of context that needs to be applied to that.

The rookie ran 82% of the routes and earned seven targets — just one fewer than Tennessee’s No. 1 wideout Calvin Ridley. Coming away with a 28% target share in your first NFL game is notable, but even more impressive for a fourth-rounder.

Ayomanor also finished fifth league-wide in air yards on the week.

Some of the inefficiency can be chalked up to a tough matchup with the Broncos, though it’s worth mentioning that Ayomanor caught a 23-yard pass that was ruled incomplete, but would have been overturned if the Titans challenged the play.

There are enough signs here for me to feel good about Ayomanor emerging as the No. 2 receiver in Tennessee and possibly a fantasy option despite not having huge numbers in Week 1.

Honorable mention: Calvin Austin III, Steelers (2% rostered), Isaac TeSlaa, Lions (9% rostered), Troy Franklin, Broncos (2% rostered)

Kyle Monangai, RB, Bears (6% rostered)

Seventh-round picks have a tough uphill climb to fantasy relevance, but Monangai has hit a few milestones towards earning future opportunities.

The rookie saw some first-team reps in training camp and his head coach Ben Johnson identified him as a player they’ll “be able to trust this fall.”

A hamstring injury caused Monangai to miss some time leading up to the season, which may have contributed to him only playing nine snaps in the opener and coming away with just one catch for 11 yards.

“I need to call more runs. We probably were at, what, under 20 for called runs in the game. I need to call more so that we get [Monangai] in the game a little bit more. That’s something EB and I have talked about, making sure he has more carries going forward,” Johnson told reporters.

There’s also a need to breathe some life into this rushing attack. With D’Andre Swift carrying the load in the opener, the Bears had the worst success rate on running back runs of any team in the league. Swift could be in tough this week against another difficult matchup with a Lions defense that allowed the fifth-fewest fantasy points to RBs last season and the 11th fewest in Week 1.

If Swift can’t get going, you can expect Monangai to begin carving out more touches, so stash him away before everyone else catches on.

Honorable mention: D.J. Giddens, Colts (7% rostered), Kendre Miller, Saints (4% rostered), Dameon Pierce, Texans (3% rostered)

Isaiah Likely, TE, Ravens (12% rostered)

Likely has been sidelined ever since suffering a small foot fracture early in training camp. He didn’t practice on Wednesday, but he is nearing a return in the coming weeks.

Once he’s back, he’ll be a volatile tight end streamer when Mark Andrews is active. However, we all know what Likely has done in Andrews’ absences.

Over the final seven weeks of the 2023 campaign, Likely posted the fourth-most fantasy points at the position.

“I want to see [Likely] be an All-Pro,” John Harbaugh told reporters this offseason.

So do fantasy managers.

Very few tight ends have the ceiling Likely can offer, he just needs to pass Andrews on the depth chart one way or another.

Honorable mention: Mason Taylor, Jets (8% rostered), Jake Tonges, 49ers (3% rostered)

Mac Jones, QB, 49ers (1% rostered)

Dart would be my top deep stash among quarterbacks if you’re playing the long game and looking for someone who could turn into a difference-making fantasy starter down the road. We discussed him in this space last week though, so let’s focus on a fresh name with more immediate value.

In the short term, Jones will actually start this Sunday and maybe more if Brock Purdy’s toe and shoulder injuries keep him out multiple games. Purdy is expected to be sidelined 2-5 weeks, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rappoport.

Jones wasn’t able to live up to the first-round pick the Patriots spent on him in 2021, but he has had some moments for fantasy managers. He posted two top-12 weekly fantasy finishes during his six relief appearances down the stretch last season in Jacksonville.

Even with George Kittle on injured reserve, the skill position talent in San Francisco combined with Kyle Shanahan’s playcalling is more than enough to put Jones into the streamer conversation for fantasy. It also helps that the 49ers have a very easy schedule, including upcoming matchups with the Saints (Week 3), Cardinals (Week 4) and Jaguars (Week 5).

Honorable mention: Jaxson Dart, QB, Giants (6% rostered)

https://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy/article/fantasy-football-waiver-wire-4-deep-stashes-to-consider-adding-heading-into-week-2-153705057.html