Erickson: Fantasy football waiver wire targets ahead of NFL Week 2

Already feeling antsy after the first week of fantasy football action? Well, look no further to ease those nerves than an early guide to navigating the Week 2 waiver wire. This will not only be useful to fantasy gamers who struggled in Week 1 — anyone who wants to continue to dominate needs to stay active on the wire.

Editor's note: All of PFF's grades and advanced stats from Week 1 of NFL action are available to ELITE subscribers now. Subscribe today for access!

Injuries are already starting to pile up: Marlon Mack, Blake Jarwin, Le’Veon Bell, Duke Johnson Jr., Henry Ruggs III, Miles Sanders and Boston Scott were all dinged up or worse on Sunday, so the waiver wire is going to be essential starting now.

I've limited the list to players rostered in around 50% of Yahoo leagues or less, with deep league options at every position as well.

Quarterbacks

Sep 13, 2020; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew II (15) throws a touchdown pass to wide receiver DJ Chark Jr. (not pictured) during the fourth quarter against the Indianapolis Colts at TIAA Bank Field. Credit: Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports

Gardner Minshew, Jacksonville Jaguars – 25% Rostered

If not for Russell Wilson and Lamar Jackson, Gardner Minshew would have arguably been the most efficient quarterback on Sunday after completing 19 of 20 passing attempts (95%) for three touchdowns and 173 yards. We aren’t likely to see a repeat of that completion percentage, but I can guarantee we see higher passing volume in the upcoming weeks — his 20 attempts in Week 1 were a career-low.

What stood about Minshew’s performance was that he wasn't really pushing the ball downfield. His aDOT (4.6) ranked dead last on the week among all quarterbacks, which ended up hurting the production of No. 1 wide receiver D.J. Chark Jr., who only had three receptions on three targets.

This is slightly misleading, as Chark did have a long target downfield that would have brought his aDOT up to 14.5, but the play was negated on a defensive pass interference call on Xavier Rhodes. It resulted in a 30-yard gain, but Chark won't get the credit in our pretend game.

The Tennessee Titans are Minshew’s next test. I like him to repeat his success against them after posting one of his highest PFF passing grades (80.5) against hem in 2019. He's also likely to attack the Titans more vertically — Tennessee allowed the most 20-plus pass attempts, 10th-highest deep pass play percentage (13.9%) and the fifth-highest deep pass percentage to opposing wide receivers last year, including the postseason.

The Minshew-Chark airshow is coming soon.