Matt Ryan, Jameis Winston & Kenny Golladay Among Top Undrafted 2022 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups Before Week 1
As 2022 fantasy football drafts are wrapping up, we are starting to get a sense of the first group of players who will be available to claim from the waiver wire in Week 1. This includes veteran QBs Matt Ryan and Jameis Winston who are both looking for bounce-back seasons in 2022. Likewise, veteran receivers D.J. Chark and Kenny Golladay have a good chance of producing more significant numbers this season than they did over their last few as a result of the lack of depth at receiver for the Giants and the Lions both.
Let’s take a look at the best waiver wire pickups before we kick off the regular season Thursday night.
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Quarterbacks
QB Jameis Winston, New Orleans Saints (51.11% Owned)
In his first year as the Saints’ starting QB in 2021, Winston was playing very well. That is until Week 7 when the now veteran QB tore his ACL and ended his season. Up until Week 7, Winston was really playing well. He carried the Saints to a 5-2 record to kick off the season producing 1,170 yards for 14 touchdowns and just three interceptions earning him a solid 64.4 QBR last season. Reports out of the Saints training camp this Summer surrounding Jameis’ health and abilities to throw the football have been positive. Heading into 2022, Winston is looking healthy and ready for a bounce-back year. The Saints heavily bolstered up their corps of wide receivers this offseason by signing veteran WR Jarvis Landry and selecting standout Ohio State route-runner Chris Olave with the No. 11 overall selection in this year’s draft.
QB Matt Ryan, Indianapolis Colts (44.16% Owned)
Matt Ryan has joined the Colts to replace Carson Wentz leaving the Atlanta Falcons with Marcus Mariota as their top QB option. Matt Ryan is joining an offense where RB Jonathan Taylor is at the forefront. However, young receivers like Micheal Pittman Jr. could help Ryan have a better season in Indy than he did last year with the Falcons. Last season, Matty Ice threw for a respectable 3,968 yards and 20 touchdowns for 12 interceptions. He did however see a steep decline in his numbers in comparison to 2021 where he threw for 4,581 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. Still, Matt Ryan is a fantasy-worthy QB who should be selected in most fantasy football leagues. He will start for the Colts this season and is still capable of producing significant yardage as well as landing dimes to his route-runners in the end zone. He has been going undrafted in approximately 55% of leagues so far.
Running Backs
RB Ronald Jones, Kansas City Chiefs (13.14% Owned)
Though RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire is the Chiefs’ top RB heading into 2022, injuries in his first two seasons have held him back. This offseason, the Chiefs signed former Buccaneer Ronald Jones who finished the 2020 season with 978 rushing yards, 165 receiving yards, and eight total touchdowns. While his production took a big hit in 2021 as a result of Tampa Bay’s reliance on Leonard Fournette, Jones could be seeing a more important role on the Chiefs’ offense especially if the team chooses to limit CEH.
Wide Receivers
WR D.J. Chark, Detroit Lions (47.37% Owned)
With rookie stud Jameson Williams out for the Lions when they get their season going, DJ Chark will likely be the team’s second-best route runner after Amon-Ra St. Brown in their first game and likely the first few weeks of the 2022 regular season. You can count on Chark running routes and playing a fairly significant role on the Lions’ offense, at least until Jameson Williams can make his debut.
WR Romeo Doubs, Green Bay Packers (30.91% Owned)
The Green Bay Packers selected WR Romeo Doubs in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft. With Davante Adams now in Las Vegas, Aaron Rodgers has a new receiving corps with a lot of young guys including Doubs, who was selected this high in order to compensate for their huge loss within their receiving corps. Alongside Allen Lazard, Romeo Doubs should be the second-best receiver on the Packers in 2022. Doubs ran a 4.47-second 40-yard dash at his pro-day. Notably, Doubs was a great deep-field target in college, third among his draft class for receivers who produced yardage from 20-yard catches or more. Aaron Rodgers will be looking for him to blow past cornerbacks making use of his speed to get in the open field and catch the deep-ball. If he can do this, Doubs could produce some fantasy-worthy yardage as a rookie.
WR Kenny Golladay, New York Giants (49.83% Owned)
Kenny Golladay couldn’t stay healthy in his first season with the New York Giants in 2021. There are serious concerns surrounding his ability to remain on the field for the Giants who have quite a weak receiving corps. This is why Golladay could prove to be a great early waiver-wire pickup as soon as your league finishes drafting. As a result of missing a few games last season, Golladay was never able to build the chemistry that could have carried into the 2022 season. In 2019, Golladay had 1,1190 receiving yards averaging 18.3 yards per catch for 11 touchdowns. However, he’s only had 57 combined receptions over the last two seasons due to the time he’s missed. New York’s coaching staff has said that the veteran wideout has been working very hard and eyeing a major bounce-back season in his second year with the G-Men. If this ends up being true, Golladay really could have a great year especially because of New York’s lack of depth at receiver. He has gone undrafted in approximately 50% of 2022 fantasy football drafts.
Tight Ends
TE Tyler Higbee, Los Angeles Rams (53.85% Owned)
Rams’ tight end Tyler Higbee is going undrafted in many fantasy leagues at the moment. Part of the reason for this has to do with the depth the Rams have at wideout which could affect the number of targets headed his way. In addition to 2021 OPOY WR Cooper Kupp, the Rams signed Allen Robinson from the Bears this offseason. Still, Higbee’s fantasy value can easily be seen over the last two seasons where he’s produced 500+ yards and five touchdowns in each.
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