Andy’s Week 15 Waiver Wire Pick-ups

By Andrew Miley:

There is nothing more important to keeping yourself connected to a fantasy league than by working the waiver wire every week. Inseason management is crucial to fantasy football success. Keep those juices flowing by reading this column every week as it will provide you with a few players that might be available to improve your team or even ones to avoid. I only play in point per reception leagues (sorry for the last five years and my mindset makes it too difficult to go back for standard scoring), so consider that when reviewing my advice.

RB David Johnson, Arizona

The former Northern Iowa Panther is not built like your typical NFL runner at 6’ 1” 224 lbs. This impacts how well Johnson protects himself taking hits, because the back does not always run behind his pads which leaves him open to extra contact. He struggles, at times, to run inside unless his blockers create a running seam for him. When the runner got asked to pass block, Johnson looked somewhat lost (ducking his head and not setting his feet to take on the impact of an impending pass rusher). This issue caused the rookie to get pulled out in some third and long situations during this game, and made it difficult for the young back to overtake veterans Chris Johnson or Andre Ellington before their injuries occurred.

The 2015 third round pick has very quick feet and hits the hole hard, squeezing through small openings on the line of scrimmage. His inside running game has improved since college and his explosive burst down the sidelines even more impressive (was one foot short of a 30+ yard touchdown run). Johnson is an excellent cut back runner, who has the ability to reverse his field and explode down the sidelines just when defenses believe they had him contained. The back uses good vision to read his blockers, busts out a few jump cuts to create separation in space, keeping his feet chopping and always falling forward. He runs to daylight and finds an extra burst in space. It’s his combination of good balance, stiff-arms, jukes, and spin moves that make the runner especially difficult to catch in the open field. The rookie runner makes a point to switch the ball into his outside arm, which makes sense because he likes to go to the corner store (run to the outside) for many of his carries. The back usually glides effortlessly in space, using a few shoulder shakes to get linebackers and safeties out of position. When asked, Johnson sealed off a linebacker during a running play, so he might be able to block on reverses and trick plays.

As a receiving threat, Johnson is quite versatile by being able to line up in the slot, split out wide, or as a traditional half back. He has soft hands with a good catch radius including a beautiful one-handed reception in the middle of the field. The back can get to the flat in a hurry, run a wheel route, or fly up the middle on a pass pattern. He fully extended his body to catch the ball, used the sidelines well, and shielded the pigskin from defenders. Johnson beat every linebacker I saw try to cover him. The runner is great at making the first man miss in the open field. He shows great concentration bringing the pigskin in and uses a few double moves while streaking down the field trying to run underneath a pass. When the back lined up on the outside with a defensive back in coverage, he did not fare as well.
Johnson is a talented back, but needs to run more beneath his pads to increase his short yardage acumen. His vision, burst, and wiggle are good, but not elite. He is a very dangerous receiving threat out of the backfield and is versatile enough to lineup as an outside receiver. There is no reason to believe that the rookie runner will slow down (19 carries for 92 yards rushing and five receptions for 31 yards on seven targets against the Vikings) with games against the easily run on Eagles and Packers coming up. If Johnson is still available, grab him with all the waiver monies you have left.

QB AJ McCarron, Bengals

The former 2014 fifth round signal caller got thrown into action once Andy Dalton broke his thumb during the Bengals first offensive series. Since the starter is now out for the season, playoff teams might need a spark with this young quarterback that you could grab for cheap. Next week’s game against the 49ers who rank the 7th worst versus the pass is very juicy.

The young McCarron was calm in the pocket, almost too calm, but ended up completing almost 69% of his passes. He threw for 280 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions while spreading the pigskin around to seven different receivers. This effort was without all pro Tyler Eifert in the lineup as well. Cincinnati has a talented group of pass catchers, so McCarron is especially valuable in two quarterback leagues where he probably isn’t on a roster. Put a minimum bid in for him this week and profit!