Updated Waiver Wire Picks

After having a chance to sleep on it and reading some other sites' thoughts on waiver wire pickups, here is my updated list for the week:


Steve Slaton (owned in 56% of leagues) - Looks to be the #1 back in Houston, and seems to have the talent to stay there. Could still lose some goal-line carries to Chris Taylor, but should continue to put up good yardage. Shameless self-promotion: he was on my pre-season sleeper list, so you would have already grabbed him if you were paying attention.
JT O'Sullivan (owned in 45% of leagues) - Last week's big free agent, but since he is still owned by less than 50% of the leagues, I can put him here again. He did nothing against Detriot to make me think he won't continue to put up good numbers all year in Mike Martz's system.
Bobby Engram (owned in 40% of leagues) - Coming back from injury, and will go directly into the starting lineup in Seattle after a bye week. Especially valuable in PPR leagues.
Rudi Johnson (owned in 63% of leagues) - Now we know that Kevin Smith was not hurt - the Lions coaches were just riding the hot hand. Johnson could continue to be the hot hand until the inevitable injury.
Leron McClain (owned in 6% of leagues) - His carries were increased after an eye injury to McGahee, but he was getting a fair share of carries before. It looks like he is the #2 back in Baltimore and should get 10-15 carries a game, plus the goal-line work.
Deion Branch (owned in 20% of leagues) - Expected to start in week 5 for the Seahawks.
Sidney Rice (owned in 46% of leagues) - Coming back from an injury, and with a QB that can actually put the ball down field, Rice could put up some nice numbers this year.
Brian Greise (owned in 7% of leagues) - No, he won't throw 67 passes every week, and he needed that many to get just over 400 yards. That equates to 200 yards passing with a normal workload, which is what you should expect from Greise. Still, he is worth owning as a back-up.
Jeremy Stevens (owned in 1% of leagues) - I can't stand this guy personally, but he looked good down the stretch yesterday. He should start to edge out Alex Smith for catches, and would make a good bye-week fill-in.
Correll Buckhalter (owned in 6% of leagues) - It looks like Westbrook will probably miss only one game, and Buckhalter would make a good bye-week fill-in if needed. He is a must-have for Westbrook owners, not nearly as valuable to anybody else.
Antonio Bryant (owned in 10% of leagues) - He should continue to put up good numbers while Joey Galloway is out, which makes him a good bye week fill-in for this week. Long term potential is not very high.

These guys are mentioned by others, but I don't think they have much value:


Brady Quinn (owned in 8% of leagues) - What makes people think he will do any better than Anderson? Cleveland is a team with a lot of holes that overacheived last year, and is crashing back to earth. There is no guarentee that Quinn will start (the Browns play the Bengals this week, so Anderson might be able to "right the ship"), and if he does, I don't see a first-year starter coming in and making an immediate impact. Braylon Edwards will drop his balls just the same as with Anderson. If you own Anderson and have no other decent QBs, you might want to think Quinn (but think O'Sullivan first). If you don't have Anderson as a handcuff, don't waste a roster spot on Quinn.
Trent Green (owned in 1% of leagues) - The Ram's new starter could be valuable on a match-up basis, but he does not really have a good matchup until week 9 (Arizona). He will be injured before then.
Billy McMullen (owned in 1% of leagues) - With Engram and Branch coming back, his days in the sun are over.