Roundtable Week 1: Scouting the Waiver Wire

Photo: Matthew Emmons, USA Today Sports

Welcome to Week 4 of the 2023 Footballguys Roundtable. Our intrepid panel of fantasy pundits discusses and debates four topics every week. From this point forward, we're splitting the topics into separate features.

This week's roundtable features these four topics:

• Scouting the Waiver Wire (See below)
• Who Changed Our Minds This Summer?
• Game of the Week: Bills-Jets
• Bold Predictions

Let's see which free agents our staff has their eyes on ahead of Week 1.

Scouting the Waiver Wire

Matt Waldman: Sigmund Bloom's Upgrades, Downgrades, and Waiver Wire feature is published every Monday evening during the season and it's a must-read feature at Footballguys. As one of the former writers of this weekly feature, I still impress upon my readers throughout the summer that having a shortlist of players to monitor at each position for your in-season waiver wires is wise preparation.

Give me your top choice of free agents that fantasy players should monitor this weekend so they can make an appropriate bid for that player next week if needed:

• 1 candidate who is likely a free agent in leagues with rosters of 15 players.
• 1 candidate who is likely a free agent in leagues with rosters of 20 players.
• 1 candidate who is likely a free agent in leagues with rosters of 40 players.

We could generalize these as church league, work league, and mother's basement league in terms of knowledge although I've seen some great church leagues, super-serious workplace leagues, and awful basement leagues.

Andy Hicks: For 15-player rosters, let's go to Buffalo. The only guy people seem interested in at Tight End is the rookie Dalton Kincaid. We all know that rookie tight ends don’t come in and dominate immediately. I would instead be monitoring the guy who has actually finished as a starting fantasy tight end for the last two seasons in Dawson Knox. While not an exciting pick, start-worthy tight ends do not grow on trees. I would expect Knox to get heavy early use, and we will see how Kincaid develops.

Allen Robinson is a guy for 20-player rosters that I think has one more good fantasy season in him. Pittsburgh is a great location, and with improved play from Kenny Pickett, Robinson will not be the focus of defenses, with Diontae Johnson and George Pickens seemingly more threatening.

Every year, we get a surprise performer or two at wide receiver in the opening round. While Greg Dortch in Arizona and Kyle Phillips in Tennessee didn’t build on their early production in 2022, they grabbed attention in Week 1. For deep rosters of 40 players, I would be looking at teams with unsettled depth charts like Houston. The only guy who might be available is Noah Brown. After an injury-riddled first five seasons with the Cowboys, where he only registered 39 catches, he finally was able to stay fit enough to play 15 games and record 43 catches for 555 yards.

Zareh Kantzabedian: Athletically, Ty Chandler is on the opposite side of the spectrum of Alexander Mattison. Chandler noticeably runs with more agility, speed, and elusiveness, all while matching Mattison's physicality. Chandler performed excellently during the 2023 preseason while displaying exceptional pass protection skills. Mattison will start and serve as the early-down runner, but I fully anticipate Chandler to contribute meaningfully in Week 1. He's a worthwhile addition to 15-player rosters.

Calvin Austin III posted back-to-back 1000-yard receiving seasons on 232 targets during his final 2 years at Memphis. He missed 2022 (his rookie year) due to health issues but has fully recovered, and there are signs we'll see Austin on the field in 2023.