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Inside the Lines team

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When you can pick the spread and totals well, you can predict completions, yards, touchdowns well. Our first waiver wire report had some clear HITS (Daniel Jones, Wan'Dale Robinson, and Quentin Johnston). We also recommended Calvin Austin, Hunter Henry, and Brenton Strange two weeks ago.

Jaxson Dart Rest of the Season

We are recommending Sam Darnold (see below) because he is a far more well known, proven, commodity. However, in terms of sheer projected stats we see Dart as a bigger running threat wit 140 more rushing yards over the rest of the season which actually puts Dart ahead of Darnold for rest of season rankings.

I still would take Darnold as my waiver wire QB if you have a good starter and just need a high floor QB for the starter's bye week. But if you had Joe Burrow and missed out on the Daniel Jones sweepstakes go with Dart. If he can run like Bo Nix last season and chuck it to Nabers / Robinson 24 times he has Top 12 potential.

Players To Target

While several players below are not weekly starters they are player I'd grab for the bench over a number of players rostered at their same position at considerably higher percentages.

Sam Darnold (26%): We do not recommend him as your primary starter but his upside is higher than most other QBs ranked in the 20s for the rest of the season. Between what he did last season for Minnesota and his emerging connection with rookie Tory Horton he has 4 trusted weapons (JSN, Cooper Kupp, Horton, RB Zach Charbonnet when healthy). His value is boosted if your league only subtracts 1 point per interception instead of two. Darnold has not had a rush attempt in his last two games and rookie QB Jalen Milroe is clearly the better option in a clear QB rushing situation, but at a certain point Darnold will start scrambling to avoid pressure and this aspect also gives him a leg up over the older QBs like Matt Stafford and Aaron Rodgers.

Jeremy McNichols (9%): His 60+ yard rushing touchdown vs the Raiders looked like his opponent, Ashton Jeanty, playing vs Mountain West Conference defenders. The Commanders clearly are not going to have a workhorse RB this season and instead will likely give the ball to the hot hand. McNichols has a very high ceiling in this offense. He's had short big "fantasy bursts" in his past and if/when 'Bill' or Chris Rodriguez were to get hurt McNichols could find himself in the Austin Ekeler role for a few weeks and he'd be a very good streaming option. Last season he had back-to-back games of 19.4 and 10.4 FPs. 

Rico Dowdle (25%): The Panthers had the best win / game in the Bryce Young era and it wasn't a coincidence that Rico Dowdle played significant snaps (10 rush, 30 yards, 1 rushtd) after he only had 9 rushes and 21 yards in the first two weeks combined. Chuba Hubbard still had 17 carries (73 yards) but no one thought of Chuba Hubbard as a Derrick Henry workhorse. I think the pair will settle into a nice 60/40 split at RB and Dowdle will carve out a 10 touch, 50 yard, 20% TD chance role for a rapidly improving Panthers offense. Dowdle is RB 47 the rest of the season based on the projection but his upside is higher than RB2s projected for more 'floor points' like Justice Hill, Ollie Gordon, or Rachaad White.

Calvin Austin III (44%): Roman Wilson was a high 2nd round pick in '24 but has 2 targets and 1 rec in his career. There is so little 'trusted' depth at WR that Austin's costly tipped INT in Week 2 didn't stop Aaron Rodgers from targeting him for a key TD in Week 3. DK Metcalf is going to get a ton of attention from the defense and Calvin Austin may be able to fit into one of Metcalf's calves but as WR2 in a 2 WR offense Austin is at least a great FLEX player for the season. 

Tre Tucker (11%): He had a monster Week 3 with 8 rec, 145 yards and 3 TDs. I'm sure he'll be on everyone's waiver wire list. He was showing signs of a breakout last season despite the disastrous QB situation he had. TE Brock Bowers is playing through injuries and injury prone TE Michael Mayer was knocked out of Week 3. Many thought the Raiders would rely on more two TE sets and Ashton Jeanty would be a workhorse but neither assumption seems to be the case. Tucker is arguably TE1 already for the Raiders with Jakobi Meyers becoming WR2.

Hunter Henry (60%): He also had a monster Week 3 with 8 receptions, 90 yards and 2 TDs. He had 8 targets in Week 1 and 11 targets in Week 3. These were the two games where Drake Maye faced elite pass rushers (Maxx Crosby, TJ Watt). The 'ghost of Stefon Diggs' is not just on the back 9, he's probably at the 18th hole and near the end. Kayshon Boutte and Mack Hollins are WR2 and 3. Long story short, this is a team that will be targeting TEs (Henry and Austin Hooper) plenty. Henry's % of team receiving production are elite (18% of rec, 20% of recyd, 27% of recTD) and he is a must start TE with a high floor and ceiling.

Brenton Strange (44%): With a lot of the aging TE stars in rapid decline we identified Strange as a top waiver wire target two weeks ago and as a great draft value in the summer. He has not found the end zone in nearly a full calendar year but with 60, 59, and 61 yards in 3 of his last 4 games he's somewhat due for a score. He has caught 17 of his last 20 targets which is impressive considering Trevor Lawrence is not always on target. While he's just TE17 in our rest of season projections we're almost in bye season time and Strange will be a top streaming option.

Visit Our Free Picks Blog

Remember, for all of our best bets, you can get them for free on our new blog. We will not only have fantasy analysis but will also show you how to use Inside the Lines (powering SportsLine, CBS Fantasy) fantasy projections to make good NFL prop bets. When the lines post by mid-week, we'll be able to automatically identify the 15 to 20 best values out of 100+ possible player props, and I guarantee a high number of overs will come from the players listed above. Undervalued fantasy assets are also likely to have underpriced player prop lines.