Early Fantasy Football Waiver Wire For Week 2: Jalen Coker Is A Major Target

Week 1 is in the books, and what a week it was. Tons of points, explosive plays left and right, and LOTS of interesting waiver wire adds. Quick note: I’ve broken this up by position, not by priority. If you’re looking for FAAB bidding guidance on these players, make sure you check back in on the premium version of this article tomorrow morning!

That said, there are quite a few names to cover here—so let’s get right into it. (All roster percentages are according to Yahoo)

Week 2 Early Fantasy Football Waiver Wire

Quarterback

Tyler Shough | NO

Roster: 40%

If you asked me at halftime if I could sell every piece of the New Orleans offense for pennies on the dollar … I would have jumped at the opportunity. The offensive line looked like Swiss cheese, Tyler Shough looked like he needed to get relegated to the CFL, and Chris Olave was already living in the blue medical tent.

That being said … the offense couldn’t have looked more different in the second half. We started to see glimpses of the exciting offense we thought we might see from New Orleans, and Shough was a major reason behind this. He flipped a switch, leading a massive comeback against Detroit and forcing the game into overtime.

The Saints lost, but we saw the upside of this offense when Shough was locked in. He finished as the QB8 and you could definitely do worse than streaming Shough in a plus matchup against ATL next week.

Drew Lock | SEA

Roster: 0%

After Sam Darnold left the game with a hip injury after only 5 offensive snaps, Drew Lock looked pretty solid in relief:

72.7 CMP%

187 Pass Yd

14 Rush Yd

1 TD / 0 INT

It’s already been announced that Darnold will not be ready to go in Week 2, so Lock will get at least one more start. He’s not on my radar in 1QB leagues, but should definitely be picked up in superflex formats.

Running Back

Kaelon Black | SF

Roster: 27%

If you’re in a competitive league, there’s a good chance Kaelon Black is already rostered. If he isn’t, this would be my No. 1 priority pickup at the RB position this week.

After the dominant win against the Rams in Australia on Friday, it’s clear that Black is the direct handcuff to Christian McCaffrey. He was the only RB outside of McCaffrey to record a carry, and in fact, he had MORE carries than CMC—14 to 10, respectively. If CMC were to miss time, Black would immediately slot in as a mid/backend RB1 in my rankings.

Kendre Miller | NO

Roster: 1%

One thing I didn’t see happening in this Saints offense in Week 1—Kendre Miller playing a legitimate role in the backfield. Miller took 9 of 21 total RB carries for 30 yards—along with 2 out of 3 red-zone carries—adding a touchdown along the way. He’s more of a speculative add, especially with Alvin Kamara set to potentially return next week, but could provide real value if Travis Etienne were to miss time.

Sione Vaki | DET

Roster: 0%

The answer to “who is the RB behind Jahmyr Gibbs while Isiah Pacheco is on IR?!” is no one. Gibbs carried all the boats himself, with 29 (!!!) carries out of 31 total. If it had to be someone though … it looks like it’s Sione Vaki over Jacob Saylors.

Vaki didn’t do much (as I noted, it was a one-man show for Gibbs) with only 2 carries for 7 yards, but now that we have confirmation that he’s the No. 2, he’s worth a look off the waivers in case Gibbs goes down.

Wide Receiver

Jalen Coker | CAR

Roster: 61%

Cokeheads unite! The time is finally here. Jalen Coker kicked off his third year campaign in the best way imaginable:

9 targets (1st on the team)

8 receptions (1st)

138 yards (1st)

0.23 TPRR (1st)

18.6 expected fantasy points (1st)

33.8 actual fantasy points (1st)

Do I think Coker will have a better season than Tetairoa McMillan? No I do not. That being said, I think it’s safe to say I drastically underestimated how good this Carolina passing offense could look in 2026—and how large a factor Coker could play as the No. 2 option here.

Let’s pump the brakes a little here, though. This game finished with a score of 59-37—the highest total of any Week 1 NFL matchup in history. The numbers are not going to look like this on a weekly basis. I’m still very interested in grabbing Coker off the waivers if he’s available, but he’ll still project as a mid-tier WR3 for me going forward.

Demario Douglas | NE

Roster: 1%

With A.J. Brown set to miss at least 4 weeks after being put on injured reserve, my pick of WR to roster in this room would be Demario Douglas. In the opening matchup against Seattle:

7 targets (1st on team)

22.6 tgt % (1st)

11.0 expected fantasy points (1st)

He didn’t get there in the boxscore, finishing with 5 receptions for 20 yards and no touchdowns, but the underlying usage indicates this is the guy we want while Brown is sidelined.

Demarcus Robinson | SF

Roster: 0%

I want pieces of this 49ers passing attack. It looked absolutely lethal in their dominant win against the Rams. And with De'Zhaun Stribling set to miss at least a month with the ankle injury he suffered, it looks like Demarcus Robinson slots right in as the third WR option here behind Mike Evans and Deebo Samuel.

Robinson’s low-volume role leaves him with a questionable weekly floor, but the ceiling he offers is undeniable. I wouldn't spend a ton on Robinson (especially in shallow leagues), but if you need WR depth in dynasty or a larger format, I’d definitely scoop him up—if Evans or Deebo go down next, they’re not going to have any choice but to feed Robinson the ball more.

Devaughn Vele | NO

Roster: 7%

Devaughn Vele was one of my favorite sneaky starts this week, and it aged well (although things were looking ROUGH in the first half). When all was said and done, Vele had an awesome week:

90.7% snaps (1st among WRs on team)

9 targets (2nd behind Olave)

7 receptions (2nd)

69 receiving yards (2nd) and a touchdown

16.2 expected fantasy points (2nd)

19.9 *actual* fantasy points (2nd)

Vele is going to project as a solid flex option for me going forward as long as Jordyn Tyson remains sidelined. He is clearly the second-most trusted option behind Olave in this WR room.

Ja'Kobi Lane | BAL

Roster: 19%

I really liked what I saw from the Baltimore rookie wideout in his first-ever NFL action this week. The Ravens clearly went into Week 1 with the plan of implementing him as their No. 2 option behind Zay Flowers, and it looked like it was working.

Unfortunately the stat sheet doesn’t tell the full story as Ja'Kobi Lane finished with only 1 catch for 11 yards on 3 targets, but he did have a TD called back due to penalty. The big wrinkle here— Lane left early with a wrist injury, later announced to be a fracture that will cost him several weeks.

Regardless, I was very impressed by what I saw this week from the rookie. Even with him set to miss a bit of time, I view Lane as a great stash with major upside down the stretch. Only pick him up if you have an IR spot.

KC Concepcion | CLE

Roster: 75%

KC Concepcion probably isn’t available on your waivers right now, but keep an eye out to see if someone cuts ties after Week 1. If they do, jump all over it. The underlying usage was solid, and he finished with 4 receptions for 43 yards.

The Browns might be absolutely abysmal this season, but I still have hope for KCC being a valuable producer. Keep your eyes peeled here.

Roman Wilson | PIT

Roster: 0%

Roman Wilson played the WR3 role in Pittsburgh to open the season, and while the boxscore doesn’t show it (3 receptions for 26 scoreless yards) he had some super-solid underlying usage:

6 targets (2nd behind DK Metcalf)

0.22 TPRR (1st)

20.3 ADOT (1st)

14.0 expected fantasy points (2nd behind DK)

Wilson is a great under-the-radar target off the waivers this week, especially in deeper formats.

Dolphins WRs | Caleb Douglas and Malik Washington

Roster: 12% & 14%

Week 1 gave us a pretty solid answer on who the priority WR targets are in the Miami offense—Malik Washington and rookie Caleb Douglas.

Douglas led the stat sheet and put up impressive numbers for his first NFL action:

6 targets (2nd)

94 receiving yards (1st)

25% tgt % (2nd)

0.19 TPRR (2nd)

9.4 expected fantasy points (2nd)

14.4 actual fantasy points (1st)

While these numbers were awesome for Douglas, Washington outperformed him in all underlying metrics. Outside of his middling 3-for-53 statline:

33% tgt % (1st)

0.22 TPRR (1st)

12.4 expected fantasy points (1st)

I think Douglas will be one of the biggest waiver darlings this week - and rightfully so, considering he is a rookie and this was extremely impressive in his first game - but don’t sleep on Malik Washington either.

Antonio Williams | WAS

Roster: 2%

While I think most of the hype is going to be around Coker—I think Antonio Williams would be my No. 1 waiver wore pickup after Week 1.

The rookie out of Clemson had an extremely interesting prospect profile in my opinion (you can check out my full breakdown of his profile over on my YouTube channel), but I didn’t expect to see him find the field immediately considering his overlapping skill set with Stefon Diggs. I couldn’t have been more wrong—Diggs did his thing in Week 1, but Williams looked absolutely awesome in his first NFL action.

He ran only 11 routes, but made the absolute most of them:

4 targets (2 of which were in the RZ)

4 receptions (T-2nd on the team)

64 receiving yards (1st) and a TD

Williams 0.36 TPRR was not only the highest on the Commanders, but ranked 7th among ALL wide receivers in Week 1 (pending SNF/MNF):

Williams is the priority pickup for me this week and I’m super excited to see how his game continues to develop in this Washington offense.

Tight End

Mike Gesicki | CIN

Roster: 1%

If you’re riding the struggle bus at tight end, look no further than Mike Gesicki as your guy off the waiver wire this week.

He ran only 17 routes, but he was clearly a priority option for Burrow when he was out there:

20.6 tgt % (highest on team, above Ja'Marr Chase/Tee Higgins)

7 targets (2 in the RZ, highest on team)

0.41 TPRR (1st among ALL TEs in Week 1, min. 5 routes)

16.5 expected fantasy points, 18.8 actual fantasy points

Obviously, don’t expect Gesicki to be the No. 1 target on the Bengals every week. But I think this week showed us that he has a greater ceiling than your average touchdown-dependent tight end. The volume was a pleasant surprise, and he’ll project as a back-end TE1/high-end TE2 option for me going forward.