Week 1 of the 2023 NFL season shed some light on the fantasy football outlook of many players across the league, for better and for worse. Luckily for us, the waiver wire provides an opportunity to grab key free agents and supplement our rosters.
The fantasy football waiver wire can make or break your season — here are the key players to target in Week 2.
QB Brock Purdy
Purdy picked up where he left off last season, completing 19-of-28 passes for 220 yards and two touchdowns against the Steelers in Week 1. He has nice matchups against the Rams, Cardinals and Giants coming up — grab him now and you'll have a solid streamer for the next three weeks.
QB Jordan Love
Love has solid weapons and an offensive line that can protect him. He posted 245 yards and three touchdowns against the Bears and will be in the streamer discussion over the next month with matchups against the Falcons in Week 2, Lions in Week 4 and Raiders in Week 5.
RB Justice Hill
Hill out-snapped Gus Edwards 19-15 overall and 11-5 in the passing game. Hill also saw two carries inside the 5 and four carries in the red zone while Edwards saw none. Hill had a great camp and is more of a direct backup to J.K. Dobbins (torn Achilles), so I expect him to lead the Ravens backfield going forward.
RB Kyren Williams
Williams out-snapped Cam Akers 53-28 overall and 26-4 in the first half. On passing downs, Williams out-snapped Akers 36-5. We saw Sean McVay go away from Akers at the start of last season and it looks like he is doing so again. I expect Williams to be an RB3/FLEX play going forward.
RB Gus Edwards
Edwards will be the power back in Baltimore’s offense, which won’t be quite as valuable in new offensive coordinator Todd Monken’s scheme as it was in Greg Roman’s scheme. Still, Edwards is worth picking up as an RB3/4 who should be a solid starter in weeks when the Ravens are favorites.
WR Puka Nacua
The rookie was in on 90% of the Rams' pass snaps and was targeted on 40% of his routes, posting a 10/119/0 line in his debut. He could be the Rams’ long-term WR2 and should maintain his role even when Cooper Kupp returns.
WR Tutu Atwell
Atwell posted a strong 6/119/0 line in Week 1 but got outplayed by Puka Nacua. Atwell is the most likely Rams WR to drop into the WR4 role when Cooper Kupp returns, but he should have value for at least the next three weeks while Kupp is out.
TE Luke Musgrave
Musgrave ran a route on 80% of Jordan Love’s dropbacks and posted a 3/50/1 line in his debut. Most tight ends aren’t seeing this kind of playing time so Musgrave should be in the low-end TE1/streamer discussion going forward.
