Fantasy Football 101: Waiver Wire Strategies

Make sure to check out our other Fantasy 101 articles to get a full, well-rounded introduction to other important elements of fantasy football.

This article will take a look at the waiver wire and discuss how to use the player acquisition system to your advantage.

What Is the Waiver Wire?

The waiver wire is the primary alternative to the FAAB system, which I wrote about in my last article. In simple terms, it is a ranking system that determines who gets priority at picking up free agent players each week. Once a manager claims a player via the waiver wire, they are sent down to the bottom of the priority list. While managers are able to claim multiple players in a week, it is important to remember that each individual claim forces a manager back to the bottom of the totem pole.

If you are unsuccessful in a claim attempt, it is either because someone with higher priority submitted a claim for the same player or because you don’t have the roster space to make the claim. It is very important to prepare for both of these situations. Of course, an unsuccessful claim will not alter your waiver priority.

Now that we know the basics of the waiver wire, let’s take a look at some of the different strategies and tactics you can use to take advantage of the system and your league.

Know Your League-Mates

Above all prizes and accolades, the biggest reason we all play fantasy football is the friends with whom we play. Nobody knows your friends better than you, and you can use this knowledge to your advantage when it comes to the waiver wire.

Each week, I like to take a look at some of the teams ahead of me on the waiver wire in order to predict how/if they will use their priority. Normally a quick glance at a league-mate’s upcoming players on bye or injuries can show which position they will be attacking the most. The biggest part of knowing your league-mates is knowing their overall tendencies. You may have prior knowledge of whether your league-mates are very aggressive in claiming players or not. You may also have knowledge on who is more likely to follow the projected points by claiming players at the top of the list or who may be better at identifying sleepers. No matter what advice you are getting from outside podcasts and articles, nobody will know your friends and league-mates like you.

Plan Ahead

What if the player you wanted gets picked? What if there are two players you want and you don’t know which one will fall to you? These problems can lead fantasy managers into tough decisions that don’t need to be made thanks to this next trick with the waiver wire.

One of the most important parts to know about the waiver wire is that an unsuccessful claim doesn’t skip your turn and instead moves on to your next claim. We can use this to maximize our waiver wire efficiency. In the image below, we see a set of waiver claims where the manager wants to claim both Sam Darnold and Wan’Dale Robinson.

Thanks to the intricate setup of this claim, one of the following four scenarios will pan out:

• Both Sam Darnold and Wan’Dale Robinson are claimed, while Bryce Young and Ben Sinnott are dropped per the choice of the manager.
• The manager is only successful in claiming Sam Darnold, drops Bryce Young, and keeps Ben Sinnott.
• The manager is only successful in claiming Wan’Dale Robinson, drops Bryce Young, and keeps Ben Sinnott.
• The manager is unsuccessful in both claims, keeping both Bryce Young and Wan’Dale Robinson.

In each of these four scenarios, the manager is not making any unnecessary drops and will end up with the same roster size no matter the result. By planning ahead for every scenario with waiver claims like these, you can guarantee maximum efficiency in your claims every week.

Streaming

The Ballers often mention streaming options during regular season episodes. A streamer is a player you only plan on using for the short term, generally one to three weeks. Quarterback, tight end, kicker, and defense are the main positions to stream because most leagues are formatted to only start one of each position, making it more likely that managers don’t carry backups.

Streaming can force managers into wasting high waiver priority on short-term players. My favorite way to avoid this dilemma is by adding players a week early after waivers clear. By taking the time to research when your “onesie” position players are on bye and taking a look at available players’ schedules for the future, you can plan ahead and add your players the week before without wasting your waiver priority. This idea takes me into my final strategy – playing the long game.

Play the Long Game

Playing the long game means realizing the fantasy football regular season is around 14 weeks in most leagues and conserving your resources for when you can best use them. While every situation is different, I like to save my waiver priority for when I truly need to make a claim or when an incredible pickup opportunity presents itself.

As I mentioned in my FAAB article, injuries happen very randomly, and waiting one more week to use your high priority could be a gamble worth considering. In short, always calculate your risk and consider adding your deeper targets after waivers clear because it could put you first in line for a splash player or injury opportunist in the future.

Conclusion

While the waiver wire is a simple system, many fantasy football managers don’t realize how to use it most efficiently. By putting in the extra time to analyze your league-mates and planning ahead, you can find yourself multiple steps in front of the pack. Additionally, streaming and conserving your waiver wire priority can put you in the best position to capitalize on the unthinkable. The waiver wire often has tremendous impacts on fantasy football, with players surging to the top of depth charts and fantasy rankings like Puka Nacua and Kyren Williams did last year. Knowing the system and how to maximize its potential can lead you to winning your league title.