Jimmy Graham on the waiver wire
How I got Jimmy Graham purely through tireless waiver wire work
I traded for Jimmy Graham today.
I’m over the moon!
Jimmy Graham is such a valuable fantasy football player, and plays at such a difficult position, that he’s “undroppable”—if he’s on your team, you can’t simply get rid of him, you have to trade him to someone else:
Tight end is the most maddening position. If you’re not blessed by having a good tight end, it winds up like online dating—a new match every week.
Over 10 games, I used *5* different tight ends. Niles Paul, Jordan Reed, Charles Clay, Jermaine Gresham, and Owen Daniels scored 28 points for me. Over that same time, playing only 8 games, Jimmy Graham scored 95.
I’ve been scouring the waiver wire to try and fill holes at QB and TE, trying to collect players that can fill injury gaps and be trade assets. My hope was to pick up a player who could be half as good as Jimmy Graham. I did even better—I got players who got me Jimmy Graham.
This is the story of how I got him ☺
Step 1: I got Odell Beckham Jr. the moment Victor Cruz went down. I have been watching Beckham Jr. since I read this Grantland piece. Fast, great worth ethic and motivation, great route runner, great hands, a more accurate Eli Manning, and plays with Reuben Randle on the other side—everything said he’ll be great. And he has been.
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After having him for 3 weeks, I was able to trade Odell Beckham Jr. for Greg Olsen.
Step 2: collect assets along the way. I keep an eye on players I think can quickly become valuable, particularly ones with really high ceilings.
- Jerick McKinnon — He’s been touted since the beginning of the year by Matthew Berry. After Adrian Peterson’s suspension, he was behind Matt Asiata for a few weeks. I picked him up even then, just in case… and he’s been the starter for three weeks, averaging 8 points per game—even without scoring a touchdown, nor breaking any of the big plays (yet!) that is expected (though just wait for this week in Chicago…)
- Ronnie Hillman — I’ve been eyeing Hillman all year. Peyton Manning throws. Denver will never be a big running team, and Hillman is a fast, skilled pass-catcher. When Montee Ball went down, I got him immediately. He delivered!
- Adrian Peterson — I am shocked that people haven’t been tracking his situation that closely. The moment I heard he was possibly resolving his legal status, I grabbed him and stashed him. He was the #1 pick!
- Ryan Tannehill, Carson Palmer, RGIII — I have a big hole at QB, so I’ve been trying to pick up quality QBs all year. I picked up Carson Palmer pretty quickly; on TV he looked great, and his numbers were so consistent. Tannehill’s numbers were always better than he looked on TV, but he was also pretty consistent. Though none of these were included in the trade, they allowed me to feel out potential trades.
Step 3: Work it! I proposed a lot of failed trades. For each, I gave a clear explanation of why I thought the trade helped both teams and was fair.
And that’s it. I think that’s a very fair haul for Jimmy Graham; A tight end that’s scored just as many points so far, McKinnon and Peterson are a high-upside starting RB pair, and Hillman has a chance to re-emerge.
All from the waiver wire ☺
