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Chip Bayless FEATURED Football Latest 

Top Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 10

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By Chip Bayless (click Howie for more Chip)

 

 

 

1) Keaton Mitchell

Keaton Mitchell, the Ravens’ promising, speedy rookie, finally got his first career carry in Week 9.

The result? Mitchell finished the week as fantasy’s 4th-highest scoring running back, beating out Derrick Henry, Aaron Jones, and Jonathan Taylor in 5th, 6th, and 7th-place respectively.

On just nine carries, Mitchell exploded for 138 yards, a touchdown, and 20 fantasy points while averaging a whopping 15.3 yards per clip.

In Week 9, Mitchell led all RBs in yards per carry and rushing yards with 138 — no other RB even broke 100, and no RB with nine carries or fewer had more than 90.



Mitchell also accounted for two of Baltimore’s three longest plays on the day with a 60-yard run and a 40-yard run, the second of which went for his first career touchdown.

Additionally, with those two long carries Mitchell is now tied for 3rd among all backs in carries for 40+ yards, and his 60-yard TD run was the 7th-longest touchdown run by any player this season (per NFL.com).

While the contest became a blowout early, for what it’s worth Mitchell was 2nd-among Ravens RBs in carries behind only Justice Hill with 13, while Gus Edwards only notched five carries.

Rostered in just 1% of leagues, Mitchell is possibly the most coveted waiver-wire claim since Kyren Williams all the way back in Week 1 considering the lack of fantasy-relevant RBs available on the waiver wire.

Mitchell will also likely be Week 10’s hottest claim considering he’s obviously more explosive than plodder Gus Edwards, and considering Edwards also played a season-low 19% of snaps in Week 9.

While Mitchell is “only” an undrafted free-agent, so is Gus Edwards, it was widely believed that Mitchell was among the most sought-after names by NFL teams once the draft ended, and many scouts and analysts including Pro Football Focus considered Mitchell one of the ten best undrafted free agent signings from the 2023 class.

Finally, Mitchell ran an absolutely blazing 4.37 40-yard dash at the 2023 NFL Combine, and he was clocked as 2023’s fastest Baltimore Raven just last week, so the potential for this kid to hit a home run on any rushing attempt is certainly there.

Look for the Ravens to get this insanely-fast rookie more involved as the weeks go on, as last week was only his third career game being active and was the first time he saw carries in an NFL game.

If the Ravens give Mitchell even nine touches in Week 10 like they did in Week 9, Mitchell will profile as an RB2 with RB1 upside from that point forward considering his Jahmyr Gibbs-like explosiveness and efficiency, and because the Ravens lead the league in rushing attempts, yards, TDs, and runs on 1st down (per NFL.com).

If you need one last point to convince you to add Mitchell as carefreely as a fat American tourist creating a pile of trash on top of the Pyramids of Giza, look no further than the fact that Mitchell currently leads all players in yards per carry, according to ESPN.

 

 

2) Joshua Dobbs

Wow. That’s all you can say about the Week 9 performance by Josh Dobbs.

Despite being traded to the Vikings just a few days before, not taking a single practice rep, not taking any snaps from his center Garrett Bradbury, his top WR on IR, and despite never throwing any passes to any of his teammates and not knowing most of their names, Dobbs led the Vikings to a comeback victory over the Atlanta Falcons after being thrust into action mid-game.




Considering the circumstances, it might be the most impressive performance by any individual player this season.

Dobbs came in and broke tackles left and right, showed nearly-perfect pocket awareness, threw some insane strikes, and scrambled frequently for key gains and big passing plays.

While it was just one game in that offense, Dobbs looks like he has every tool a GM could ask for in a franchise QB in terms of mobility, arm strength, accuracy, awareness, and leadership.

His ball-carrier vision, relentlessness, and creativity as a rusher are elite and have a statistical argument for being second to only Lamar Jackson.

So far this season, among QBs, Dobbs ranks:

At this point, Dobbs’ fantasy PPG bests the likes of Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, Matthew Stafford, Geno Smith, and Baker Mayfield.

Coming from the Cardinals where Dobbs just had Marquise Brown as a premier playmaker, Dobbs now joins an offense with a plethora of weapons.

The Vikings have one of the best rookie receivers in the league (if not the best) in Jordan Addison, arguably one of the best players in the NFL in Justin Jefferson, and probably the second-best tight end in the NFL after Kelce in T.J. Hockenson.

Going forward, given the injuries to QBs and bye weeks underway, Dobbs profiles as a low-end QB1 regardless of league size, and could end up finishing top-5 in PRK.

Rostered in less than 20% of leagues, there’s still time to suck up the Dobbs hype like you’re a billionaire sucking up as much green paper with imaginary value as you can before you cause the world’s extinction and can’t use any of your paper anyways.

 

 

3) Cade Otton

Finding a decent tight end on the waiver wire at this point in the fantasy season is about has hard as finding as decent RB, but Cade Otton’s production jumps off the screen compared to the rest of the TEs available.

Although, Otton has one major thing working against him: he doesn’t wear gloves.

In the year 2023, despite science that proves wearing gloves helps you catch more passes and gloves reduce the coefficient of friction on footballs, and despite the rest of the league wearing them, Cade Otton has decided his sweaty, dirty, bare skin is a more optimal adhesive for leather.

But, like taking a massive dump in a first date’s bathroom, it might be the type of reckless energy you need when half your job includes blocking defensive lineman and the other half involves getting decapitated by safeties.

Gloves or no gloves, the point is Cade Otton has been performing like a fantasy starter lately as far as 2023 TEs are concerned.



Otton uses his hulking size, his strong hands, and supreme route-running savvy for the position to often act as a security blanket and redzone target for Baker Mayfield, a role which has been paying dividends.

Among this year’s TE crop, here’s how Otton’s numbers stack up:

Otton’s skillset and role has been especially effective for the Bucs offense recently, as he has at least six targets, four catches, and 27 receiving yards in three straight games. Furthermore, he’s played at least 91% of all Bucs offensive snaps in every game this season.

His fantasy PPG so far outranks Kyle Pitts, Hunter Henry, Tyler Conklin, Luke Musgrave, Tyler Higbee,

Over the past three weeks, Otton is averaging seven targets, 47 receiving yards, and 13.7 fantasy points per game.

With TEs being a naturally thin position and with Travis Kelce and other premier TEs on a bye in Week 10, you can do much worse than someone who’s seen at least six targets in three straight games, so Otton is certainly worth a look for TE-needy teams regardless of league size.

 

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