Fantasy football: Smart waiver options amid NFL star injuries

No matter what your path in life may be, no matter which side of the fence you stand on a variety of issues facing our world today, the one thing it seems everyone can agree on is that 2020 has been one brutal and unforgiving year.

From the COVID-19 crisis to murder hornets to fires raging throughout the West Coast to a myriad of social injustices, society is taking some serious lumps right now. The return of sports was supposed to assuage our anxiety and serve as a distraction. Though it has been nice to have them back, they, and fantasy sports, have also felt the wrath of 2020.

Week 1 of the NFL proceeded without rising stars like Kenny Golladay and Courtland Sutton, and by the time the week ended, Michael Thomas and Chris Godwin were gone, too. But because 2020 is an unforgiving succubus, that wasn’t enough. Week 2 left us without Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey and a host of other marquee players. That loud thud you heard late Sunday night was the collective jaws of fantasy football owners hitting the ground.

We should have known. Everything leading up to the NFL season should have been seen as foreshadowing and for those who weren’t mentally prepared, accept the fact that this “injury-mageddon” is just the beginning. It will get worse.

But rather than call it quits on a horrific season, start reading the tea leaves and take advantage of the insight. Titans wide receiver Corey Davis is typically a massive disappointment you want to avoid. But rearrange the letters in his name and you get COVIDs Year which would certainly explain his 100-yard game in Week 1 and Sunday’s first touchdown catch since Week 7 of 2019. Or how about Mr. Glass Jordan Reed catching two touchdowns and walking away from the game healthy?

Take it as a sign of hope. There is more help on your waiver wire than you think.

Howard Bender is a senior writer at FantasyAlarm.com and the host of “Overtime” on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio each Sunday from 11 p.m.-1 a.m. Follow him on Twitter @rotobuzzguy. For more from Fantasy Alarm, listen weekdays on SiriusXM from 4-6 p.m.