Oh hi, how are you?

Have some good drafts?

I’ve been so busy, how about you?

How are the the dynasty leagues doing?

Oh I know, right? Can you believe this Le’Veon Bell stuff?

Are we done with the smalltalk yet?

Thank god.

The 2018 season is under way and so am I.

If you came for real life anecdotes tied meaningfully into the meaninglessness that is fantasy football…well, I’m not even sure where you can get that anymore.

But if you want a list of names with minimal explanation, you’ve come to the right place.

What is this place? It’s Signing the Waiver. The weekly article that will give you suggestions on players to pick up and start THIS WEEK that are mostly unowned in leagues. These are not always players you will feel good about. They are not players you will likely bother keeping on your roster. You are hopefully only using these names for Bye week fill ins. But if you are desperate for any other reasons, I hope I can be of help.

And desperate you must be. That is why you have to sign a waiver relieving me of all responsibility if you decide to start one of these players.

No, not really, it’s just a metaphor, work with me here.

These first three weeks I will be using to get back into the flow of things. Start establishing the patterns that much of my predictions are based on, and getting a feel for NFL teams as a whole. I’ll also be experimenting with my format and presentation.

Last year I recommended Deep Starts that were players less than 30% owned on most major platforms (ESPN and Yahoo! usually).

I will be expanding that a bit into Duh Starts which may be closer to 50%, but have a chance of being available still. These are plays like Mohammed Sanu last year, who I could have put on my Deep Starts list almost every week, but it just got boring.

I’ll also be adding Dumb Starts, these will be even less owned (I’ll nail down a % later) and even more ridiculous. Some of my Deep Starts last year would have qualified. Phillip Dorsett comes to mind.

I go by PPR scoring, with decimals, and my goal is to get you 10 points out of these guys. Though maybe 8 will be a success for Dumb Starts.

If you have any questions, points that I missed or messed up, want to curse me out, or maybe even say “thank you”, you can find me, Joshua B. Aware, on Twitter @Generally_Aware.

Week 1

Duh Starts

Albert Wilson, WR Miami vs Tennessee

Duh.

Tre’Quan Smith, WR New Orleans vs Tampa Bay

You mean you don’t want to start the WR2 for the Saints against a bad secondary?

Ok. Fine.

Austin Seferian-Jenkins, TE Jacksonville vs New York Giants

A frequent flyer here on Signing the Waiver. The Duh Starts list was made with ASJ in mind.

Starting Tight Ends against the Giants was also a “Duh” last year and preseason didn’t change that opinion.

Deep Starts

Quincy Enunwa, WR New York Jets @ Detroit. Monday Night

Possession receiver for a rookie QB on the road for his first start. Great fallback option for a flex spot on a Monday Night if you need to pull a starter on Sunday.

Jeremy Hill, RB New England vs Houston

Hill may be the most healthy back on the Patriots. Rex Burkhead is still limited. Sony Michel is questionable. James White is…well he’s probably a slot receiver. Jeremy Hill is the best bet as a solid contributor. Touchdown upside.

Jonathan Williams, RB New Orleans vs Tampa Bay

Remember when everyone freaked out that Williams was a surprise roster cut and everyone pivoted to Gillislee, who the Patriots dropped and the Saints picked up?

Yeah well…the Saints added Jonathan Williams back to their practice squad.

Oh, and they just promoted him to the roster. I don’t see how Gillislee was ever going to be ready to play Week 1 anyway. Williams can be everything we were thinking he may be in Ingram’s absense.

Dumb Starts

Kenneth Dixon, RB Baltimore vs Buffalo

Only because I think the coaches let him take over the 2nd half in a blow out because they want to see what he can do.

Kyle Juszczyk, RB San Francisco @ Minnesota

I don’t foresee this game going well for the 49ers’ defense. Which may lead to their offense needing to throw the ball to a running back that can catch.

So, that pretty much just leaves Juszcyk.

John Brown, WR Baltimore vs Buffalo

I’m only putting him in the Dumb Start section because he has disappointed us so many times before. But I could really see him being a solid flex in Week 1, and someone people are adding next week.