The Complete Guide to Fantasy Football for Beginners Part 6: The Waiver Wire

The waiver wire is a list of players that are not owned by any manager - you will also hear it referred to as free agency. Every team in the league will have the same roster limit, so the players who go undrafted will be sent immediately to the waiver wire. This may seem useless when the season starts (why would you want a player that nobody else drafted?) but finding hidden gems through free agency can actually win you the league. 

Every year, there are players that start the season undrafted who will go on to become superstars. The biggest examples of this in 2023 were WR Puka Nacua and RB Devon Achane. Nacua was an absolute elite receiver from start to finish, and finished among the likes of the best pass-catchers in the league. He was the WR4 overall and averaged 17.6 points, even though he started the season being left off almost every fantasy lineup. Achane struggled with injuries throughout the season, but when healthy he was one of the most dynamic offensive players you could find. He had the best single-game running back performance among all of fantasy in 2024 with 51.3 points in Week 3. Despite splitting carries with fellow back Raheem Mostert, Achane averaged 17 points and single-handedly won games for his fantasy owners.

There are hundreds of options to sign throughout the season, so it’s not easy to determine who will evolve into a star for your team. Also, some leagues have limits to how many players can be signed, so you don’t have unlimited chances. However, many fantasy leagues I won consistently using free agents, so I have experience in how to give you the best advice. 

Firstly, the biggest telltale sign to finding hidden gems is through injury. Yes, injuries are very detrimental and nobody ever wishes on a player to be hurt, but they can open up doors for new signings. Majority of waiver pickups are made because a starter was unavailable, which paved the way for unknown players to receive more volume and morph into stars. Puka Nacua, who I mentioned above, was only given the necessary targets and attention due to star receiver Cooper Kupp being sidelined. If a big-name player goes down, always look at who that team has to replace him in his position. If a star RB is set to miss a few weeks, it’s a safe bet to look at the backup rusher to see what he can provide. There’s a good chance he will take a step up in the offense and has upside worthy of being on your roster. 

Secondly, keep track of who is dropped in your league. Chances are, at least one manager throughout the season will drop a starting-caliber player after a few bad games, and you will be in the perfect position to swoop in and snag him before it’s too late. 

Thirdly, you need to drop a player if you want to sign a player. Signing a free agent is like hiring an employee, but you have to fire another worker to make space for this employee. In order to do this, you need to seriously weigh your options and judge if this new employee is worth replacing a worker. Fantasy football works the same way. If you want to cut a player and sign a new one, make sure it’s a fair trade off. The last thing you want to do is cut a player just for someone else to pick him up and watch him become a star (this has happened to me multiple times). 

But how do I sign a player if someone else wants him? Interesting question. The process to sign a free agent, like many other aspects of this game, can be different depending on which league you look at. The way I have played in the past depended on which teams were doing well and which teams were struggling. Everyone would make their respective claims to players, and those players wouldn’t be signed until Wednesday of each gameweek. If two managers claimed the same free agent, whichever manager was doing worse in the standings took priority. Each time you claimed a player, you would select someone already on your roster to drop if the claim went through. There are different systems for different leagues, so make sure to check your league policy on free agents before the season starts.