Stay away from the desperation trades. The panicking of teams trying to get into fantasy football playoffs is causing plenty of athletes to be dropped everyday on the waiver wire. We recently heard from a reader that they scooped up Larry Johnson last week on the waiver wire. The owner that dropped Johnson was either the worst team in the league or an owner overanalyzing their week to week match ups. Keep your poise and you’ll catch the right breaks to get your team in he playoffs.

Quarterbacks

Marc Bulger
Bulger is about a week away from returning to the lineup. Since he has been away the Rams have incorporated a running game. That’ll alleviate the extra hits and even give Bulger extra time in the pocket to hit his big play receivers. The Rams are getting healthy just in time to try to make a run for a wild card. Bulger will have weapons Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce, as they’re coming back this week.

Brooks Bollinger
The Jets will take their chances with Bollinger. After Vinny Testaverde showed that he isn’t capable of leading the Jets anymore. Bollinger’s value in fantasy leagues is merely a bench roster spot. Every league should have a solid quarterback and since byes are over after this week, you should be able to ride your starter the rest of the year. The only time Bollinger may have value is toward the fantasy playoffs. The Jets will likely be out of contention and want to test Bollinger completely. That means lots of passes against teams in the AFC that’ll be resting their starters if they’ve clinched a playoff birth.

Billy Volek
The time has come for the Titans to move on from McNair. McNair is the type of veteran quarterback stuck on a team that he can’t help because they’re too far away from being a contender. The Titans need to ride Volek and build their youth towards the future. Head coach Jeff Fisher won’t pull his starter since 1995, but the front office will. Don’t expect Jeff Fisher or Steve McNair to be on the Titans sideline next season. Their great careers with their organization has timed out.

Running Backs

Duce Staley
Staley averaged over five yards a carry last week. When he first appeared on the field we thought that he was Jerome Bettis for a minute. Staley has gained obvious weight. His time off from injury doesn’t appear to be hurting him. Staley has fresh legs and at his size will be able to be more nimbler than Bettis, even with the weight. The crowded backfield is Staley’s for the time being, as Willie Parker and Jerome Bettis try to get back to 100 percent.

Greg Jones or Alvin Pearman
Fred Taylor’s season may be in jeopardy. Even if it isn’t, Taylor’s injury woes won’t go anywhere. A lot of people like to rag on Taylor for his constant attraction to injuries, but give the guy credit. Year in and year out he plays. This season he probably shouldn’t have came back so quickly from his off-season knee surgery. He played through the pain though and had a few big games. Now the Jaguars will use both Greg Jones and Alvin Pearman in selective spots. It’ll be hard to tell who will get more carries, but look for Jones to have more value because the Jaguars will bring him in around the goal line.

Julius Jones
Jones has practiced two weeks in a row, and will try to get back in the thick of things. The Cowboys have been fine without him, and may take it easy with him the rest of the season to prevent further injury. It seems every time the Cowboys bulk up on his carries he gets hurt. With Marion Barber and Tyson Thompson playing above anticipated, the Cowboys will likely share the load with everyone. Why risk the durability of Jones when there is no need to? That’ll hurt Jones value a bit, but add to his big play ability. He gets chunks of yards whenever he wants, and being fresh all the time will help him in that phase.

Sam Gado
The Packers have dropped running backs worse than Pee Wee Herman with pants. Gado now is living the life of a starter. Brett Favre needs something from Gado to get the Packers some life. Their team isn’t that bad. Even though they keep losing they’re staying in every game. The division may be a game away from being out of reach, but don’t count them out yet. Detroit and Minnesota aren’t better than Green Bay, and who can trust Chicago?

Michael Bennett
It’s a mystery to why the Vikings use Bennett so rarely. Every time he gets touches he has a nice game. After last week maybe the Vikings will finally pay attention to what Bennett can bring compared to the rest of the Vikings backs. He is a great back for a quarterback like Brad Johnson to have. A solid screen alternative and a back who will keep the defense honest.

Wide Receivers

Terrell Owens
His season is presumably over at this state. His back and forth saga with Philadelphia may have come to an end, but the Eagles have no right to end his season. He’ll likely win his case and the Eagles with either deal with him or cut him. So if he is on any waiver wire pick him up immediately.

Isaac Bruce
It’s been rocky for Bruce this season. People will question if he still has it, and that won’t last for long. He just suffered a bit from an injury. Due to the great play of Kevin Curtis and other St. Louis receivers he didn’t have to rush back. That will help Bruce in the immediate future and allow the Rams to spread teams out in four wide receiver sets.

Robert Ferguson
Favre could use Ferguson. He gets open a lot, and Favre needs that presence on the field. The two things that have prevented Ferguson from getting noticed in the league are dropped passes and injuries.

Mike Williams
He may be another week or even two from returning. Detroit is going to expand the offense in the second half of the season. They need to spring Kevin Jones loose, and that’s not going to happen until the passing game opens up. They’ll try again to get their young receivers involved. The question is who will be the quarterback?

Darrell Jackson
Surprisingly the Seahawks have been able to live off of Joe Jurevicious. The drawing board of the Seahawks offense is back to the old form of running away with Shaun Alexander. That’s been working to plan, but the Seahawks will slump soon if they can’t get the air attack going. Jackson’s return in the next week or two should keep that from happening.

Tight Ends

Michael Gaines
With Kris Magnum banged up, Gaines steps into Jake Delhomme’s target zone. We all know that Delhomme has been struck with hypnotism in Steve Smith’s direction, but Gaines should be able to draw Delhomme’s attention on five to seven plays.

Another star quarterback is out for the year. Not just an ordinary star. A quarterback many of you wasted a first round pick on. What can you do to scramble your season back together?

Quarterbacks

Brad Johnson
Off the field goes Culpepper and in comes Johnson. Johnson has had a tough career. From being a backup before to starting for quite some time, including a Pro Bowl Super Bowl year. He fell off with Tampa Bay, and was settling as a Vikings backup. This is his chance to show something once again. The Vikings are buried deep in their division, but it would only take one hot streak to start for that to disappear. If Johnson can be a leader than there is no doubt this team should sneak into the playoffs.

Kurt Warner
Another bad performance by McCown seemingly leaves the door wide open for Warner to step in. Warner is a veteran and fully capable of performing better than McCown. The only downside is the Cardinals have no running game whatsoever.

Kyle Orton
Orton is the type of quarterback that doesn’t make mistakes. He plays within what the Bears tell him to do, and that has allowed his confidence to soar. While Orton may never be a huge fantasy guy, he may become steady enough to start. Just take a look at how Orton plays over the next few weeks. For now though snatch him up as your fantasy backup.

Running Backs

Ricky Williams
Williams finally showed something more than hype to build upon. Both Williams and Brown had great days. Expecting more of that is the only way Miami can get themselves in playoff position. Williams has ran tough and the carries are coming his way.

Travis Henry
He is back and maybe he can use some of his talent on the field. After becoming a Pro Bowl caliber back a few years ago, Henry has came down quicker than a brick tossed from a building. We’ll all see if his mind and devotion to football is still there as the rest of the season goes on.

Derrick Ward
Ward got thirteen carries for the Giants last week against the skins. The Giants run the ball a lot, and of course are centered around Tiki Barber. Brandon Jacobs is the physical goal line back, while Ward is just the change of pace resting back for Tiki.

Wide Receivers

Matt Jones
Jones is getting the looks from Leftwich. For once it looks like there will be more than one receiver on the Jaguars roster. Jones has made the conversion over to receiver better than most expected. He’ll gradually get better. Before we know it he’ll be Leftwich’s main target once Jimmy Smith exits the game.

Brandon Lloyd
We’re sure plenty of owners have let Lloyd go because of the 49ers passing woes. In the first four games of the season (before Rattay was benched), Lloyd was off to a great year. It once again shows that without a solid quarterback a whole team will suffer. Hopefully the 49ers can get something going with their passing game, as their running game and defense has stepped up. If that can happen Lloyd would be a steal of the waiver wire.

Justin Gage
Gage’s value is boosting up every week. As Orton’s confidence grows, more coverage will be put on big play receiver Mushin Muhammed. That leaves Gage open to find holes in the secondary, and an easy target for Orton.

It’s crunch time. If you’re hovering around the .500 mark, it’s make or break. A nice winning streak now could catapult you to the playoffs. An average or slump will leave you questioning your managing skills all season long. If you need that extra boost to your team, here are some athletes to look at on the waiver wire.

Quarterbacks

Jeff Garcia
He didn’t show much in his first start stat wise to be a fantasy football starter. Garcia can only get better as he was rushed a bit early to comeback. His body will get back to 100 percent along with his mental and conditioning strengths. Once that happens he should have some of his receivers back. Garcia may not look like a fantasy starter for the next month, but he could be one of the hottest quarterbacks come fantasy playoff time.

Daunte Culpepper
Yes, there were many owners that were too distraught to keep Culpepper on their team. They wasted a first round pick on him, and saw him put up one decent game. He still has a long ways to go (6 td’s to 12 int’s), but the chance of him revitalizing his season is higher than a continued downfall. A collapsing hole can only collapse so much. Culpepper brought his team back from the dead last week, and can now get them on a roll. As long as he stays patient and the Vikings use Mewelde Moore, Culpepper’s numbers should get back to a equal level.

Brooks Bollinger
The Jets had a win in their back pockets if they would have started Bollinger against the Falcons. He was a totally different quarterback off the bench, and maybe that was the reason for his solid fourth quarter. The Jets need to let go of their love affair with Vinny Testaverde. He may be keeping himself in shape all the time by lifting weights, but his legs and body can’t keep up. Nor can his arm as he left if flailing on many hits that caused the football to be jarred out with ease. Any other quarterback would have been benched, but the Jets still feel like Testaverde gives them a better chance to win. It looks like their in disbelief that Testaverde can have a duplicating type of performance. Well, maybe they never watched Testaverde last year with the Dallas Cowboys.

Kurt Warner
Dennis Green was a second away from yanking Josh McCown last week for Kurt Warner. Green is in a tussle on who to start, and only went with McCown because he had the hot hand. The hand went cold against the Titans last week, and almost froze. Green already has a trigger mind for pulling McCown, and the Cardinals didn’t pay Kurt Warner three million for nothing. In all likelihood the Cardinals are going to test both quarterbacks out for he remaining games. Both have one year deals. Either one will be retained or both will be let go.

Running Backs

JJ Arrington or Marcel Shipp
It’s strange to see an entire squad of running backs that get carries not on a fantasy roster. Well, Shipp and Arrington have made a new exception to that. It hasn’t been their fault though. Arizona gives the running game a try like the snow does falling in the valley of the sun. Add to that the offensive line is still trying to come together. Those pieces could be missing all year, or could come together on any week. If you have room, adding Arrington or Shipp would be smart. Just like Garcia, both will have high value around fantasy playoff time.

Artose Pinner
Both Pinner and Shawn Bryson have been getting a fair amount of carries suddenly. The Lions are either saving Kevin Jones for a late season run, or just want to have more of a crop of backs carrying the load. Both Pinner and Bryson have been fairly impressive, but Pinner would likely get more carries if Jones went down. Basically adding Pinner or Bryson would be looking hypothetically into an injury of Kevin Jones.

Tony Fisher

With Ahman Green and Najeh Davenport out for the season, Fisher will get the opportunity of a third string running back’s dream. The same dream that Nick Goings had a chance with last season and capitalized on. Fisher isn’t a back that doesn’t have much experience. He has been part of the Packers system for awhile, and should fill in with decent numbers.

Wide Receivers

Amani Toomer
For the first time in awhile, Toomer had a fantasy impact on Sunday. With Eli throwing more and with more confidence, Toomer’s last week shouldn’t be a fluke. Especially with the way Plaxico Burress is starting to draw double teams. Toomer is a veteran that still has the talent to warrant starting as a third wide receiver in fantasy leagues.

Az Hakim
Hakim is becoming Aaron Brooks favorite weapon with Joe Horn injured. He has had a fabulous month, and has done so quietly. For the second year in a row he has put up decent numbers when the opportunity has presented itself. Maybe the Saints will look into using more three wide receiver sets with Horn back. Hakim deserves to be on the field, as he is a hard receiver to cover.

Antonio Chatman
Favre has gone his way on occasion before the injury bug hit the Packers receivers. Now that’ll rise with a field of receivers that looks ugly besides Donald Driver. One thing we all know, is that Green Bay will be throwing a lot. Chatman has to be the target and hopefully the receptor of some of those throws.

Koren Robinson
The best story of last week was Koren Robinson. Here is a guy that drove himself out of Seattle, and now is the return specialist for the Vikings. Every kickoff he ran he had stellar returns, and was one man away from having a touchdown. It’s only a matter of time, that Robinson will be worked in as a threat at wide receiver. Travis Taylor and Marcus Robinson can’t compare to Koren Robinson’s raw talents.

Eric Parker
He did fumble away the game for the Chargers, but over the past few weeks he has finally been sighted in the Chargers offense. Drew Brees use to look his way a handful of times, if that, during a game. Teams are gearing more and more attention towards shutting down Antonio Gates, and it’s starting to cause Drew Brees to finally look elsewhere to throw the ball.

Who has the scooper ready? It’s time to put it to work.

Quarterbacks

Chris Simms
Don’t get jumpy on Tim Rattay, yet. He is just insurance in case the unexpected happens to Simms. Simms came in against Miami and delivered some nice throws and kept drives a live when needed. He’ll go through his normal struggles, but being a lefty usually helps out quarterbacks. Simms needs to learn quick, as the Buccaneers are poised for the playoffs.

Jeff Garcia
Watch Harrington finally have a nice game, now that Garcia is about ready to return. It’s just a matter of time before Garcia snatches the job away from Harrington. He has played horrible in every game this season, which is unheard of for an NFL starting quarterback.

Mark Brunell
Brunell is turning into his old school self, with monster passing games. He has developed a nice connection with Santana Moss, and is doing what was expected of him last season. The veteran will need to stay away from injury to lead this team for an entire year.

Jamie Martin
With Bulger out three weeks, this is a great chance to get some productive points for a few weeks from a no name. It depends how bad you’re hurting with your quarterbacks, but Martin should do fine. He was 17 of 21 on MNF with two bad picks. He seemed to never click in the second half like he did in the remaining of the first. Martin’s been in the system for quite awhile and just wasn’t ready to step on the field last Monday.

Running Backs

Chris Brown
A few weeks ago Brown had drifted to waiver wire lists. Now he is worthy of being picked back up after two solid weeks. Before that Brown was playing poorly and looked like he was having second year woes. Travis Henry is due back, so the tandem will be rolling once again. Still, Brown is a straight up runner that can get the job done.

Chester Taylor
Every week his limited carries seem to out do Jamal Lewis. It can’t be a coincidence every week. Either Jamal Lewis is playing hurt, or someone has stepped over him. Taylor is looking more and more like he’ll be the Ravens starting running back next season.

Greg Jones
James Stewart filled in Fred Taylor’s role on more than one occasion when in Jacksonville, and now it’s Jones turn. When Fred Taylor is out for a length of time it can turn into weeks on top of weeks. Jones is a hard runner that will get in the end zone. One thing about Jacksonville is they always run the ball steadily.

Wide Receivers

Doug Gabriel
Moss’s groin injury may turn to be a nagging problem, even if he tries to play this week. Gabriel seems to always be one break away from showing his talents. He played fantastic in preseason in a bigger role, and has done well during spot chances this year.

Az Hakim
One second he is gone and then he’ll show up. He fills the third receiver role nicely. He had a few monster games when he was a Ram in that role. With Deuce out for the year, Brooks’s arm is likely to be throwing an extra five to ten passes a game. That’s enough balls for Joe Horn, Stallworth, and Hakim to get catches.

Peerless Price
The Cowboys lost a big time young receiver in Patrick Crayton. Price now will try to fill in and up the value of the third receiver spot. No one really knows where Price is at in his career, as far as talent left. He was a potential super star a few years ago, and has battled some injuries since being cut by the Falcons. If he can return to form, he will thrive in the third wide receiver role.

Deuce is out for the year, so common sense would be to scoop up Aaron Stecker or Antowain Smith. With the way the Saints have been playing, that may just be a wasted roster spot. Who else is worth considering this week?

Quarterbacks

Kyle Boller
Boller’s return is eminent. Anthony Wright has been way off the page the Ravens expected. Boller may not do any better, but at least there is hope. The Ravens season rides on how effective Boller is when he returns.

Byron Leftwich
A lot of leagues have Leftwich available, which makes no sense. He is battling injuries similar to McNabb. The offense never seems to light it up, but Leftwich is effective enough to be on fantasy rosters. If Matt Jones or Reggie Williams emerge before the end of the year, than Leftwich will be a solid starter.

Billy Volek
It’s approaching the danger zone for the Titans. Steve McNair has played alright, but there will become a time where the Titans have to make the decision. The future of their team involves Volek’s arm. He throws it deep probably as much as Marc Bulger, which is great for fantasy team.

Josh McCown
The validity of McCown over Warner is obvious. Both have one year contracts, and Warner’s age automatically pushes him out. Plain and simple. Also, McCown has played better within the offense. If there is any hope for the Cardinals to turn around their season, it’ll be because of McCown. All of that will have to be accomplished without a running game.

Running Backs

Aaron Stecker or Antowain Smith
Will the Saints scramble to live on Brooks arm, or try to fit one of these backs in? Both Stecker and Smith have started plenty of games in their career. They’ll likely split carries, which will make the Saints running back fantasy value a difficult choice.

Tatum Bell
His two long runs are worthy of taking another chance on Bell. Still, he split the exact amount of carries almost as Mike Anderson. It’s either one or the other that has the hot hand on a giving week. For the first time it looks like Mike Shanahan doesn’t want to ride one back.

Cedric Houston
With Derrick Blaylock out for the year and Curtis Martin battling veteran injuries, the opportunity for Houston is opening. He’ll now start to get five to seven carries, and anything past that is on Martin’s knees.

Wide Receivers

Antonio Bryant
Bryant is emerging rapidly as one of the best young receivers in the league. He is similar to Chad Johnson with his abilities, and has been making Trent Dilfer look like a Browns savior. Now that he is settled in with a team, Bryant will only continue to develop year by year.

Joe Jurevicious
For at least a month he has high fantasy value.. Peter Warrick is still learning the offense and Hasselbeck seems to have an easy going chemistry with Jureviciou. He is also a big target like Jeramy Stevens and get chances with his body leverage and height to make end zone plays.

Eric Parker
McCardell is hardly involved-with a few catches a game- while Parker has been dangling amongst the Chargers lineup since he entered the league. He is an alright receiver, that needs more looks by Brees. If you have McCardell it’d be better to swap for Parker.

The waiver wire is opening up for those in need. In fact it’s likely at one of its peak levels for snatching players. If you have one or two bench warmers that you wouldn’t even consider inserting, than maybe now is the time to get rid of him.

Quarterbacks

Eli Manning
In the majority of leagues Manning went undrafted. Now he could turn around someone’s fantasy season that wound up with a questionable quarterback. The Giants are ringing up points every week, and it has a lot to do with Manning’s progressions in the off season. Manning may not keep up his great pace, but he’ll finish the rest of the year nicely.

Alex Smith
With Rattay being pushed to the bench, it’s Smith’s chance to showcase himself. Like the majority of rookie’s, he is going to likely struggle. Simply put, Smith will be a week to week project. Whether that project is fantasy worthy or not is up in the air. Rattay surprised people and was a legit consideration. If Smith can’t duplicate what Rattay left, than the wrong quarterback is out there.

Kelly Holcomb
Probably a great starter for three to four games. He is magical when the transition of being a backup to a starter occurs. He did it multiple times with Cleveland. Once he is handed the job officially as a starter though, is when the problems begin.

Running Backs

Chester Taylor
Jamal Lewis is off to a sloppy year, mainly due to the Ravens passing game. That use to never be an excuse for Lewis though.

Kevan Barlow
The 49ers seem to not give up on him. Last week they used Frank Gore less and when they did he fumbled. His fantasy value may have dropped even more with Smith being named starter, but he is a starting back.

Wide Receivers

Dante Hall
Last week he pulled a double whammy for leagues that give points for return yardage. Added with his okay receiving day and a touchdown as well, it was an above average game for Hall. Hall should creep up in the Chiefs passing department with his versatility.

Shaun McDonald
The time was coming for McDonald, and we almost posted McDonald up last week in the waiver wire. He left ASU as a junior, and that hurt his value on draft day. With Bulger airing it out so much, there is enough balls for all four of St. Louis’s major receivers. McDonald stood out last week, and did occasionally last season. Before long he may be the receiver teaming up with Torry Holt.

Eddie Kennison
For the amount of points the Chiefs usually score, it’s amazing that the Chiefs receivers seem to never be involved. The offense is so heavy on the rush and Tony Gonzalez, that the receivers rarely have big games. Kennison has looked alright thus far this season, but still may not be the answer as the number one receiver.

Tight Ends

Bob Scaife
The Titans are attacking with their tight ends, and Scaife is proving to be a valid option as fantasy tight end. If Drew Bennett and the Titans receivers can’t do it, might as well get all three tight ends the ball.