KEONI'S WAIVER WIRE PICKUP - WEEK 3
Justin Herbert - Los Angeles Chargers QB
One of the biggest themes of week two of this NFL season was, unfortunately, injuries. Although your season may look as bleak as the end of the Twilight Zone episode “Time Enough at Last,” there is still hope. Your broken glasses can be fixed, and that is where the magic of the waiver wire comes in. It has the enticing, mystic aura of the arc of the covenant, but the beautiful thing about the waiver wire is that you can peruse it to your hearts content without any fear of face melting. It’s also not locked away in some giant warehouse gathering dust and whispered stories of its existence; quite the opposite actually in that it’s very accessible and seconds or thirds are highly welcomed at its buffet of players.
My pickup for this week is Los Angeles Chargers rookie quarterback and first round pick, Justin Herbert. I am very aware of Anthony Lynn’s stance of who the starting quarterback will be, but regardless of what happens, I am going to explain why Herbert should be picked up. Going back to the theme of week two, one of those numerous “injuries” was Tyrod Taylor. I put injuries in quotations because he was out of the game due to chest pains, but it’s unsure if that will be the case moving forward. His status to play is about as up in the air as, well, George Clooney in “Up in the Air.” As I mentioned earlier, one of the biggest and essentially only obstacles to Herbert starting is Anthony Lynn and his being adamant that Taylor is the starter. This may be a deal breaker for some, but it’s time to strike while the iron is hot. Even if Herbert doesn’t start right away, I cannot fathom a world in which Taylor is the starter for the rest of the season. Herbert is going to get back on the field, sooner than later most likely, and when he does, you will have made the smart move and got him before anyone else did. While everyone else was playing checkers, you pulled a Bobby Fischer and planned many moves ahead. In my opinion, Taylor is a journeyman who sticks around until the team gets their “guy” and Herbert showed that he could be the Charger’s guy. Much like a young George Washington, the numbers never lie so I’m going to break down the difference between Taylor and Herbert’s performances to show why he should be picked up.
In week one, Taylor had 16 completions for 208 yards and threw zero touchdowns. He did throw zero interceptions but only had a passer rating of 24.6. This resulted in around 8 fantasy points for the quarterback which is more like good kicker numbers than anything else. On the other hand, Herbert outperformed Taylor is nearly every aspect of his game except for a single interception. Other than that, Herbert had 22 completions for 311 yards and a passing touchdown. He also ran for 18 yards and a rushing touchdown. This all led to a passer rating of 75.9 and around 25 fantasy points from the young quarterback. He did all of this against the defending Superbowl champs, whereas Taylor lucked into a win against the 0-2 Bengals. Herbert is only owned in 2.5% of leagues, so you should be one of the people to make that number go higher by taking him off the waiver wire this week.
