Fantasy Football FAAB Report Week 1: Should You Add Gus Edwards, Marvin Mims?

Welcome to my weekly FAAB report article for Fantasy Football. Every week I am going to go over my favorite additions in both shallower leagues and deeper leagues and tell you how much FAAB you should be spending and why. Of course, the season hasn’t begun yet, but many leagues do run their first FAAB prior to the first game of the week, so I wanted to give everyone a jump start on their FAAB bidding.

Get ready for your last fantasy football drafts of the season! Practice Mock Drafts, check out ADPs, grab our fantasy football rankings, and get advice for trades with our trade analyzer.

Best Fantasy Football FAAB Pickups for Shallow Leagues (10 and 12 Teams)

QB Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers

Until recently, there were questions about whether Purdy would be the starting QB this season for the 49ers. Even with his incredible stretch for them in 2022, Trey Lance was still an option to get the job. With the recent trade of Lance to the Cowboys, the 49ers have made it clear that Purdy is their guy. If his success last season in this offense is any indication, Purdy should be a top-20 fantasy QB this season, making him a QB2 in most leagues. I would feel comfortable spending 3-5% of my budget on him if you lack a good second QB in a 1-QB format and up to 10% of my budget in a Superflex league.

RB Zach Charbonnet, Seattle Seahawks

Charbonnet may have gone undrafted in shallower leagues because Kenneth Walker is expected to be the RB1 in Seattle. Walker being the “RB1” doesn’t mean he will be getting 75% or more of the touches though. Walker hasn’t proven that he can be a three-down back in the NFL, battled injuries last year and it’s actually Charbonnet who is the bigger, stronger back and profiles more as a three-down option. There should be close to a 50/50 split in touches between the two, and that makes Charbonnet just as valuable as Walker. An injury to Walker could move Charbonnet into top-15 RB status and you definitely don’t want to have to pay that price in FAAB should Walker suffer an injury. You can get Charbonnet for 5% or less of your FAAB budget this week rather than having to pay 25-30% of your budget for him in a couple of weeks. Until bye weeks begin, you can afford to have a stash or two on your bench and this kid is an excellent stash.

WR Marvin Mims Jr., Denver Broncos

The Broncos drafted Mims with the idea that he would be their WR3 or even WR4 this season. He has drawn comparisons to Tyler Lockett who of course had tremendous success in Seattle with Russell Wilson, and the belief is that Mims will fit in well with the Broncos offense because of it. If you drafted early, Mims went undrafted in your shallow leagues, however now that Tim Patrick is out for the season and Jerry Jeudy is nursing an injury, Mims’ role and target share in the offense is going to increase. Even if it’s only short-term while Jeudy is out, this is a situation you want to take advantage of, so don’t be afraid to drop 5-7% of your FAAB budget.

WR Joshua Palmer, Los Angeles Chargers

This is more of a 12-team league addition. Palmer likely needs an injury to one of Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, or Quentin Johnston to become valuable, although there are reports that he is currently running ahead of Johnston as the Chargers' WR3. With the injury history of Allen and Williams specifically, it may not take more than one game for his role to expand. Pick up Palmer now for one or two dollars worth of FAAB, because if an injury does strike, the price tag will become much higher next week.

Best Fantasy Football FAAB Pickups for Deep Leagues (14 and 16 Teams)

RB Gus Edwards, Baltimore Ravens

In deeper leagues, sometimes it can be hard to find capable RBs as the season progresses. Although right now Edwards is more of a stash, he is the primary backup to J.K. Dobbins in Baltimore. Dobbins has continuously missed time due to injury and, if it happens again, Edwards immediately becomes a solid RB2 in fantasy thanks to his skill set and also the Lamar Jackson-led offense the Ravens have. He should be rostered in the deeper formats, especially if you invested a high pick in Dobbins and need insurance. You should only need to drop around 10 dollars of FAAB on him if he went undrafted in your league.

WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Kansas City Chiefs

I was surprised to see MVS available in my deeper leagues. I understand that he has never been exciting or even all that reliable, but he is still on the Chiefs, playing with the best QB in football. He will be on the field a lot because he is a good blocker, he is the most experienced WR on the roster, and he can beat the defense deep because the safeties have to worry about Travis Kelce. MVS won’t be consistent, but in deeper formats, having a guy who you know will be on the field and can put up a big game because of Mahomes can be useful. I like his matchup in Week 1 against the Lions on TNF and would spend 10-15 dollars in FAAB to get him.

WR Josh Downs, Indianapolis Colts

Downs has been playing with the first-team offense quite a bit in the preseason and reports suggest that he has been heavily involved with them throughout training camp as well. He doesn’t have much competition for targets in Indy with Michael Pittman being the only truly established WR on the roster. The Colts are a team that is expected to be playing from behind a lot this season, which means they will be throwing the football later in games and he should be one of the main beneficiaries of that while working in the slot. He is worth taking a risk on now before he has a big game and the rest of your league jumps on him.