Most common players on eliminated teams from Week 1 in Yahoo Fantasy Death leagues — plus FAB waiver wire advice

Every week I'll examine the most common NFL players on the teams eliminated in Yahoo Death Leagues, trying to figure out where the puck is headed. I will also offer some FAB advice ($1,000 cap is the Yahoo default), but please remember this area is highly context-sensitive and manager-specific.

If you're new to this format, it's critical to understand that waiver strategy is significantly different in the world of Death Leagues.

You can often win a traditional fantasy league with modest help from the waiver wire, maybe a timely pickup or two. Sure, it's great if you crush the market and land the right guys — the best managers will always aim to be smart on the wire — but if your drafted team stays healthy and runs pure, some years that might be enough.

Immediate needs vs. playing the long game

In Death Leagues, the eventual winning manager will have assembled a MONSTER team at the end of the year, a juggernaut, a Pro Bowl-type of roster. And the way you build that beast is usually by having resources all season — not by using the majority of your FAB on a tantalizing early star. It's pivotal that you understand that the waiver wire should get stronger and stronger every week in Death leagues, because the eliminated manager is coming from a smaller and smaller league size every week.

Unless you have a draft touched by the fantasy angels, you are unlikely to win a Death League without a successful and careful waiver-wire strategy.

My Death League strategy is centered on the concept that I like my squad early in the year and I am confident I can beat at least one team per week while the field of opponents is large. Therefore, while I will dip my toes into the FAB market in the first quarter of the season, my primary goal is to keep major reserves in play for later in the year, when bye weeks hit and injuries are more prevalent — and the pool of opponents is smaller (so advancing is harder, in theory). Again, I urge you to remember: the waiver wire in Death Leagues gets stronger as the year gets deeper, a key reason to be judicious with your resources.

Not everyone will share my strategy, of course. If you want to chase major improvements and use the bulk of your FAB to load up quickly, then shoot your shot. Play the strategy you're comfortable with. Just understand that my recommendations are predicated on being careful early, and if you prefer something more aggressive, you'll have to jump the numbers up. You know your room better than an outsider does.

I will offer weekly FAB recommendations in three buckets:

Proactive : This means you highly covet this player, perhaps might even need this player. I realize these offers might not win if someone in your league is lighting money on fire, but as described above, that's often a short-sighted mistake in this format.

Reactive : This means you desire the player but the offer has to make sense for your short- or long-term strategy.

Keep Them Honest : This is an offer that is not designed to win, but might surprisingly land a player if your opponents are distracted by other talent available or unexpectedly passive that week. I often compare notes with other experienced Death League players and we're surprised at how often the Keep Them Honest offers actually win (this is also a portable strategy for regular season-long leagues; you never know when strange market behavior will come about).

One last note: understand that the FAB recommendations are with the assumption that you won't be making offers for every available player.

10 most common players on eliminated teams

We've seen this story before — Chase had a similar no-show in Week 1 last year, despite playing almost all of the snaps. It's probably a Bengals problem more than a Chase problem. No reason to change our view of the player.

Did Sean Payton make a mistake giving the play-calling duties to first-time coordinator Davis Webb? Waddle had a 1-2-0 nightmare at Kansas City, and perhaps most alarming, had just two targets. Sometimes it takes time for players to adjust to new surroundings, I suppose.

It was a nightmare show in Kansas City, and most of the early schedule is challenging. Nix also showed little as a runner Monday night, which hurts his floor.

He had the backfield essentially to himself, though Josh Allen did steal two rushing touchdowns. Houston was a tough assignment; Detroit on Thursday is an easier draw. Cook retains his set-and-forget status.

He was open for a long touchdown, but Drake Maye underthrew the pass. Brown later suffered a high ankle sprain, likely to cost him six weeks. Death Leagues are all about right now, so Brown offers must be tempered.

It was a pesky and sluggish opener (just 28 yards, one drop), though the Dallas defense didn't help the cause (the Giants ran all over the unit). Better days are ahead for a Dallas offense tied to a star QB and a tight target tree.

The Seahawks confused him and forced him into multiple mistakes, though the loss of A.J. Brown didn't help. Without Brown for a month or more — and with Kayshon Boutte out of the building — Maye might drop a tier in fantasy value for now.

Everything about their no-show in Australia deserves a pass, given how removed from routine the assignment was. Stafford offers no rushing juice and he was always facing regression this year, but he remains a stable option. Of course, QB is especially deep this season.

The Cooper Rush experience was a death knell for the Atlanta passing game. We're so desperate in Atlanta that we're praying Michael Penix Jr. can eventually become the QB savior.

It was shocking to see his bagel against Carolina, but this will likely be one of the flukes of the season. Loveland deserves our patience, and an aggressive FAB offer. He's still tied to a rising star QB and an exciting play-caller.