Branden Oliver (RB, SD) - Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues

 4% owned on Fleaflicker

ANALYSIS: By now you’re probably sick of hearing about all the injures to the Chargers backfield. Ryan Mathews is dealing with an ankle injury and Danny Woodhead is unfortunately out for the year. That left us all with Donald Brown, whom many experts rushed to tell you to pick up. Brown has been solid as the feature back for the Chargers, but he’s never been the feature back before. The most carries he’s had in a season has been 134, which means some of those carries will have to go elsewhere.

Mathews will return from his ankle injury eventually, but in the mean time you should take a look at Branden Oliver.  He’s not really built to be a feature back either, as he profiles similarly to another PPR star, one Justin Forsett, but like Forsett I could see him carving out a passing down role for himself.  His 9 rushes for 23 yards on Sunday were nothing special, but his 4 catches for 33 yards would help anyone in a PPR league. That’s a very tidy 8.3 yards per reception average.

Mathews is due back relatively soon and the Chargers face the Jets this week, who have probably the toughest run defense in the league, so this may not be the week to fire up Oliver. If you’re feeling lucky, you could definitely do worse in deep leagues.