9 Fantasy Football Stash Candidates Ahead of Week 2

Sep 15, 2026

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Week 1 always produces a few box-score heroes who immediately fly to the top of waiver-wire lists, but some of the more interesting developments happen a little further below the surface. Playing time shifts, injuries, unexpectedly condensed rotations, and rookies getting meaningful opportunities can give us a chance to get ahead of next week’s pickups before they become expensive.

With only one game in the books, we obviously don’t want to treat every Week 1 usage rate as the new normal. Still, there are enough intriguing data points to start filling the back end of our benches with players whose roles could expand quickly.

Editor's Note: Check out the Week 2 Waiver Wire Watch!

Raheim Sanders, RB - Browns (0%)

The Dylan Sampson early-game injury gives us one of the cleaner stash opportunities on the board this week, as the running back is expected to miss “significant time” with his knee injury and should clear the way for Raheim Sanders to see a larger piece of the Cleveland backfield.

Sanders wasn’t merely hanging around for garbage-time carries in Week 1, either. He played 30.6% of the offensive snaps, ran a route on roughly 40% of Cleveland’s dropbacks, and earned three targets for a 13.6% target share. That passing-game involvement is particularly interesting for a player sitting on essentially zero fantasy rosters.

It’s too early to pencil him in for a fantasy-relevant workload right away, but assuming the team doesn’t add a veteran name off the free-agent heap, the player directly blocking him from more opportunities is now sidelined. That makes Sanders an easy speculative running back to sit on the end of a bench until we know what the expanded role looks like.