NUVI Alumni 2026
Team Whitehead · 0–1 · $88 FAAB remaining · roster full at 14/14 · Week 2 vs. Bijan Mustard
Generated Tuesday, September 15, 2026, 2:20pm MT · all Week 1 games final · league data pulled live from the ESPN API · Week 2 opens Thursday, BUF vs. DET, 6:15pm MT
Justin lost 132.16–118.06 after Kenneth Walker III put up 34.1 on Monday night. The lineup wasn't the problem. Allen, Taylor and Flowers produced 86.8 combined, and the bench had nothing better to offer. The issues below are about roster construction, not start/sit.
| Player | Week 1 | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| George Kittle (TE) | 30 of 65 snaps (46%), 36% of routes, 2-12 on 5 targets | On a deliberate snap count eight months after his Achilles tear, not a new injury. All five targets came on or right after the opening drive. Expect about half the snaps again against Miami. |
| Kaleb Johnson (RB) | 0 offensive snaps; 2 special-teams snaps returning kicks | He was active and healthy, and still buried. Chris Brooks (38 snaps) and MarShawn Lloyd (30) had the backfield to themselves. |
| Zay Flowers (WR) | 5-150-1 in about 25 minutes, then sat the second half | Aggravated a hamstring on the 54-yard touchdown. The coach calls it day-to-day and "feel pretty good about where that's at," but he's questionable for Week 2. |
| Brian Thomas Jr. (WR) | 3-40 on 3 targets, 14 routes | Left shoulder. Limited in practice, but the coach "fully imagines" him playing at Denver. |
| Rome Odunze (WR) | 36 of 75 snaps (48%), 2-52 | A calf-related snap count, expected to rise. |
| Terry McLaurin (WR) | 2-14 on 4 targets, 35 routes | No injury. 22 of his routes came against Philadelphia's top two corners. It was a matchup dud, not a role change. |
| Jameson Williams (WR) | 4-45 on 9 targets, 90% route share, 23% target share | Usage ranked 8th among WRs in expected PPR points, but three drops cost him. Buy the role. |
| J.K. Dobbins (RB) | 19 snaps, 8-36 rushing, 0 targets | Early-down half of a split with RJ Harvey, and Denver ran only 47 plays in a 31-10 loss. A thin RB3. |
| Jayden Reed (WR) | 57% of snaps, 3-20 on 7 targets | Third in Green Bay targets behind Matthew Golden (12) and Christian Watson (8). |
| KC Concepcion (WR) | 4-43 on 5 targets plus 3-15 rushing | Led Cleveland in targets on only 17 routes, and lost a fumble. |
No FAAB dollar has been spent in NUVI Alumni since September 1. The full history is still three bids:
| Date | Team | Player | Bid | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 1 | Team Whitehead | Kaleb Johnson (RB) | $11 | Won, sole bidder |
| Sep 1 | Team Whitehead | DJ Giddens (RB) | $1 | Won |
| Sep 1 | Breaking Burrow | Jalen McMillan (WR) | $1 | Won |
Since those bids there have been eleven $0 free-agent adds: four by Bijan Mustard, two by Team Stowell, and one each by Breaking Burrow, Carvalho, Jensen, Lackey and Whitehead. There has been exactly one new waiver claim. This morning Bijan Mustard had a claim in for Bryce Young (dropping Kyler Murray), cancelled it at 9:55am, and at 10:01am moved Murray into the starting QB slot. That's the first claim activity from anyone besides Justin and Breaking Burrow, and it comes from a team that needs a quarterback.
FAAB left: Team Whitehead $88, Breaking Burrow $99, the other eight teams $100. Eight of ten teams have still never won a waiver claim.
Tiebreaks matter this week. ESPN lists Team Whitehead 10th of 10 in waiver priority, so Justin loses every tied bid. A $1 claim loses to any other $1 claim. $2 beats every bid this league has ever made except Justin's own $11.
MOVE Tank Dell (WR, HOU) to the IR slot · Do it first, since it opens the roster spot for move 3
The league settings pulled today list one IR slot in the lineup configuration. That contradicts last week's report, which found none, so it was either added since or misread then. Check in the ESPN app before relying on it: Dell should show an option to move to IR. He is on injured reserve with a return designation, cannot play until Week 5 at the earliest (October 11 vs. Tennessee), and is coming back from a multi-ligament knee reconstruction.
If the slot is real, this costs nothing: Dell stays as a free stash, and Justin's 14th roster spot opens without a drop. If the slot isn't there, Dell becomes the drop in move 3, for the same reasons as last week. Nobody else has used IR either; Team Stowell has A.J. Brown sitting on the bench with the same designation.
ADD Kaelon Black (RB, SF) · DROP Kaleb Johnson (RB, GB) · Bid $2, placed before about 1:00am MT Wednesday
The drop first, because the $11 is gone either way. Johnson dressed, was healthy, and got zero offensive snaps. Green Bay's backfield was Chris Brooks on third downs and in the two-minute drill (80% of his snaps) and MarShawn Lloyd on early downs (13 carries). Josh Jacobs pleaded no contest on September 10 and remains on the Commissioner's Exempt List. Analysts expect a suspension near the six-game guideline, but that doesn't help Johnson: the replacement roles have already gone to two other backs. At best he's the fourth back on a roster with a two-man split. His national rostered share has fallen to 5.9%.
Why Black. McCaffrey is not hurt; he played into the fourth quarter and led the 49ers with 8 targets. The Week 1 split looks planned. Black played 44% of snaps, got 14 carries to McCaffrey's 10, took 45% of the running-back opportunities, and was on the field in every quarter. Beat writers expect McCaffrey's workload to settle below his usual share after a summer of missed practice time. He's 30 and coming off an NFL-high 413 touches. That makes Black two things at once:
Right now Justin's RB3 is Dobbins, with 8 carries and no targets on 40% of snaps. Black beats that before any injury.
The bid. Black is the top add nationally, listed by 9 of 12 waiver columns reviewed, with expert FAAB ranging from $2 to $20 (typically $5–9). None of that predicts this league. The only manager with a clear reason to want him is Team Stowell, who rosters McCaffrey. Stowell is also the most active manager here, but has made every move as a $0 free-agent add and has never placed a waiver claim. So there's probably no competition, and $1 probably wins. Because Justin loses ties, though, $1 is the one bid that can lose to a token claim. $2 covers that for one extra dollar. Going higher pays for competition this league has never shown.
Bye check: Black's bye is Week 8, the same as Kittle's. With four running backs rostered it's fine, but it adds to how thin that week already is.
ADD Pat Freiermuth (TE, PIT) · DROP nobody if Dell is on IR; otherwise Tank Dell · Add him Wednesday morning after waivers clear
Last week's top recommendation, a second tight end, wasn't made. Week 1 made the case stronger. Kittle is on a snap count: 46% of snaps and 36% of routes, with every target on the opening possession. San Francisco's backup tight end, Jake Tonges, hurt his MCL, which could eventually push Kittle's workload back up, but not this week. And the Week 8 bye is still a guaranteed zero in a required slot.
Freiermuth is the best fit in the pool, for reasons that show up in the usage data rather than the box score. He ran a 72% route share, a big jump from last season. Darnell Washington ran only 35%. And Pittsburgh passed more than any team relative to expectation in Week 1. His bye is Week 9, so he actually covers Week 8. Against Miami's likely blowout script, Freiermuth at New England could be a legitimate start over a snap-limited Kittle this week. Thursday's lineup check will make that call.
The tight ends skipped, and why:
Why no bid: Freiermuth is 14.6% rostered nationally, Justin doesn't need him before Sunday, and there are three equivalent fallbacks. Of the two single-tight-end teams, Lackey and Carnahan, neither has ever placed a claim. This is the league's default case: let him clear and add him for $0.
QB for the Week 7 bye — still wait.
Week 1 produced a pile of streamable quarterbacks:
Every one of them is available, and there's no reason to use a bench spot on a Week 7 problem in Week 2.
One thing to know: this week's opponent, Bijan Mustard, needs a quarterback. Kyler Murray is in the concussion protocol and reports lean toward him missing Week 2, and he's their only QB. They nearly claimed Bryce Young this morning. Grabbing Young or Shough just to block them isn't worth it: there are a dozen playable alternatives and Carson Wentz is Murray's actual replacement. Let them have one. The name for Justin to revisit in Week 5–6 is still whoever is running best; Young (bye 5) and Shough (bye 8) are both clear of Week 7.
| Player | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Kaleb Johnson | Drop | Zero offensive snaps, and the Jacobs outcome doesn't open a path for him. The $11 is sunk; the roster spot is not. |
| Tank Dell | IR, or drop | Can't play until Week 5. Free to keep on IR; not worth a bench seat. |
| Jayden Reed | Hold, next in line | Third in Green Bay targets on 57% of snaps. With Flowers's hamstring and Odunze's calf, he's the WR depth this week. If both come back healthy, he's the next receiver to go. |
| KC Concepcion | Hold | Led his team in targets and gets designed carries. The offense is bad, but the role is real and still growing. |
| J.K. Dobbins | Hold | Early-down share of a split; with Johnson gone, he's needed RB depth. |
Everyone in the pool is on waivers until about 1:00am MT Wednesday. After that, anyone unclaimed is a $0 free agent. In this league that should be almost everyone. None of these is worth a bid:
| Player | Pos | Rostered | Week 1 role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pat Freiermuth | TE | 14.6% | 72% routes. See move 3. |
| Hunter Henry | TE | 54.4% | 78% snaps; A.J. Brown on IR should lift his targets |
| Evan Engram | TE | 3.0% | 58% routes; modest but steady |
| Devaughn Vele | WR | 13.1% | 91% snaps, 9 targets, with Jordyn Tyson on IR. The best WR add, but Justin doesn't need one. |
| Caleb Douglas | WR | 15.6% | 86% routes, 26% target share, in a weak Miami offense |
| Malik Washington | WR | 7.7% | 97% routes, 8 targets, same offense |
| Dontayvion Wicks | WR | 10.2% | Clear WR2 in Philadelphia, 79% routes |
| Bryce Young | QB | 11.3% | Week 7 candidate. Bijan Mustard may take him first. |
| Tyler Shough | QB | 46.7% | Week 7 candidate; 56 attempts in an overtime game inflated the line |
| Emmett Johnson | RB | 6.6% | Kenneth Walker's handcuff, Kansas City |
| Devin Singletary | RB | 0.4% | Giants' passing-down back, 50% routes |
Avoid despite the Week 1 lines: Mike Gesicki, Noah Fant, Antonio Williams (26% routes), Kendrick Bourne (WR3), Kendre Miller (Kamara returns Week 2), Kalif Raymond (the 36% target share was inflated by Odunze's snap count). Already rostered in this league, though experts list them: Jalen Coker, Deebo Samuel, Michael Mayer, Tyler Allgeier, Jordan Love.
More than last week, since there's one real game of snap and route data. It's still one game, though, and several signals are distorted:
The IR slot is the item most likely to be wrong. The API shows it, last week's report said otherwise, and it's worth a ten-second check in the app before planning around it.
The FAAB read is now four data points (three bids plus one cancelled claim) and still points one way. But Bijan Mustard's cancelled claim is new, and a manager who needs a quarterback is the kind who bids. It doesn't affect Justin's targets this week.