Fantasy Football Week 2 Early Waiver Wire Pickups: Jalen Coker, Kaelon Black Lead Players To Add

Fantasy football is back! Feels good. We're into Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season and the action was wild out the gate. We also already had a few games earlier in the week and have primetime to look forward to on Sunday and Monday nights. As always, we're going to be going over some early fantasy football waiver wire options going into Week 2 to help your lineups. Justin Boone will have a full look at the wavier wire on Tuesday.

Fantasy Football Waiver Wire: Week 2 Early Pickups

Jalen Coker, WR, Panthers (60% rostered)

Usually we like to stick to players who are rostered in under 50% of leagues but this number feels way too low for Coker given what he did on Sunday to the Bears. Apparently, some managers forgot about Coker's big performance last season in the playoffs in that near-upset versus the Rams (9-134-1).

Coker led the Panthers in pretty much all receiving categories against Chicago with eight catches on nine targets for 138 yards and two touchdowns, posting 29.8 fantasy points. Second-year wideout Tetairoa McMillan, the presumed No. 1 for Carolina, was quiet for most of the game before getting to five catches on eight targets for 75 yards in garbage time (Coker also got a garbage-time score).

That won't be the case all season for McMillan, but clearly QB Bryce Young has built up a rapport with Coker despite the WR dealing with injuries the past few seasons. In 10-team leagues, Coker shouldn't be on the waiver wire and is worth adding given the Panthers next two opponents (@ ATL, @ CLE). Coker looks like a solid WR3/flex with WR2 upside after Week 1.

Kaelon Black, RB, 49ers (26% rostered on Yahoo)

The Niners defeated the Rams 27-7 in Australia on Thursday night and the backfield usage was one of the more intriguing storylines for San Francisco. We knew Kyle Shanahan would want to keep Christian McCaffrey fresh coming off a huge workload in 2025. But we didn't envision this type of split in Week 1. Black won the backup RB gig out of camp and was expected to spell CMC on some downs — not nearly outproduce him to open the season.

McCaffrey had 36 snaps while Black played 28, and the rookie outcarried the vet 14-10. CMC still had a busy day in the passing game with five catches on eight targets for 20 yards, plus he was on the field in red-zone situations. But it's very clear Shanahan trusts Black to take some heat off CMC in an attempt to keep the superstar healthy. That's great news for both players, really. McCaffrey still got to 11.3 fantasy points in half-PPR while Black had 7.5.

If you have McCaffrey, you NEED to add Black in 12- or 14-team leagues. If the rookie back is hanging around the waiver wire, he's a top consideration give his current role and what his role would look like if CMC goes down with an injury. Looking ahead, the Niners have the Dolphins at home in Week 2, a great matchup for both backs. Black will maintain some flex value in deeper formats but is more of a stash play.

Mike Gesicki, TE, Bengals (1% rostered)

It was a funky game in Cincinnati as the Bengals took down the Bucs in Week 1. Three fumbles by Baker Mayfield led to Cincy jumping out to an early lead and coasting from there. One of those first-half scores was Gesicki, who finished with a surprising 5-78-1 line for 16.3 fantasy points.

Despite the lopsided result, the Bucs disrupted QB Joe Burrow enough where he had to go to his safety valve in Gesicky more often. WRs Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins combined for five catches on 10 targets for 71 yards, which isn't going to happen every week. But Gesicki isn't a stranger to solid fantasy results; he had three straight top-12 TE finishes from 2019-2021 with the Dolphins. Gesicki is a good add if you need a TE streamer in deep leagues, someone who should get looks in the red zone and is tied to an above-average offense.

If you're not into Gesicki, Steelers TE Pat Freiermuth (6%) had a solid line (5-46-1, 13.1 fantasy points) versus the Falcons. We know Aaron Rodgers may look Freiermuth's way a bit given his age.

Demarcus Robinson, WR, 49ers (0% rostered)

We're sticking with the 49ers for another recommendation, this time in the receiving corps. They lost rookie WR De'Zhaun Stribling to injury on Thursday night and he's set to miss about a month with an ankle injury. San Francisco is already down Ricky Pearsall, and while George Kittle and Mike Evans are healthy right now, that can change quick.

Robinson is in his 11th season and has had spurts of productive play on some pretty good teams (Chiefs, Ravens, Rams) throughout his career. Robinson was huge for the 49ers in the wild-card round last season, posting a 6-111-1 line versus the Eagles. He only caught two of three targets on Thursday, but one was a 39-yard TD to help Robinson finish with 12 fantasy points.

The 49ers' next two opponents are the Dolphins and Cardinals — both soft matchups. Robinson was second among SF WRs in snaps (63%) versus the Rams and should start opposite Evans for the time being. Robinson is a strong add as a WR3/flex option in deeper PPR formats.