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Fantasy football: Deeper Bengals players likely available in your league

As we draw closer to the start of your fantasy football season, we take a look at who's likely sitting on your waiver wire in Week 1.

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Justin K. Aller

You've drafted your fantasy team. Maybe you're already experiencing buyer's remorse. Maybe you're just wanting to rock the boat for no reason. Or maybe you're just wanting to know your options on the waiver wire - and you should. Fantasy football championships are built through the waiver wire.

As we head into the first week of the regular season, I wanted to break down some of the ownership percentages of various Bengals players. Some are worth your time. There are others that deserve their lack of fantasy love. Let's take a look at where some of the offensive players in Cincinnati stand and discuss what it could mean to your and your fake football squad.

Jeremy Hill - 58% owned

Okay. So, Hill isn't exactly a "deep" player in fantasy, but I'm bringing him up the point out a few things. The fact that Hill is available in nearly half of fantasy leagues shocks me a bit. Even in shallower leagues, Hill is likely going to see enough of a workload to warrant owning him. When looking at running backs that are owned in more leagues, names like Stevan Ridley, Bishop Sankey, and Carlos Hyde surprise me a bit. While Hill, like the players I just listed, lacks an identifiable workload, he's guaranteed work. If you're in a league with Hill on your waiver wire, find a way to scoop him up.

Tyler Eifert - 49% owned

Eifert's 49 percent ownership caught me a bit off guard at first. I expected less. I suppose the reality is that there are only so many tight ends to consider drafting in 2014. And while Tyler Eifert may be toward the bottom of the list of tight ends that deserve some ownership, he is on that list. He offers upside as he looks to improve upon his rookie campaign. Owners are hoping he'll offer more than his 39-445-2 stat line. 51 percent of leagues wouldn't own him if people thought he was going to repeat those numbers. If Eifert begins performing well at the start of the season, and you have depth at the tight end position, consider selling him high before Marvin Jones returns.

Marvin Jones - 26% owned

There are very few No. 2 receivers in the NFL that will see much ownership in fantasy football if they're out for at least a month with injury. Therefore, it's a bit surprising that nearly over a quarter of fantasy leagues have Jones on their roster. That said, we've seen Jones prove to be a great fantasy asset in 2013, but buyer beware: Jones had plenty of low points throughout 2013. If you have a really deep bench, you could do worse than Jones, but you may be better off grabbing some immediate starters in Week 1 before investing in a player that you can't start until October.

Mohamed Sanu - 7% owned

Apparently we're starting to get really deep here. Less than one out of every ten fantasy leagues has someone owning Sanu, and it's likely that a lot of the leagues with ownership have Cincinnati fans in them. Sanu is likely going to be a WR4 or WR5 for the season, but if you're going to see any peak in his protuction, it's likely going to be now. Until Marvin Jones returns in October, Sanu should see a boost in targets. If you dug really deep for the final round of your draft, or if you did something crazy like draft two kickers, consider grabbing Sanu just to see how he performs in Week 1. If you'd prefer to wait a week, then accept the risk of Sanu drawing the attention of other fantasy owners if he puts up numbers against Baltimore.

Jermaine Gresham - 2% owned

Heading into his fifth NFL season, Gresham is sitting on a statistical peak of 64-737-5, and that was the season before Tyler Eifert was drafted. It's unlikely Gresham ever outperforms that stat line as long as Eifert is on the roster. That said, Gresham is likely a TE2 at best, and his two percent ownership is a harsh reality that likely won't change much in 2014.


Editor's Note: SB Nation's partner FanDuel is hosting a $1,000,000 Fantasy Football Contest for Week 1's NFL games. It's only $25 to join and first place wins $100,000. Starts Sunday, September 7th at 1pm ET. Here's the link. FYI: These are just my opinions and Fanduel gave me money to play.