Before your fantasy football season kicks off, it’s not just about making the right picks — it’s about knowing the rules of your league inside and out. One of the most important league rules to understand is the waiver wire — the process that allows you to add new players to your roster following every week.
One key rule to know in your league is how the waiver wire works. There are different types of waiver wires, mainly standard and FAAB, each providing a unique wrinkle to adding new players to your team during the season.
Let’s break down the different options for fantasy football waiver wires and how they work.
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Standard Waiver Wire: How ti Works
A standard fantasy football waiver wire is the system leagues use to control how and when teams can add new players during the season — especially after the weekly slate of games. Instead of being able to instantly add players at any time, all players dropped or undrafted go on “waivers,” where every team has a chance to claim them.
After games finish each week, most leagues place players on waivers (typically Sunday night or Monday morning), and those waivers process during a set time — usually overnight Tuesday or Wednesday morning. If multiple teams try to add the same player, the team with the higher waiver priority gets them.
If you have the No. 1 waiver wire priority, you have first pick at who you want to add to your team from the waiver wire.
This system helps maintain balance and prevents the fastest or most active managers from always grabbing the best breakout players the moment they shine on Sunday.
How Waiver Wire Priority Works
In a standard waiver wire, fantasy teams are assigned a waiver wire priority to start the year. The priorities are usually assigned in reverse order based on draft position.
For example, the team that had the first overall pick in their 12-team fantasy football league would start the season with the 12th waiver wire priority. In this format, the team that had the last pick in the first round of the draft would have the first waiver wire priority.
Once a fantasy manager successfully uses a waiver wire claim, their team moves to the end of the waiver wire priority. Every fantasy manager behind them then moves up one spot. This is called a rolling waiver wire.
Reverse Standings Waiver Wire: How it Works
In reverse standing waiver wires, the waiver priority order changes each week based on league standings. For example, the team that is in last place heading into Week 2 would have the top waiver wire claim — essentially a free pass to pick up whatever free agent they want first.
The team in second-to-last place would have the second waiver wire priority, and so on. This format helps the teams at the bottom of the standings each week have first crack at adding the best players off the waiver wire.
Free Agent Acquisition Budget — FAAB Waivers
Free Agent Acquisition Budget (FAAB) waivers add even more strategy to the waiver wire system. In this format, there are no priorities — everyone is on even footing.
Every team begins the season with a set budget to use to add players off the waiver wire. Each week, fantasy managers put in blind bids to add players off the waiver wire before the time waiver claims are processed. The fantasy manager with the highest bid wins the player.
If two managers bid the same amount, a tiebreaker (like reverse standings) is usually applied.
How FAAB Waivers Work: Example
An example of FAAB waivers would be every team in the league receiving $100 at the beginning of the season to add players.
Let’s say a breakout RB hits the wire after Week 1. You bid $45, another manager bids $30 — you win the player and now have $55 left for the rest of the season. No one else knows your bids, so there's always strategy involved.
FAAB Waivers Strategy
There are different strategies for FAAB leagues. Some fantasy managers spend big early. If they hit on adding the right players after Week 1 or Week 2, then they would have their production for the vast majority of the season.
Other fantasy managers tend to save some of their FAAB budget, which they can use to help fill in for players on bye weeks later in the season or add an emerging player for the fantasy playoffs.
Let’s discuss a FAAB example in which a top running back goes down with a season-ending injury in Week 12.
Those who spent the majority of their FAAB early in the season likely won’t have sufficient funds to add that running back’s primary backup, who is now set to take on a leading role. However, those who saved their budget can throw out higher bids to add them to their roster.
Saving the majority of FAAB funds to use later in the season could also backfire. If no one noteworthy gets hurt leading up to the fantasy playoffs, then there might not be players who can provide a significant fantasy boost that would warrant hefty FAAB spending, thus letting that budget go to waste.
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There are different types of waiver wires for fantasy football, each of which can be fun in its own way.
No matter which waiver wire format your league uses, it’s important to know the intricacies of the rules coming out of your draft so you know how to add players via waivers. Leagues are often won or lost based on the moves made on the waiver wire throughout the season — so it's key to make sure you're making waiver wire a weekly priority while managing your team.
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