Welcome to the Fantasy Football Week 9 Waiver Wire: Start, Stash, and Stream, where we breakdown the fantasy free agent landscape and give you the best picks for the short and long haul.
We have our three groups of ‘starts’ ‘stashes’, and ‘streams.’ The starts can be inserted into your lineup immediately, the stash guys add depth to the end of your bench and can provide longer-term benefits, and the streamers are generally D/ST’s and QBs that are matchup dependent.
Let’s look back at Week 8 and see our future prospects for the Fantasy Football Week 9 Waiver Wire.
Week 9 bye weeks: Bengals, Browns, Rams, Eagles
Note: Ownership % based on Yahoo and must be under 50% owned
START
- Sterling Shepard, WR New York Giants (43% owned)
- Marvin Jones Jr, WR Detroit Lions (49% owned)
- Corey Davis, WR Tennessee Titans (48% owned)
- Damien Harris, RB New England Patriots (47% owned)
- Jalen Reagor, WR Philadelphia Eagles (24% owned)
- DeeJay Dallas, RB Seattle Seahawks (25% owned)
- JaMycal Hasty, RB San Francisco 49ers (42% owned)
- Eric Ebron, TE Pittsburgh Steelers (45% owned)
- Curtis Samuel, WR Carolina Panthers (20% owned)
The WR1 for the Giants, Sterling Shepard still falls under the threshold here and reclaims his spot up top. Shepard saw 10 targets, resulting in an 8-74 line as Daniel Jones’ leading receiver against the Bucs. His return is big for the offense and he’s been peppered in both weeks since his return.
With Kenny Golladay out and likely heading to IR, Marvin Jones would thrust into the WR1 role for Detroit. With Golladay out practically the whole game against the Colts, Jones finished with 3-39-2 on 7 targets. He should be in line for a lot of work with Minnesota on deck.
Don’t look now but healthy Corey Davis has been putting up WR1 numbers similar to his counterpart AJ Brown. Double-digit fantasy points in four of his five appearances, Davis seems to finally be healthy and establishing a rapport with his quarterback. Ten targets in back to back games along with a touchdown in each for The Wolf’s arch nemesis. Davis is finally showing that first-round talent on an explosive offense.
The Patriots offense looks decent when they establish the run game and Damien Harris was the only bright spot in Week 8. It was his second 100-yard outing this year despite splitting reps with James White and Rex Burkhead. The Patriots should focus on Harris rushing the ball and can certainly do that moving forward next week against the Jets.
The Wolf’s favorite name to throw out last Sunday morning was Jalen Reagor in his return to Philadelphia’s offense. He was immediately put in the starting role and finished with 3-16-1 on 6 targets and added a two-point conversion. Reagor has the deep threat ability that could explode and pay huge dividends to owners later in the year. He’s one of Wolf’s favorite guys to have on his roster.
As one of the few healthy Seahawks RBs from this week, DeeJay Dallas dominated snaps for Seattle and resulted in a huge day. Dallas carried the ball 18 times for 41 yards and a score while catching 5 balls for 17 yards and another score. Involved in all facets of the game, Dallas was a huge add to those who scooped him off last week’s waiver wire. Travis Homer was active but did nothing. Carlos Hyde is doubtful to play again in Week 9, but Chris Carson will be the one to monitor for a potential Week 9 return. If he’s out again, then Dallas becomes a must-play.
JaMycal Hasty operated as the lead back in San Francisco this week with 12 of the team’s 22 total carries. Tevin Coleman went down with an injury once again, and Raheem Mostert doesn’t seem ready to return right away. Hasty is one of the few remaining healthy guys in this offense. With Nick Mullens set to take the QB reigns moving forward, the team could look to lean on the ground game, with Jerick McKinnon suffering from “tired legs.”
Eric Ebron has been playing a larger role in the Steelers offense now, and he could be a good George Kittle replacement. A true red zone threat, and consistent receiving option for Roethlisberger that’s seemingly only increasing as the season grows older.
Curtis Samuel had himself a breakout game on Thursday night being used all over the offense for Carolina. Sure Christian McCaffrey is coming back into the fold and going to receive a ton of touches in the process. But Samuel looked real good and should give Joe Brady some ideas for the offense moving forward.
STASH
- Trey Burton, TE Indianapolis Colts (22% owned)
- Jordan Wilkins, RB Indianapolis Colts (2% owned)
- Mecole Hardman, WR Kansas City Chiefs (30% owned)
- Nyheim Hines, RB Indianapolis Colts (29% owned)
- Brian Hill, RB Atlanta Falcons (11% owned)
- DeAndre Washington, RB Miami Dolphins (1% owned)
- Anthony Miller, WR Chicago Bears (21% owned)
- Marvin Hall, WR Detroit Lions (0% owned)
- Gerald Everett, TE Los Angeles Rams (6% owned)
- Cam Akers, RB Los Angeles Rams (31% owned)
- La’Mical Perine, RB New York Jets (41% owned)
- Preston Williams, WR Miami Dolphins (21% owned)
- Darnell Mooney, WR Chicago Bears (6% owned)
- Auden Tate, WR Cincinnati Bengals (1% owned)
Trey Burton has carved out a new role we’ve yet to see in fantasy thus far. The tight end vulture, Burton has cashed in on designed runs multiple times now for the Colts. While still being out-snapped by Jack Doyle, Burton has earned a role that Frank Reich continues to feed.
For some reason, Jordan Wilkins led all Colts RBs in snaps this week. He had 20 carries to Taylor’s 11, which was very maddening, but if Reich and the Colts are going to continue with this kind of usage then Wilkins carries value behind an amazing offense live and stout defense.
With Sammy Watkins sidelined, Mecole Hardman has stepped up for the pass-heavy Chiefs offense. He finished with 7-96-1 on 9 targets taking a sweep 30 yards to the house. Hardman has such a high ceiling with his big-play ability, but with so many weapons in the offense, there’s no guarantee. With Watkins out, Hardman will continue to play a larger role for Kansas City.
He didn’t play a ton of snaps, but Nyheim Hines got his money’s worth. Rivers has always loved throwing to his running backs, displayed by Hines’ 3-54-2 finish on Sunday. If he keeps up this receiving usage, Hines would carry value in PPR leagues. The team refuses to let Jonathan Taylor eat, so we’ll capitalize on their foolishness.
While Todd Gurley has been a mainstay in the end zone this year, Brian Hill has looked like the far superior runner. He carried the ball 11 times for 55 yards and his 5.0 ypc much better than Gurley’s 2.6 ypc. Given Gurley’s injury history, should Hill eventually find himself in the RB1 role for Atlanta then he would become quite valuable.
In a wild day of news for Miami, the team went out and got DeAndre Washington from Kansas City. This news wouldn’t have meant too much, until it came out that starting RB Myles Gaskin is expected to miss three weeks with an injury. Nobody knows what to expect from Miami’s backfield moving forward with both Matt Breida and Jordan Howard still on the roster. Those two have played extremely limited roles, and Washington does have a solid fit for Chan Gailey’s offense.
Anthony Miller racked up an impressive 11 targets in this week’s loss to the Saints. He finished with 8 catches and 73 receiving yards on the day, the first time he’s cracked double-digit points since Week 3. This team is in desperate need of offense, and if he keeps these target numbers up then he’ll be of fantasy service.
He pops up from time to time, but Marvin Hall filled in for the Lions post-Golladay injury and gave us a 4-113 line on 7 targets. He’s generally been a deep threat guy but likely should pick up Golladay’s reps as the WR2 now for the Lions.
Gerald Everett is slowly building more of a role for the Rams. He’s catching Higbee on snaps, but at the same time is running more pass routes than the starting Higbee. Everett just had 9 targets this past week which was tied for second on the team.
There are many fantasy owners who will puke or cry at the sight of Cam Akers but he finally got some work last week when Darrell Henderson went down with an injury. If by chance Henderson were to miss a game after the bye, Akers would be a nice piece to have, as he went for 35 yards on 9 carries and caught a pass for 19 yards looking very elusive. Knowing McVay though, he’d probably ride Malcolm Brown like an idiot.
La’Mical Perine led the Jets in snaps at the RB spot this week, and while he had two fewer carries than Gore, he was running far more passing routes. He’s the better talent and more likely to provide value for this putrid backfield. The Bills just ran on the Patriots pretty easily, maybe Perine can do the same.
While Tua didn’t have to throw the ball a lot in his first start, when he did, Preston Williams was getting a lot of targets. I can’t imagine Miami will be up that big too often, so Tua would likely have to throw more.
Rookie wideout Darnell Mooney has been getting loose downfield for the Bears and Nick Foles finally connected with him a few times on Sunday, resulting in 69 yards and a touchdown on five grabs. Mooney has to rank highly from an air yardage perspective, but Foles’ deep ball is one of the least accurate in the league. Still, he’s a decent stash if Big Dick Nick can hit him in stride on a somewhat consistent basis.
One of Ian Hartitz’ favorite guys, Auden Tate was finally freed from Bengals purgatory and showed off his skills. Maybe it was to garner trade value, or the team finally sees that AJ Green is total dust. Tate caught all seven of his targets for 65 yards. If he can continue to play as the team’s WR3, he’ll be of value in a pass-happy offense, or maybe he gets dealt to a team like Green Bay that needs help at receiver.
STREAM
- Gus Edwards, RB Baltimore Ravens (30% owned)
- Russell Gage, WR Atlanta Falcons (13% owned)
- Kendrick Bourne, WR San Francisco 49ers (8% owned)
- Tyler Ervin, RB Green Bay Packers (1% owned)
- Jakobi Meyers, WR New England Patriots (1% owned)
- Braxton Berrios, WR New York Jets (1% owned)
- Matt Breida/Jordan Howard, RB Miami Dolphins (18-19% owned)
- Washington D/ST (17% owned)
- New York Giants D/ST (11% owned)
- Arizona Cardinals D/ST (13% owned)
Gus Bus Edwards got the start, and out-carried Dobbins by one. He rushed for 85 yards and punched in a score as Harbaugh keeps playing him despite Dobbins’ superior talent. If Ingram sits again Edwards is startable this week.
If the Falcons decide to rest Calvin Ridley ahead of their bye, it would be a large bump for Russell Gage as the WR2 facing the Broncos.
Add George Kittle to the 49ers list of injured weapons. As a result, Kendrick Bourne is one of the few healthy left and finished Week 8 with 8-81 on 10 targets. He seemed to have a connection with Nick Mullens once he got in and it’s also a short week for Deebo Samuel to try and return after not practicing all last week, so he’s likely out again.
With Jamaal Williams and AJ Dillon already ruled out, along with Aaron Jones on the wrong side of questionable, the only RB left for Green Bay this week could be Tyler Ervin. The matchup isn’t great against the 49ers, but volume is volume if you really need help at the RB position.
The Patriots pass game stinks, and Julian Edelman being out makes it even worse. However, second-year man Jakobi Meyers stepped up against Buffalo and went 6-58 on 10 targets, along with a two point conversion. With the Jets on tap, the Patriots should have more offensive success than they did in Buffalo.
The Jets LOVE throwing to the slot receivers, and Braxton Berrios manned the slot this week with an 8-34 line of 11 targets. Should Jamison Crowder miss again, Berrios will operate out of the slot and likely be heavily targeted again.
Nobody knows who will start for Miami at RB this week, but the team did sign both Jordan Howard and Matt Breida this offseason. They figure to be first in line if you are extremely desperate at the position.
Washington plays the Giants and Daniel Jones who is no stranger to taking sacks and turning the ball over.
On the flip side, the Giants face Washington and their carousel of QBs. It’s likely to be a gross and low scoring game.
The Cardinals get Tua next week who still has a lot to prove.
