Welcome to the Fantasy Football Week 9 Waiver Wire pickups, where we give you the players to start immediately, stash at the end of your bench, and stream for a week or two.
Let’s look back at Week 8 and dissect the top prospects for the Fantasy Football Week 9 Waiver Wire.
Week 9 Bye Weeks: Broncos, Lions, 49ers, Jaguars
Note: Roster % based on Yahoo leagues and should have roughly 50% ownership
WEEK 8 WAIVER WIRE PICKUPS
START
- Trey McBride, TE Arizona Cardinals (20%)
- Jahan Dotson, WR Washington Commanders (51%)
- Zach Charbonnet, RB Seattle Seahawks (42%)
- Darrell Henderson Jr, RB Los Angeles Rams (45%)
In his first action with Zach Ertz on IR, Trey McBride set the tight end landscape on fire with a 10-95-1 line on 14 targets against the Ravens. His 82% snap share was a season-high, and the results certainly followed suit. Hopefully, you read our piece earlier in the week about stashing McBride before this blow-up, and it seems he’ll be here to stay to provide high-end TE fantasy production.
Following a very quiet first half of the season, we finally got the game from Jahan Dotson we had been expecting this season. An 8-108-1 line on ten targets as Sam Howell and the Commanders dealt in a high-scoring affair with the Eagles. Dotson’s usage and opportunity have been there, consistently in the 85% snap share range. The results just hadn’t followed or caught up until now. With Washington’s pass-heavy attack, there’s plenty of volume for Dotson to trend back toward a positive finish.
Seahawks rookie Zach Charbonnet broke through with over 50% of the snaps for Seattle’s offense this week, somewhat supplanting banged-up starter Kenneth Walker. It was a wild game against a stout Browns defense, but Charbonnet did out-snap Walker 32 to 24. Walker handled the early down and goal line snaps, which is the more valuable role, but it’s telling to see Seattle shift to Charbonnet when they were playing from behind and late in the game. He had 100% of third down and two-minute drill snaps, which is a crazy amount.
Halfway through Kyren Williams’ IR stint, it’s been Darrell Henderson who’s been the Rams lead guy. This week’s game got out of hand very quickly, hence the additional usage from the team’s RB2 we’ll touch on later. Still, Henderson handled 15 touches in Week 8 despite not finding the end zone. We’ll keep track of Matthew Stafford’s injury and if there are any long-term implications. A change at QB would put a lot more emphasis on Henderson and the backfield.
STASH
- Kyler Murray, QB Arizona Cardinals (55%)
- Taysom Hill, TE New Orleans Saints (35%)
- Cam Akers, RB Minnesota Vikings (57%)
- Quentin Johnston, WR Los Angeles Chargers (19%)
- Will Levis, QB Tennessee Titans (4%)
- Khalil Shakir, WR Buffalo Bills (1%)
- Chigoziem Okonkwo, TE Tennessee Titans (27%)
- Jayden Reed, WR Green Bay Packers (17%)
Another reminder before he grades out of this article: Kyler Murray is nearing a return for the Cardinals. With all the injuries at the QB position right now, maybe there’s a chance he gets traded to someone looking to make a run. When healthy, Murray is a lock to be a top-ten fantasy QB, with a top-five upside.
We never know precisely how he’ll be used, but Taysom Hill is a focal point of the Saints offense. He threw for a touchdown this week while punching in two rushing scores at the goal line. He seems like the preferred goal-line runner over Alvin Kamara and all the other backs right now, which is all you need in fantasy to be relevant. His receiving days are likely behind him, but he’ll have touchdown upside in every game.
One of our notable buy lows this week was Cam Akers, and while he did score in Week 8, we’ll delay the victory lap that he might be so eager to take. Akers only saw 24% of snaps and finished with 2.11 yards per carry. Mattison had a firm 61% snap share, and now the offense is in dire flux with Kirk Cousins out for the year with a torn Achilles. The backfield could be leaned on more, but barring a move, this offense will be severely capped for the rest of the season.
The Chargers always deal with terrible injury luck. They had already lost Mike Williams for the year, and on Sunday night, Joshua Palmer went down with a knee injury, although he did return to action. When he exited, Quentin Johnston got a boost in playing time and saw a decent number of targets. The rookie saw season-highs in all receiving categories and displayed his first-round talent right away. Playing with Herbert can ascend Johnston to sky-high levels, so there’s a lot of upside surrounding this rookie.
How about that for a rookie debut?! Will Levis was expected to split snaps with Malik Willis on the day, but that quickly fell through as Willis stunk and Levis was dealing all over the field. He finished with 238 yards and four touchdowns, revitalizing this Titans offense. See what happens when you have a QB that can throw the ball downfield to receivers, most notably Deandre Hopkins? Levis should likely start again Thursday night against the Steelers.
The Buffalo Bills opened up its offense a bit more this week, going with more three-receiver sets. Khalil Shakir made sure to capitalize on that with six catches for 92 yards. This offense has plenty of potential and Shakir could battle Gabe Davis for WR2 targets. Diggs will always be the alpha and get his share, but aside from that, there are no guarantees. Daddy Davis is the most bipolar fantasy receiver, maybe ever, and Dalton Kincaid is working his way into the offense.
A tight end with good usage numbers without the results to show. Chigoziem Okonkwo is a guy the fantasy community loved during the preseason, but poor quarterback play had held the entire offense back. Now, with Levis in the fold and his four touchdowns this week, there’s a decent chance Titans pass catchers are ready to roll once again. Okonkwo could be a great stash, or buy low with lots of room to grow.
Despite the Packers offense looking like shit, it’s pretty apparent that quarterback Jordan Love has a strong connection with Jayden Reed. Reed set season highs in snaps percentage played and yards this week while other receivers struggle to get on the same page as their new signal caller.
STREAM
- Emari Demercado, RB Arizona Cardinals (36%)
- Rashid Shaheed, WR New Orleans Saints (36%)
- Sam Howell, QB Washington Commanders (45%)
- Washington Commanders DST (27%)
- Demario Douglas, WR New England Patriots (3%)
- KJ Osborn, WR Minnesota Vikings (52%)
- Royce Freeman, RB Los Angeles Rams (22%)
- Daniel Bellinger, TE New York Giants (0%)
There’s one presumed week left in the Emari Demercado run while James Conner remains on IR. It’ll be a tough matchup against the Browns’ defense, but Demercado handled 20 touches against the Ravens, which is excellent usage.
Another boom-or-bust guy, Rashid Shaheed is the ultimate deep ball burner. He’s going to catch a long 50+ yard touchdown and have a respectable performance, or he’ll catch three balls for 15 yards. As New Orleans looks to open up their offense, Shaheed should have decent chances to produce despite a minimal workload, playing only 27% of snaps this week. He has weekly streamer upside based on the opposing secondary.
Have a day, Sam Howell! The second-year QB was dealing against the Eagles with 398 yards and four touchdowns. He gets a banged-up and struggling Patriots defense up next and could be your guy if you need a quarterback this week.
If we’re going to target the faltering New England Patriots on defense, we might as well take advantage of its putrid offense. The hobbled Patriots, featuring Demario Douglas as its WR1 and a 27th-ranked rushing attack, gets one of the most talented defensive fronts in the league on Sunday. Expect the Washington Commanders DST to put up points this week against Mac Jones & co. Click here for more Week 9 DST streamers.
News came out Monday that Patriots leading receiver Kendrick Bourne tore his ACL in Week 8. Rookie Demario Douglas should be the guy to see a notable bump in production. He had a season-high 77% snap rate and finished with seven targets on the day, which was the team-high. With Washington up next, that team can be thrown on, and passing options are limited in New England.
The news of Kirk Cousins being hurt and done for the year puts a big damper on the Vikings’ offensive players moving forward. Regardless, KJ Osborn plays 90% of the snaps while setting a season-high in targets, receptions, and yardage. As long as Justin Jefferson is sidelined, Osborn will play a significant role.
He only got nine touches, but Royce Freeman was in on over 50% of Rams snaps and scored a goal-line touchdown. We prefer Henderson as the guy to have, but as we saw this week, Freeman still has some usage in him, as it’s close to an even split.
Giants tight end Darren Waller left the game with a hamstring injury. He’s been plagued by injuries nearly his entire career, and Daniel Bellinger was there to fill in and play heavy reps at tight end. The Giants had an abysmal passing performance with and after Tyrod Taylor’s injury, so hopefully, Daniel Jones can return and bring this offense back to life.
