Fantasy Football Week 9 Waiver Wire Pickups

Is your fantasy team in need of new blood? Each week I’ll bring to you the best pickups to make ahead of the waiver deadline. All the players I list will be owned in fewer than 50 percent of leagues, with the ownership percentage coming from Yahoo.com.

Quarterbacks

Josh McCown, Jets (25% Owned): McCown continues to be a perfectly playable option at QB. The 38-year-old’s performance is eerily similar to Ryan  magic 2015 season, so if you’re desperate you can do worse. He’s thrown two or more touchdown passes in four consecutive games, and gets the Bills’ defense on a short turnaround before a Week 10 dream matchup with Tampa Bay.

Jimmy Garoppolo, 49ers (3% Owned): Garoppolo is strictly a deep-league add for a team in excellent standing that can afford a roster stash. Garoppolo can easily be a bust, especially on a team as bereft of offensive talent as San Francisco. But he also has flashed big time talent, so he may turn out to be a useful player down the stretch.

Running Backs

Alex Collins, Ravens (37% Owned): If you didn’t scoop up Collins last week like I told you, then now you’re paying for him. He’ll be worth it. After stomping all over the Dolphins this past week, Collins is now averaging a full six yards per carry. He’s assumed full control of all early-down work for Baltimore, and will be highly productive even with Buck Allen eating into his workload. There will be some disappointing weeks if Baltimore can’t control the game script, but even then he has been so efficient he’ll still be usable.

Alfred Morris, Cowboys (40% Owned): So it looks like Ezekiel Elliott is suspended again, and while there’s some weird momentum building for Darren McFadden as the proper add, Morris has been the guy who is active every week. He sure as hell ain’t no Zeke, but Morris will likely be a touchdown machine behind Dallas’ offensive line. He also has two favorable matchups on the horizon vs. the Chiefs and Falcons.

Marlon Mack, Colts (45% Owned): Mack continues to out-touch Frank Gore, and outperform him. Mack saw 18 touches in Week 8, piling up 63 yards from scrimmage and scoring a receiving touchdown. As the Colts keep losing, they’ll have less and less of a reason to bother giving Gore work when they can see what Mack has to offer. He isn’t as sexy of an add as Collins or Morris, but he will help you.

Kenyan Drake, Dolphins (4% Owned): Jay Ajayi was shockingly traded to the Eagles today, leaving Drake to compete for the primary role with veteran Damien Williams. I was high on Drake preseason, and even though he didn’t get much of a chance, he has the opportunity of a lifetime now. As a rookie Drake averaged 5.4 yards per carry, and he was a similarly efficient player at Alabama, where he backed up Derrick Henry. We’ve literally never gotten to see Drake as a leading man, but if Miami is wise they’ll take a gander for the rest of 2017. Two of Drake’s next three matchups are against the Raiders and Buccaneers, so if he can’t produce vs. those defenses we have our answer about him.

Orleans Darkwa, Giants (48% Owned): Fantasy owners might have forgotten about Darkwa due to the Giants’ bye week, but he’s still a primary ballcarrier in the NFL. Those players need to be owned, no matter how pathetic their offense may be. Darkwa has only carried the ball more than nine times once this year; he chewed up 117 yards on 21 attempts vs. the Broncos, in Denver on primetime TV. Darkwa’s hurt by his lack of receiving ability, but he’s the best bet in the Giants’ backfield to score touchdowns. He is a desperate type of play, but one with a reasonable chance to be okay.

Jonathan Stewart, Panthers (44% Owned): Stewart’s best days are clearly behind him, and he’s far from the focal point of Carolina’s offense. Still, despite diminishing work in the last two games, Stewart has registered double-digit carries all but one week this year. He found the end zone for the first time last week, and while he’s no stud, RBs who get that kind of work eventually score. Stewart’s similar to Darkwa; you won’t be excited at all to play him, but if you’re desperate he’s unlikely to throw up a week-killing doughnut.

Matt Breida, 49ers (9% Owned): Breida is a must-own for Carlos Hyde owners, and a decent speculative add for players in good shape roster-wise. He’s shown he has legit talent, so if Hyde does go down he’ll be a productive player. But at this point the San Francisco offense is so bad that Breida is touchdown-dependent. As a player with one touchdown, it’s a risky proposition. Breida is certainly more exciting and has more upside than Stewart or Darkwa, but if you need someone to play now, Breida isn’t your guy.

Rob Kelley, Redskins (40% Owned): Kelley is very similar to Darkwa, except a bit more likely to score touchdowns. The problem is that his volume is disappearing as the ‘Skins recognize that Chris Thompson is vastly superior in all facets of the game. Kelley remains a “starter” and should still be owned, but he’s very touchdown dependent.

Damien Williams, Dolphins (3% Owned): Williams has stuck around Miami for four years now, and with Ajayi gone he has a real chance at being the lead back. For some reason Miami can’t resist giving Williams and his career 3.3 yards per carry chance after chance to cement his role. At the very least, Williams might be in line for goal line touches; beware that, however, since the Dolphins are the lowest-scoring team in the NFL despite playing in a division with two teams who actively tanked before the season started.

Wide Receivers

Juju Smith-Schuster, Steelers (50% Owned): Beware the Smith-Schuster hype. Juju was all over the news last week between Martavis Bryant throwing shade at him, and his bike getting stolen. Then he ripped off a 97-yard TD this past week, and I bet he’ll be almost universally owned when we all wake up Wednesday morning. He’s talented no doubt, but before last week he had three or fewer receptions in six of his seven games. Before last week he’d only gotten to 40 receiving yards twice, and Bryant has already been announced to be part of Pittsburgh’s game plan this week. Schuster has high upside, but do NOT treat him like a sure thing. That’s how you get hurt.

Robby Anderson, Jets (30% Owned): While everyone rushes to add Smith-Schuster, quietly pick up Anderson, who has scored in back-to-back games and who has been targeted at least five times in six consecutive weeks. Anderson is a big-play guy – 16.1 yards per reception – and now he’s starting to score with regularity. That’s a quality WR3.

Cooper Kupp, Rams (42% Owned): Kupp hasn’t been able to do much damage lately in terms of yardage, but he remains the Rams’ most-targeted receiver, and he returned to the end zone in Week 7 vs. the Cardinals. The Rams’ slate is tough for the next few games, but any receiver with a shot at double-digit targets is worth rostering.

Allen Hurns, Jaguars (35% Owned): The last time we saw Hurns he was hanging 101 yards on the hapless Colts in Week 7. Hurns is not a reliable fantasy option, but he’s an explosive one. The Jaguars are a run-first offense now, but Hurns remains the top option in the passing game, and he’s capable of volcanic eruptions regardless of matchup.

Tight Ends

Tyler Kroft, Bengals (46% Owned): Kroft has become a steady producer, which is all you can ask of a fantasy TE these days. Kroft is not exciting, nor is he spectacular. He is a near-lock for three or four catches and he has a decent shot at a TD in any given week.

Vernon Davis, Redskins (14% Owned): Davis has been surprisingly involved for most of this season, and his role will only increase with Jordan Reed set to miss Week 9. Davis has been extremely frustrating for most of his career, so don’t be surprised if he turns in an absolute dud. He can also put up huge numbers too. He’s a high-risk, extremely high-reward coin flip.