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

Ryan Fitzpatrick, Buccaneers (6% Owned): Fitzpatrick is back in the saddle, and while we all have doubts about his viability as a quality starting NFL quarterback, he’s proven this year that he’s a fine fantasy option. For the first three weeks of the year he was the No. 1 player in fantasy, surpassing 400 yards in all three games, and tossing 11 touchdown passes. He suffered through a nightmare game in Chicago vs. one of the NFL’s best defenses, and got benched on a short leash with Jameis Winston lurking. Now Winston’s the one who has been benched, and Fitz can resume using his plethora of weapons without looking over his shoulder. Two of his next three matchups (at Carolina, at Giants) are against weak pass defenses, and they sandwich an okay matchup at home vs. the Redskins. At worst Fitzpatrick is a good backup for your team, but he’s likely to be a Top 12 option rest of the way.

Alex Smith, Redskins (42% Owned): Smith was undeniably disappointing last week with a great matchup against the Giants, but they definitely played to the level of competition for much of that game. This week is a make-or-break game for Smith in terms of fantasy value. Smith is going up against the Falcons, one of the worst pass defenses in recent memory thanks to numerous injuries. I don’t like Smith as an every-week starter, but you can likely ride him for another week following Sunday as he’ll be at Tampa Bay in Week 9. But first he needs to prove his worth vs. the Falcons.

Running Backs

Peyton Barber, Buccaneers (46% Owned): Barber headlines a poor crop of waiver wire adds this week. I don’t think he’s a very good running back, but he’s guaranteed double-digit carries every week in a good offense, and he just hung 85 yards and a score on the Bengals. I wouldn’t want to start him, but if you’re getting crushed with bye weeks, injuries, or both, at least you can count on Barber to get reasonable work.

Josh Adams, Eagles (1% Owned): Adams out-touched Corey Clement last week, and has clearly forced his way into the RB rotation of a good offense. He rushed for 61 yards on nine carries, and right now looks like the back you want from this bloated committee. Ideally, you’d start no one from this backfield, and they’re on bye this week regardless. But that bye week may convince the Eagles to start tilting the carries in favor of the rookie, Adams, who has shown much more burst than Clement or Wendell Smallwood.

Frank Gore, Dolphins (22% Owned): Last week Gore received double-digit carries for the fifth consecutive game, although this matchup vs. Houston’s top-ranked run defense entering Week 8 was not a fruitful one. Gore’s upcoming slate isn’t particularly exciting, but this is moreso advice for Kenyan Drake owners; it’s a mistake to not own Gore if you own Drake. If you are just looking to add some RB depth, Gore isn’t the most enthralling option, but he’ll be cheap and he has the upside to be an Adrian Peterson-esque option if Drake gets hurt.

Mike Davis, Seahawks (19% Owned): Davis is a clear handcuff for Chris Carson owners with Rashad Penny having disappeared from the game plan like Thanos snapped his fingers. Davis gets enough work each week to have extremely fringy/desperate FLEX value in a deep league, but in the one week in which he got a full workload he produced a 101-yard, two-touchdown game. He’ll come in handy if Carson goes down.

LeGarrette Blount, Lions (21% Owned): Blount only saw three carries last week in a game in which Detroit was behind all day. That’s fine, because Blount is only a must-own for Kerryon Johnson owners. Johnson is the clear leader of the backfield now, so Blount’s value to non-Kerryon owners is disappearing fast. With that said, if Kerryon got hurt, Blount immediately becomes a high-volume RB2 with TD potential every single week.

C.J. Anderson, Panthers (13% Owned): Anderson is purely a handcuff for Christian McCaffery owners, but he’s an RB2 if something happens to C-Mac.

Wide Receivers

Courtland Sutton, Broncos (10% Owned): Sutton is the big winner of the NFL trade deadline, as Demaryius Thomas has been dealt, vacating seven targets per game for the big play threat. Even with Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders dominating target share, Sutton has had value by averaging 19.1 yards per catch and scoring two touchdowns. He’s benefitted from being a third banana though; with more targets and a bigger role, Sutton’s yards per catch are bound to fall a bit. He can make up for that with the volume of catches though, and he will still be involved down the field as a bomb threat. Do not be afraid to spend a bit on him in free agency, he’s about to be a rock-solid WR2.

Tre’Quan Smith, Saints (30% Owned): Smith hasn’t been able to totally thrive in his new role as the Drew Brees deep threat, vacated by Ted Ginn, but he will eventually. Smith has the physical tools necessary to be an impact player, and in the role he’s occupying it’s difficult to not be fantasy relevant. Don’t go nuts on waivers with your FAAB budget, but he will likely have some huge games mixed in with duds.

Danny Amendola, Dolphins (41% Owned): Amendola’s value is tied to the injury report, but if Kenny Stills remains out, Amendola will see consistent targets. Amendola has seen six or more targets for three straight games, seemingly benefitting from Brock Osweiler being the QB in place of Ryan Tannehill. It’s unbelievable that Osweiler is starting games in 2018, but that’s where we are. Amendola is startable in PPR formats.

Christian Kirk, Cardinals (30% Owned): Kirk has remained solid even with Larry Fitzgerald returning to form a bit. Kirk remains the WR to own in Arizona, if there is such a thing. At this point in his career he’s more explosive than Fitz, and more consistent since Week 1. Kirk’s upcoming games are vs. the 49ers, at Chiefs, home for Raiders and at Chargers. That’s a slew of weak defenses to exploit, and he’ll likely be free because the Cardinals are on bye.

Keke Coutee, Texans (20% Owned): Coutee’s become much less exciting with Houston adding Demaryius Thomas, because the targets he would’ve soaked up in Will Fuller’s absence are going to be gobbled up. Coutee will likely draw little to no attention from opposing defenses now, however, which could lead to him breaking out as a PPR stud. He’s got to get healthy first also; the move for Thomas could be a sign Coutee is going to miss more time.

Tight Ends

Ed Dickson, Seahawks (2% Owned): Dickson scored a touchdown last week and piled up 64 yards, but pump the brakes just a bit. He only saw two targets, and that kind of target share is not good even if you’re expecting touchdown dependency. That said, Russell Wilson utilizes the tight end, especially in the red zone, so Dickson will be in the TE1 mix when he has good matchups.

Chris Herndon, Jets (6% Owned): Herndon is scary because he does not see consistent targets, but he clearly has become a safety blanket for Sam Darnold. Herndon has scored in three straight games, and with Top 12 TEs like David Njoku and Ben Watson being weekly threats to put up a doughnut, you aren’t crazy if you want to buy into Herndon’s viability as a weekly red zone weapon. The big issue is the Jets’ ability to make trips to the red zone.