Fantasy Football 2019 Week 9 Waiver Wire Pickup Advice

Quarterbacks

Mitchell Trubisky, Bears (25% Owned): Trubisky continued to acquit himself poorly last week, throwing for 253 yards with zero touchdowns and a pick against the Chargers, one of the worst five pass defenses in football entering Week 8 per Football Outsiders. Still, desperate times call for favorable matchups. If you are in dire need, I believe you can fire up Trubisky against the Eagles, whose secondary is abysmal and should struggle to contain Allen Robinson. It’s possible that Trubisky fails to get him catchable targets, but the matchup plus his rushing potential makes him a blowup candidate.

Ryan Tannehill, Titans (30% Owned): Tannehill has a rough matchup with the Panthers pass defense this week, but if you stream QBs and are planning ahead, his home dates with the Chiefs and Jaguars sans Jalen Ramsey are appealing. Once upon a time Tannehill was viewed as an upside play at QB, and his rushing ability helps, even if he’s barely run this season. With Corey Davis, A.J. Brown and Jonnu Smith at his disposal, Tannehill can be a back end QB1 in those scenarios.

Running Backs

Jaylen Samuels, Steelers (21% Owned): Opportunity is king in fantasy football, and Jaylen Samuels is about to have a ton of it if he’s suiting up in Week 9. Be wary of spending too much FAAB money because he’s not officially back from injury, but it looks like the Steelers are without RB James Conner for the foreseeable future after he suffered a possible clavicle injury. Samuels was a high yards-per-carry guy last season, and he has excellent potential as a receiver out of the backfield. It’s worth noting, however, last year he was surrounded by Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, James Conner and Juju Smith-Schuster operating as a No. 2. Now, it’s Juju, Mason Rudolph and……..that’s it. The opportunities are coming, but they’ll be of lower quality in a far worse offense. Don’t expect much more than a middle to low-end RB2, and he’ll lose value in non-PPR formats.

Mark Walton, Dolphins (25% Owned): Walton is appealing as a concept. He’s a big talent who has landed here due mostly to off field issues, and being blocked by Joe Mixon. The problem is that even with the opportunity he is about to see with Kenyan Drake shipped away, the Dolphins offense is such ass that he is still terrible fantasy-wise. He’s seen double-digit carries in back-to-back weeks, and totaled 101 rushing yards with no touchdowns and a fumble. He also has been vulture by Kalen Ballage. Walton sees enough work that he’s a lock to not give you zero, but overall he’s not someone you’re happy to start.

Ronald Jones, Buccaneers (46% Owned): Jones is in a better situation than Walton, but his usage is frustrating. Despite clearly being a more talented back than Peyton Barber, he continues to split time with Barber, and lose passing down work to Dare Ogunbuwale. He’s worth owning in the event Barber gets banged up, or Bruce Arians decides to entrust him with a more consistent workload, because when he’s received work, he’s been RB2-ish. As of now though, he’s a bye week plug-in.

Tra Carson, Lions (0% Owned): Surprise! Everyone blew their FAAB loads on Ty Johnson, only to see Carson receive 12 carries. He turned it into an underwhelming 34 yards and was not targeted in the passing game. Honestly, I wouldn’t pick him up. He could be worth rostering in 14-team leagues and deeper, but if this is a 50/50 split with Johnson, neither are worth owning with passing weapons as good as Detroit’s.

Wide Receivers

Dionte Johnson, Steelers (11% Owned): Johnson is officially a thing. He and Mason Rudolph clearly have a connection, as evidenced by the seven targets he saw vs. Miami that turned into five catches, 84 yards and a score. Johnson has gone for 50 or more yards and a touchdown in every game with Rudolph, and has to start being treated as a DJ Chark-type breakout at this point. Juju Smith-Schuster is still the unquestioned WR1 in Pittsburgh, but Johnson truly resembles peak Martavis Bryant (on field only!).

DeVante Parker, Dolphins (26% Owned): It’s irritating to once again be sucked into the DeVante Parker vortex, but the guy is proving consistent every week. He’s put up 55+ yards in all but one game since Week 3, and had scored in three straight games before the Steelers kept him out of the end zone. As long as Ryan Fitzpatrick is there, Parker will see regular targets, and they’ll be competent. He’s a steady, high-floor WR3 which has value with bye weeks still wreaking havoc.

Auden Tate, Bengals (28% Owned): Tate’s ownership percentage is purely based on (rightful) prejudice against the Bengals’ offense. The team is a dumpster fire, but even the worst offenses produce yards and points. Tate has seen double-digit targets three times in 2019, and has put up 50 or more yards in five of seven games. He’s also seen at least six targets in every game beginning in Week 3. A return by A.J. Green looms, which will eat into his target share, but attention on Green could increase Tate’s potency in the red zone. He’s large and talented and should be owned.

A.J. Brown, Titans (25% Owned): Brown can’t be trusted in anything shallower than a 14-team league, which is frustrating because his ability is glaringly obvious. The targets are simply not consistent; he was only thrown to three times against the Bucs, and he scored a touchdown on one of them. Throwing to Brown yields excellent results, and after this week the Titans have some plus matchups that he should be able to exploit.

Cole Beasley, Bills (24% Owned): Beasley has rewarded me for my faith in him. While his receptions have dipped of late – three catches in three straight games – his targets are back up in his last two games, and he’s found the end zone in both games. The touchdowns are a nice positive regression, because he was seeing way too many targets to have zero scores. The upcoming slate – Washington at Cleveland, at Miami -- is gangbusters for the Bills pass-catchers, especially slot receivers. Expect some more touchdowns over that stretch.

Tight Ends

Darren Fells, Texans (18% Owned): Fells certainly has doughnut potential in any given week, but he’s become a regular target of Deshaun Watson in the red zone. Fells has five touchdowns this year, and two multi-TD games in the last four weeks. He’s not in the tier of Even Engram or George Kittle, but he does have a bit more upside than the likes of Noah Fant or Jimmy Graham, other TEs in his range.

Jared Cook, Saints (49% Owned): Cook’s injury status needs to be monitored, but if he’s good to go, then he’ll be a fine pickup with Drew Brees back under center. Cook had scored in back-to-back games before getting hurt, and he should be a high-floor (for a TE) option moving forward. His yardage totals haven’t been what most had hoped coming off a career year in 2018, but matchups with the Falcons and Buccaneers should cure that.