Fantasy Football Week 9 Waiver Wire Pickup Advice

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 rostered in fewer than 50 percent of leagues, with the roster percentages coming from Yahoo.com.

Quarterbacks

Sam Howell, Commanders (46% Rostered): Howell isn’t someone you’re going to feel good about playing, and he does have a low floor if things go wrong, but there aren’t many QBs widely available right now with Howell’s game to game ceiling. In a presumably tough matchup vs. Philadelphia on Sunday, Howell went out and threw for almost 400 yards with four touchdowns. Yes, the same guy also a week ago threw for 249 yards with zero touchdowns and no rushing production vs. the Giants. He’s unstable, but multiple QBs went down this week, and a lot of managers are running out of viable streaming choices. Howell is a player you can shut your eyes, play weekly, and get some big games.

Derek Carr, Saints (38% Rostered): Unlike Howell, Carr is turning into a dependable mid-tier fantasy QB who is never winning you a week, but usually not losing it. He looks bad most of the time, but Carr has logged three consecutive 300+-yard games. If you are a Matthew Stafford manager, you can easily add Carr and get very similar production. Just don’t actually, physically watch it.

Baker Mayfield, Buccaneers (30 % Rostered): Mayfield just isn’t turning in big games, even with he fantastic receivers at his disposal. The good news Is he hasn’t turned the ball over too much, and he’s good for at least one touchdown a week thanks to Mike Evans. He’s going to throw for fewer yards than Carr most weeks, but he’s a better bet for touchdowns.

Running Backs

Darrell Henderson, Rams (46% Rostered): Henderson predictably found it much tougher sledding vs. Dallas than the Steelers, rushing for just 31 yards on 12 carries. He did save his day with 54 receiving yards on three receptions, and while his snap rate was less than Royce Freeman’s in this one, they are pretty much sharing the lead duties until Kyren Williams is back. Henderson is still my preferred Rams back until they all return to irrelevance upon Williams’ return, but he’s not a guy to blow big FAAB dollars on.

Emari Demercado, Cardinals (37% Rostered): Demercado saw a season-high 20 carries vs. Baltimore, a brutal run defense, and churned out a respectable 78 yards. His fantasy relevance has a clear expiration date of whenever James Conner is back, but he has put to bed any threat of Keontay Ingram in the near future and is a perfectly capable low-end RB2/FLEX for those of us battling injury/bye week woes.

Zach Charbonnet, Seahawks (42% Rostered): Charbonnet is still just a handcuff as long as Ken Walker is healthy, but after Walker spent time last week with an injury designation, and then only saw eight carries vs. the Browns, Charbonnet makes sense as a speculative add in the event he takes over a huge role. On his own, with Walker healthy, Charbonnet scrapes the bottom of the barrel in terms of standalone value. But should Walker miss time, he’s an immediate high-end RB2. That level of upside can make a handcuff worth rostering on the cheap.

Royce Freeman, Rams (22% Rostered): Freeman bested Henderson in snap rate this week, and scored a touchdown vs. the Cowboys. He’s still secondary to Henderson though, because he saw three fewer carries, and zero targets for the second straight game. Both should see an uptick in workload on the ground if Matthew Stafford is going to miss games, but that’s a massive overall downgrade for the offense and doesn’t improve their outlooks. He’s playable, but again, Henderson is more well-rounded and trusted by this staff.

Kenneth Gainwell, Eagles (32% Rostered): Gainwell is another pure handcuff who would see an instant jump into RB2 territory with an injury to D’Andre Swift. Until then, though, his role is strictly some passing down work and the occasional red zone vulture opportunity,

Devin Singletary, Texans (20% Rostered): Singletary saw a virtually equal number of snaps to Dameon Pierce vs. the Panthers, logging 10 carries for 30 yards vs. Pierce’s 12 carries for 46 yards. The narrative that he was about to completely leapfrog Pierce for Texans backfield supremacy was overblown, but at this point they’re both undesirable, but playable FLEX options.

Ezekiel Elliott, Patriots (47% Rostered): Speaking of undesirable, but playable FLEX options, Elliott failed to find the end zone this week and showed us the ugly side of using him. After back-to-back games with him finding paydirt, Zeke rushed seven times for 29 yards, and added five receptions for a pathetic 14 yards. The usage is enough that he can produce in desperate times, but his burst is gone, so there won’t be big plays. He needs those goal line chances to be a positive, and they simply aren’t coming often enough in this bad offense. More often than not, you’re going to have a bad time playing him.

Jeff Wilson Jr., Dolphins (39% Rostered): Wilson got five carries on Sunday and didn’t do much, while logging 25% of the snaps. That’s not enough for him to really be relevant, and as soon as De’Von Achane is ready to come back, Wilson is going into the shadow realm. Right now, he’s not playable, and he’s strictly a short-term handcuff for Raheem Mostert, who does tend to get banged up.

Pierre Strong, Browns (10% Rostered): Strong is the clear No. 2 now to Kareem Hunt while Jerome Ford recovers from an ankle sprain, but this offense isn’t humming in such a fashion that he can produce as a secondary back. Like most of the players this week, there’s a low ceiling on him long term as well as short term, and he’s really just a pure desperation play at best.

Wide Receivers

Demario Douglas, Patriots (3% Rostered): Douglas has popped a little bit on film this year, and while it hasn’t translated to the stat sheet yet, he’s going to be heard from moving forward now that Kendrick Bourne’s season is over due to a torn ACL. Douglas has been the highest-graded receiver on the Patriots this year per PFF, and he’s drawn 13 targets in the last two games. This is a low-scoring, bad offense, but someone’s going to put up some numbers and it’s likely to be Douglas.

Quentin Johnston, Chargers (19% Rostered): Johnston has been a mess as a rookie, and even with Mike Williams getting hurt he’s failed to ably fill in this far when it seemed like that was the role he was best suited for. Still, he was on the field for a season-high 70% of snaps in Week 8, and that’s going to continue. So he has a big role, a big frame suited for chunk plays downfield, and an aggressive, talented QB. He’s a stash right now, but he could be a fantasy factor later in the year.

Rashid Shaheed, Saints (37% Rostered): Shaheed is electric when he hits, and he’s become a bit more intriguing as Carr’s passing numbers have stabilized, but his floor is a big fat zero. With an 18.2-yard average depth of target, Shaheed is almost exclusively being used as a bomb threat down the field, or as a screen option who has to make all his hay after the catch. If you need a big game, then taking the risk on Shaheed can pay off. But be aware that there really is no floor.

Tyler Boyd, Bengals (48% Rostered): Boyd is another player this week that is a middling, safe-ish option without massive impact long term. The Week 9 waiver wire is long on possibly helpful names, and very short on players who can make a big difference. Boyd is always playable, especially so with Joe Burrow looking like he’s himself again, but with Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins in place he’s never going to be more than a third receiving option. In this offense, that’s still relevant, but it’s not reliable and it’s not a recipe for sustained success.

Tight Ends

Taysom Hill, Saints (36% Rostered): Hill’s receiving role disappeared again this week, but it didn’t matter because he carried the rock nine times for 63 yards and he scored twice. He’s now scored three times in the last two games, and while touchdowns are still his best bet for relevance, it seems he’s being used weekly now in all facets of offense, which gives him a bit higher of a floor than he previously had. If he can establish a non-zero floor, his upside in a given week makes him essentially a must-start TE.

Trey McBride, Commanders (21% Rostered): McBride went nuts on the Ravens, catching 10 balls for 95 yards and a touchdown and showing what he’s capable of without Zach Ertz soaking up all his targets. Can we bank on this moving forward? Of course not, but we’ve now seen the ceiling for him, and the return of Kyler Murray is looming.

Logan Thomas, Commanders (45% Rostered): Thomas played well in a plus matchup, putting up six catches, 44 yards and a score. The floor is low for Thomas, and the ceiling isn’t necessarily sky high, but he’s seen good volume (for a TE) in three of the past four games so he’s as safe as a non-elite TE is going to be right about now.

Jonnu Smith, Falcons (36% Rostered): Smith’s been under 40 yards for three consecutive games, so another bad week and he’ll likely drop from this section. He has only found the end zone one time in 2023, so he needs those 5-8 targets a week to tally his typical 40-70 yards. Without those, he’s not worth rostering, so he’ll get a last chance to stay relevant.

Possibly Available

Roschon Johnson, RB, Bears (50% Rostered)

Tyjae Spears, RB, Titans (50% Rostered)

Tank Dell, WR, Texans (50% Rostered)

Drop Candidates – HODL or Say Goodbye?         

Brock Purdy, QB, 49ers (86% Rostered): HODL. QBs are dropping like flies, and this is the first rough stretch of his career. He’s got arguably the best weapons in the league, and the premier offensive mind. He’ll get through this.

Jordan Love, QB, Packers (67% Rostered): Say Goodbye. He stinks.

Miles Sanders, RB, Panthers (86% Rostered): HODL. It’s looking bad, but an injury places him back into a workhorse role. Stay strong.

Elijah Moore, WR, Browns (51% Rostered): Say Goodbye. I’ve had him here before, but it’s surprising he’s still rostered in 51% of leagues. What are these people waiting for?

Jameson Williams, WR, Lions (41% Rostered): Say Goodbye. Do it.

Tyler Higbee, TE, Rams (54% Rostered): Say Goodbye. He was borderline with Matthew Stafford. If Stafford is out or compromised, you gotta get out of dodge.