Big Blue View
Welcome to the Fantasy Football Waiver Wire for Week 9.
Friday is Halloween, and between four teams on Bye and too many injuries to count, another scary week for fantasy managers is on tap. Last week served as a reminder that most leagues run waivers at least 24 hours too early – something I’ve railed against for years. While that’s a discussion for another time, fantasy managers were challenged when the expected playing status of Drake London, Michael Penix, Jr., A.J. Brown, Lamar Jackson, and Tyrod Taylor all changed late in the week. If that impacted you, hopefully you either had a Plan B on your roster or were able to grab someone off the post-waivers trash heap. Will we have more surprises this week after waivers run? We’ll see.
The Process***:*** Each week, I try to identify the top Waiver Wire targets and evaluate the short- and long-term prospects of those players. I also do my best to reveal which players who are coming off a big week are fool’s gold. Finally, I look at streamers who might help you in a pinch. Note that I’m writing this column BEFORE the Week 8 Monday night game (WAS@KC).
Some players discussed won’t be available in your league. I try to list players who are available in more than 50% of leagues. But what does that even mean? A 10-team league with six bench spots will have a much larger Free Agent pool than a 14-team league with eight. Most leagues fall somewhere in between. This isn’t “one size fits all.” By way of example, I won’t list Jaxson Dart, Matthew Stafford, R.J. Harvey, Bam Knight, Kayshon Boutte, Troy Franklin, Ordonde Gadsden, or Harold Fannin, Jr., among others who probably aren’t available in any of your leagues.
WEEK 9 BYES: CLE, NYJ, PHI, TB
*Week 9 Waiver Wire
Quarterback:
Quarterback availability varies widely between 1-QB and Superflex/2-QB leagues.
Justin Fields probably got dropped in quite a few leagues. Early in the week, it looked like he might get benched permanently, after he was replaced at halftime in Week 8. A knee injury to Taylor re-opened the door for Fields as the Jets’ main man. He responded with a strong, turnover-free game, engineered a late comeback, and led his team to its first win of the season. My guess is he’ll remain the starter, and he’s always got major upside due to his rushing prowess. It’s been a rough go of late, but Garrett Wilson should be back after the team’s Week 9 Bye and that’ll help. Fields is worth a swing if you need long-term quarterback help.
Sam Darnold, Aaron Rodgers, and Joe Flacco won’t be available in most Superflex leagues, but they’re the obvious places to start if you need long-term help, a streamer, or an injury replacement in a 1-QB league. I’d add them all ahead of Fields. Flacco is day-to-day with a shoulder injury, which could impact his availability for Week 9.
Michael Penix, Jr. wasn’t able to...
