We are facing a lot of bye weeks this week so finding useful assets may prove to be difficult. If you have any questions, per usual, ask me in chat. If any player is rostered in over 50% of leagues on Yahoo or ESPN, I exclude them from articles. What brings this to my attention is a player like D’Onta Foreman. He is rostered in roughly 77% of leagues across the two most popular platforms so he won’t make the article. Foreman is absolutely a great add and if you have any questions on how you should approach waivers, do not hesitate to ask in chat. I also want to note that it is good practice to look ahead for a few weeks during the season. This will give you a good gauge on what the coming weeks will show and one of the main reasons I list all of the remaining bye weeks so we can try to stay ahead of the curve. This could be the deciding factor between deciding which DST to stream for the week as well. If you’re stuck with them for the following week, you’d like for that matchup to be at least halfway decent.
Also, if you have any suggestions for these articles, please let me know. I try to be as transparent as possible and cover as many bases that I can. If you find yourself wanting more or having any questions, please ask. It may be something I can add to weekly articles. This goes for both Waivers and DFS.
Upcoming Bye Weeks
Week 9: CLE, DAL, DEN, SF, PIT, NYG
Week 10: BAL, CIN, NYJ, NE
Week 11: JAX, TB, SEA, MIA
Week 12: NONE
Week 13: ARI, CAR
Week 14: ATL, CHI, GB, IND, WAS, NO
QB
Justin Fields (Chicago Bears)
We saw on Sunday why I had Fields as the #1 QB priority for the week. It is going to be a lot tougher to scoop him up now than it was a week ago. He went out against a tough Cowboys defense and dropped 26.04 fantasy points and finished as the QB3 on the week. His next three opponents are MIA, CHI, and ATL. Even if he didn’t have a gravy schedule, Fields is now cemented as a matchup proof QB1. It also helps that the Bears front office just went out and added Chase Claypool. Fields now has a halfway decent receiving group and supporting cast around him.
Andy Dalton (New Orleans Saints)
Dalton is playing amazing ball right now. Over his last two games he has put up scores of 26.54 and 17.16. In Week 9, he will face the Baltimore Ravens, a team that is still giving up the 9th most fantasy points per game to opposing QBs with 19.8. With the Ravens offense looking better and better, I expect Dalton to be forced to throw at a higher clip than he had to in Week 8. Dalton offers a high floor and a high ceiling if the Ravens force Dalton into higher volume.
Jared Goff (Detroit Lions)
Goff got his weapons back in Week 8 and finished as the QB12 on the week. He once again tossed for over 300 yards, finishing with 312 on 27/37 passing with one score. The ground game did vulture TDs from Goff in this one but there isn’t much we can do about that. Goff looks to again have his full arsenal against the Packers this Sunday at home. The Packers present a tough matchup but all Goff has to do is put the ball in his playmakers hands and he will get you a solid 12-15 fantasy points to get you by for the week.
Deshaun Watson (Cleveland Browns)
This is a reminder to keep an eye on Watson and to pick him up. He comes back in a month and becomes a QB1 immediately for fantasy.
RB
Rachaad White (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
Everyone here should not have White on their waivers and this will be the last time I write up about him. Since writing about him every week since before Week 6, White has jumped from 22.2% of snaps in Week 6 to 43.4% of snaps in Week 8. Over his last three weeks he has seen 9 total targets, pulling in seven of them for 43 yards. He has also added 14 rush attempts over that time frame for 55 yards. White is slowly turning this into a 50/50 split and offers FLEX appeal during these tough bye weeks with the top 5 handcuff cherry on top of his value. If Fournette were to get hurt, White becomes a RB1 any game he plays without Fournette.
Tyler Allgeier (Atlanta Falcons)
I’m going to be buying Allgeier when I think most of the market is going to be selling with Patterson on the verge of returning from the IR. Allgeier has worked his way into earning 60% of the RB snaps and contrary to popular thought, I think he keeps it. I think Patterson comes back as the “weapon” role and the Falcons keep Allgeier getting the bulk of the RB carries, probably around 50-60% or so. The good news is that with this style of offense, that’s about 12-15 rushes a game. He will offer a floor of about 8-10 PPG which isn’t bad for a FLEX spot for the next month and a half. On top of getting 60% of the snaps, Allgeier bolstered up to three targets in Week 8, catching all three for 46 yards and a score. Allgeier is a talented back and the Falcons are going to have a hard time keeping him off of the field.
Chubba Hubbard (Carolina Panthers)
I don’t think we should forget about Hubbard after Foreman’s monster game in Week 8. Foreman played fantastic and earned himself the starting nod going forward. However, Hubbard was given the RB1 role even after the Panthers staff had seen both Foreman and Hubbard play all pre season and for seven games this season. No one is going to hold on to Hubbard so scoop him up when everyone drops him tomorrow. No need to waste a waiver claim on him.
RB Handcuffs
I’m going to make this a weekly list as I think this point in the season is more critical of rostering cuffs than any other. There is not much there this week for RB, as it has been all season, which is why handcuffing is so important right now. The upside they provide is crucial as we head towards the playoffs through these bye weeks. This is the order in which I would roster these handcuffs. For example, if you have Edmonds, I would cut him for Warren or Hasty and so on. Ask me in chat if you have any questions.
- Isiah Pacheco (Kansas City Chiefs)
- Jaylen Warren (Pittsburgh Steelers)
- JaMycal Hasty (Jacksonville Jaguars)
- Sony Michel (LA Chargers)
- D’Ernest Johnson (Cleveland Browns – ONLY if Hunt gets traded)
- Elijah Mitchell (San Francisco 49ers)
- Jeff Wilson (Miami Dolphins)
WR
Rondale Moore (Arizona Cardinals)
Moore is a weekly WR3 option moving forward. He should be rostered in all of our leagues given his continued appearance on these articles so this will be his last. He pulled in seven of his eight targets for 92 yards and a score in Week 8, marking the third time in his last four games he has topped 10.9 PPR points. He has now seen at least eight targets in three of his last four and a grand total of 28 targets during that span. Removing the Week 7 blunder where he had to play perimeter WR against the Saints, Moore has smashed his expectations. If he’s out there, make sure to snag him.
Devin Duvernay (Baltimore Ravens)
Check your wires to see if Duvernay is available. It seems that Bateman is going to miss significant time, maybe even the entire season. Duvernay has been a victim of the Ravens Offensive Coordinator, Greg Roman, in the sense that he hasn’t been used properly. Well in Week 8, we saw Roman turn the script on that in the 2nd of the Ravens win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Duvernay is good with the ball in his hands and runs like a RB in space with great speed. He handled two carries for 33 yards and a score on the ground while seeing four targets, hauling in all four of them for 31 yards. With Bateman almost completely out of the picture for the foreseeable future, Duvernay should see 4-6 targets per game with a designed play or two to get him in space. He has a good matchup in Week 9 before his Bye week in Week 10.
Terrace Marshall (Carolina Panthers)
Marshall is going to be here to stay. The presumed bust after being benched by previous leadership has found new life after the Panthers dealt Robbie Anderson. Marshall saw a whopping 9 targets in Week 8’s loss to the Falcons. He came extremely close to catching a few TDs but was unable to pull in any of the tough catches. He finished with 4 receptions for 87 yards and smashed his DFS projections for our article last week. I expect more of the same moving forward and have no issues firing up Marshall as a FLEX during the bye week gauntlet.
Joshua Palmer (LA Chargers)
Mike Williams is expected to miss extended time for the Chargers. This would mean the next man up for Joshua Palmer who has disappointed so far this season on the field. However, he is getting targets at a fantasy friendly rate. He has over six targets in four of the six games he has played this season and has over 8 in three of them. The Falcons present a very beatable matchup, as we saw in Week 8 when PJ Walker dropped 300+ yards on them. I expect Palmer to play more on the outside to fill in for Williams now that Keenan Allen is back in the slot.
Julio Jones (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
Julio turned up a promising four target game in his first return to extended playing time for the Bucs. He played for the first time since Week 3 and logged his most snaps of the season with 39 (57.4%). He earned four targets, pulling in two of them for 21 yards and a score. With Russell Gage still sidelined with a hamstring injury, a type of injury that usually lingers, it should open up the door for Julio to continue to get healthier and cement himself as the WR3 of this team.
TE
Evan Engram (Jacksonville Jaguars)
As I mentioned in last week’s write up, Engram is due to score some TDs. He ended up finishing his Week 8 matchup against the Broncos with a 4/55/1 stat line on 6 targets, finishing as the TE4 on the week. This week he gets to face off against the Raiders who have been beaten for X points per game this season. It is also worth noting that Engram has another excellent matchup in Week 10 against KC, so you will be ahead of the game already.
Robert Tonyan (Green Bay Packers)
The Packers get to visit the Detroit Lions in Week 9. This game has a nice mixture of what I like to look for when streaming a TE. The projected total is 49, the Lions are giving up X fantasy points to TEs per game and the Packers have an extremely thin receiving group. Not many TE streamers have a ceiling of 12 targets mixed with a floor of 4-6 targets. Given the increased odds of scoring a TE, great matchup, and high game total, I’d confidently play Tonyan if you have any of your TEs on a bye this week or are struggling at the position.
Cole Kmet (Chicago Bears)
Kmet made an appearance in the endzone for the first time since 2020 after being held scoreless all of 2021 and all of this season up until this point. Kmet isn’t seeing any insane volume and this play is for the bottom of the barrel TE dives but Kmet is seeing about three targets per game and is facing a team giving up the X most fantasy points to TEs per game this season. With a projected total of 45.5 and a game with heightened chances of hitting the over, we have slightly increased odds of Kmet seeing his 2nd TD of the season in Week 9.
DST
Indianapolis Colts
The Colts visit the Patriots this week but Mac Jones has been absolutely awful this season. He is a turnstile for turnovers and is absorbing sacks left and right. The Colts have shifted their style of play to a balanced offense to control the clock and play above average defense. They also are towards the top of the league in run defense. If the Patriots can’t get anything moving on the ground, Mac Jones will again be opened up to a tough zone defense that is going to give him fits.
Seattle Seahawks
Coming off of a great performance against the New York Giants, the Seahawks travel to Arizona to take on the Cardinals. The Cardinals have looked below average at best this year on offense and were just sacked four times with another six QB hits against the Minnesota Vikings while Kyler threw two interceptions. The Seahawks sacked Giants QB, Daniel Jones, 5 times with 8QB hits in Week 8 and forced two turnovers. Look for that style of play to continue in what I envision as a low scoring affair.
Droppable:
