10-Team Leagues
Derek Carr (QB – Oakland Raiders; FAAB Bid: 12-15%) – There’s little reason to be excited about Derek Carr , but he’s an okay streaming option next week across the bay in San Francisco. On Sunday, Carr had one of his best starts of the season despite only throwing the ball 28 times and not really involving Jordy Nelson . Carr threw for 244 yards and three touchdowns while also adding a rushing touchdown. He finished with a 96.5 quarterback rating and a 136.6 passer rating. It’s strange and hard to explain that he did better without Amari Cooper , but this is the hand he’s been dealt. Carr gets a great road matchup next week against the 49ers defense that has allowed 16 passing touchdowns in seven games.
Aaron Jones (RB – Green Bay Packers; FAAB Bid: 60-100%) – Assuming you have a solid fantasy team in shallower leagues and you’re in line for a playoff spot, you should sell the farm for Aaron Jones . If you missed the boat on Marlon Mack the past couple weeks do not hesitate to grab Jones. He’s the kind of player who can win you a championship. He only saw 12 carries on Sunday, but it’s by far his largest workload in 2018. On 42 this season carries he’s averaging 6.2 yards per carry and he found the end zone on Sunday. The Packers are sitting at 3-3-1 and outside the playoff picture right now. Perhaps the best thing for Jones’ fantasy value was a loss to the Rams in Week 8. This opens the door for Rodgers and Co. to do what they should’ve done long ago and use Jones as the featured back to elevate the offense. Green Bay is currently third in their division and they need to make some changes offensively to keep pace and accumulate more wins. Aaron Jones needs to be more involved and he’s showing he’s worthy. A 100% bid is feasible for a talented player like Jones.
Nyheim Hines (RB – Indianapolis Colts; FAAB Bid: 20%) – “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” That’s the sentiment towards Nyheim Hines this week. It looked like he was worth dropping and moving on from, and then he has a decent game. The running back options on waivers are fairly slim outside of Aaron Jones . And Hines looked to be losing work to Marlon Mack and make no mistake about it, Mack is the guy and if you missed the boat on him then shame on you. But Hines still managed to collect 78 rushing yards on 11 carries, while also adding a pair of catches. Hines needs the passing game and a particular game script to go his way and since Mack got healthy, that hasn’t been the case. The Colts are on bye so there may not be many owners clamoring to acquire him so now is the perfect time to snag and stash Hines.
Danny Amendola (WR – New England Patriots; FAAB Bid: 22%) – Sure Amendola needed to throw a 28-yard touchdown pass to return sufficient value last Thursday night, but his fantasy owners won’t complain very much. Amendola has 24 targets over his last three games with Osweiler under center, but a Ryan Tannehill return could hurt ‘Dola since Tannehill targeted Danny just 20 times in five games. As long as Osweiler is under center you can expect Amendola to see seven-to-eight targets per game so he’s a good pickup in PPR formats.
Jack Doyle (TE – Indianapolis Colts; FAAB Bid: 25-35%) – Admittedly I wasn’t very high on Doyle heading into last week. I was skeptical about his workload and involvement in the offense considering he was coming off injury and the Colts were doing just fine with Eric Ebron . Doyle returned to form to catch six of seven targets for 70 yards and a touchdown. Fortunately for Ebron owners he found the end zone also so there’s a willingness to make this offense work with two tight ends. But if you’re in need of a tight end in shallower leagues, make a bid for Doyle. As long as he stays healthy he’s a Top 10 tight end.
12-Team Leagues
Ryan Fitzpatrick (QB – Tampa Bay Buccaneers; FAAB Bid: 15-18%) – With numerous quarterbacks on bye next like (Andy Dalton , Andrew Luck , Carson Wentz , Eli Manning , and Blake Bortles ) there may be a need to stream a quarterback. It’s not a great matchup next week on the road against the Panthers, but the floor isn’t terrible. In three of their last four games the Panthers have given up two touchdown passes and at least 300 passing yards. In four-point per passing touchdown leagues that’s 20 points as long as your quarterback isn’t turning the ball over. And Fitzpatrick is still prone to turning the ball over as we’ve seen in the past. But he has been named the starter next week after Jameis Winston had a disastrous outing against Cincinnati. Fitzpatrick is widely available in most leagues so he’s a viable streamer in Week 9.
JUST ADDED Courtland Sutton (WR - Denver Broncos; FAAB Bid: 20-25%) - Now that Demaryius Thomas has been shipped off to Houston, Sutton could figure to be a bigger part of the Denver offense. His numbers so far have been modest, but in three of his last five games he has catches of 40+ yards so the big play potential is there. Now the opportunity will also be there for the young wide receiver. He likely won't cut into Emmanuel Sanders ' workload, but Sutton should go from seeing four or five targets a week, to seven or eight targets.
Keke Coutee (WR – Houston Texans; FAAB Bid: 12%) – Sure such a hefty bid seems excessive for a wide receiver, especially an injured one. But the Texans have a need for a top receiving option next to DeAndre Hopkins who could get a ton of coverage going forward. Insert Keke Coutee who did have some big games prior to getting hurt. But the big hurdle for him was Will Fuller and now Fuller’s out of the picture. Coutee needs to get healthy still, but when he does he’s due for volume. Update: Following the news of the Texans acquiring Demaryius Thomas, this certainly hurts Coutee's prospects. I'd not longer recommend a 30% big on him with the injury and a veteran wide receiver likely ahead of him on the depth chart. Still he's shown potential in a few games this year and is still worth rolling the dice on, just not at the same price.
DeVante Parker (WR – Miami Dolphins; FAAB Bid: 10-15%) – For a few weeks Parker’s camp was adamant that he was healthy and wanted to be a part of the Dolphins offensive scheme. It’s amazing what happens when he truly is healthy and you get him involved. Turns out he was right in regards to his health. In just his third game this season Parker brought in six of nine targets for 134 yards. Parker was on the field for every single offensive snap for Miami last Thursday, which is kind of odd for a guy that was supposedly injured according to the coaching staff. If he can stay on the field and build a rapport with Osweiler he’s an incredible deep threat for this team.
DST to Stream – The Seattle Seahawks are a fairly underrated fantasy defense in a challenging matchup next week at home against the Chargers who are coming off their bye week. Seattle has only allowed two of their seven opponents to score more than 20 points and sure the Chargers could be the third team to cross that line, but at the same time Philip Rivers isn’t throwing the ball as much as he normally does. Melvin Gordon will get his workload and Seattle will have their hands full with him. If you don’t feel comfortable with Seattle then pivot to the deeper league DST streaming option.
Deeper League Options
Josh Adams (RB – Philadelphia Eagles; FAAB Bid: 15%) – At this point in the season, you have to start taking chances on some players. In deeper leagues Josh Adams may be worth the gamble. The Eagles backfield is not easy to read. On Sunday Wendell Smallwood had eight carries and Corey Clement had just four. It was Adams who actually led all Eagles running backs in carries, albeit with just nine. But he managed to turn those nine carries into 61 yards. Darren Sproles will eventually come back and that’ll just throw another wrench into the Eagles backfield. However, you need to start making waves and Adams is worth a deep league stash at this point.
Tre-Quan Smith (WR – New Orleans Saints; FAAB Bid: 12-18%) – Several of you members of FANation were probably disappointed in starting TQ Smith on Sunday, but never fret. He’s becoming the number two wide receiver in the Saints offense. He’s seen only 13 targets over the last three games, but on Sunday he was on the field for 77% of the team’s offensive snaps. A lot of fantasy owners have been discouraged by the lack of involvement the last two weeks, but stay positive because he is on the field. The workload is coming for him.
D.J. Moore (WR – Carolina Panthers; FAAB Bid: 15-18%) – Moore might very well be my favorite waiver wire addition this week. He’s averaging four catches per games and while the yardage and scoring haven’t been there, the opportunity is presenting itself to Moore. Moore was on the field for 70% of the snaps and ran 26 routes on Sunday, both of which are season highs for him. Moore gets a fantastic matchup against Tampa Bay’s horrendous secondary. This could be a breakout game for the Panthers young wideout.
Jordan Thomas (TE – Houston Texans; FAAB Bid: 5-8%) – With Will Fuller done for the season there’s an opportunity for targets in the Texans passing game. Keke Coutee is a solid candidate for more looks, but he’s dealing with injuries and missed last Thursday’s game. In his absence Jordan Thomas caught all four of his targets for only 29 yards, but he did bring in a pair of touchdowns. What you really have to like about Thomas was that he was on the field for 89% of the teams offensive snaps. With Fuller out this allows defenses to scheme for DeAndre Hopkins and while he’ll likely still get double digit targets Jordan Thomas could be a sleeper red zone target in Houston.
DST to Stream – Yes they got off to a horrendous start to the year, but the Kansas City Chiefs defense has been performing a lot better as of late. They’re forced nine turnovers over their last four games, and they’ve held three of their last four opponents to under 24 points. The Chiefs draw rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield in Cleveland next week. The Browns are fresh off the departures of head coach Hue Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley who were in a bit of a power struggle as to who would call the offensive plays. The Chiefs could be a surprising DST to own in Week 9 if they can catch the Browns in flux.