Week 9 Waiver Wire (Fantasy Football)

Week 9 waivers are here! Below is a list of the players to target if you need a Week 9 pickup. Listen or watch today’s Week 9 Waivers episode of The Fantasy Footballers podcast for a full breakdown of these waiver adds, plus players to consider dropping!

Wide Receivers

Not injury related in the physical sense, Falcons WR Calvin Ridley has made the choice to step away from football to work on his mental well being. The next receiver for QB Matt Ryan to target is Russell Gage. It’s difficult to predict Gage since he has had an up and down season so far, but by default, he should be absorbing at least some of the targets with Ridley’s departure. There isn’t anyone on the waiver wire who could possibly replace Ridley’s elite talent, but this should give Gage the opportunity to see more targets as the Falcons continue to improve their 2021 season.

We finally got to see Saints WR Tre’Quan Smith return to action last week against the Buccaneers. He only saw three targets, but he hauled in all of them for 33 yards and a touchdown. Until Michael Thomas returns to the field in true form, Smith will see his share of targets whether it’s Taysom Hill or Trevor Siemian in at quarterback for the injured Jameis Winston. Their matchup against the Falcons is incredibly juicy and will provide opportunity for both the QB and receivers to see production.

The Ravens were on a bye in Week 8 so it’s possible that your leaguemates are suffering from “out of sight, out of mind” when it comes to Baltimore’s offense. Bateman may be available and has been a stand-out in the offense even though he missed considerable time. He saw six targets in each of his last two games. 

It would be remiss of me if I did not mention DeVante Parker of the Dolphins and Darnell Mooney of the Bears. They may already be rostered, but they are worth an add as both teams continue to improve on offense.

Listen or watch today’s Week 9 Waivers episode to hear how The Fantasy Footballers are prioritizing these wideouts and who you can drop to pick them up!

Running Backs

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Team	Player	Roster %	Upcoming
NYJ	Michael Carter	76%	@ IND vs BUF vs MIA
WAS	J.D. McKissic	68%	BYE vs TB @ CAR
PHI	Boston Scott	24%	vs LAC @ DEN vs NO
TEN	Jeremy McNichols	6%	@ LAR vs NO vs HOU
TEN	Adrian Peterson	9%	@ LAR vs NO vs HOU
JAX	Carlos Hyde	6%	vs BUF @ IND vs SF
BAL	Latavius Murray	46%	vs MIN @ MIA @ CHI
BAL	Devonta Freeman	30%	vs MIN @ MIA @ CHI
WAS	Jaret Patterson	3%	BYE vs TB @ CAR
SF	JaMycal Hasty	5%	vs ARI vs LAR @ JAX
NYJ	Ty Johnson	9%	@ IND vs BUF vs MIA

The Derrick Henry news is just plain awful. There is absolutely no single human being that can come close to what Derrick Henry is able to do in the Titans offense. With that being said, we have some options you can target to at least help alleviate the pain by a hair.

The first two options will come directly from the Titans own backups. The two big choices here are the pass-catching back in Jeremy McNichols and the newly signed Adrian Peterson. McNichols has only rushed seven times so far this season but he has seen 27 targets for 21 receptions, 203 yards, and a touchdown. He even saw 12 targets in the Titans Week 4 loss to the Jets. Head coach, Mike Vrabel, has said that Tennessee will stick to their offense, but how much that can be done remains to be seen. If McNichols does not assume much of the true rushing work in Henry’s absence, then it will be Peterson who sees the bulk of the carries and likely at the goal line.

Henry and Ridley aren’t the only players out for the season. Winston is also done with a torn ACL and damage to his MCL. The defacto QB in his place should be Taysom Hill, but we don’t have 100% clarity on that just yet since he is dealing with the concussion protocol. Either way, adding RB Mark Ingram should be a safe bet. He is reunited with his former team and head coach and also fits in exceptionally well with an offense he already knows. To keep Alvin Kamara healthy, and to alleviate backup QB issues, Ingram could see more and more touches for the rest of 2021.

We may finally have some kind of an idea of what to do about Boston Scott and Kenneth Gainwell. The answer was phasing out Gainwell completely to add Jordan Howard from the practice squad and give him 12 touches for two touchdowns. While I am intrigued with Howard because of his drastically different identity from Scott or Gainwell, Scott looks like the one to target if you are brave enough to take on the headache of that offense.

Get the full breakdown and how much FAAB to spend on these RBs on today’s Week 9 Waivers episode.

Tight Ends

As Jason Moore says, as horrible as it is to hear “The Muth is Looth”, it’s even more terrible to try and say it. Regardless, the Muth is certainly Looth in the Steelers offense who won their matchup against their division rival in the Browns. Pat Freiermuth has seen seven targets in consecutive games and scored an acrobatic touchdown last week. Ben Roethlisberger is starting to trust him as a chain-mover and in the red zone behind WR Diontae Johnson. He has a tough matchup against the Bears this week but will see some better options over the next three weeks including Detroit and the Los Angeles Chargers after Week 9.

Giants TE Evan Engram finally arrived for the 2021 season, but it’s incredibly difficult to get excited about it. Unless there is some kind of trade that gets Engram on a different team or if you desperately need a player, you can avoid him if you don’t want to deal with the drama of his production.

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If you’re doing the TE dumpster dive this week, listen/watch The Fantasy Footballers discuss these options on today’s Week 9 Waivers show.

Team DEF/ST

QB Streamers

Get the reasoning behind the QB Streamer picks from The Fantasy Footballers on the Week 9 Waivers episode! Good luck on your waiver claims!