Fantasy Football Week 8: Waiver wire pickups
Every week, we highlight the top potential waiver pickups who remain available in at least 50% of Yahoo fantasy football leagues. If you find yourself with urgent roster needs entering Week 8, the names below deserve attention.
Quarterbacks
Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins (45% rostered)
Last season's NFL leader in passing yardage will return to practice this week for Miami, and he’s a decent bet to get back on the field in Week 8. Tagovailoa obviously can’t fix everything that’s wrong with the Dolphins, but he can at least unlock Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, who were again missing in action on Sunday.
Tua averaged 272.0 passing YPG in 2023 and there’s no reason to think he can’t match that production over the balance of the current season. Miami is headed into a matchup with Arizona, a user-friendly pass defense coming off a short week. It’s an excellent spot for Tagovailoa to get rolling again.
Recommended FAB offer (assuming $100 budget): $7
Drake Maye, New England Patriots (16%)
Another week, another multi-touchdown game for Maye. He’s passed for 519 yards and five scores in his first two starts for New England, adding 56 yards on the ground. The degree-of-difficulty certainly goes up in Week 8 when the Pats host the Jets, but there are plenty of prime matchups ahead, including games against the Rams, Colts and Cardinals.
Maye has definitely missed a few throws, as rookies do, but his best moments have been pretty special:
Drake Maye tossing dimes all over the pitch.
📺: #NEvsJAX on NFL Network
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/t0Gu2fGxPb— NFL (@NFL) October 20, 2024
We haven’t yet seen a huge rushing performance from Maye, but we can assume it’s coming. He ran for over 1,100 yards in his final two collegiate seasons and he flashed plenty of rushing upside in the preseason.
FAB: $6
Additional QB options:
Justin Herbert is driving a relatively low-volume passing offense these days, limiting his weekly appeal. But he’s about to face the Saints — a team that’s allowed 134 points over its last four games.
Russell Wilson had a few wild misfires on Sunday night while finishing 16-for-29, but, in the end, he also delivered three combined TDs. He fed nine targets to George Pickens, which was much appreciated. Wilson may no longer be a dual-threat guy at this stage, but he can still push the ball downfield when necessary. He gets the green light for this week’s matchup with the Giants.
Jameis Winston is presumably gonna be the guy behind center for the Browns the rest of the way following Deshaun Watson’s season-ending Achilles injury — and if Winston is back, YOLO ball is back. It probably won’t be a clinic, but it also won’t be uninteresting. Dorian Thompson-Robinson might still interfere with our Winston plans, although he’s dealing with a finger injury suffered in Week 7.
Running backs
Tyler Goodson, Indianapolis Colts (14%)
Indy crawled to a messy win on Sunday in a game in which Anthony Richardson completed only 10 passes. Goodson took the lead role in the team’s backfield, rushing for 51 yards with a 7-yard score included:
Tyler Goodson's first career TD! @Colts even the score.
📺: #MIAvsIND on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/fkmzLcPeVp— NFL (@NFL) October 20, 2024
Goodson ultimately out-touched Trey Sermon in the win, 14 to nine. If Jonathan Taylor remains unavailable for the upcoming game at Houston, Goodson can be viewed as a highly playable RB2. He appears to have more juice than Sermon, for what it’s worth.
JT is expected to return to practice this week, so both Goodson and Sermon could soon be driven back to the shadows.
FAB: $11
Ray Davis, Buffalo Bills (26%)
Even in a week in which James Cook was active and involved, Davis still made his presence felt. The rookie gave us 47 total yards on six touches, scoring the game’s final touchdown. Davis is basically a runaway boulder of a ball-carrier, and he’s flashed receiving ability as well. He’s beginning to look like the sort of understudy runner who might actually be flex-worthy. He definitely deserves a roster spot in any 12-team format.
FAB: $11
Various other RB adds:
Tyler Allgeier should already be rostered in any competitive league, probably by the manager who invested in Bijan Robinson. His ongoing eligibility for this feature is a great mystery. Allgeier is a legit flex option most weeks, and he would of course rank as a must-start back if Robinson ever misses time at any point
Jaylen Warren is coming off a 14-touch performance and looking healthy-ish, so he deserves to be stashed in most leagues of typical size and shape.
Kimani Vidal claimed the understudy role in the Chargers backfield in Week 7, converting his six touches into 51 yards and a long receiving score. He’s now one injury away from a massive role for a deeply run-committed team.
If Travis Etienne (hamstring/shoulder) remains unavailable for another week or more, D’Ernest Johnson will get interesting in deeper leagues. He’s no great threat to Tank Bigsby when the run remains in play for Jacksonville, but the matchups ahead for this team are full of terrors: GB, at Phi, Min, at Det.
Roschon Johnson is running as the clear No. 2 in Chicago behind D’Andre Swift, carving out a rotational role and with occasional goal-line responsibilities. The Bears return from their bye to a friendly stretch of matchups (at Was, at Ari, NE), so Johnson is likely to visit the end zone again soon.
Wide receivers and tight ends
Jauan Jennings, San Francisco 49ers (30%)
Jennings was unavailable on Sunday due to a hip injury, but the issue isn’t believed to be significant enough to keep him out another week. The Niners now have an urgent need for his receiving services after Brandon Aiyuk suffered an ugly knee injury in the loss to KC.
San Francisco has a pair of interesting rookies in the receiving room in Ricky Pearsall and Jacob Cowing, but Jennings is a circle-of-trust vet who already produced a monster stat line earlier this season, back in Week 3. He’s the clear waiver priority this week for anyone searching for answers at receiver. Jennings is clearly headed for a volume boost.
FAB: $21
Keon Coleman, Buffalo Bills (32%)
The arrival of Amari Cooper was never going to result in the total disappearance of Coleman, but too many fantasy managers treated the situation that way. Coleman actually saw a season-high seven targets on Sunday against Tennessee, catching four for 125 yards. He also had a near-TD from 12 yards out, plus he had the assist of the day for Buffalo. The rookie can definitely play. Coleman still has a few useful fantasy performances ahead this season. If he was discarded last week in your league, consider a dumpster dive.
FAB: $9
Cedric Tillman, Cleveland Browns (1%)
If you absolutely insist on having a Browns receiver on your roster (not encouraged), then give Tillman a look. He was targeted a dozen times in Sunday’s loss, snagging eight passes for 81 yards, plus he grabbed a 2-point conversion. Tillman was on the field for 69 snaps in Week 7, easily his highest total of the year, so he’s clearly the biggest playing-time beneficiary following the Amari Cooper trade. At 6-foot-3, he’s an inviting outside target.
David Njoku remains the Browns receiving option who should interest us most as a potential fantasy starter, but Tillman has at least entered the conversation.
FAB: $7
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Additional WRs and TEs to consider:
The post-suspension version of Romeo Doubs has been a serious weapon. He finished as Green Bay’s leading receiver in the win over Houston, hauling in eight balls for 94 yards on a team-high 10 targets. The Packers receiving hierarchy gets reshuffled each week so we can’t assume consistency from anyone, but upcoming games against Jacksonville and Detroit offer scoring upside for all involved.
Tutu Atwell has caught 12 balls on 19 targets over his last two games, and he’s likely to remain involved even after Cooper Kupp returns to action (likely on Thursday night). If Kupp is dealt ahead of the deadline — which apparently cannot be ruled out — Atwell would have a path to rest-of-season value.
Mecole Hardman is coming off a one-catch game, so let’s not get irrationally aggressive in pursuit of a Chiefs receiver who happened to recently visit the end zone. Still, he’s an actual playmaker on a team with a desperate need for anyone who fits that description.
Hunter Henry is definitely going to have his share of quiet games, but Sunday’s performance wasn’t one of ‘em. He caught eight passes for 92 yards on nine chances, leading the Pats in receiving across the board.
Taysom Hill couldn’t quite make it back for Thursday night’s non-competitive loss to Denver, but he was at least a limited participant in practices leading up to the game. Whenever he returns, we can assume he’ll resume handling his usual half-dozen high-value carries each week. Hill continues to function as something other than a QB or TE, but those are the spots at which he’s eligible in our game.
More fantasy football analysis
Defense
Detroit Lions (19%)
Detroit’s defense held its own against the Vikings on Sunday, even without Aidan Hutchinson in the mix. The Lions sacked Sam Darnold four times and picked him off once en route to a narrow win. This week, Tennessee is on the schedule, which of course means a date with a sketchy QB and unproductive offense. The Titans currently rank next-to-last in total yards per game, ahead of only Cleveland.
FAB: $2
Green Bay Packers (47%)
Green Bay’s defense has not exactly been a shut-down unit to this point in the season, but they’ve generally been an opportunistic group. The Packers currently lead the NFL in takeaways (17) and they managed to hold C.J. Stroud to just 86 passing yards on Sunday. In the week ahead, they get a matchup with road-weary Jacksonville, a flawed and un-fun team that’s spent the past two weeks across the Atlantic.
FAB: $1
Kicker
Will Reichard, Minnesota Vikings (10%)
We do not make a habit of recommending kicker pickups around here, but in Reichard’s case, we must make an exception. He checks all the important boxes. Reichard does his kicking for one of the league’s highest-scoring teams, he’s cleared his bye already, he’s perfect on all attempts this season (field goals and XPs) and the rookie has a weapons-grade leg. He drilled a 57-yarder on Sunday with a mile to spare. Reichard should legitimately be viewed as a top-three kicker rest-of-season and needs to be scooped up wherever he’s available.
FAB: $2