Waiver Wire Targets for Week 9 (2021)

Tyler Heil

Another week, another load of injuries to capitalize on for the waiver wire. It isn’t fun watching guys get injured but unfortunately it is part of the game and I am here to help you prioritize some of these waiver moves.

As always I will be focusing on players that are below the 50% rostered mark according to consensus numbers from ESPN and Yahoo.

Quarterback Streamers

Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins, Consensus Roster Percentage 36.0%, Week 9 matchup vs Texans

Tua has been getting the job done. Two great weeks followed by a solid week against one of the best defenses in the NFL due to his ability to pull the ball down and run it.

Carson Wentz, Indianapolis Colts, Consensus Roster Percentage 43.9%, Week 9 Matchup vs Jets

Wentz has been as solid as they come for fantasy purposes. He hasn’t blown the doors off once this year but he hasn’t scored less than 17 points in the past 5 weeks, and I do not see that streak coming to an end against the Jets.

Tyrod Taylor, Houston Texans, Consensus Roster Percentage 5.0%, Week 9 Matchup at Dolphins

Big injury caveat here, if Tyrod doesn’t return from the IR this week you don’t play him. If he does, with the way he was playing before he went down with a hamstring injury I think you have to give this play a shot against the Dolphins

Taysom Hill, New Orleans Saints, Consensus Roster Percentage 1.5%, Week 9 Matchup vs Falcons

Same injury caveat as Tuh-rod, if Taysom plays with his running ability he could be a top 12 option in the Super Dome against a bad Falcons team

Running Backs

Jeremy McNichols, Tennessee Titans, Consensus Roster Percentage 1.9%

McNichols has a shot to get double-digit carries before Adrian Peterson gets acclimated to this offense and back into game shape. There is no way anyone can handle a Derrick Henry workload so the Titans are going to be forced to adjust their offensive game plan and include the running backs in the receiving game more and McNichols is 100% that dude.

Adrian Peterson, Tennessee Titans, Consensus Roster Percentage 0.1%

It might not be Peterson time this week or next but once he gets back into game shape look for double-digit carries as well as goal-line carries ALL DAY!

Mark Ingram, New Orleans Saints, Consensus Roster Percentage 31.1%

Ingram came back into this offense and was already given 8 touches in week 1. With the lack of offensive firepower that this team has, look for Ingram’s role to increase both in the running and receiving game.

Carlos Hyde, Jacksonville Jaguars, Consensus Roster Percentage 6.4%

James Robinson is reported to have avoided serious injury, but it is still likely he misses some time. Carlos Hyde came in to cover for Robinson and not only covered the lion’s share of the carries but also received 8 targets in a game the Jags were behind all game. I would venture a guess that the Jags won’t be leading much anytime soon so look for that role to continue

Speculative adds for potential injury
Players to drop
Wide Receivers

Rashod Bateman, Baltimore Ravens, Consensus Roster Percentage 24.9%

Bateman’s roster percentage only went up .3% from last week so it seems most of you were not able to add a player who wasn’t playing but you need to jump on this guy before people see him play football again. Look for Bateman to be one of the top targeted weapons on this offense and to make a real impact coming VERY soon.

DeVante Parker, Miami Dolphins, Consensus Roster Percentage 45.0%

Parker came off of his 3-week absence to immediately see 11 targets and steal a lot of the targets that Mike Gesicki was seeing. He had one of the toughest matchups of the week against an extremely tough Bills defense, he now sees the opposite of the Bills defense against the Texans in week 9.

Darnell Mooney, Chicago Bears, Consensus Roster Percentage 45.3%

Darnell Mooney has done his best Robert Baratheon impression and usurped Allen Robinson as the wide receiver 1 in this offense. Look for this trend to continue and watch Mooney (inconsistent metaphor coming) become the King in the North.

Darius Slayton, New York Giants, Consensus Roster Percentage 11.3%

Sterling Shepard went down with a quad injury and Kenny Golladay doesn’t have a shining history of health. Darius Slayton will be the beneficiary in the target share market, and unlike a lot of number 4 receivers on most teams, Slayton is a good player and should be able to do something with those targets.

Players to drop
Tight Ends

Dan Arnold, Jacksonville Jaguars, Consensus Roster Percentage 3.8%

The anonymous Dan Arnold has carved himself out a nice little role in this offense after the trade from the Panthers seeing 8, 5, and 10 targets in his last 3 games. It isn’t going to be sexy and this Jags offense doesn’t offer a lot of touchdown upside but Arnold should be a nice fill-in for a team hurting at the tight end position.

Pat Freiermuth, Pittsburgh Steelers, Consensus Roster Percentage 8.1%

Baby Gronk is emerging as a big part of this Steelers pass game and it was rewarded this past week with 7 targets and one of the few touchdowns scored in an extremely ugly game against the Browns. Freiermuth is going to be a consistent part of this passing game with a quarterback who is still having trouble getting the ball very far downfield.

C.J. Uzomah, Cincinnati Bengals, Consensus Roster Percentage 36.8%

Uzomah didn’t manage to get into the end zone against the Jets, but with the Bengals having arguably (ie. second) the best wide receiver trio in the NFL, Uzomah is going to continue to find himself open at key points and Burrow is savvy enough to find him.

Foster Moreau, Las Vegas Raiders, Consensus Roster Percentage 1.7%

If Waller plays Moreau is droppable, however, if he doesn’t Derek Carr showed us two weeks ago that he is not afraid to target him early and often. Pair that with the 100% (!!!) target share Moreau saw in Waller’s absence you have all of the requirements for a top 12 tight end.

Players to drop
Defense/Special Teams

Las Vegas Raiders, Consensus Roster Percentage 10.6%, Week 9 Matchup at Giants

The Raiders have done a good job this year of getting after the quarterback to the tune of being the 6th ranked defense according to PFF. If they can continue this pressure rate they should be able to get at least 1 turnover out of Daniel Jones.

Los Angeles Chargers, Consensus Roster Percentage 18.9%, Week 9 Matchup at Eagles

I don’t love this pick, but unfortunately, there are not a lot of good defensive streaming options this week with a large portion of the teams being rostered in less than 50% of leagues having very negative matchups. The Chargers still have all the tools to have a very good defense and regardless of the Eagles’ drubbing of the hapless Lions this is not a very good offense. Look for the Chargers to have a nice bounce-back performance against Philadelphia.

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