As I write this, it is Monday evening and I am trying not to fall asleep after only getting about five hours of sleep last night--and after being awake all of yesterday. I don't miss NFL football unless I have to, so I woke up for the Browns/Vikings London game and watched the first half before running some errands and listening to the rest of it on the radio. That was the game where Isaiah Crowell found the end zone and I started to question everything I've ever known about fantasy football.

Then came my usual early slate viewing habit--the RedZone Channel. I have some concerns about RedZone--does it make me care less about the nuance of the game?--but I like to know what's happening across the NFL and to spend at least a little bit of time with all the teams.

For the late afternoon, I decided to not do the RedZone thing. I grew up about an hour from Houston and the Texans/Seahawks game was one of only a couple of games in that window, so I watched the whole thing. It was exhausting. Then, for the first time in 2017, I didn't watch a nationally televised NFL game. No, I watched the World Series instead. I didn't get to bed until after one. I woke up this morning for work.

Editor's Note: Our incredible team of writers won two writing awards and received 12 award nominations by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association. A big congrats to our very own Byron Lindeque (Golf) and Jordan McAbee (NASCAR) for both winning Writer Of The Year awards! Be sure to follow RotoBaller's analysis and advice all year long, and win more. Win More With RotoBaller!

 

Week 9 Thoughts

I tell this story as a prelude for telling you this: sometimes people are tired and they make mistakes--for example, this morning I couldn't concentrate on the reading I had assigned for my students so we did something else in class--and then, other times, they make mistakes without being able to use that as an excuse. I made a mistake last week in this column when my brain completely forgot that the Chargers had moved to Los Angeles.

I looked at the fantasy scorers, saw that Austin Ekeler had had a strong game and remembered seeing him look good during one of those aforementioned RedZone viewings, plus saw he had a low ownership percentage. What did I do? I put him on this list. It wasn't my best decision--he ended up only touching the ball three times this week--but everyone makes bad decisions. No, I'm talking about it here because I listed Ekeler as a Ram--L.A. HAS TOO MANY TEAMS OKAY--and mentioned Todd Gurley being ahead of him on the depth chart. Nope. I'm sorry and I won't make that mistake again, but I will probably make other ones.

Let's look at deeper waiver wire targets and sleepers for Week 8, players whose ownership is currently under 20% and are likely available in many of your leagues. Note: All ownership percentages are for Yahoo leagues.

 

Deeper Waiver Wire Targets for Week 8

QUARTERBACKS

Jimmy Garoppolo, San Francisco 49ers - 2% owned

News broke just a little bit ago that Garoppolo has been traded to the 49ers. I'm not sure how fast he'll overtake C.J. Beathard as the starting quarterback, but it will happen very soon. Garoppolo has been impressive every time he's seen the field for New England, though that doesn't necessarily mean anything since Matt Cassel looked good the year he played after Tom Brady went down with a season ending injury. Garoppolo is a good add in deeper formats--or, especially, in leagues with multiple quarterbacks--because we've reached the point where the good quarterbacks are all rostered and he has the best chance of anyone to join those ranks. Don't forget that the 49ers offense hadn't looked terrible this season, though they have struggled two weeks in a row with Beathard. Maybe a change will be good.

 

RUNNING BACKS

Matt Breida, San Francisco 49ers - 9% owned

There was some hype for Breida earlier in the year, but a lot of that died down. I'm here to jump us back into it with some #wildspeculation. The Garoppolo trade seems to be a clear indication that the 49ers are ready to start building for the future. Breida should see a larger share of the ball moving forward as the 49ers try to figure out what they have in him. Granted, I think Breida is going to be more valuable in PPR than in Standard, but I could see something like a (very) poor man's Ingram/Kamara thing going on.

Rex Burkhead, New England Patriots - 8% owned

Never trust the Patriots backfield and be wary of pass catching backs in Standard leagues. Those two rules are pretty good, but I'm willing to advise you to avoid them for Burkhead, especially if Chris Hogan's shoulder injury causes him to miss too much time. The Patriots are on a bye this week, so Burkhead could be a player that you're able to wait on until after waivers and grab before next week's waivers run? Regardless of how you get him, though, think about getting him--he's healthy, he's touching the ball more each week, and he's got good versatility.

Corey Clement, Philadelphia Eagles - 1% owned

Trusting the Eagles backfield is a very bad decision, but hear me out: Clement has supplanted Wendell Smallwood as the team's primary backup to LeGarrette Blount. He had ten touches against the 49ers. Blount has been pretty inefficient. Clement could be in for an increase in his workload.

Kenyan Drake, Miami Dolphins - 1% owned

Damien Williams, Miami Dolphins - 1% owned

I woke up about fifteen minutes before this column was scheduled to go live and saw that Jay Ajayi had been traded to the Eagles, which means I didn't have time to do much research about these two players. For what it's worth, I liked Drake last season and thought he was going to take the starting role from Arian Foster before Ajayi emerged with those 200-yard games, so he's the one I feel better about moving forward. But Ajayi already had 138 carries this season--those are going somewhere. It's late enough in the year that grabbing both of these players and waiting to find out who's going to be the starter is a good strategy if you have the room.

 

WIDE RECEIVERS

T.J. Jones, Detroit Lions - 3% owned

Jones has been targeted 17 times over Detroit's past two games. He seems to have a pretty good grip on the third receiver spot right now and with matchups against Green Bay and Cleveland coming up, he could be a good FLEX play. At the very least, he should be rostered over fellow Lion Kenny Golladay.

Tre McBride, Chicago Bears - 0% owned

I'll be completely honest here--I had no idea who McBride was before Sunday. (He's a third-year player out of William & Mary, by the way.) Every time RedZone switched to the Bears game, though, it seemed that they were calling his name. Three catches, 92 yards, and most importantly, umm...A BEARS WIDE RECEIVER WHO LOOKS NOT TERRIBLE! McBride and inconsistent receiver Kendall Wright (who is 7% owned and I mean...he could theoretically make this list, though the fact that we already know he'll disappoint you is a big mark against him) combined for all but one of the targets to wide receivers. The Bears have some games coming up where they'll likely be trying to come from behind, so Mitch Trubisky might end up throwing more. The Bears are on a bye, though, so don't be in too much of a rush to grab him.

 

TIGHT ENDS

Charles Clay, Buffalo Bills - 14% owned

He's (maybe!) back! Clay put up nine or more fantasy points in three of the first four weeks of the season before going down with a knee injury. He might be back for next week's game against the Jets, though, a team he put up 53 yards and a touchdown against back in Week 1. Clay is the best tight end under 20% owned there is right now. He might be better than anyone else under 50% owned. If he's back, he needs to be picked up.

Dion Sims, Chicago Bears - 0% owned

With Zach Miller likely done for...well, forever it looks like a this point, Dion Sims will see his role expand for the Bears. He's on a bye this week, though.

 

More Weekly Lineup Prep