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Kyle's must-have fantasy football bench stashes and waiver wire sleepers ahead of Week 8 (2022). He picks high-upside NFL players to stash on your fantasy teams.
This week is light on byes as only the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers won't be playing this week. The good news is also that four offenses who have been great so far for fantasy this year return to action this week: the Los Angeles Rams (if you aren't rostering Kupp, I could see how this is questionable), Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles, and Buffalo Bills. We are also now at a stretch of the schedule where stashing players is harder to do as you may not be afforded the luxury of just stashing away players with bye weeks and injuries forcing you to add someone who is startable this week.
The purpose of this article is to be looking for players who may emerge in their current situation due to injuries on the depth chart, players traded away, and even coaching changes. Unfortunately, injuries are the ultimate equalizer in fantasy football and we must be prepared as best as we can. Keep an eye on all of the Sunday injury reports and don't be afraid to put a player who is out for tomorrow on your league's Injured Reserve and use the free spot to pick someone up, even if only for a week.
Week to week, it is my job to keep my ear to the ground of all that is going on with 32 teams to help you bargain hunt for some free options on your league's waiver wire. One of my recommended stashes over the last few weeks has been Giants wide receiver, Wan'Dale Robinson. With Kadarius Toney now traded to Kansas City, it is clear that Robinson will be the No. 1 target on the team at least for the rest of the season. Greg Dulcich was also a popular waiver stash in a previous article and now he is up to a 42% rostership on Yahoo. Here are this week's selections for you to keep an eye on.
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Weekend Waiver Wire Stashes Before Week 8
Malik Willis, Tennesee Titans - 4% rostered
A player who could become an absolute CHEAT CODE for fantasy, Malik Willis steps in for the injured Ryan Tannehill who is also suffering from an illness. Just glancing at his stats from his senior season in college, Willis would have accounted for almost 400 fantasy points in four-point passing TD leagues and he would have averaged over 30 fantasy points per game!
Many scouts viewed him as a project who came from a smaller school, but Willis has all of the elite traits that teams should want in a young quarterback: a rocket for an arm, incredible athleticism, the ability to throw the ball all over the field, and is a player who was praised as being a great teammate and easily coachable. If you aren't rostering one of the top QBs in your league, Willis is a player worth keeping an eye on for your teams. If you are in a Superflex league, he needs to be rostered immediately.
As we have seen in seasons past, quarterbacks who can also run with the ball are a relative sort of cheat code for fantasy. The Tennessee Titans already had their bye in Week 6, so if you pick him up and he plays well this week, you won't have to worry about swapping him out again. While it's no guarantee that Tannehill wouldn't take his job back, Malik is electric. His upside is far too great to pass up if we can get him for free. If you'd like to know more about Willis, I wrote a rookie profile on him right after the NFL Draft, as well as an in-depth piece on the 2022 Rookie QB Class as a whole.
Justice Hill, Baltimore Ravens - 4% rostered
Starting running back, J.K. Dobbins is on injured reserve after tweaking his knee recently. Right now, the Ravens backfield is featuring three running backs in Gus Edwards, Kenyan Drake, and Hill. While the situation may seem murky, we should not avoid rostering anyone from this backfield just because things appear complicated. The Ravens have featured one of the most prominent rushing attacks in the NFL in the last few seasons.
Hill was a fourth-round draft choice of the Ravens in the 2019 Draft, but he hasn't been able to do a whole lot in his career due to injuries and other good running backs on the roster. He has been activated and is off of Sunday's injury report. So far this season, Hill has rushed 28 times for 179 yards with four receptions for 19 yards and he is averaging 6.4 yards per carry on the ground!
Gus Edwards has looked good in the last two games since returning from injured reserve, but even he has popped up on the Ravens' current injury report. Hill is arguably the most explosive of the three running backs and could see plenty of touches on the field. While we don't know how the situation is going to work itself out, it is one we must be keeping an eye on.
JaMycal Hasty, Jacksonville Jaguars - 9% rostered
The Jaguars traded away running back James Robinson last week to the New York Jets, which opens up their No. 2 role on their team. While Travis Etienne Jr. is incredibly explosive and had a great game in fantasy last week scoring his first NFL touchdown, there are still some concerns about him being able to be every down type of back.
Last season, JaMycal Hasty looked solid enough in limited time out of the 49ers backfield where he rushed 16 times for 68 yards and a TD, but really looked great as a receiver catching 23 passes for 157 yards. He signed with Jacksonville as a free agent this offseason. As mentioned in previous fantasy articles, we always want to be looking to spot running backs who are just one spot away on the depth chart from having some major fantasy football relevance.
This week, head coach Doug Pedersen told the Jacksonville media that Hasty would see more carries going forward since the Robinson trade. While he still has a long way to go, he feels like a great stash for our rosters right now.
Khalil Shakir, Buffalo Bills - 2% rostered
A fifth-round pick of the Bills in 2022, Shakir has mostly been buried on the depth chart until recently. He had a decent game in Week 5 with three receptions for 75 yards and a TD and the Bills had a bye in Week 7. Wide receiver Jamison Crowder is out indefinitely after suffering an unfortunate leg injury and slot receiver Isaiah McKenzie has been in and out of the team's injury report. Gabe Davis has also been hobbled in recent weeks as well.
The bye week typically tends to be a time when teams begin making the transition to get some of the drafted rookies more involved. With the Bills playing the Packers tomorrow night on SNF, can we expect Shakir to be more involved? There is always a chance and we should be looking to get as many pieces of this explosive Buffalo offense as we can.
If McKenzie were to miss any time, Shakir could potentially become a must-start in the Bills' juggernaut offense. While we haven't seen a lot of him yet, he impressed in camp and showed the coaches enough that they were comfortable with him making the team. Stashing Shakir away on your roster just in case anything happens isn't a bad move by any stretch as we always want to be chasing unknown upside as much as we can.
Rachaad White, Tampa Bay Bucs - 31% rostered
While the Bucs' offense has been anything but great for the first two months of the season, the good news is White has started to see the field a lot more than he did in the first few weeks. So far this season, he has rushed 30 times for 90 yards and a TD with 17 receptions for 128 yards.
While Tampa Bay sits at 3-5, White is only one spot behind Fournette from having some serious fantasy value. While the TNF game has come and gone, you likely won't be able to add White to your lineups until next week, but he is still a player worthy of our attention.
Last season at Arizona State, White rushed for over 1,000 yards averaging 5.5 yards per carry while having 43 receptions for 456 yards and a TD. In deeper formats, he is a great stash to hold on your roster.
Isiah Pacheco, Kansas City Chiefs -35% rostered
Last week, Andy Reid and the Chiefs announced that Pacheco would be the team's starting running back against the 49ers in Week 7. While it didn't change too much of the results, Pacheco played just 30 percent of the team's offensive snaps and rushed just eight times for 43 yards.
While the current situation does currently make it difficult to start any current Chiefs RBs in fantasy, everyone would agree that Pacheco is the most explosive of the Chiefs' three running backs. The Chiefs are on a bye during Week 8, but if you can spare a roster spot and don't mind remaining patient, having Pacheco on your team later in the season could pay off in a big way.
Pacheco was a seventh-round choice of the Chiefs in the 2022 NFL Draft and impressed many in training camp. He has the kind of upside that we want from players on our bench and Pacheco could be the type of league winner for teams as an RB2 later in the season as the Chiefs' offense is going to become more fine-tuned as the season goes on. He was a player that JJ Zachariason raved about all summer as a late stash worthy of your attention.
Jameson Williams, Detroit Lions - 26% rostered
This has been a tough one as the Lions recently announced that Williams likely won't see any NFL action for another month. However, if your league has spots for Injured Reserve and yours isn't full, you might as well continue rostering him or even pick him up to stash away on IR.
Williams has been making progress in his rehab from a torn ACL suffered in the BCS National Championship game and was the No. 12 overall selection in the 2022 NFL Draft. Football fans everywhere are excited to see him and Amon-Ra St. Brown on the field at the same time.
If anything, Williams and St. Brown on the field at the same time when they are both healthy is probably going to look similar to the Bengals with Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Jamo could have the kind of late-season run for fantasy similar to what Odell Beckham Jr. did in 2014 in his rookie season with the Giants. If your league has an IR spot, you can pick up Williams for free right now and stash him.
Zay Jones, Jacksonville Jaguars - 20% rostered
A player who has had some ups and downs so far this season, Jones has seen a total of 47 targets in six games. The Jaguars' offense has been a brutal game of hot and cold as they have looked great in some weeks and terrible in others. Right now, Jones has a chance of still being a top two target on the team only to Christian Kirk.
Jones bounced around the NFL from the Bills to the Raiders before the Jaguars gave him a decent-sized contract in the offseason. The 37th overall selection in the 2017 NFL Draft is looking to find a permanent home and show what he can do in the NFL. While Jones has yet to be great for fantasy consistently, he has established some rapport with quarterback Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars' offense should hopefully be an ascending offense as the season goes on.
It's pretty clear that Lawrence prefers to look Jones' way on Sundays. While the fantasy production hasn't been great, Jones feels like a player who could ascend in the second half of the season if Lawrence should continue to improve. After a 2-1 start, the Jags have cooled off dropping their last four contests and now sit at 2-5. The hope is Pederson can continue teaching Lawrence and helping him improve on some of his mistakes.
Taylor Heinicke, Washington Commanders - 5% rostered
While it may seem crazy that he is on this list, just hear me out for a moment. Last season while filling in for an injured Ryan Fitzpatrick, Heinicke had five starts that went north of 20 fantasy points. His best week came in Week 4 against the Atlanta Falcons where he threw for 290 yards for three TDs and 0 INTs while rushing five times for 43 yards.
Last week against Green Bay, Heinicke wasn't fantastic but he didn't do badly in his first start of the season, completing 20 of 33 passes for 201 yards and two TDs with one INT. He is also a better athlete than he gets credit for and rushed for 313 yards and one TD in his 15 starts in 2021. While that may not seem great, he is likely due for some positive touchdown regression and the rushing floor can be a nice addition to a fantasy lineup. After a rough start, the Commanders have bounced back to 3-4 and Heinicke will play the next three games after starter Carson Wentz was placed on injured reserve with a broken finger.
Ron Rivera likes Heinicke and the weapons around him are much better than last year with a healthy Curtis Samuel and rookie phenom Jahan Dotson. While the backfield is mostly a three-headed monster and a complete mess for fantasy purposes, Heinicke could provide us with some value during a bye week or as a valuable depth piece in Superflex leagues. The entire coaching staff is under fire in Washington and if Heinicke should start winning games, there is no guarantee they will go back to Wentz. Keep your eye on Heinicke as he is a much better quarterback for fantasy than he is being given credit for, real-life aside.
I hope you enjoyed these picks. Feel free to follow me on Twitter for more waiver and player analysis throughout the season!
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