Week 9 is done, and I have the displeasure to announce more injuries. I know we have seen injuries in the past. No team is going through an entire fantasy football season without experiencing some adversity. This season, however, is one for the ages as far as injuries are concerned. Week 9 saw Jayden Daniels go down with a nasty looking elbow dislocation. He could be done for the season. Recall draft season, and you will remember Daniels going as a top five QB. My Packers appear to have lost Tucker Kraft, current overall TE2 on the season, to a season-ending ACL injury. Old man Aaron Jones also has an AC joint injury. Also, keep an eye on Rico Dowdle and his groin/quad/upper leg injury. Though he finished the game, and beat my Packers, he reached for the injured area multiple times in the second half. And, though I do not think the injury is serious, Brian Thomas Jr. left the afternoon game with a leg injury. Watch his practice status before starting him this week. We must hope this injury does not linger.
At this point we are all in hope mode. We hope none of our players hit the late week injury report like Rhamondre Stevenson and D’Andre Swift in Week 9. The key is to hope for a healthy squad. The plan is to insulate your team against the bye weeks and injuries if your bench is deep enough to allow for it. The other thing to do is work your waiver wire, but you knew that if you are reading this article. For more news, please remember there are four teams on bye in Week 10: Bengals, Chiefs, Cowboys, and Titans.
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WAIVERS:
ADD OF THE WEEK = Parker Washington – 18% rostered tops our list for a few reasons. First, he was WR3 for this offense prior to Week 9. Second, he would sprinkle in decent target numbers from week to week. Third, he played a solid role last season so is used to this role today. Fourth, Travis Hunter to IR. Fifth, no viable TE option. Sixth, see above noted Brian Thomas Jr. injury. Washington should be added in all formats, especially PPR.
QB: Even though he is on bye this week, if Uncle Joe Flacco is still available, he must be rostered. Additional bargain big QBs to consider adding are Marcus Mariota and Jacoby Brissett (he has been better than Kyler Murray through three starts).
RB: Trey Benson – 59% rostered is about to come off the waiver wire and almost all fantasy teams need help at RB. Add Benson as depth and you just might find yourself starting him often. I think we have determined the Michael Carter, Emari Demercado, Bam Knight experiment is not working.
Honorable Mention/Cheaper Options:
Terrell Jennings – 1% rostered came from nowhere (practice squad) and vultured a touchdown from draft season darling TreVeyon Henderson in the Patriots victory. Henderson did out-touch Jennings 18 to 12 so pump the brakes a little on firing up Jennings as your RB savior. If Rhamondre Stevenson misses a second week, Jennings is a decent enough FLEX option at Tampa Bay.
Kareem Hunt – 70% rostered doubled his roster percentage in Week 9. It is never pretty with the aging RB and the Chiefs are off in Week 10. If someone drops him, you may be able to scoop him up for free for Week 11+.
Dylan Sampson – 13% / Jerome Ford – 14% rostered. This backfield will be the same mess it was prior to Quinshon Judkins becoming the lead dog. If I had to add one of the two while Judkins is down, it is Sampson well over Ford.
Tank Bigsby – 17% rostered is the name if you roster Saquon Barkley. Early news out of Philly is Barkley will be ready after the Eagles Week 9 bye week. You may want to roster Bigsby as a handcuff just in case.
Troy Franklin – WR – 48% rostered made a name for himself in Week 8 with 6-89-2. He appears to be the clear WR2, and possibly the second option overall in the passing game (over Evan Engram 2-0-0-0 in Week 9) for the Broncos. Franklin just came off a tough matchup with the Texans defense where he saw 10 targets. Look for better numbers moving forward with Las Vegas the opponent this week.
Honorable Mention/Cheaper Options:
Alec Pierce – 26% rostered just went 13-6-115-0 at Pittsburgh. I think he is the better WR over Josh Downs. Other than the TD to Downs, my opinion appears to be correct. Based on current stats, the Week 10 matchup against the Falcons is tough but the Colts want to get back in the win column and Daniel Jones needs to get his confidence back up after a rough Week 9 outing.
Malik Washington – 15% rostered is getting enough looks from Tua to make him viable as a FLEX option with the right matchup. He is not Tyreek 2.0, but does offer value especially with four teams on bye
Tez Johnson – 17% rostered was on bye in Week 9 but appears to have a solid connection with Baker Mayfield. Watch your wire as someone may have dropped him and you can scoop him up for free during this week’s waivers.
Christian Watson – 28% rostered is clearly the downfield option for Jordan Love and the Packers. With no Jayden Reed and the injury to Tucker Kraft, look for Green Bay to mix in more Watson on Monday Night Football.
TE: Luke Musgrave – 0% rostered. This pains me to type, but here we are. Musgrave was a solid, if unspectacular starting TE for Green Bay prior to getting dinged last season. That is where Tucker Kraft stepped in to own the position for the Packers. The Green Bay offense will lean on the position without a true WR1. On Monday Night Football, the Packers welcome the Super Bowl champs to town. The home team will need to throw to win this game. Look for Musgrave to get looks and have a chance to put up solid fantasy stats.
As mentioned above, it has only been two weeks, so if you lost, got smashed even, relax. It will be OK. There is no need to rush to drop any specific player, unless you see the name in the opening paragraph.
Follow me @stiles08 on X and send questions comments at the bottom of this article. Make sure you jump around the Razzball site for all your fantasy football needs. We have a ton of free content to include our Slot Versus Wide tool additional articles from our crack team of writers.
-Stiles-
