We’re a Monday Night Football game away from putting Week 9 of the fantasy football season in the books, meaning another run of waivers is on the horizon. Here are the biggest adds at every position, all of whom are available in over half of Yahoo leagues.
Breaking down all of the NFL’s biggest Week 9 storylines, including Jayden Daniels’ latest injury.
▶ Quarterback
Justin Fields, Jets
Fields’ roster rate in Yahoo leagues dropped under 50 percent with the Jets on bye last week. It hasn’t always been pretty, but Fields has QB1 weekly upside and is available in the majority of fantasy leagues. He has finished as a QB1 in four of seven starts, including two top-five outings. The downside is that Fields has finished as the QB30 or worse three times, throwing for fewer than 50 passing yards in each of those three bust weeks. The Jets host the Browns for what should be a low-scoring affair in Week 10, likely limiting Fields’ fantasy ceiling. This late in the season, he remains the best one-week bet off the waiver wire, even in an ugly matchup.
Michael Penix, Falcons
Penix opened the year with one touchdown through three weeks and a 202 weekly passing yardage total during that stretch. While he hasn’t been perfect since then, things have turned around for the second-year passer in a major way. Over his past four games, Penix is averaging 256 passing yards and 1.75 touchdowns. Penix tossed three scores in a close loss to the Patriots on Sunday. He will have some QB2 juice in the Falcons’ Week 10 bout with the Colts.
Marcus Mariota, Commanders
Jayden Daniels suffered an elbow injury that is expected to sideline him for the remainder of the season, giving us two more months of Mariota as the starter. Mariota has made three starts this year. He averaged just 192 passing yards but threw for at least one touchdown in all three contests. Mariota also added at least 20 rushing yards in each start and found the end zone on the ground once. He is nothing more than a QB2, but that will be good enough to crack some lineups in Week 10 versus the Lions.
J.J. McCarthy, Vikings
McCarthy silenced the haters on Sunday with two passing scores plus a rushing touchdown in an upset win over the Lions. He did, however, manage just 143 yards versus Detroit and was sacked five times. Detroit also intercepted him once. It wasn’t a superstar performance, but McCarthy passed the eye test for the better part of four quarters, something he failed to do in either of his first two starts. McCarthy is more of a Superflex add than a single-QB play, but a potential shootout with the Ravens in Week 10 will have him in the streaming mix.
The Seahawks blew out the Commanders on Sunday night as Jayden Daniels was forced to exit with an arm injury.
▶ Running Back
Devin Singletary, Giants
Cam Skattebo suffered a season-ending ankle injury in Week 8. Week 9 was the Giants’ first game without him. Tyrone Tracy drew the start but Devin Singltary quickly proved more effective and saw more work over the course of the game. He out-carried Tracy 8-5 and out-rushed him 43-18. Neither back has been particularly efficient this year, but Singletary is averaging 2.7 yards after contact per carry compared to 2.1 for Tracy. Despite logging 14 fewer carries, Singletary has three more missed tackles forced. There’s no guarantee that Singletary sees more touches again in Week 10, but he’s at least in the running to be a starting back and is available off waivers this week.
Terrell Jennings, Patriots
Rhamondre Stevenson missed Week 9, paving the way for checks notes a Terrell Jennings breakout game. The 2024 UDFA ran 11 times for 35 yards and a score in the Patriots’ narrow win over the Falcons. TreVeyon Henderson saw 14 carries and also out-targeted Jennings 6-1. Jennings operated as the team’s goal line back and punched in his touchdown from three yards out. Jennings will only hold this role as long as Stevenson is out, but it will be enough to keep him on the RB3/4 border for Week 10 if that happens.
Bhayshul Tuten, Jaguars
Tuten is stuck in a backup role, but he made good on his limited opportunities with a goal line score versus the Raiders. Tuten ran nine times compared to 22 for Travis Etienne. On the other hand, Etienne’s efficiency is in freefall. He averaged 6.1 yards per carry over the first month of the season. That is down to 3.8 in his past four games. This isn’t a new phenomenon for Etienne and could be a reason for Liam Coen to get Tuten more involved. Tuten also has league-winning upside should anything happen to Etienne.
Blake Corum, Rams
The Rams got Corum curious in Week 9, loading him up with 13 carries. Kyren Williams ran 25 times, meaning Corum was just a heavily used backup, but even that is an improvement in his role. He set a season-high in carries (12) before the Rams’ Week 8 bye and upped the ante by one after Sean McVay had an extra week of preparation. The one-week blip now looks like a two-week trend. Corum is officially in the Tyler Allgeier zone of backup running backs. He will have immense value if the starter goes down and sees enough work to be a dart-throw RB4 on any given week.
▶ Wide Receiver
Parker Washington, Jaguars
Travis Hunter is on injured reserve and will miss at least three more games. He’s likely to be out much longer than that. Brian Thomas Jr. suffered an ankle injury in Week 9 and Dyami Brown left with a concussion. Washington racked up a 26 percent target share, turning nine targets into eight catches for 90 yards. The Jags’ receiver injuries have Washington in line to be the team’s No. 1 receiver in Week 10. He gets a nightmare matchup with Houston, but this level of target-earning potential is rare to find midway through the regular season.
Tory Horton, Seahawks
Horton is a late addition to this article after tearing up the Commanders on Sunday night. He caught all four of his targets for 48 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Cooper Kupp was out for Week 9, freeing up an 83 percent route rate for the rookie. He earned a pedestrian 17 percent target share, but that was still his second-highest mark of the year. Horton is up to five receiving touchdowns and a return touchdown this year. His splash-play abilities are undeniable at this point. It’s possible the Seahawks play him over Kupp when the latter returns to the lineup.
Demario Douglas, Patriots
New England’s slot specialist caught 4-of-6 targets for 100 yards and a touchdown. Douglas got off to a dreadful start this year with 30 yards on 15 targets over his first five games. He was seeing exclusively check-downs, cratering his efficiency. His aDOT has completed a full 180 over the past month, jumping from 5.2 over the first five weeks to 17 in his past four appearances. Douglas, in turn, has 14 grabs for 232 yards and two touchdowns over the past month. He could be asked to do even more going forward with Kayshon Boutte now banged up.
Andrei Iosivas, Bengals
Speaking of injuries, Tee Higgins left Week 9’s loss to the Bears with an apparent upper-body injury. He was injured late enough in the game that the team didn’t give him an official injury designation. Iosivas caught four balls for 57 yards before Higgins went down and added a nine-yard touchdown grab after he left the game. Iosivas could be in line for a considerable uptick in targets if Higgins misses any time.
Troy Franklin, Broncos
Franklin didn’t hit for a big fantasy day in Week 9, but his usage remained elite. Franklin accounted for 29 percent of the Broncos’ targets and ran 88 percent of the routes. He out-targeted Courtland Sutton 10-6. The gap between his target share and Sutton’s target share has been closing in recent weeks. I don’t think we can say the two will converge at any point, but even making it a competition is a testament to how good Franklin has been this year. Franklin is working his way into the WR3 ranks ahead of his Thursday matchup with the lowly Raiders.
Alec Pierce, Colts
Don’t look now, but Pierce currently sits at second in the entire NFL in air yards share at 47 percent. He missed a handful of games with a concussion and returned in Week 6 to become the focal point of Indy’s downfield passing game. Over the past four weeks, Pierce has a target share of 27 percent and an air yards share of 48 percent. He has finished as a WR2 twice during that stretch. Pierce typifies the boom/bust moniker, but that means he has a ceiling capable of flipping matchups. If you need a high-upside FLEX play, Pierce is one of the best bets off the wire this week.
▶ Tight End
Colston Loveland, Bears
Loveland was already on pace for a breakout game before catching a 58-yard score at the end of the Bears’ Week 9 win. The game-winning touchdown, however, put him over the top for one of the best tight end performances of the season. Loveland finished the day with a 6/118/2 receiving line. He ran a route on 37-of-45 Chicago dropbacks. The route rate was fueled by Coke Kmet leaving due to a concussion, but it’s hard to imagine Ben Johnson putting the genie back in the bottle with Loveland, even if Kmet is available for Week 10.
Harold Fannin Jr., Browns
Fannin was on bye last week, keeping his roster rate below 50 percent. While it doesn’t look like the Browns are going to trade David Njoku, Fannin might not need that to happen. Njoku was healthy in Week 7 and Fannin logged a 72 percent route rate. He accounted for 23 percent of the Browns’ targets and scored 18.4 PPR points on a 6/62/1 receiving line. Both tight ends can coexist, with Fannin likely having the edge as the season goes on. He gets a great matchup with the Jets this week, putting him on the TE1 periphery.
Luke Musgrave, Packers
Tucker Kraft suffered a torn ACL on Sunday, ending his season. Musgrave has been the team’s starting tight end before and has produced usable fantasy numbers. He has logged a snap share over 60 percent nine times in his three-year career. In those games, Musgrave averaged 3.6 catches for 37.8 receiving yards. That was all during his rookie season, meaning he has had two years of practices and live reps since posting TE2 numbers. He won’t replace Kraft entirely, but there’s room for a breakout over the second half of the season.
Juwan Johnson, Saints
Ol reliable got home again in Week 9 by bringing down Tyler Shough’s first career touchdown pass. Johnson needed the score to save an otherwise quiet day. He left Week 9 with three catches for 31 yards. Johnson’s 17 percent target share and 77 percent route rate in Sunday’s game were both below his season-long averages, but not by drastic amounts. He remains a solid streaming option no matter who the Saints put under center.