Waiver Wire STEALS! 5 Fantasy Football Sleepers to Stash for Week 8 & Beyond (Ep. 2309)

0:01 Yes, you know what time it is. It is time to help make you a smarter fantasy football manager, the manager that's staying two to three moves ahead of their league mates, the manager that's constantly winning on the waiver wire because you're stashing players before they break out. I'm Lucas Wentzel here with Fantasy Pros, bringing you my top five waiver wire stashes ahead of week eight and next week's waiver run as well. Without further ado, let's dive right on into our list. First up on our list this week is Washington Commanders wide receiver Antonia Williams, who is rostered in 30% of leagues. Last week when we talked about Antonio Williams, he was rostered in only 18% of leagues, so either you all went ahead and scooped

0:36 him up right away, or your league mates saw his projection at the top of your waiver wire this week, and they got away with being lazy. Now, Williams does slot in right at the top of my threshold of players rostered in 30% or less of leagues, so this is truly your last chance to pick him up if he is still available in your league. Not only should Williams' role increase without Terry McLaurin in the lineup, but the commanders get an uncharacteristically bad Eagles secondary this year, fresh off of their bye week. We already have a taste of what Antonio Williams' role looks like without Terry McLaurin.

1:09 In week four, Williams ran a route on 73% of dropbacks. I was actually tied with Stefan Diggs on the week. He drew a target on 23% of those routes and added up to seven total targets on the afternoon. But he also had an 87-yard touchdown called back due to an illegal shift as well. When Williams has had his name called upon, he's taking care of business, and my guess is that coming out of the bye, David Blau has had enough time to step back, evaluate the state of his offense, and recognize that Williams has the most juice out of anyone in this commander's wide receiver room, and he should funnel more targets to Antonio Williams than because of that. Now, to be clear, I'm not telling you Antonio Williams will play the Terry McLaurin role. or

1:47 even replicate his success. But Williams has shown he is more explosive than most expected this year, and he has earned more opportunity because of that. And he should get plenty of it, right? With the upcoming schedule, we talked about the Eagles, but then it's the Rams where they're chasing points. The Giants have an exploitable secondary. The Bengals, where they'll be chasing points in that game. Then you have the Cardinals, you have the Titans, the Texans, the Falcons, the Vikings, which you're not excited about, but then the Jaguars and the Cowboys. So don't wait to see if Antonio Williams ends up being the top waiver wire option after week eight, because you can do it now without giving your league mates the opportunity to just pick him

2:24 up later after a solid showing in week eight. So scoop Antonio Williams up now before your league mates do, because it is truly your last chance. Next up on our list this week is Jacksonville Jaguars running back Chris Rodriguez, who was rostered in 22% of leagues. This isn't going to be the most sexy stash or one that will pay you dividends the moment you add him, but there's enough meat on the bone here with Chris Rodriguez for me to be curious about. I want you to think about this like you're buying a late season lottery ticket about halfway through the NFL season. We all realize that 11 carries and five yards per tote isn't the norm for the role Chris Rodriguez plays in this Jacksonville Jaguars offense.

3:01 We're not trying to chase his week six performance and 30% snap share. But overall, his role is stable on a week-to-week basis. He's had six-plus carries in all but one contest thus far. It is at a lower clip, but he is top 20 in touchdown rate amongst running backs this year, and that's largely due to his 57% of carries inside of the five-yard line, which does lead this Jaguars backfield. The icing on the cake here is that he's actually top three in rushing success rate of all running backs with at least 25 attempts this season. So what happens if Basial Tootin were to miss time over the back half of the season? Not only are the Jaguars a high-octane offense, but Rodriguez would be inheriting a

3:38 bulk of Tootin's 18 opportunities per game with a valuable chain-moving and goal-line role in this offense. Could Chris Rodriguez carve out some standalone value with Basial Tootin in the lineup? Possibly, but I wouldn't stash him on that assumption. Like I said, the real gold in the stash is securing a potential late season lottery ticket where your league mates are content kind of sitting on their hands and not thinking proactively in this situation. You could do a lot worse than stashing Chris Rodriguez, especially with the touchdown upside he possesses on a week to week basis. So go ahead. Think proactively, unlike your league mates will likely be doing. The third player on our list this week is Los Angeles Chargers

4:15 running back Kamani Vidal, who was rostered in 18% of leagues. Look, I hate talking about the Chargers. I'm still upset at how bad this team is, especially after being so bullish on their potential during the offseason. But at some point, we just need to look at facts with Kamani Vidal and recognize that he needs to be rostered in far more than 18% of leagues. It started back in week four when the Chargers truly started deploying a committee backfield.

4:39 No back played more than 38% of snaps, and it was actually Kamani Vidal who was second in snap share at 36%, and even tallied a receiving touchdown en route to finishing as the running back 26 on the week. In week five then, Vidal's snap share rises to 41%, no other running back gets above 33%, and once again, Kamani Vidal takes advantage of his opportunities, and he tallies a rushing touchdown, and he finishes as a running back 21%.

5:02 Then right before their bye in week six, Hampton played nearly 50% of snaps, but Vidal was still ahead of Keaton Mitchell in snap share. But even so, Kamani Vidal gave himself a nice PPR boost by adding three receptions to his line, and he finished as the running back 33 on the week. I don't have a list of like fancy metrics or like galaxy brain theories to try and sell you on Kamani Vidal. But what I do have, though, is a series of finishes over the last three weeks that warrant Vidal to be rostered in more than 18 percent of leagues. After the running back 25 or so in weekly rankings, the options become mind numbingly bad and kind of impossible to predict. So at what point do we look at Kamani Vidal, see that he's converting opportunity

5:42 in this Chargers offense and say, yeah, you know what? It's good enough for me. Plus, if one of Keaton Mitchell or Marian Hampton were to miss time, that's one less mouth to feed in this backfield on a week-to-week basis. Now, before we get to our last two players here, if you want a chance to give your fantasy league the ultimate championship upgrade, courtesy of our good friends at Trophy Smack, the number one destination for epic fantasy football hardware, then this is your shot. We're giving away a 26 to 36-inch custom football trophy. It's a massive centerpiece built to make your league championship feel like a big deal, and the best part is that you can make it your own.

6:19 Choose your topper, personalize the center and front plaques, customize the columns, and create a trophy that represents your league. To enter, all you need to do is subscribe to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football YouTube channel right now and drop a comment below on any of our videos. That's it. That is all you have to do. We'll be announcing a winner right here on the channel, so be sure to turn on those notifications so you don't miss your chance to claim your big prize. Fourth up on our list this week is Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Travis Hunter, who's rostered in 16% of leagues. Before you go running to the comments and call me an idiot for telling you to roster a defensive player, please just hear me

6:54 out because I think there's actually something to his week six performance against the Texans. I just want to quick remind you all of what Travis Hunter is capable of in an NFL offense. In his final game last year, before his season-ending knee injury, Hunter logged eight catches on 14 targets, 14, for 101 yards and a touchdown. That was 24.1 PPR fantasy points and good for the wide receiver nine on the week. I don't think we're solely chasing his four catches for 59 yards and a score against Houston. I actually think we could get more from him in the receiving department rest of season. The dude is clearly electric with the ball in his hands. He's snatching ankles on defense and he has crazy, crazy athleticism

7:33 to be utilized as a threat on offense. So why would you not incrementally get him more involved? Liam Cohen said after their victory in London, quote, that was part of the plan and getting Travis Hunter a bit more involved early. We have to continue getting him the ball and keep building off of it. So now you boil in the trade rumblings around Brian Thomas Jr. Jeremy Fowler of ESPN said BTJ is the player he's most confident will get traded before the deadline. It doesn't automatically mean his role is going to get transferred to Travis Hunter.

8:03 And let's be real. It's not like there's a large role there to transfer to Travis Hunter to begin with. but these are the kind of players I love stashing. The players that are oozing with upside, oozing with potential, and could be the piece that puts you over the edge to win a fantasy football championship. So get Travis Hunter stashed now, and at worst, you end up dropping him for the next new hotness. And lastly on our list is New York Giants running back Devin Singletary, who's rostered in 9% of leagues. This is another stash that's not all that sexy, but there's opportunity for it to return on value much quicker than you may think. Tyrone Tracy now finds himself on IR after suffering a hamstring

8:43 injury during the Giants' Week 7 showdown with the Texans, and in Tracy's absence, Singletary made the most of his opportunities. He averaged 8 yards per tote on only 5 carries, but he hit pay dirt, and he added 3 catches to round out his running back 22 finish last week. if last week's rotation is any indication of the Giants intentions moving forward, it does appear cam Scadaboo will operate as the lead back. But even after his benching debacle in week six, you know, Devin Singletary is the next man up here now. And there's always injury concern around the human wrecking ball. That is quite literally cam Scadaboo.

9:17 I'm not predicting a cam Scadaboo injury, nor wishing that upon cam Scadaboo. Uh, But even if the Giants are on by this week, the dots aren't all that hard to connect here. It won't take long for your league mates to realize that Singletary can not only have some standalone value alongside Cam Scadaboo, but the injury probability is just that much higher with Cam Scadaboo and his and his style of play. So, again, I know this isn't the most exciting stash, but Singletary, while the Giants are on by. is a good stash in my opinion because as soon as your league may see him towards the top of your list of waiver wire at the at the start of week nine you'll just be getting into an unnecessary bidding war with them and there you have

9:55 it those are my top five waiver wire stashes ahead of week eight go to split your waiver wire right now and check, make sure none of these players are still available. Like I said, they're all rostered in 30% or less of leagues. So there's actually a good chance they might still be available on your waiver wire. Thanks again for tuning in and make sure you hit that subscribe button as well to be alerted when all of the newest fantasy pros content goes live. We'll see y'all next time. Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast. If you love the show, the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts at fantasypros.com slash review or on Spotify.

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