Week 8 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire: Must-Add Names + FAAB Bidding Advice (Ep. 2293)

0:00 What's up, friends, and welcome into Fantasy Pros. I'm Chris Welsh, and this is the Week 8 Waver Wire Show. We are going to be prepping you for all the names to look at, wide receivers, running backs, giving you a full-on plan, and we'll look at some of the other positions as well. Who is joining me? Well, the only guys that can. It's Pat Fitzmorris and the Athletic's own Jake Seeley, where we're going to be talking about the whole shebang. And this week, we're actually, I think we've done this in like one or two others. This is one of those Here's the top waiver guy. But then let's also give you a little PSA because one of the top waiver guys from last week is still available.

0:36 We did this exact same thing with Jeremy Bernard, by the way, sadness, big failure this week. But before we jump into the top, top waiver claim, which has a little bit more of a. you know, just like a percentage owned in a lot more leagues. So the accountability buddies don't scream about not on my league. We do want to give a little PSA to Omar Cooper. Omar Cooper, under 50% owned in leagues, put up five for 115 in a score. Probably a lot of things centered around it, guys.

1:06 I mean, the offense, I think, is a general statement. But Adonai Mitchell coming back could have created a lot of Omar Cooper sitting on benches, could have brought the number back down. whatever it was, he had a really big game. So Jake, I don't know if you want to kick us off here. As a PSA, if in a 10-man league, he's still out there, Omar Cooper would be at the top of your list, if available.

1:29 So I'm one little disappointed. I'm the only one ready for Halloween this week. And I could say for your Jeremy Bernard, I am sick of this sheet.

1:37 I'm sick of this.

1:38 Actually, you know what? I wasn't going to talk about this. We did our ranking show and Fitz and I called what happened in the freaking Rams game. We said, Tyler Higbee is a top 10 tight end play. Watch Davis Allen do it. And I think it was either you Fitz or Worms. Somebody said, watch it happen twice and good grief. But anyway, so yes, I am sick of this sheet. But so the thing is, is don't be disappointed with Bernard, but this, I think that's a really good parallel for Cooper this week, because we talked about Bernard last week. Bernard had a down game and Rodgers only threw 30 times. But Cooper is in that same boat.

2:13 He's like, yeah, you're accountability buddies.

2:15 I like that.

2:16 Is that he's still under 50%. So if you waited, we talked about it before the show came on.

2:20 He was actually.

2:21 Dropped 40% compared to the additions that he had over the weekend, I guess because of the Mitchell news. But that's where I wanted to talk about it. I think everybody wants to talk about it. That's why I wouldn't be too concerned. And I think that just not the good game. But he stayed on the field in two tight end sets, not Mitchell. Mitchell was only out there for primarily three, primarily not only, but primarily three wide.

2:43 So to say the Wally Pip, and as Fitz is very much celebrating baseball right now, kind of got Wally Pipped in that absence and that Mitchell kind of lost the job to Cooper. And not surprising if you just said talent versus talent, we are talking about a first round talent in the NFL. Mitchell's a second rounder, some off field issues, but it's finally starting to show it.

3:00 But I think you feel really good about Cooper because there was a lot of people that were afraid. It was only started in 20% of Yahoo leagues, afraid. And I had him as a low-end wide receiver three because of this. And I wish this would have never happened because I would have kept him inside the top 25 or so. But I think that's what we look at going forward is now he's a fringe wide receiver two, three, mostly because he stayed on the field for two wide receiver sets.

3:20 Yeah, I think the word paralleled is probably the best thing, Fitzy. To me, it very much paralleled Jeremy Bernard. People picked him up. Didn't really start him because there was a level of– I mean I guess it's slightly different because there's another guy. But he was a top waiver guy a couple weeks ago. Not really started. Has a big blowout game. And then people kind of jump in. Like Omar Cooper kind of had the same thing. Like everyone was picking him up. But there was just a cautiousness of wanting to start him and maybe some people dropping him.

3:49 And then I think he– you know, let's get your words on it, but he created like a separation where he now does look like a wide receiver two or three after having this big of a performance. And like Jake said, you know, being in certain sets. So what do you think about Omar Cooper in a 10 man league where he sits for you right now?

4:05 Sometimes when you follow this stuff too closely, it can actually hurt you because in Jets training camp, I think a lot of people thought Omar Cooper was going to be number two in the packing order behind Garrett Wilson when they emerged from training camp. And then we got word that, oh, Adnai Mitchell is definitely number two, and right now Cooper is competing with Isaiah Williams to be the number three, and that might be going in the direction of Isaiah Williams. So, like, I don't know if Omar Cooper had mononucleosis or something during training camp, but he has just been amazing.

4:38 He is averaging on his.

4:40 13 targets so far this season, 19.1 yards per target.

4:45 Obviously, that's very sustainable. It's going to keep going all season. It won't, of course.

4:49 But like Jake said, what we wanted to see was that he was staying on the field in two receiver sets.

4:55 He was.

4:55 He played 15 more snaps than Adnai Mitchell on Sunday, ran five more routes. So he is the number two guy behind Garrett Wilson. And man, this guy's just been a big play machine. We're seeing how dangerous he is after the catch. He's really good at the catch point.

5:11 He's just an absolute gamer. So I kind of think it's for real.

5:15 Well, We'll have kind of a little bit of a versus for bigger leagues. We can do it at the end here. But as much as it's fun talking about Omar Cooper, obviously going to be less available in a lot of leagues. It's just at that 50% marker, but it's worth talking about. The top guy, though, and there's some big ad recommendations on Fantasy Pros and from Pat Fitzmaurice.

5:35 The top guy, I'm going to actually say, I said this in about six different shows last week. I had one sentence. I said, maybe it's two, pick up Jonah Colma. It's a comma. Pick up Jonah Coleman so you don't have to fight for him in week eight. I said that on the live stream on Sunday morning. I said that I believe on the rank show. I said that on a multitude of spots. And guess what? Jonah Coleman is your top name. 34% rostered, 9 for 54, 2 for 15. Didn't blow the roof off, but it was the speculation that ended up working out. Hey, you know, Peyton's taken over. Dobbins was the big role. RJ Harvey seemed to be kind of phased on the running side.

6:15 Now Jonah Coleman's out there. Could this phase some of those guys out? It wasn't a full phase or anything like that, but Jonah Coleman got the bulk of the workload and they're going to want to continue probably rolling that out. And that's the speculation. So Fitzy, let's talk about it. I know you had some high recommendation. I don't remember if it was dollars or fab presented on Jonah Coleman, but you guys unanimously decided that outside of the Omar Cooper situation, this is the top waiver ad for the week. So Fitzy, why don't you talk to us about Jonah Coleman?

6:43 Yeah, and we've been trying to, I think, persuade people to proactively pick him up for a few weeks. And now, unfortunately, if he is sitting out there in waivers, as he is in 65% of Yahoo leagues, he's going to be really expensive this week. I think we recommended if you are hell-bent on getting him and absolutely need to get him, like your top bid, we put $ 50 in. And I think we put $ 25 as the ideal bid, like his true value. That's still a lot, but I think it's probably going to take a little more than $ 25.

7:20 In most leagues to get him.

7:21 And it's just that, how often do you find a plug and play running back on waivers in the middle of the season?

7:28 And we have not had this.

7:29 And Coleman, yeah, it's probably going to be a three-way backfield because Sean Payton has long favored three-way backfields. He did in New Orleans for years. But Coleman looks like he could be the number one guy. Played the most snaps. He played 30 snaps yesterday. 16 for Harvey, 14 for Dobbins. Coleman had 11 touches. Dobbins, 6. And Harvey, 5.

7:54 So....

7:56 I think Coleman's the best runner in this backfield. I mean, Dobbins had been averaging 3.3 yards per carry before this game.

8:04 Coleman has been really effective.

8:06 He was effective the last time we saw him against the Jaguars, the best run defense in the league. He was by far the most efficient runner yesterday, 9 for 54. And Harvey is a good pass catcher, so he's going to continue to have a role. But Coleman can do that, too, and he's probably a better pass blocker than R.J.

8:22 Harvey.

8:23 So.

8:24 I think going forward, Coleman is a guy you can absolutely play in your RB2 spot or in your flex spots. And what is the value of being able to pick up a running back you can immediately start?

8:37 What's really funny, I think the big question, and Jake, I'm really curious at what you think here, because I think he's a top pickup.

8:43 Yeah.

8:46 I think that speaks for itself, but the level of like being able to start him right now, I think is in question. But the funny thing is, is I remember in the preseason, the, this is at least my narrative, but I think most people agreed to some extent was I was saying you wanted to draft Jonah Coleman, but you had to hold on and it wasn't until like a week eight thing. And guess what? It's week eight.

9:07 And you're like, now we're talking about viable starting spots. I personally still think it might take a week or two, to build some confidence and wanting to put him out there. But some of us might not be granted that, you know, you might just have to throw him out. We've probably had some stinky players we've had to put in there.

9:24 But Jake, what is your level of, I know you're on a top pickup, but in all of that discussion, how much confidence do you think you're going to have in being able to like put him in your lineups in the first, you know, like in week eight and week nine, let's say?

9:37 Uh, so week eight is the difference than week nine because week eight, the chiefs, and I don't have a lot of confidence at all. Uh, the funny thing was if anybody was watching the video, when Fitz said somebody that can be your RB too, I was like, uh, my face was like, and then he said, or flex much better as a flex. And it just comes down to Sean Payton, Sean Payton, Sean Payton back with the just last year on the broncos let alone the history of what he does has had four active running backs on game day like just nobody does that because you don't need the fourth running back and he's done it and i'm not saying there's anybody right now that would make that happen we're not going to see bidet get

10:14 activated again but it's just the fact of like It's the frustration of Sean Payton that in the time that we had with the Saints, it was two guys and it was two guys that were really good. One of them being Kamara, of course. And that's what it should be. Like Coleman is better at this point than Dobbins. Dobbins was like, hey, if he could stay healthy, let's remember how good he looked last year when he was healthy. Well, he's been healthy and he doesn't look as good as he has last year. RJ Harvey hasn't done much better than he did as a rookie. He's been more valuable in the passing game, which is still there. And the good thing was that at least Coleman got two targets.

10:48 So we know that the pass game is not completely off the table for him. But 50% of the touches yesterday, I think that's probably what we can expect going forward, is 50% with the other two absorbing the 50% and being the more frustrating ones you can't start. So all that being said, completely agree with Fitz. It was really nice to see. It was only nine rushes, but he did average six yards per carry without having to run over 15 yards. So it's not like he had, you know, one 40 yard rush and it's boosting everything. So it was a good performance. But I think in matchups like this, when you say you got the Chiefs on tap, will they play from behind? Will they be passing a lot?

11:23 Which means Harvey's approaching 40%, whatever it might be. That's just going to be what you roll with. But where I will agree with Fitz in the fact that like, you know, even if you said RB2 is that if you're picking them up, you're going to have to be more aggressive than doing it last week when you had the opportunity. And if you're picking it up, you probably have to go into the 20, maybe even 30. It depends on how desperate you are. But I would also treat him kind of like a tight end, as in just keep him in your lineup. Just you understand somebody like put Bernard back in your lineup. If Cooper has a bad game next week, just keep him in your lineup.

11:53 Like these things are the number of players that are consistently reliable at each position are very slim. And I think that people get too caught up and be like, oh, my God, it was a bad game. So can't trust him anymore. Just put Coleman in and understand that you're going to get some really good performances, but there's going to be some down weeks because it is Sean Payton.

12:10 Tough matchup against the Chiefs this week, but in week nine, he gets the Panthers, who just gave up, I believe, 703 rushing yards to the Buccaneers on Sunday.

12:18 Did you know the Bucs had more yards on two punts than they did passing that entire game? That's like how much they get. I'm glad you said that, Fitz, because that's why I focused on week eight, because when they come out of the bye, Raiders, Steelers, not so great. Dolphins, Jets, middle of the road, but Raiders again, Bills, and then Patriots for the final game of the season. There's not very many more matchups outside of the Chiefs where you're like, eh, I'm really going to have to fight through that one.

12:46 Jonah Coleman, there's your top dog at running back. We've got some wide receivers. We've got more running backs. We've got full-on plans. I'm very excited to quiz you guys on the keeper cut section because I may or may not bring back a player for a fifth straight week to see if it's finally time. All that is in store for us. Before we do and we start hitting that, it's game time. The free game day app by Fantasy Pros.

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13:28 You can see the highlights of your big plays everywhere. and know exactly who to root for, and you can do it all in one place, download the Game Day app. It's free at fantasypros.com slash gamedayapp. Then get ready for kickoff. That's fantasypros.com slash gamedayapp. All right, let's start with our top running back ads. We've obviously got Omar Cooper was our top guy. Jonah Coleman's our top running back for the week. We're not going to talk about him. Before doing so, I wanted to mention bye weeks for you guys.

13:55 We've got Houston... New Orleans, Giants, and San Francisco. So no Woody Marks, no Christian McCaffrey. Might not have any Christian McCaffrey that they were playing anyways. Cam Scadaboo and however you feel about that situation. And then Kamara. So, you know, varying degree of one significant running back out.

14:14 Then like a low-end RB2. And then there's just like a couple guys that are in the flex spot. So take that for what it is. So Jonah Coleman was our top dog. You guys agree across the board. A couple other guys to consider, one that's not going to actually even help you this week, but Kaylon Black, 12 for 63 in a score. Obviously, Christian McCaffrey got banged up. Boy, did he look good out there. Bam Knight was 7 for 48. Mike Washington, 6 for 27. We know Dylan Sampson activated. I mean, it's not a robust list after Jonah Coleman, which... might be fueling some of that i'm going to jump to you fitzy just simply because you said the really aggressive number on jonah coleman is it also fueled by the lack of names that are floating

14:59 out here to pick up at running back i mean i think bam might be the one that you can get production from this week but outside of that you feel good about anybody.

15:07 No, and even Bam, if we don't know what the status of Jeremiah Love is going into this week, maybe they set Love another week, but if they don't and bring him back, I mean, Bam Knight's.

15:18 Value pretty much turns to dust. Yeah, you're right.

15:20 So I guess the two guys who interest me mildly beyond Jonah Coleman, Kalen Black, because he is the most indispensable handcuff in fantasy football, and any week that Christian McCaffrey did not play, we would be ranking Kalen Black as a RB1.

15:41 And this was like, he proved that, by the way, in this performance, like in that McCaffrey was knocked out. He ran hard, can catch the ball, got the touchdown. Like they literally on a platter showed, they're like, oh, by the way, if McCaffrey were to miss a game, you know, he'd be the force of everything. He runs really great behind the line. Unfortunately, they're on by this week.

16:01 But what was the percentage? 27% on Yahoo is his roster percentage. So that's over 70% are still not out there. If you didn't have a reason to make sure you're rostering him, this game gave it to you. The unfortunate side of the production, Fitzy, is that they're on a bye. That's another week for Christian McCaffrey to get right when he had come back in the game. And he's not going to jump into a week nine starting or anything like that. But you got the test case for him.

16:30 Yeah, and if we ever had Christian McCaffrey get hurt, The following week, the bidding on Kalen Black would make the Jonah Coleman bidding look like child's play, like a rummage sale. So that is the incentive to maybe get out ahead of it in a week like this, where there's going to be no one bidding on him because it's a bye week. I mean, if you're a Christian McCaffrey investor, generally, I don't believe in handcuffing your running backs until somewhere in the double digit weeks of the regular season. I make an exception if I'm a Christian McCaffrey stakeholder. And then so Bam Knight may or may not have value. I'm mildly interested in Mike Washington just because Ashton Gentry has been in such a brutal rushing

17:12 slump this year.

17:13 I mean, maybe it's not a slump. Maybe he's just not that good.

17:16 I find it hard to believe as terrific as he was at Boise State. Granted, a lot of soft competition there. But, you know, even in the big games, the games against the big boys like Penn State.

17:27 He was awesome.

17:29 But Jenty, the sixth overall pick of 2025, 3.1 yards per carry this season, 2.3 yards per carry over his last three games. He's rushed for under 30 yards in three straight games. Meanwhile, Mike Washington, 4.9 yards per carry this season, 2.74 yards after contact per attempt, which is a pretty good number. That's more than half a yard above league average, I believe. So he's been a more effective runner than Jente. Jente has been really good as a pass catcher, but might we start to see Mike Washington cut into the early down role for Ashton Jente?

18:06 Might be worth a speculative ad if you've got the roster space.

18:10 Dylan Sampson also, as mentioned, put up almost, it was like, what, 77 yards, had a couple catches, had some rushes, 10% rostered on Yahoo. Another name I didn't mention, Sealy just to throw him out. Sean Tucker returned seven for 52 in a score, but everybody did whatever the hell they wanted on the rushing game. So it's just not a great running back core. What are your thoughts after Jonah Coleman, Sealy?

18:34 It is bam night, mostly because I think the Cardinals kind of told us that they are worried because they signed Evan Hull from their practice squad to the active roster, which that wasn't important for nothing more than the fact that that seems weird if you're assuming that Jeremiah Love's going to be back next week. So If you look at the Cardinals schedule, Cowboys this week. So that's great.

18:54 The problem is after that. That's why I say band might– I agree with Fitz, might be a one-week play because then at Seattle Rams, at Chiefs. So enjoy the one week. It's just going to get– it's going to be bad after that as much as he's clearly looked better than Algier. So it really comes down to– we talked about Kaelin Black way back in week one. I actually was a little bit more– I– didn't rank them at this high because I wasn't expecting Christian McCaffrey to miss time. But the game that, that started out was like, Hey, that we might get some standalone value from Kalen black that we were wishing we were going to get week one because they have no receivers left. And they were talking about Christian McCaffrey lining up as a receiver, which happened

19:29 a little bit, but like, you know, when you got interviewed, he was like, I don't know.

19:31 We'll see.

19:32 Like, like we kind of alluded to that. But now they're on a buy. Everybody's hopefully getting healthy and we get Mike Evans back. But what Fitz said is like, if you're at the time now where you're looking at your bench and you're like, Hey, I have four running backs. My fourth one is somebody I can plug in my flex.

19:47 Bam Knight, even your next pickup. should be a Kalen Black. Your next pickup, if Emmitt Johnson got dropped, your next pickup should be the kind of guys that were, if something were to happen, like he said, forget what we just spent on Joel McCullman if you waited till this week. If you wait for one of those situations, it's going to be like, oh, I have to spend 95% of my budget left just to make sure I get that person.

20:06 So stash those guys. The one I'll say that's on by, like Dylan Sampson, next man up for Quincy Jenkins. I think they made that clear. I think that's one that you can kind of put in. He'd be lower down the list. I get to Mike Washington, same boat. You know what? Fitz was on the podcast last week and for my segment that dumb blank, my friend says, I actually threw one back at him this week to see if I could get him to get tripped up over this.

20:28 And I said, Ashton Gentry might just be Austin Eckler. And like, but let's remember peak Austin Eckler, eight, 900 rushing yards, 600 in the air. because he's been a better receiver. I know part of it is the offensive line issues, but Mike Washington being able to do things after contact, like Fitz said, is why we might see the split come a little bit more. So I know that wouldn't be good for what we wanted for it to be a gentee, but to go back to one thing, it seems Skadaboo and Tracy avoided serious injuries, but we've seen hamstrings, soft tissue injuries, linger they're on a buy it's not like i'm like oh my god let's go get stephan singletary i'm gonna slam him into my lineup next week after the buy but you know they come

21:09 out of the buy and it's like oh my god scataboo is not like let's we get the rishi rice situation where we they come back from their buying on tuesday they're like neither one of them are practicing yet people are going to be chasing singletary so that'd be super deep super like hey i'm desperate running back i'm just stashing somebody but that's the only other name that you don't have on your list that i think might be Interesting, and I hate to say it because I'm not interested in doing it.

21:30 There's not a lot of running back interest in here, so hopefully you all have well covered yourself through seven weeks of the season. So let's talk about some wide receivers. Before we do, basketball season is here, and a new way to trade on it is the new prediction market called Polymarket. Polymarket is a prediction market. It's a stock exchange for sports, buying in and selling out on your terms.

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22:28 That's not Omar Cooper.

22:30 My next up, I mean, there's some names in here I know we're going to talk about more.

22:33 I think.

22:34 dismissed Jordan Tyson because we've talked about him for multiple weeks in a row. And Fitz keeps bringing it up and keep echoing what he says is like, stop waiting, stop waiting. And now the time is probably still like it's up. Like now you're going to have to do the kind of the Jonah Cuomo thing if you waited this long. So I'm kind of pushing him to his side because we've covered him so much. So mine is Jacoby Lane. Similar to the Cooper, similar to the Jeremy Bernard situation is we wanted to see if he would be the number two. Still not like leaps and bounds ahead, but...

23:04 With Bateman, he did run one more route. He's already slightly past him, and I think that gap is going to grow, and we get Lamar Jackson back this week. Oh, by the way, who do they play?

23:13 The Bills.

23:15 So you get Jacoby Lane with Lamar Jackson back, already a step past Bateman. They get to Jaguars after that, but then you get Chargers. Panthers are in between. Houston, as we just saw, continues to, like, their defense is playing better, but they still can't stop the outside wide receivers, which, by the way, just complete sidebar. Don't be worried about Isaiah Likely. That was just an opportunistic situation there. But Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Cincinnati had finished things out, by the way, Cincinnati in championship week. So Jacoby Lane could be the one where you're sitting there like, oh my God, I'm starting Jacoby Lane every single week. And I'll make the easy comparison of why also don't get

23:47 frustrated when it goes south. Because you're still starting Denzel Boston every single week. You're going to want to do the same thing with Jacoby Lane. It's that kind of situation. Those wide receiver 3-4s that are reliant on big plays, a lot of upside. It can go south, especially because some of those balls are like 50-50 that you catch them anyway. And we've seen Boston. We just had a game where it was all conception and Boston missed two big plays that he could have had. So live with it.

24:12 But if you don't want to do that, that's why I'm kind of throwing it out. If that torments you as a fantasy manager, then don't pick up Lane. But I like living with that as my wide receiver three for that weekly potential 20-point upside. So Lane would be my non-Cooper, non-Tyson option.

24:26 Fitzy, you're non-Cooper, non-Tyson, top wide receiver, and then I'll just burn through some other names. You have a top guy that isn't one of those two?

24:34 Antonio Williams for the Commanders. You feel out of necessity. Even though I'm not sure I have a good handle on what David Blau's offense is supposed to look like.

24:48 With the Commanders, but you would think.

24:50 Um, so Antonio Williams played under half the offensive snaps his first three games, but last three games, he's been right around two thirds of the offensive snaps. You would figure he's going to be up over 80% now that Terry McLaurin's out for the year with his torn patellar tendon. So I just, I feel like Antonio Williams has to be part of the commander's passing attack, uh, pretty significant part of the passing attack the rest of the way.

25:18 And yeah, we're going to get some Traylon Burks contributions and some other guys are probably going to make cameo appearances that we're annoyed with. But I think Antonio Williams is going to be pretty close to flex worthy in the weeks to come.

25:33 Some other names that are floating out there. Malachi Fields was four for 83, only 4% roster. Jordan Watkins, you know, it's all not Mike Evans stuff, but he did get six targets. I thought was interesting. Three for 56 kind of talked up. Boy, was I wrong about Christian Kirk? uh, three for 56, 1% rostered my boy tank Dell with that big 43 yard catch. Nothing really else. 21% rostered other names. You got Jacoby Myers, which got a high roster percentage, but he was on a buy. Caleb Douglas only received three targets, but two for 70 with the scores. And, uh, Keon Coleman also was on a buy. So these are all players that are floating out there. Jake, anybody else of this, if you want to hit a guy or

26:12 two of interest, if, um, Obviously, if you're not getting Cooper, you're not getting one of these top guys, where would you want to go? And obviously, I guess Antonio Williams, too, you could comment on.

26:22 Yeah, Antonio Williams would be the next after Lane. And they get the Eagles coming out of their bye this week. And that's one area that Antonio Williams can exploit is the Eagles over-the-middle slot option. I know Diggs will do some work there, but it's a situation where Antonio Williams gets the better matchup than Treland Burks does. So that would be next and going forward, of course. The rest, I mean, no, I don't really want any. The 49ers basically went out there. I made the joke yesterday. It was like Tony Montana. I don't need them. I'll leave the cursing out of it if you get my point there in that scene. But they don't need wide receivers.

26:55 They can just do it without them. And, you know, Watkins could have had a day, but Mike Evans coming back. Stribling is going to come back soon. Watkins is fun as a big play option. Maybe if both of them are still out, but they're on their bye. I'm not stashing somebody with likely players coming back for that situation.

27:11 So it really just comes down to It's either Caleb Douglas or Keon Coleman. Douglas is kind of lesser version Denzel Boston because the Dolphins offense, you're not going to, I should just mention the targets really weren't there. At least he's still out there in his first game back as like the one and two to Malik Washington and Chris Bell is the three. So you have that potential, but I think it's the Keon Coleman. We assume DJ Moore is going to come back, but. There's two ways you could look at it. Maybe he didn't have like as good as a health return as we all hoped, even though like the entire time before the buy, they were like, hey, he might be back. He might be back.

27:42 He might be back. What if they come out of the buy and they're like, he's not practicing. He's not back. Everybody's going to be chasing Keon Coleman. But the other part of it is the way that they've been using Keon Coleman. We talked about it a few weeks ago, is that they've kind of put him in a big slot role with that Bills offense, which is kind of that Sean Payton-ish offense. And it's worked better for his skill set. They're not asking him to, hey, like run every single route and separate with precision. That's not Keon Coleman's game anyway. And I would go back to my draft profile and I said he could be the best of Kenny Galladay and he could be the worst of Kenny Galladay. We've got a lot more worst of Kenny

28:13 Galladay so far, but it looks like it might be starting to come around because of how the Bills are using him. So I bring it up to say that even if DJ Moore is healthy, we might actually get Keon Coleman into the wide receiver for discussions.

28:24 Fitzy, anybody else outside of Antonio Williams that has interest that you're throwing a couple bucks on? You got a low waiver claim on?

28:31 Jake, hit the two guys, Keon Coleman and Caleb Douglas. Douglas, just because he could be the best. He probably is the best receiver the Dolphins have. Malik Washington is just kind of a low-calorie PPR guy. Dolphins are frustrating.

28:45 Dolphins are. I didn't mean to interrupt you, but like. Every week, I feel like we all have the same thing. We're just like, man, it could be Chris Bell time. Like, should we pay attention to Malik Washington? Look at Caleb. Like, we're just like talking about a different guy every week, but they're all not good. And they're all just in not great situations. But I get what you're saying. It's just, they're like super frustrating.

29:02 It's just a low... Go ahead, Jake.

29:05 Sorry, I was jumping in because he jumped in. I wanted to add to your point to agree with the... I forgot to bring this up for Caleb Douglas. The last four games, only one rough one in there. Maybe.

29:14 Actually, the last.

29:14 So they get the Broncos in week 13, but then you get Bears, Packers, Chargers, Bills. So if it's going to click for the Dolphins offense.

29:25 There you go.

29:25 That was the one more nugget I forgot to throw in. So I only did that because he jumped on you.

29:30 I mean, Caleb Douglas, probably the number one receiver in Miami, but I would much rather have um, Jacoby lane just because he's, uh, connected to the better quarterback.

29:40 I don't care that he's number two.

29:42 It's just the more prolific passing attack.

29:44 So, um, yeah.

29:46 And then Keon Coleman, he's just been really good. And I think gotta do the hat tip. I think it was Mark Matt Harmon, like after Coleman's rookie year was like, he's always been a big slot.

29:56 That's what he should be playing more there.

29:58 Um, But Coleman in his last three games, 12.1 yards per target and 2.53 yards per route run. He's been very good with touchdowns in three straight games. Yeah, the target outlook is going to be really murky if DJ Moore is back, but maybe you just bet on the talent here.

30:17 By Monday night, the advice is in, your lineups are locked, and all you can do is watch. Maybe you're protecting a one-point lead. Maybe you need 12 out of your flex. Or maybe your opponent has one kicker left and now every field goal attempt feels personal. Make one part of the night perfect. Get DiGiorno pizza ready for kickoff. Then settle in, enjoy restaurant quality pizza from your own oven, and stay locked into the matchup through the final snap.

30:43 You don't want to step away when one target, one touchdown, or one unnecessary point can decide your week. Buy DiGiorno pizza on the weekend run so you at least know Monday night dinner is covered. Rankings can guide you. Waivers can save you. But once the game starts, fantasy brings the chaos. Dinner doesn't have to. It's not delivery. It's DiGiorno.

31:04 All right, wide receivers, running backs, those are in the books. Those are kind of all the big names. We'll have the top five for each of these guys here shortly. But let's talk about some keeper cut. Keeper cut last week was kind of short. There was one predominant name that I've just continuously put on here, but there's been no big pushback and there's also been no big performance.

31:27 So I do it again. I think it was Erickson's statement to me this week was, Well, if he can't do it against the Cardinals, then maybe it is time we finally do it. So guys, 96% roster Jalen Waddell. He got seven targets, which looks good, but he caught four for 48. It's still not there. By the way, the Broncos were able to break that curse of the Cardinals giving up two plus passing touchdowns, like five straight games.

31:53 Only the Broncos could do that. And Jalen Waddell just still is not even a wide receiver three. So I asked the question for like the billionth straight week, Fitzy. Is Jalen Waddell a keep or a cut?

32:05 I'm finally there.

32:06 There we go.

32:08 Other than that eight catch, 138 yard game against the Jaguars in week two, he has not had 50 yards in any other game this season. And he has had three games with fewer than 20 receiving yards. And this guy, Waddell's been terrific over his five previous NFL seasons, but it is just not happening with Bo Nix for him.

32:30 And now he's, And he also left with a chest injury that we don't know the severity of.

32:36 If you had the choice, Omar Cooper or Jalen Waddell, rest of season?

32:40 I'm taking Cooper. There it is.

32:42 Jake Seeley, keeper cut, Jalen Waddell.

32:46 Still not doing it.

32:47 Like, because he got hurt.

32:50 For Omar Cooper, I would. Well, yeah.

32:52 But that's a.

32:53 And that's only because of the injury. So, I mean, you mentioned it, the numbers were starting to finally happen and it was starting to like turn a little bit. And it's not like Bo Nix was any great shakes in that game.

33:03 But it was what you'd expect.

33:05 Like the fact that, here's the problem. I understand where you're coming from, but Jalen Waddell being a wide receiver 3-4 doesn't mean you should drop him. That just means of how big of a disappointment he is. And so like, If this is a multi-week absence and you don't have IRs, you make the swap. If Bernard or Cooper or Tyson or somebody like that's available in your league, you can make the swap because at least they have the ceiling.

33:28 You could argue me into– this is how far I'll go for you. You could argue me into Jacoby Lane because if Jacoby Lane hits the wide receiver three of the– so Waddell turning things around, what you saw from yesterday, means he's probably, like I said, a wide receiver three, four in like Wando Robinson with the Giants. as in you're going to get fine production and you might get a pop-off week. Jacoby Lane hits, you're going to get multiple weeks of 20 points where it makes the difference in your lineup. Yes, the floor is going to be supremely lower, but the floor, as we've seen with Waddell because of Bo Nix in this offense, has been pretty low too. So I'm not going to give a full-on pass.

34:03 It's a lot of context involved. I'm not dropping just to be ticked off and drop them. The one where I would draw the line at a really tough time is maybe Antonio Williams. Like I would go back and forth on Waddle versus Williams.

34:17 Yeah.

34:17 And I would keep it clear. My big thing has also been not advocating for Jalen Waddle in like rank shows and anything that requires you investment in him. But at the same time, I'm not a just cut for the sake of cutting. I know there are people out there. There's frustration. The amount of times we'll get questions where people are like, I'm just so done with this guy.

34:35 Should I cut him? And I'll be like, well, that's fine. But like for who, you know, if you're in a deep 12 man league, if you're cutting him for Jordan Watkins, like that doesn't make any sense. You know, Caleb Douglas is probably an interesting line. So I don't just cut the cut. Yeah, I think I would too. But I guess my main point here is to kill the advocacy for Jalen Waddell at this point in pushing. He shouldn't be a top 36 wide receiver right now. He has to prove it. So you want to keep him on your bench, you can do that. So it's a pseudo keeper cut. Another one, this one has gone down a bad little spiral. Josh Downs, he had four targets in this game, two for 18. Fitzy, keeper cut Josh Downs.

35:11 I'm going to say keep. It's been pretty bad.

35:14 I think he should be on your bench probably this week. They do have a good schedule coming up.

35:19 Here's the thing.

35:20 Josh Downs did lead the Colts receivers in snaps and routes last week, and their upcoming schedule is the pass funnel Jaguars, the Cowboys, the Dolphins.

35:30 And the Texans. That's a pretty good schedule coming up. I say you keep him.

35:34 Jake, keep or cut Josh Downs.

35:36 So I already said two weeks ago, to cut Josh downs for the best wide receiver on the Colts being Keenan Allen. And I'm going to hold true to that because I get the schedule unless you have a different quarterback, not named Daniel Jones. And I don't even mean Anthony Richardson. This is like, I don't want it. Like I would cut them easily at this point. Like we can stop Josh downs being a thing. Like I love Josh downs, love the talent, love the player. Don't love Colts. Josh downs.

36:06 One more wide receiver than a couple of running backs. You kind of mentioned this, but I'm just going to do it. Jeremy Bernard. Jeremy Bernard had the two big weeks. Okay, so you're no, that's fine. Five targets, dud. You also agree. We're cutting, cutting him, which means we're keeping him, right?

36:22 Yes, keeping him.

36:23 Aaron Rodgers only threw 30 times, and I think he threw 40 of those to the backfield.

36:27 Messenger, messenger, messenger, messenger. Don't shoot the messenger. People are going to ask this question because he had the big dud after they finally trusted him, so messenger. All right, running backs then.

36:36 Yeah. J.K.

36:38 Dobbins, six for 23 after all the Jonah Coleman stuff. Fitzy, you're picking up Jonah Coleman in fab. Would you let J.K. Dobbins be the expense of it, or we keep your cutting him?

36:48 Yeah, I don't want to dedicate two roster spots to the Denver backfield, and Coleman is the guy I'd much rather have.

36:54 Okay. Jake, what do you think?

36:56 I mean, I'll give the okay, but this one really depends for who. Yeah, it's like the same— Yeah, well, because like the Travion Henderson one, too, is like I'm not dropping somebody that would have RB2 value, and I'm not saying Dobbins would. But if like one injury, like Coleman aggravates his injury, we're going to be back to starting Dobbins as an RB3. So it's not the Travion Henderson level, but he's cuttable. Just depends for who.

37:17 Yeah, Travion Henderson. That's the one on the list. Three for nine. Kiner is in there, but you're still not going to do it.

37:23 No, he's one injury away from being top 20. Excuse me.

37:27 He's one miracle away. I mean, it's the same thing every single week.

37:31 But I don't disagree.

37:33 And it's the same thing where maybe it's Waddle-esque in that you don't, especially because running back, stu-inks that you want to make those investments. Keeper cut, we need to also have like a little marker.

37:46 I know, but there's like nobody's level. I'm not dropping Henderson dead, end of sentence, period. Like, that's what I'm saying.

37:54 Even for Omar Cooper?

37:56 No.

37:56 No. Because your one injury, look at what we're talking about with running backs this week. We are now in the middle of the season and it's only going to get worse from here. You're going to get the whole situation of what we just talked about with Kalon Black and Fitz brought up. Something did happen to Christian McCaffrey.

38:09 Like even on their buy, if Christian McCaffrey never came back into that game and they're on their buy, people would still be spending 80% of their fab for Kalon Black. If something happens to Ramondre Stevenson this week, I don't care how bad it's been for Henderson. He is the next man up. Brian Robinson is the next man up.

38:26 We were wrong about Algier, and look how aggressive people went on Fab for Algier.

38:30 That's what I'm saying.

38:31 There's very few running backs we know that walk into workhorse volume, and Henderson would be one of those.

38:38 We're trying to get these guys who can, especially at the end of the season in the fantasy playoffs, be force multipliers. And there are guys right now who are nobodies, who are not doing anything who are going to emerge in weeks 15, 16, 17 and be huge, impactful players. And we have proof of concept with Travion Henderson. When Ramondre missed three games last year, Henderson had 330 scrimmage yards and five touchdowns in those three weeks. He was RB3.

39:04 Like that is the potential upside here. And yeah, I know he's frustrating. Just keep him on your bench, but do not get rid of Travion.

39:11 I think it's really good advice because I think what I was trying to say before was there's a third caveat to keeper cut that's also got to be about trust. And advocacy and saying, like, I'm going to start this guy like Travion Henderson, maybe more than anything else, because, again, I agree, like when you're staring at who the hell were our stupid running backs we were looking at I mean it was a horrible list a horrible list.

39:32 Of guys we brought Devin Singletary yeah.

39:34 Devin Singletary and stuff like that in that world like moving on from a guy like him doesn't like make a bunch of sense but there is a change that has to have happened from every week everybody putting Travion Henderson at 27 on their ranks to he's just not startable He is now only startable if something happens.

39:52 Different conversation.

39:53 Yeah, I agree. That's what I was saying. It's like maybe keeper cut long-term needs to kind of have that little caveat attached to it because I think it makes it more interesting because in a nutshell, hard to cut any of these guys based on depth. This is me in a nutshell. Last one, Aaron Jones, I'm just going to throw out. Jordan Mason comes back, dominates. Aaron Jones goes eight for 26, fits eight. Is this kind of same thing with all the running back situations? Is it a little bit more dire? What do you think?

40:17 It just would depend on what we find out about the severity of his injury.

40:23 I've not seen anything on the Aaron Jones injury.

40:25 Actually, nice timing because it just popped up while we were in that middle of the Henderson conversation. Schefter says it's day-to-day knee injury.

40:33 Oh, yeah, then I'm not cutting it.

40:36 No, there's no way. But they say it's the same knee, though. So I don't know if day-to-day might be more week-to-week, but time share, Mason's going to be back in the league. Let's say he even misses week eight, which is tasty, of course, because it's the Lions. But the thing is, once he's back and healthy, even if he missed two weeks, unless he's out for a significant amount of time, he is in the Henderson conversation. We just saw Aaron Jones have fringe RB1 value with no Jordan Mason.

41:02 Obviously, league contacts, 10-team league. League with short benches, four or five bench spots, then you might have to cut him. But in a typical 12-team league, 18-man rosters, I'm keeping him around.

41:16 All right. Those are your keep or cut or advocacy or trust, however you want to play it. Those are some of those names. We're going to talk about the top non-RB wide receiver streamers and then the waiver plan for the week. But guess what? You can take the guesswork out of your waiver wire with the Fantasy Pros Waiver Planner. We will give you the audible planner, but you can do it on the app. Get a complete customized waiver plan for every league, including suggested fab bids and backup options in case your top targets are taken.

41:42 Once your plan is set, you can submit your waiver claims to most major sites with just one click. Save time, stay prepared, and maximize your chances of landing the players your team needs. Build your personalized waiver plan today at fantasypros.com slash plan. That's fantasypros.com slash plan. All right, let's talk about the top streamers for the week. See, we'll let you rock on this one. Quarterback, tight end, defense, obviously no kicker. Who are you looking at for the week?

42:08 Yeah, I'm going to go to one that I never love, but we're getting thin at quarterback when it talks to actual streamers that are under 60%, let alone 50%. And if I'm looking at this week, I'll risk it with the brisket. I'm going to go at the Cowboys, Jacoby Brissett, hopefully being able to throw 40-plus times. Because even when it's gross, when he's throwing 40-plus times, it works out.

42:27 And that's kind of what we're hoping for that game. Even with the Joey Porter situation and Michael Wilson kind of falling into this new world of being Marvin Harrison-esque, I still think there's better coming in that matchup, even with Porter. I think that's the one to look at. The tight end. going back, went there last week, going back again. I don't know why he wasn't more picked up.

42:46 I don't know how many times we have to keep having this conversation that Hawkinson's essentially the number two and has been for the Vikings consistently, whether it's Addison or Jefferson, good number two, got the touchdown last week. Oh, who gives up more than anybody to tight ends? The Detroit Lions.

43:02 So Hawkinson against the Lions, if you didn't pick them up last week, that's one you need to rectify. And this one, I was kind of throwing out, like, if you've been chasing defenses and you don't have a Vikings, you don't have a Seahawks or something like that, to look at this one during their bye, because I know you're not going to want to play them in week nine.

43:18 They head to Baltimore in week nine. But coming out of their bye, the Jaguars get the Colts and Daniel Jones at home. And then if you avoid somehow, you can hold on to them. They get Tennessee after the Giants still with McCarthy. I know he's looking good, but at the same time, there's still the risk there. And then Tennessee again. So the Jaguars defense that can put up points and has been getting a lot of interceptions outside of that Baltimore game, which is Thursday night football, they're one that you could have stashed. And if you didn't, they'd get the Colts at home this week.

43:47 Fitzy, what do you think? Quarterback, tight end, defense, and a couple kickers.

43:52 I like Baker Mayfield as a streamer this week. I know he did not have to do anything against the Panthers last week. So you look at a guy coming off a 60-yard game and can't get too excited, but probably is going to have to do more this week against the pass funnel Atlanta defense. Teams are throwing in Atlanta at the highest rate in the league because their run defense is actually pretty good.

44:13 He's probably going to.

44:14 Get a Mecca boot at Buca back from his concussion this week. And then the following week, Baker Mayfield gets the Bears, which is a pretty good matchup.

44:22 So you can stream him two straight weeks.

44:24 At tight end, I mean, it's kind of the same TJ Hawkinson dynamic going on with Brenton Strange. I think he might just be the number two guy now. And ever since the disappearance, Brian Thomas Jr. went into the Bermuda Triangle, and that has been to Brenton Strange's benefit. He was tight end seven in weeks four through six, a three-week run. with no touchdowns, still tight end seven in that without getting into the end zone. And we know Trevor Lawrence is sort of the anti-Michael Penix. He loves going over the middle, outside not so much. And Brenton Strange, we saw Evan Engram have a massive, what, 114 catch season with Trevor Lawrence. I just think Strange is kind of his new Evan Engram. So Cincinnati Bengals,

45:12 they're a top five fantasy defense right now. And they are going up against the Tennessee Titans this week. They are my favorite streamer. And then kickers, give me a kicker tied to a good offense who's been accurate. Evan McPherson for the Bengals or Tyler Bass for the Bills. Hard to go wrong with either guy. All right.

45:29 Top streamers, non-running back wide receivers. And that leads us finally to our waiver plan for the week. So, Fitzy, why don't you give us your top five, then we'll go to the Athletic Zone. Jake Seeley, but what do you got, Fitzy, as your top five on the waivers? And then attach some fab, if you would, to what you're looking at.

45:47 Yeah, this is as good as I have felt about a top five this season. Jonah Coleman, number one, I think 25 to 50. It's going to cost you. Omar Cooper, probably it's going to run you like in the 8 to 20 range. Jordan Tyson, last chance to get him while the Saints are on byes. five to 10, six to 11. Terrence Ferguson is my number four. We haven't talked about him yet. Still on injured reserve. Not clear if he comes back this week, but.

46:15 Oh, did you want to change that? They already said it's not happening.

46:20 It's not happening this week.

46:21 Yeah. They said midweek last week. It's not happening this week. Like before we even got to this weekend. So that kind of sounds damning. They were telling us a week in advance. Yeah.

46:32 I mean, unless they amputated his foot, like it's a high ankle sprain. He's going to be back eventually. And Devante Adams is going to be out two months. So when he comes back, he's number two in the Rams passing offense. So I still want him at number four. Then Antonio Williams at number five, just ahead of Jacoby Lane.

46:49 All right.

46:50 So perfect. You got Coleman, Cooper, Tyson, Ferguson and Williams. Jake, what what does your top five for the week look like in any numbers you want to attach to them?

46:58 Yeah, we have three of the same, the one, two, and five. So Coleman Cooper starts it off different at three and four. Antonio Williams is the fifth at three, and it's mostly because what's been the theme this entire episode is chasing running backs. I'll go grab Bam Knight. I know nobody wanted to do it last week, but he was the better performer. He was a fringe RB, too.

47:18 He gets the Cowboys this week. Again, it might only be a one-week play, so if you don't need the one-week play, then Knight drops off your list. Tyson– I would have included Tyson, but again, this is just, Tyson's been in the top five, top five, top five, top five. If you didn't do it at this point, it's, I feel like everybody, like the people watching us are so well, that's why they say not in my league is because they are really advanced. So I'm assuming that like, he's not even relevant to this conversation anymore. I'm going to go with Jacoby Lane at four because I'm just, like I said, I'm going to chase that upside. I'm going to chase the upside with Lamar Jackson back and I would chase it over Antonio Williams. So those would be

47:52 my top five. But I will say one thing. I want to go back because I don't want to step over anybody. But you said it can't go wrong with these kickers and good offenses, except for the fact it was a banner band kickers week, man. So many face missed field goals, including the perfect kicker of the year for the Colts missed two. So that was better than tight end week. It was band kickers week, man.

48:13 Yeah, you could do that. You could start a new thing.

48:16 National band kickers day.

48:17 Yeah, you should put in a do a whole thing, get a shirt and do the whole thing, man. That's perfect. All right, Sealy's got Coleman, Cooper, Knight, Lane, and Williams as the top five. Don't forget, we've got a weekly Waver Wire live stream on the YouTube channel where if we didn't, I imagine we covered a lot, but things are going to happen as the days progress. You can come on that live stream and you can ask your specific Waver Wire questions to your league or if something new ends up popping up, we're with you Tuesdays, 3 p.m.

48:44 Eastern.

48:44 So those on the podcast, go to youtube.com slash fantasy pros, subscribe, click the bell, get notified. Don't miss those weekly streams. That is going to do it for us. That is your week eight waiver everything. For The Athletic Zone, Jake Seeley and Pat Fitzmaurice, I'm Chris Welsh. Thank you guys so much for hanging out with us. Good luck in all your waiver bids, and we'll talk to you next time right here on Fantasy Pros.

49:05 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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