Fantasy Football Daily - Emerging Running Backs | Week 8 Waiver Wire Podcast

Episode Date: October 24, 2023

Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan) and Tom Brolley (@TomBrolley) react to an overall light week of injuries from 2023 NFL Week 7, instead opting for a bigger-picture approach at the running back position as we look ahead to Week 8 waivers and the fantasy football stretch run. SIGN UP FOR FANTASY POINTS WITH CODE GURRIFIC25 AT CHECKOUT FOR 25% OFF: ⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com/plans#/⁠ READ DR. EDWIN PORRAS' INJURY [PRO]NE GUIDE WITH CODE INJURYPRONE25: ⁠https://injuryproneguide.myshopify.com/⁠ Want to join a high-stakes dynasty league -- or any other high-stakes league? All new FFPC users get $25 off their first FFPC league of $35 or more, including dynasty orphans, using our affiliate link: ⁠⁠https://myffpc.com/cms/public?affid=fantasypoints⁠⁠ ⁠⁠FANTASY POINTS PROJECTIONS ARE LIVE⁠⁠ FOR ALL STANDARD AND PREMIUM SUBSCRIBERS! Interested in playing Best Ball in 2023? There's no better place than Underdog Fantasy. ⁠⁠Use our code FANTASYPTS⁠⁠ to sign up for a new account at Underdog, and not only will you get a 100% deposit match up to $100... but you'll get a Fantasy Points Standard subscription for only $5! ⁠⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com/underdog⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time to the Fantasy Points podcast, brought to you by FantasyPoints.com. Top level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle, from numbers to the film room, with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. It is the week eight waiver wire podcast here at FantasyPoint.com and the Fantasy Points Podcast Network. Welcome to the show. My name is Joe Dolan and I am with Tom Brawley, as I am every Tuesday morning, breaking down the waiver wire and I think for the first time maybe ever, there's no teams on buy in week eight. I don't know what the hell they're doing to us.

They're extending the buys into like week 17 this year. But no, not nobody on week eight. But hey, we'll go with the flow. And it coincides, Tom. Fortunately, not a whole lot of folks are on. Nobody's on buy. And it coincides with kind of a light waiver wire week. There weren't any really massive, massive injuries.

We will get to a couple this week. in fantasy football. So everybody's back in in action this week shouldn't be as hard to feel the lineup as it was in week seven. Yeah, the injuries were pretty delight coming out of this week. You know, we had the Bijon situation in game,

but that's not a long-term injury. The Deshawn Watson situation. Well, you know, you probably have been looking elsewhere at quarterback anyway. So the only kind of big injury news was kind of Debo neck. came out before their game in week seven against the biking. So other than that, and there's no real direct replacement for Debo.

So we'll take it. We like these weeks when the waiver wire isn't necessarily as important as it has been in the past. We're back to, you know, as he said, 16 full games. So, you know, teams are closer to full strength anyway. So good time for this in the middle of the season. This doesn't always happen, but we'll take it when it does happen. So let's start at the running back position because I think that's where everybody likes to start their waiver wire hunt. And there's no really new names on it, Tom, except we got more clarity.

We discussed it last week, obviously, about Kiron Williams. And then, of course, they put Kiron Williams on injured reserve. So that ankle, apparently he kept spraining it throughout the week. That must have been what happened. It was like. Saul McVeigh was lying through his teeth quite a bit early in the week last week. You know, he was, you know, talking about Zach Evans, you know, who's the next guy up. And then we saw as the week progressed, they kept adding people off the practice squad and signing people.

So, yeah, the early week stuff coming out of Sean McVeigh's mouth was not very accurate. Yeah, no. And I think when we picked it up and I recorded my morning show on Saturday, McVeigh's quotes late in the week where, well, Zach's here and he does some things. And it was pretty obvious that they were going to lean on Darrow Henderson and Royce Freeman. and that's what they did. Henderson and Freeman, I think, Tom, if you're playing these guys, you can use them as a low, low end RB2.

And if you get the fall into the end zone touchdown like you did from Henderson, you're really freaking happy about starting them. That's kind of what this is. It was basically a 50-50 split. Yeah, and we like this Rams offense overall over the last couple of years. They play with pace. The running backs will collect touches. And the big question this week is if Miles Gaskin will get into the mix.

because Zach Evans very clearly won't be in the mix. No work last week after elevating two guys that really, I mean, Henderson was out of the league and Freeman was on the practice squad. So they hadn't really done anything up until this point. And Evans couldn't even get on the field. So he's out of the picture. The question now is we'll gaskin potentially work in some passing situations. But hopefully it kind of stays as this two-back rotation with Henderson and Freeman.

And Henderson is the priority pickup. He's just the better player overall. And he was able to come through last week. And we'll see. This is a little bit of a, they have the Cowboys coming up. They've been run on a little bit. They got the Packers and then by and then Seattle. So not the easiest slate, but Dallas has been sneakily run on Green Bay as well.

And Seattle's tightened up over the last couple of weeks. but it's a nice little stretch here while both Kyron and Ronnie Rivers are on the Injure Reserve. So we got three games with these guys. So hey, fill in here time. You might not necessarily need them this week with all 32 teams back in play. But we'll go back to buys in Weeks 9 and 11 since they're on by in week 10. So they can certainly be useful as, you know, I think Will Henderson is probably in that low-end RB2 range. And Freeman could be a flex play.

for you in the next couple of weeks. If you're, I think one of my least favorite things to do in fantasy football is to play the waiver wire defensively with a bad team and play it reactively. You know, we go and we pick up freaking Demercado for the Cardinals last week and he gets three touches. This week, everybody's dropped them and he leads that backfield in work. They don't even use Keontay Ingrams. I think Damien Williams gets one touch.

And D. Mercado against the Seahawks kind of acquitted himself well. He had 13 carries, four receptions, averaged over four yards a touch, kept their offense on schedule. I mean, Tom, this is kind of my least favorite type of guy to go after because you saw him just absolutely, I don't even want to say he crapped the bet. He played 43% in the staff, and they just never gave him the football two weeks ago. But, I mean, it looks like he's going to start the next two weeks. It looks that way. Well, we'll see what Gannon does this week.

He certainly switched it up on us a couple of times already. But I was screaming at my computer. You know, because I write this article up on Sundays after the game start to finish. And it's like 8 o'clock and I'm writing up in Mari DiMercardo. I'm yelling at my computer like, what are you doing, Gannon? You stupid ass. You know, you're switching it up on us.

And I was so much because I went out and got them in a couple of leagues and I dropped them. And so I feel everybody's pain out there. We'll pick them up here. Maybe we'll throw them into a flex. The problem is they got two brutal matchups before Connor comes back. They have the Ravens and they have the Browns. So he's not a whole lot of upside. They're going to get smoked in both these games. The Cardinals of, and specifically Josh Dobbs have certainly come back to Earth here the last couple of weeks. It looks like Kyler Murray. They're going to be very, you know, and they've been slow playing it, you know, this entire season so far. And it looks like he's probably going to be on the sidelines for another two weeks before,

you know, they're kind of angling for week 10, I believe, against the Falcons. So, Demarcato is back to the top of this, you know, backfield. I wouldn't go nuts again in terms of fab or waiver position. But he is worth a few bucks. Maybe he could be a flex play for people out there if they think, like, let's, stick to this, you know, him at the top. And let's get Keonti Ingram, who stinks out of the picture. Damien Williams hasn't been relevant in multiple years.

Let's stick with the demarcato, who's actually shown something when he's been given touches. Yeah, I want to keep going here with the running backs, Tom, because this is going to be the big focus of this podcast. Devin Singletary of Houston, this is one where people might have forgotten what happened two weeks ago because the Texans went on by. But offensive coordinator Bobby Sloick, essentially in, in a masterful bit of word salad, essentially said,

hey, Damien Pierce doesn't fit our offense before their last game in week six. And then all of a sudden, Devon Singletary comes out, out snaps Pierce, out produces Pierce in week six, and nobody picked up Singletary because they were on by.

And he's available in just as many leagues as Amari Di Mercado. And there's a chance he becomes the starting running back on a team that is way better offensively than we thought it was going to be. Yeah, I think he's at the very least he's a player you pick up this week. Maybe you put on your bench. We're back to full roster. So you might not even need them anyway with nobody on by. So you can observe, yeah.

Yeah, you can observe what's going to go on here. Maybe they turn it back to Damien Pierce. He did have a whole ton of, you know, it was up over like 20 carries the two weeks prior to week six. So it seemed like it was a decision. that they made heading into week six, you know, as you touched on with the Sloak press conference, was one little, you know, data point we got there. And then we actually saw them, you know, bring in, you know, actually play Singletary more in week six. So we'll see what they, you know, we'll kind of monitor it this week, see what they say, you know, leading up to this

week's game against the Panthers, a pretty good matchup. I don't know if Singletary is necessarily a guy I want to play this week, but we can stick them on our run. rosters here, see what happens again this week, and then maybe with some confidence, we can start to play him in week eight if he out snaps and out touches Damien Pierce for a second consecutive game. Tadj Spears, we're not going to, we've been hitting on Tadje Spears significantly in this podcast, Tom. I just one more item that has, that has changed. I would add Tadj Spears in any league reason available, it's basically half of Yahoo Leagues. They traded Kevin Byard, their star safety to the Eagles.

there is an absolute chance Derek Henry gets traded here and Tadj Spears becomes a bell cow on what would be a bad team, but a bell cow nonetheless. So I would add Tadier Spears wherever he's available. Yeah, we got the trade deadline next Tuesday, October 31st, so we'll see just how far the Titans are going to take their, you know, I don't, I'm not going to call it tank, but they're resetting the roster a little bit.

We thought they might be doing this in years past, and it looks like they might finally be doing it. they're coming to the realization that they don't have the roster to necessarily compete, even in the AFC South and the AFC overall. So it could be Spears time coming up in the near future. And even if they don't trade Derek Henry, I could see them getting Spears more into the mix anyway in the second half of the season. Because he's going to be their back moving forward here. It doesn't seem like Henry will be part of the picture in future seasons.

So might as well get Spears. fears more reps in the second half of the season. So he's certainly a player to pick up and put on your bench for the time being. Two guys who are available in virtually every league. I always like to get guys here who are available in virtually every league, Tom. We're going to hit on them quickly. Number one, Jerome Ford has a high ankle sprain. They're calling it a mild.

So it's a low high ankle sprain. Yeah. And when Jerome Ford left that game for Cleveland, he's expected to miss. They said a game or two, but it seems that these ankles, it's always on the long. longer end of that. Pierre Strong actually out snap Kareem Hunt. Now, Kareem Hunt is the guy if he, if he's out there, which he's not in probably in your league. You pick up Hunt because he's going to get the goal line work. But Pierre Strong actually out snapped him. And at this stage of the season, you might just need snaps from a running back. Yeah, and maybe been riding

forward and you don't have a whole lot of depth behind him. So, you know, we'll see what this happens in this backfield. I would expect maybe Hunt gets bumped in. And, you know, they kind of do this 60-40 split in this backfield we've seen for many years with Chubb and Hunt. It started to develop that way with Ford and Hunt in that kind of 60-40 here. So maybe Hunt gets bumped up to that 60% role where he's leading the carries and touches. But Pierre Strong is certainly going to be in the mix. They don't want a hand. And the other thing is, you know, Hunt came into last week.

He was like a game time decision. He was very close to not playing. So he's already pretty banged up. So I doubt that they want to go give him like a bell cow roll this week. If he's a little, you know, he's not completely healthy. And we saw last week that they mixed in Pierre Strong pretty heavily. So, yeah, I'm not suggesting he's going to be a big difference maker this week. But it could be a guy that gets you 10 or 12 touches.

And, you know, maybe he catches a couple passes as well. So Pierre Strong is certainly a guy to add if you've been riding Jerome Ford. here off of the long touchdown run last week. Chris Rodriguez of the Washington Commanders, this guy, every league, he's out there. He is starting to play more, and Brian Robinson has been very ineffective the last three weeks, averaging under three yards. Chris Rodriguez, look, there's always a chance this just becomes a sloppy three-man backfield in which nobody's relevant, but we know they don't trust Antonio Gibson.

Ron Rivera wants to run the football because Sam Howell's on track to be sacked more than any quarterback of all time. And Chris Rodriguez might provide them with a little bit of effectiveness as that early down banger in Washington. Again, if you need a running back who's a speculative ad who might be getting snaps going for it. Yeah, it's been rough sledding for Robinson. He had a nice start to the season, but he has been unable to really get going in the last couple of weeks. and he's not even getting the volume, which he, you know, previously got early in the season. So Rodriguez is a, he's a, you know, a power runner kind of like Robinson and maybe he gets mixed into this backfield more. And heck, I mean, we were talking about trade deadline.

I mean, there's a chance. I mean, the commanders hate Antonio Gibson. So, I mean, I wouldn't be totally shocked if they try to move him by the deadline and, you know, pick up a real late day three pick. They've been trying to kind of phase him out for the last couple of years. so why don't we just get them off the roster and get a draft pick at this point? And let's play our rookie and Brian Robinson, you know, kind of give them the backfield. So that's always a potential to happen here. At wide receiver, Tom, most of the decent options are available in maybe two-thirds of Yahoo Leagues.

Obviously, you go get Josh Downs and Kendrick Bourne right now, though. Like those are the guys. Bourne was one of those guys like a Demercado who you picked up after a good early season showing. and then he fell off because they were stupidly using bad players. And then they decide they're actually going to put good players back in the lineup. And Kendrick Bourne and Pop Douglas. But Josh Downs, Kendrick Bourne, two guys who are kind of target hogs right now for their respective teams. Yeah, Bourne is really pop for three games with 17 or more fantasy points.

We're looking for that kind of upside. So he has a decent floor. If he's going to continue to play a lot, he was at 95% of the snaps. Juju Smith-Schuster was unable to play on Sunday, and it may have been a healthy scratch because they were, you know, he practiced all week. So there's a chance that they kind of, I mean, we've seen they've,

two of their best offensive performances have come when Kendrick Bourne has been the focal point of this offense against the Eagles and then last week against the bills. So why would you go away from that again? It's clear that Mack Jones has, you know, some sort of connection with them. and he's shown us a pretty high ceiling at times this year. So Bourne is a, you know, we'll see what the Patriots do.

They've been all over their map with how they use players. But they found success playing Bourne a lot and feeding him targets. So, and Josh Downs, this is a guy, you know, we've highlighted for the last couple of weeks, especially when it looked like Minshu was going to be starting for the rest of the year, the last couple of weeks. And, you know, career best, season best, 23 and a half fantasy points last week, long touchdown on the, you know, their off sides penalty on the, on the Browns. And they, hey, chuck it deep to Josh Downs. And it went for a long score. And he's playing a lot.

Alec Pierce has been very quiet in this offense. And this is an offense that's going to skew a little more pass heavy with get Gardner Minshu at quarterback over Anthony Richardson. So Pittman and Downs are kind of locked in as those two guys that are going to get a lot of targets in this offense every week. So these two guys, I expect them to be over 50 percent owned after this week. It's a terrible wide receiver week on the waiver wire. But these two guys are still out there in quite a few leagues. One more wide receiver I want to hit on Tom. Then we're going to hit on a tight end and then get out of here for week eight. Jalen Hyatt of the New York Giants. And this one is volatile because

I think he's really going to be a big player bus type of receiver. And also, I mean, I think there's a very easy argument to be made that Tyrae Taylor's played better than Daniel Jones. and if Daniel Jones comes back into the lineup, maybe that offense goes into the crapper again. Hey, look, I'm not trying to say that they've been great on offense. I think they've scored 23 points the last two weeks, but there's obviously something here with Jalen Hyatt, and they've kind of shortened up their running back rotation.

Yeah, it's been two consecutive games. They've basically taken Paris Campbell's completely gone out of the rotation. Hodgins has still seen some snaps, but his routes have been significant. reduced the last two weeks. It's a whole lot of tie. Jalen Hyatt and Wondale Robinson next to Darius Slayton. They've kind of picked those three guys as their go-to receivers now. And we'll see if Tyrod plays another game. I feel better about Jalen Hyatt and Wondale and Darius Slayton and Darren Waller while Tyrod's in the lineup because it's been better. I mean, just the

decision making a quarterback, you know, getting the ball out quick, not taking his as many sacks and Taylor's been the better option of quarterback so far this season between the two. So Hyatt, you know, it's going to be all or nothing with Hyatt. He's kind of like Deshawn Jackson light coming out of Tennessee last year. It's big plays or bust, but maybe if you're in a non-PPR format and you're just looking for, you know, a player with big play potential. He's certainly a guy that needs to be on some radars in deeper leagues. Dalton Kincaid of Buffalo.

He's rostered in about 40% of Yahoo leagues. Tom, they, the Dalton Kincaid detractors proved right through the first seven weeks of the season or at least first six weeks of the season. Teams that have two tight ends have no tight ends. You know, that's usually the, that's usually except the, I guess except the Falcons. Well, do they have any tight ends?

Yeah, I don't know. But that's the baby. But that was kind of the theme there for Buffalo. but Dawson Knox injures his wrist. He's going to miss a lot of time. And Dalton Kincage led the bills in receptions in their loss this week to the Patriots. He's got to be pretty much a locked in tight end one right now, you would think, until, and if Dawson Knox gets back.

Yeah, and this was a guy that was dropped quite a bit out there in 42% of Yahoo Ligs. He had the concussion and missed in week six. So people, you know, it was slow going anyway through the first five weeks of the season. So he was just just a real low A-DOT type of player, nothing real downfield. Still not a great, you know, eight catches for 75 yards. It's still, still no, not as many big plays as maybe we are expecting, you know, out of him coming out of Utah. He showed some potential to get down the field and make plays, but has yet to really happen. But maybe this is the start of something.

That offense was broken for much of the game last week. Bill Belichick does what he does. best and took out Stefan Diggs and nobody was really stepping up at receiver behind him. Dalton Kincaid was the guy that did it and maybe that builds a little trust and maybe that can go a long way here. We're really hurting at the tight end position, but Kincaid's arrow is pointing straight up. We'll see what the deal is with Knox but surgery. I mean, I would think that maybe he's a candidate for the IR here later this week. At the very least, I would think that he misses a couple of games while that heals up.

Sean McDermick gave it, I believe he said, indefinite yesterday. So I would, you know, expect at least the next two to three games that Knox would be on the shelf. So even then, if you're just looking for a short-term filling, Kincaid is that guy and maybe he develops into something more here. T-Bro, it was a quick week eight on the waiver wire here because a lot of teams are coming out of buy. And a lot of the waiver wire options right now are kind of look-ahead options, not the

blow-your-fab kind of options. that you see earlier in the season. Check out the WaverWire article at FantasyPoints.com. 100 plus players covered from the quarterbacks, all the way down to kickers and defenses are covered in the WaverWire article. Use code Goorific 25, which is in the show notes, to get 25% off on NFL standard or premium package on top of what is already 50% off because we're halfway through the season.

Thanks everybody for listening to the WaverWire podcast. Thanks to Tom Brawley at Tom Broley on Twitter. I'm at FG underscore Dolan. Have a good one, everybody, and good luck on those waivers. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points Podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform, and come join the roster at FantasyPoint.com.