2014 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire: Week 9

One of the players on last week’s waiver-wire post was Jaguars running back Denard Robinson.

As much as the Jaguars had struggled to run the ball this season, Robinson was coming off the team’s first 100-yard performance. In fact, it was the first time that a Jaguars running back had more than the 42 yards that Toby Gerhart had in the opener.

With 108 yards on 18 carries against the Dolphins on Sunday, Robinson now has back-to-back 100-yard games and is certainly worth adding if he’s available on your league’s waiver wire.

Robinson won’t be listed below, but his Yahoo! league ownership has jumped from nine percent last Monday to 57 percent one week later.

For our waiver-wire posts, we have a self-imposed rule of only including players with Yahoo! ownership of 50 percent or less.

With that said, here are some players to consider adding to your fantasy roster(s) (Yahoo! ownership in parenthesis):

QB – Carson Palmer, Arizona Cardinals (50 percent)

Among the quarterbacks available in half of leagues, Palmer is the best of the group from a rest-of-season standpoint — view my rest-of-season fantasy quarterback rankings. Averaging 284.0 yards per game, Palmer has thrown exactly two touchdowns in all four of his games with only one interception on his 154 attempts this season. The matchup in Week 9 against the Cowboys might not be as favorable as we had thought it would be back in August, but Palmer has the Rams in Week 10 with six teams on bye next week as well.

[Related: 2014 NFL bye-week schedule/grid]

QB – Alex Smith, Kansas City Chiefs (42 percent)

With a phenomenal matchup on Sunday, Smith was an enormous fantasy disappointment (even though the team won in a landslide) against their in-state rivals. For owners in a bye-week pinch, however, he gets another shot at capitalizing on an incredible matchup. No team has allowed more fantasy points to QBs this season through Sunday’s games. One of the league’s most mobile quarterbacks, Smith has 593 rushing yards since 2013 and ranks fourth among QBs during that span, which often helps to compensate for his modest passing production.

QB – Robert Griffin III, Washington Redskins (36 percent)

Although he won’t start tonight against the Cowboys, RG3 should return in the very near future (perhaps Week 9). Even though he struggled prior to getting injured, his unique set of physical tools give him tremendous upside if he’s able to put things together once he returns.

Turn $27 (entry) into $1 Million (top prize) in DraftKings’ Week 9 Millionaire Maker contest.

QB – Ryan Fitzpatrick, Houston Texans (11 percent)

In most weeks, I would not want to start The Amish Rifle. (Ok, all weeks.) But if your regular starter (say Aaron Rodgers, Jay Cutler, etc.) has a bye, Fitzpatrick could put up respectable numbers as your bye-week replacement in Week 9. Clearly, the Texans are a run-first team as Arian Foster is running like it’s 2011, but Fitzpatrick gets the weak Eagles secondary this week. The Eagles have allowed six top-12 performances to fantasy QBs in their seven games to some fantasy studs that include the likes of Chad Henne, Austin Davis, Kirk Cousins, etc.

RB – Andre Williams, New York Giants (50 percent)

While initial reports speculated that Rashad Jennings would return after the Giants’ Week 8 bye, ESPN’s Dan Graziano tweeted that he’d be “surprised” if Jennings returned this week. While he posted relatively modest numbers (109 rushing yards, no touchdowns) in the two games that Jennings has missed, Williams will get a sizable workload against the Colts if Jennings indeed misses another game.

RB – Charles Sims, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (seven percent)

One of my favorite sleepers in the preseason (before the injury that landed him on short-term IR) was Sims. The Bucs used an early pick (69th overall) on Sims, who especially excelled as a receiver out of the backfield. In his four years in college, Sims racked up 203 receptions and also rushed for 1,095 yards and 11 touchdowns as a senior. Sims will be eligible to return this week and as Pewter Report writes, it’s “only a matter of time” that Sims becomes the starting running back.

RB – Jonathan Stewart, Carolina Panthers (36 percent)

The Daily Show had a productive outing against the Seahawks on Sunday with 16 carries for 79 yards and added three catches for 15 yards. Through Sunday’s games, that puts him at the RB21 this week despite the tough matchup. Unfortunately for (prospective) Stewart owners, DeAngelo Williams is expected to return from his multi-week absence.

RB – Jonas Gray, New England Patriots (six percent)

With Stevan Ridley out for the season, Gray has assumed the role of the team’s big back. While I would still prefer Shane Vereen by a lot, there will be opportunities (especially in blowouts like yesterday) for Gray to be productive. Gray gained 86 yards in Sunday’s win over the Bears.

RB – Lorenzo Taliaferro, Baltimore Ravens (eight percent)

With Bernard Pierce being a healthy scratch on Sunday, Taliaferro got goal-line work and scored two touchdowns. Even so, he had just seven carries this week and a total of 11 in the previous three weeks. His production will likely be inconsistent, but he should be a flex option during the bye weeks when Pierce is also inactive.

Enter our free Week 9 fantasy football contest and win one of our site’s t-shirts.

WR – Justin Hunter, Tennessee Titans (50 percent)

Hunter is not having the breakout season that I had expected, but there could be plenty of opportunities for targets and even touchdowns in garbage time. Hunter and rookie quarterback Zach Mettenberger displayed some good chemistry in the preseason and Hunter was targeted a season-high 10 times in Mettenberger’s first start.

WR – Brandon LaFell, New England Patriots (36 percent)

Converting on all 11 of his season high in targets, LaFell led the team’s receivers with a 11/124/1 line on a day that Tom Brady threw five touchdowns. LaFell has three big games (17.9-plus fantasy points) in his past five outings. During that five-game span, LaFell has a stat line of 26/415/4 and is averaging 7.2 targets per game.

WR – Allen Robinson, Jacksonville Jaguars (23 percent)

A weekly member of this list for most of the year, Robinson had another strong outing on Sunday. Robinson has now scored in back-to-back games and has more than 50 yards in six of his past seven games. Over that seven-game stretch, Robinson is averaging 8.6 targets, 5.4 receptions and 64.7 yards per game.

WR – Andre Holmes, Oakland Raiders (42 percent)

Both Holmes and teammate James Jones are worth owning and Jones is also owned in just 46 percent of leagues. And with the heaviest part of the bye season about to start, it’s good news that the Raiders have already had their bye. Holmes has found the end zone and scored double-digit fantasy points in three of his past four games.

WR – Martavis Bryant, Pittsburgh Steelers (seven percent)

Bryant has only been active in two games, but he now has seven catches for 123 yards and three touchdowns. With Ben Roethlisberger having a monster performance this week, Markus Wheaton also scored a touchdown, but I’d prefer to own Bryant over Wheaton the rest of the way. A six-foot-four receiver with excellent speed (4.42 forty at combine), Bryant is a better bet than Wheaton to score a touchdown in any given week.

WR – Kenny Britt, St. Louis Rams (five percent)

With Brian Quick out for the season, Britt will have an opportunity as the team’s best wide receiver not named Brian. That said, Britt has posted modest numbers (16/249/1) this season even though he has played almost as many snaps (307, 65.2 percent) as Quick (355). No other Rams receiver has played more than 144.

TE – Jared Cook, St. Louis Rams (32 percent)

With a season-low three targets in back-to-back games, Cook has just four catches for 36 yards in his past two games. In addition, he has yet to score a touchdown while fellow tight end Lance Kendricks has scored in four of five games. That said, Quick’s injury should lead to more targets for Cook, who averaged 8.4 targets per game in the team’s first five games of the season.

TE – Crockett Gilmore, Baltimore Ravens (three percent)

With Owen Daniels out, Gilmore got only two targets and finished with just two catches for 23 yards on Sunday. Assuming Daniels (knee scope) misses more time, Gilmore could see more opportunities in future game(s). The Ravens face the Steelers in Week 9, which gives Gilmore a top-10 fantasy matchup.

More fantasy football resources:

• Week 9 Fantasy Football Rankings (to post Tues PM/Wed AM)
• Rest-of-Season (ROS) Fantasy Football Rankings
• Fantasy Football Strength of Schedule

Keep track of our site’s updates: (1) follow us on Twitter, (2) LIKE us on Facebook and/or (3) add us to your Google+ circle