Week 9 Preperation

Welcome to Week 9! We have officially reached that time of the season where if you are in the back of the pack you are going to start mathematically eliminating teams from playoff contention. If you are leading the league you need to start to insulate your team to injuries and making trades to prepare for the playoffs. If you are struggling to stay relevant then it may be time to sell off your bench to sacrifice your depth in an effort to increase your ceiling and make up some games in the win-loss column. So keep working and let’s get to it!

Waiver Wire Pickups.

Derrick Henry- RB, Tennessee Titans 44.1%

What that number tells me is that 55.9% of DeMarco Murray owners either like to live dangerously or want their championship chances torpedoed with one injury. You don’t need me to say, we all lived it on Thursday Night Football when DeMarco Murray left the game for the locker room. If Murray goes down Henry is capable of carrying the load and will get all the work in the Titans’ backfield. IF YOU OWN MURRAY YOU NEED TO OWN HENRY!

The same goes for

• Alfred Morris
• DeAngelo Williams
• Mike Gillislee

Injured Players on their way back

If you can stash them through the huge bye weeks we have over the next couple of weeks then there are a few guys we are expecting back from injuries that are worth grabbing to help with your run to the playoffs.

• Dion Lewis- RB, New England Patriots - 28.3%
• Corey Coleman- WR, Cleveland Browns - 31.5%
• Thomas Rawls- RB, Seattle Seahawks - 45.9%

Jamison Crowder- WR, Washington Redskins 44.5%

Crowder has been double digit points for the last three weeks and is becoming a key cog in the Washington offense with DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon both struggling to produce. Crowder shouldn’t be too high on many waiver priorities because he is off this week, but if you can snag him he can be a solid WR3 or Flex play for the rest of the season.

C.J. Fiedorowicz- TE, Houston Texans 13%

Fiedorowicz has been very good for the Texans as of late and going into their bye week he hauled in 5 catches for 43 yards and a touchdown. Chances are you aren’t going to have the room to roster him this week with so many teams on bye again, but he has a very favorable rest of the season schedule and could be very helpful down the stretch if you are struggling at a position where there are just a handful of reliable players.

Tim Hightower- RB, New Orleans 1.9%

For the second season in a row, Hightower has the chance to come out of nowhere to lead a bunch of fantasy teams to the championship after taking over the feature back roles from Mark Ingram after Ingram took 3 carries for -9 yards and lost a fumble. If you need help at the position; the Saints have already been through their bye week and Sean Payton has already stated that Hightower has earned more work.

Time to Drop

Knile Davis- RB, Green Bay Packers 35.3%

Last week it was Eddie Lacy (who somehow is still owned in 50.8% of leagues) and this week it former Green Bay running back Knile Davis who was released by the Packers. This is a good sign for the Packers as a whole as it likely means the return of James Starks who is much more familiar with the offense and could be a good weapon for the Packers and your fantasy team if he can return to form from in season knee surgery.

D/ST Streaming Options for Week 6

*must be owned in less than 50% of leagues.

Cowboys vs. Browns

The Cowboys have had a very solid fantasy floor all season (at least 4 points in 6 of 7 games), but also a very low ceiling (high of 9). Usually the worry with playing the bottom of the barrel is garbage time ruining the day for the D/ST (see Titans v. Bengals), but with a very good ball control offense against a defense that won’t be able to force the Dallas offense off the field the Cowboys should have a very good day.

Lions vs. Vikings

I am going to ride this train until the Vikings offense proves they can do anything on offense. The Lions went -4 in Week 1 against the Colts, but since then they have been positive in every game and with the Bears getting 10 against the Vikings on Monday Night Football and now the Vikings playing on a short week the Lions become a solid fantasy streaming option.