Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Adds: Week 9

We’re at about the midway point of the season and the standings in your fantasy leagues might, finally, be starting to clarify.

That doesn’t mean anyone’s season is set in stone though – so whether you’re looking to stay on top or trying to dig yourself out of a ditch (it’s never too late, seriously!) here are the waiver wire adds for this week.

% owned is based on Yahoo Fantasy Football

Shallow and Intermediate Leagues

Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

Cam Newton, QB, Carolina Panthers – 41% owned

Stash and see candidates are always a smart decision at any time of year, but especially when we get towards the latter part of the season – and Newton is a prime candidate for this philosophy. Yes, he didn’t show his usual electricity when he started the year as the primary quarterback for the Panthers, but he’s now been allowed to have an adequate amount of time to heal, due to Kyle Allen’s play. All Newton has to do is stay healthy, get the ball in his playmakers’ hands and he should be able to thrive fantasy-wise. If you’re looking for a potentially team saving quarterback, Newton could be your guy.

Mark Walton, RB, Miami Dolphins – 34% owned

I’ll be repeating a lot of names I’ve mentioned in past articles but that’s the nature of the business. Sometimes you aren’t able to pick up a player at a certain moment in time but now have the capacity on your roster. That’s not even mentioning the fact Walton’s stock has gone up since the Miami Dolphins traded away Kenyan Drake to the Arizona Cardinals (another must-add if available in your league). Walton didn’t have the best day on Monday Night Football (11 rushes for 35 yards and 6 targets for 3 catches and 19 yards with a lost fumble) – nonetheless, you can see the type of volume he’s getting. Volume is King and Queen in fantasy football and Walton is relatively available across leagues, so scoop him up and use him as a valuable FLEX/bye week fill-in.

Derrius Guice, RB, Washington — 29% owned

Guice is an extremely talented back that has had some unfortunate injury setbacks. With Jay Gruden gone, and Bill Callahan in place, Washington has re-focused on their run game and that has been a major boon for Adrian Peterson. However, the Washington staff really loves Guice’s ability to be a 3-down running back and he should resume having a huge role once he returns. You will have to hold onto him for a few weeks, as he’s not on track to return till week 11, but he could provide some serious pay-off if you have the ability to do so. Grab Guice, especially if you have an IR spot in your league, and add a potential game-changer at the running back position down the road.

Chris Herndon, TE, New York Jets – 28% owned

Here’s your constant Herndon reminder. You need help at the tight end position? Grab Herndon (or Jonnu Smith, as I mentioned last week) and hope for the best. Sam Darnold really likes his tight ends, as verified by Ryan Griffin’s 66-yard, 2 touchdown day. Herndon should still be a primary player once he returns, as he showed chemistry with Darnold last year and the Jets are desperate for a spark (fire Adam Gase). It might not pay off but Herndon is a low-risk, high-reward player – no harm in putting a claim in for him this week.

Jaylen Samuels, RB, Pittsburgh Steelers – 21% owned

Do you remember all those wildcat plays the Steelers ran while Samuels was healthy? That lunacy shows you how much the Steelers staff values Samuels as a player – they simply want to get him the ball. He’s been hurt the last few weeks but should be able to return this upcoming Sunday. James Conner is a relatively injury prone player, as evidenced by his AC joint injury yesterday, and even if he ends up not missing a lot of time, Samuels provides some FLEX value.

Deep leagues

Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY Sports

Diontae Johnson, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers – 12% owned

Johnson had taken a bit of a backseat with Devlin Hodges at the reigns but with Mason Rudolph back, his production output has and will continue to spike up. The 3 full games Johnson has gotten from Rudolph have resulted in 19 targets (6.3 targets per game), 14 catches (4.6 catches per game), 213 yards (71 yards per game) and 3 TDs (1 TD per game). That’s highly respectable productivity – Johnson should be rostered at a much higher clip.

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