Waiver Favors™: 2021 Week 8 Fantasy Football Pickups

By Ha Kung Wong  Week 8 Fantasy Football Pickups

Twitter: @FBGarbageTime

As I do every year over the last 9 years, I’m here to help with waiver wire adds via my weekly Waiver Favors™ article!  And I’m assuming if you’re reader right now, you won your fantasy football playoffs last year, so congratulations!

I’ll make a couple suggestions for after Week 8 of the 2021 fantasy football season that hopefully will keep your team running.  You’re welcome.  Again.

As usual, all pickups are available in at least 50% of Yahoo standard fantasy football leagues (with some minor exceptions) as of Sunday evening.

Players I’ve suggested before that deserve a look again this week include:

  • Eli Mitchell – RB – San Francisco 49ers
  • Michael Carter – RB – New York Jets
  • Dan Arnold – TE – Carolina Panthers

And here are some new players I’m recommending this week:

Justin Fields

QB – Chicago Bears – 22% Owned

The Bears are literally going nowhere, but it’s in large part to suddenly flat defense minus the help of Khalil Mack.  1st round draft pick Justin Fields was dismal last week against the 49ers, but he was much better against the 49ers completing 19 of 27 passes for 175 yards, a TD , and an interception, adding on a whopping 103 rush yards on 10 carries. The highlight was a 4th-and-1 in which he avoided essentially the entire 49ers defense, reversed course and cruised in for a TD.  If he keeps up this level of rushing, he can be useful in 14-team leagues or deeper.  For now, consider making him a speculative stash with some serious upside.

Trevor Siemian

QB – New Orleans Saints – 0% Owned

Jameis Winston isn’t the best QB in the league, but he certainly was serviceable.  Unfortunately, he sustained an ACL tear against his former team, the Buccaneers, and will miss the remainder of the season, which leaves the Saints with just Trevor Siemian while Taysom Hill tries to work back from his concussion.

Siemian was just good enough to beat the Bucs completing 16-of-29 balls for 159 yards and a TD.  Listen, I’m not thrilled about Siemian, but Hill has been out with a concussion since Week 5 and hasn’t even practiced yet, and the Saints do have Alvin Kamara to dump off too, plus a potential return of Michael Thomas, so it’s entirely possible that Siemian can be serviceable as well, at least for those who are hurting for a QB in deeper Two QB leagues.

Jeremy McNichols

RB – Tennessee Titans – 8% Owned

Uh oh.  Derrick Henry apparently sustained a foot injury in Week 8 that might be a Jones fracture and thus ending his season.  The Titans put him on IR and current timetable looks like 6 to 8 weeks, but more likely 8 to 10 weeks.  Regardless, we know he’s going to miss most if not all of the fantasy football season.

So my highest priority pickup this week is Jeremy McNichols, who looked great in limited action behind Henry and will immediately step into the RB1 role in a run-heavy Tennessee offense.  The Titans did also sign Adrian Peterson, but he’s probably more of a veteran presence than an actual significant part of this backfield, plus he’ll need time to get up to speed anyway.  Get McNichols in all leagues, but if you have extra bench space, a proactive stash of Adrian Peterson might also make sense.

Boston Scott & Jordan Howard

RB – Philadelphia Eagles – 19% & 2% Owned

Well, I guess we were wrong when we got excited about Kenneth Gainwell getting more run with Miles Sanders on IR. Turns out there was a committee with Boston Scott (45% snap share), Kenneth Gainwell (30% snap share) and Jordan Howard (25% snap share) all getting significant run.  Scott got the start and rushed 12 times for 60 yards and two TDs while Howard rushed 12 times for 57 yards and two TDs.  It’s apparent that the Eagles are committed to going run heavy, so both Scott and Howard may have value going forward in 12-team and 14-team leagues respectively.  Gainwell remains a hold for now as we see how this committee will sort out.

Jordan Howard Rushing & Receiving Stats
Game Rush Rush Rush Rece Rece Rece Rece
Year No. G Rush Yds TD Tgt Rec Yds TD
2016* 24 15 252 1313 6 50 29 298 1
2017 24 16 276 1122 9 32 23 125 0
2018 24 16 250 935 9 26 20 145 0
2019 24 10 119 525 6 14 10 69 1
2020 7 35 60 4 1 1 -3 0
34 5 28 33 4 1 1 -3 0
28 2 7 27 0
Care 64 932 3955 34 123 83 634 2
3 yr 47 778 3370 24 108 72 568 1
2 yr 12 126 552 6 14 10 69 1
1 yr 5 28 33 4 1 1 -3 0

Ty Johnson

RB – New York Jets – 5% Owned

Obviously, I’ve been in on Micheal Carter for a while now, and Carter proved me right again with 172 total yards and a TD, but Ty Johnson also contributed with 4 carries for 15 yards while catching 5 of 6 targets for 71 yards and a TD.  With the Jets likely to find themselves in negative scripts for the rest of the season regardless of who is behind center (thought Mike White did a great job in Week 8), so I’m in on grabbing Johnson in 12-team PPR leagues or deeper as a FLEX or RB3/4.

Tajae Sharpe

WR – Atlanta Falcons – 0% Owned

Calvin Ridley is apparently taking a step back from football as he deals with personal issues, which leaves Russell Gage and Tajae Sharpe as the starting WRs along with Kyle Pitts at TE.  In Week 8, Sharpe caught 5 of 6 targets for 58 yards while Gage got a goose egg.  So long as Ridley is away, Sharpe makes for an interesting stash in 16-team leagues or deeper.

UPDATE for Monday Night Football

Derrick Gore

RB – Kansas City Chiefs – 2% Owned

It’s unclear how the RB reps will be split in Kansas City after Derrick Gore came out of nowhere in Week 8. But it looks like Gore will split carries with Darrel Williams while Williams gets most of the targets, but that ultimately they may end up splitting total touches around 35/65.  If nothing else, looks like Gore may get goal line carries, which makes him more valuable in standard leagues, while the receptions may make Williams more valuable in PPR leagues.  Williams is still the back to own in Kansas City, but feel free to speculate on Gore in all 12-team leagues or deeper.

And here’s who I’ve recommended in previous weeks that I still think deserve a look.  I’ve highlighted in Orange the previous pickups that stood out again in Week 8:

10-Team Leagues

RBs – Chuba Hubbard, Michael Carter, Khalil Herbert

12-Team Leagues

RBs – Devontae Booker, Alex Collins, D’Ernest Johnson, Eli Mitchell

WRs – Rashod Bateman, Cole Beasley (PPR), Marquez Callaway, Darnell Mooney, Hunter Renfrow (PPR), Henry Ruggs III, Darius Slayton (PPR)

TEs – Pat Freiermuth, Dawson Knox, Ricky Seals-Jones

14-Team Leagues

QBs – Sam Darnold, Taylor Heinicke

RBs – Brandon Bolden (PPR), Samaje Perine, Kenneth Gainwell, Alexander Mattison

WRs – Jamal Agnew, Randall Cobb, Jamison Crowder (PPR), T.Y. Hilton, Christian Kirk, Rondale Moore, K.J. Osborn, Kalif Raymond, Jalen Reagor, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Kadarius Toney

TEs – Dan Arnold, Tyler Conklin, C.J. Uzomah

16-Team Leagues

WRs – Zach Pascal, Tim Patrick

Check back every week for more Waiver Favors!

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