Fantasy Football Pickups for Week 9
Yahoo Fantasy analysts Matt Harmon and Andy Behrens offer a pair of tight ends and a running back to target ahead of Week 9.
Video Transcript
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MATT HARMON: All right, Andy, somehow we are heading into week nine of the NFL season. What is going on here? Where has the time gone? The people's fantasy hopes and dreams are riding on waiver wire pickups across the universe at this point. So let's try to save some teams or at least give you something to make that final push here. Who should the people be picking up heading into week nine?
ANDY BEHRENS: Oh, pin all of those hopes and dreams to Taysom Hill, that's what I'm telling you. No. I tried to ignore this thing for a week or two, right? But this is three straight weeks in which Taysom Hill is finished as a top six fantasy tight end.
He filled the box score against the Colts. He had a catch for 14 yards. He ran for 60-plus and 2 touchdowns, hit Rashid Shaheed on a on a 44-yard bomb, so did a little bit of everything. Sure seems like he's going to continue in that role.
Obviously, he's going to be an enormously volatile player. He's not just going to settle in as a top six fantasy tight end the rest of the season. He's going to have his quiet weeks, and then he's going to have his weeks where he gets a couple carries inside the 5 and scores a couple touchdowns, and you win. And maybe, at this dreadful position, that's all we really want.
MATT HARMON: It's not a high bar to clear. And Taysom has more than cleared it of late. So I get it. Now, if you don't want to pick up a fake tight end, if you'd like to pick up somebody who actually plays the TE position, I will offer up Trey McBride, 14 targets, 10 receptions, 95 yards, and a touchdown last week.
Look, nobody is turning their noses up at that type of production. Honestly, people are thirsty . They're hungry. They're desperate for that type of production at the tight end position. And Arizona's offense looked-- we're probably going to get--
Well, Jonathan Gannon said we are definitely getting at least one more Josh Dobbs start against the Cleveland Browns, the team that he actually was employed by this summer. So that is at least mildly interesting. We're going to get one more Josh Dobbs start.
But I do think this Cardinals offense, I'm just more and more intrigued with what it's going to look like when and if Kyler Murray does get back here. Marquise Brown's having a nice year. Michael Wilson, the rookie receiver, has shown flashes. And Trey McBride is having a nice little moment here at the tight end position with Zach Ertz now out of the mix.
I don't expect that to go away. I expect that to continue. He's got a pretty big role locked down and is at least at the point of a tight end's career, in his second season, where we'd probably be betting on them. So I wouldn't be surprised if he's a top 12 producer rest of season.
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah, I actually really like that call. He was such a good college player. It was inevitable that he would finally start to make noise as a pro. I just want to throw out there one more name, and that's Darrell Henderson, who surprisingly enough, did not inch up over 50% rostered after what we saw from him in week seven.
He's the featured runner for the Rams. And I think we all know that he loses that job in the end. It always happens. But for now, he's getting a lot of touches. He had 15 touches this past week, gained over 80 yards.
It's not always full of highlights. It's not necessarily glamorous. But he's going to get volume. And the matchup ahead is with Green Bay. That is the nfl's number 27-ranked run defense. So he can make some noise in this one, really good chance that he finds the end zone.
Are the Rams going to be a little bit less explosive if they don't have Matthew Stafford? Of course they will. It's going to compromise everything. But I still think that the role is secure for now for Henderson. He needs to get rostered in--
Listen, I'm not even fully endorsing him. But I still think he needs to be rostered in about 80% of Yahoo leagues.
MATT HARMON: I think that is about as full-throated of an endorsement as you can get for a Darrell Henderson-led backfield with possibly losing Matthew Stafford here at this point. So I do like that. Andy, yeah, look, if there's no Stafford, he's going to be the benefit of negative game script as well. He does have that passing down role at least locked up.
All right, those are three players you can add somewhere on the interesting scale heading into week nine. Good luck out there.