The halfway marker of the NFL season is upon us, which means we’re only six or seven weeks away from starting your league’s fantasy football playoffs. It sneaks up on you, doesn’t it? Every year, these next few weeks become critical in fantasy football. Some teams at the bottom of your league standings will probably give up or do the bare minimum. But that means you have a better chance of winning your matchup and getting the players you need off the Week 8 waiver wire. Let’s stay diligent and take a look at this week’s top waiver wire pickups.
No teams are on bye this week.
As always, the players below are rostered in fewer than 50% of ESPN leagues.
Fantasy Football Waiver Wire: Week 8 Pickups (2023)
(Rostership percentages courtesy of ESPN)
Priority Adds
Josh Downs (WR, Indianapolis Colts) | 34.5% Rostered
I’m going to keep this short and simple. Copy and paste the last two weeks of talking about Josh Downs in the waiver wire articles. He’s right back here at the top of the priority adds. Downs had six targets, ending with five receptions for 125 yards and a touchdown. He’s playing nearly 77% of his snaps from the slot and taking advantage while doing so. He also drew over 25% of QB Gardner Minshew’s targets in Week 7. I’m staying in the flames with Downs as a weekly flex start with upside. He should be rostered in all formats.
Plug-Ins
Rashee Rice (WR, Kansas City Chiefs) | 46.7% Rostered
Rashee Rice jumps up a tier this week from “stashes” to “plug-ins.” The rookie had his best game of the season against the porous Los Angeles Chargers’ secondary, earning five receptions for 60 yards and one touchdown. He ran the third-most routes for the Chiefs this week and drew the most targets among Chiefs wide receivers with six. He also got another red zone target, bringing him up to eight on the season.
The only thing keeping Rice from being a priority add is that he’s simply not on the field enough or running a ton of routes. However, there’s a good chance that changes soon. I don’t blame you if you go after Rice hard this week. The Chiefs get the Denver Broncos in a matchup where they’re favored by 8.0 points (via DraftKings Sportsbook). If you want a player who is a primary target for the best QB in the league, you want to grab Rice off the waiver wire for Week 8.
Darrell Henderson Jr. (RB, Los Angeles Rams) | 6% Rostered
RB Kyren Williams came out with an injury in Week 6 that landed him on the Injured Reserve (IR), meaning that he missed this week and will miss at least the Ram’s next three games. Many fantasy managers picked up rookie RB Zach Evans (rostered in 57% of leagues). Yet, Evans was a complete non-factor behind both teammates, Darrell Henderson and Royce Freeman.
While Freeman did have the most yards with 66, Henderson had the most snaps, touches and targets amongst the RB room. It’ll be an uphill battle this week as the Rams face a staunch Dallas Cowboys front, but if I’m starting a Rams RB, it’s Henderson, and he’ll be available on almost all waiver wires in Week 8.
Stashes
Dalton Kincaid (TE, Buffalo Bills) | 31.7% Rostered
On National Tight Ends Day in Week 7, Dalton Kincaid paced the Buffalo Bills in receptions with eight catches. He also led the Bills with 75 receiving yards. The rookie TE has maybe… possibly… potentially arrived. I say it with hesitation, as Kincaid is still a rookie, and the tight end position is often the bane of existence for fantasy managers who don’t have Travis Kelce or Mark Andrews.
I watched every Week 7 target to Kincaid, and what the box score won’t tell you is that his Average Depth of Target (aDOT) was barely more than mine. Although he had a Week 7 aDOT of 4.6 yards, almost a full yard higher than his season average of 3.7 yards, his rookie profile shows he is capable of so much more. Kincaid was sitting down and finding open space close to the line of scrimmage against the New England Patriots. The open space part is good. But Kincaid will likely need to rely on volume again, which hasn’t proven to be sticky for him just yet.
The Bills take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this week, who have given up the 12th-fewest Points Per Reception (PPR) fantasy points to the tight end position.
Tyjae Spears (RB, Tennessee Titans) | 34.4% Rostered
The Tennessee Titans went into their Week 7 bye circling the drain. At 2-4 and with starting QB Ryan Tannehill battling injuries, the Titans could be facing a lost season. With that, the Titans could look to unload star RB Derrick Henry and see what more they have in rookie RB Tyjae Spears.
Spears has looked electric when he’s touched the ball. In fact, Spears went into the bye week ranked ninth in fantasy points per opportunity among running backs (1.0). He also has a 12.4% target share and amassed 6.1 Yards Per Touch (YPT). The NFL Trade Deadline is on Halloween this year, so if you can stash Spears and Derrick Henry gets traded, you’ve found yourself quite the fantasy football treat off the waiver wire in Week 8.
Thanks for reading my favorite fantasy football waiver wire Week 8 pickups. Looking for more fantasy football advice? Follow me on Twitter @ThatMattKelley.
*Photo Credit: Vincent Carchietta – USA TODAY Sports*