NFL Waiver Wire Picks: Week 9
Teams on BYE: Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, San Francisco 49ers (Thank God), Jacksonville Jaguars
QB: Will Levis – Tennessee Titans
-1% rostered
-26.62 points against Atlanta Falcons
-19/29 for 238 yards and 4 TD. Added 7 carries for 11 yards.
The new kid on the block gets the nod and shines in his debut. WR DeAndre Hopkins has 3 TD catches this season and all 3 of them were thrown by Will Levis. I haven’t seen much of Levis but what I have seen last game, I like. He throws deep without any hesitation and actually uses his weapons. The same cannot be said of former Titans’ stater, Ryan Tannehill. Levis is on track to be the starter for the next game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. As I mentioned earlier this year, the Steelers defense is really just a scary name; they are not as good of a defense as they have been in years past.
RB: Chuba Hubbard – Carolina Panthers
-42.9% rostered
-7.4 points against the Houston Texans
-15 carries for 28 yards. Added 2 receptions for 26 yards.
This one is for Eric Hodgin. His stat line from last week leaves a lot to be desired but honestly, the RB waiver wire for this week might be more barren than the TE waiver wire and that is saying A LOT. The biggest thing Hubbard has going for him is the fact that he is the unquestioned #1 RB for the Carolina Panthers. He had 15 carries vs the 2 carries (for 0 yards) that RB Miles Sanders had. Hubbard will be just 3 weeks removed from his 90-yard performance against the Dolphins. Up next, Hubbard and the Panthers take on the Indianapolis Colts who are 29th against RBs.
WR: Rashid Shaheed – New Orleans Saints
-18.4% rostered
-24.3 points against the Indianapolis Colts
-3 receptions on 3 targets for 153 yards and a TD.
If you look at his stat line from last week, you assume that Rashid Shaheed is a deep ball, vertical route only type of player but he’s not. Actually, he kind of is but he is a heavily targeted deep ball threat. Through 8 weeks, he gets targeted around 5 times per game. For a homerun type of player, that is a lot. All he has to do is connect on 2 or 3 of those and you have a big week just like last week against Houston.
TE: Trey McBride – Arizona Cardinals
-7.8% rostered
-25.5 points against Baltimore Ravens
-10 receptions on 14 targets for 95 yards and a TD.
This might be the easiest TE pick of the year. The logic behind it is simple – 1) TE Zach Ertz is still on IR so McBride is the #1 TE and 2) QB Josh Dobbs is getting sent to the Vikings so rookie QB Clayton Tune is set to be the guy under center. For point #1, the work and the volume will most certainly be there for at least the next 3 weeks. Even when Ertz was healthy, McBride was a healthy part of the gameplan. For point #2, everyone knows that a rookie QB’s best friend is his pass catching RB and his TE. In this case, there really isn’t a pass catching RB and the TE is McBride. Trey McBride is going to get a lot of work this weekend. Plain and simple.