Thomason: Top Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups For Week 8
By Jack Thomason--
(CBS) The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Another big-time injury to a star player took place this week, and it crushed many fantasy owners in the process. Texans running back Arian Foster was supposed to be a team savior, someone you waited to draft and got a steal on by taking somewhere between rounds four and six. Instead, he was a complete tease.
Foster gave us two really good games and then tore his Achilles on a non-contact play in the fourth quarter of Sunday's game. In all seriousness, I feel terrible for Foster, who has worked his tail off to get back healthy from a groin injury earlier this year. He was really starting to round into shape and show us why he is -- and has been -- one of the best runners in all of football the last five years.
In the meantime, some fantasy owners are reeling and need some ideas of how to fill that void. Here are my top 10 waiver adds for 10- and 12-man leagues.
1. Stefon Diggs (WR, Minnesota Vikings) -- Diggs' target counts in the last three weeks have been 10, nine and nine. He has moved into the lead receiving role for the Vikings, and Teddy Bridgewater doesn't hesitate to look his way. Diggs now has 19 receptions, 324 yards and a touchdown on the season and an outside shot to put up a 1,000-yard season, despite being inactive for the first three games. Get this guy if he's still available.
2. Darren McFadden (RB, Dallas Cowboys) -- While many of us have been waiting for the Christine Michael train to leave the station, McFadden put a stop to that. On Sunday, Joseph Randle left with an oblique injury, and McFadden put on a show. He pounded the Giants, rushing for 152 yards on 29 carries and adding two receptions for 10 yards and a trip to paydirt. He looked fantastic doing it as well. I don't think we can just brush off this performance, not behind that terrific offensive line.
3. Jordan Reed (TE, Washington Redskins) -- In PPR leagues, Reed's averaging the third-most points per game at tight end (17.2). I know he gets hurt often, whether it's hamstrings or concussions, but as long as he's playing, he's a top-five tight end option. Kirk Cousins loves looking his way and when the game was on the line Sunday, Cousins went to his favorite target and pulled out the win. Reed's averaging 9.4 targets, seven receptions, 70 yards and 0.6 touchdowns per week. He's criminally under-owned.
4. Marvin Jones (WR, Cincinnati Bengals) -- Stop forgetting about Jones. He's coming off a bye week and still available in too many leagues. In three of his last five games, he has at least five receptions, has totaled at least 60 yards and scored a touchdown. The Bengals have one of the best offenses in football. They score often, and there are no signs of Andy Dalton and this team slowing down. Jones is playing on 81 percent of snaps, and that's second to only A.J. Green. Stop overthinking this and pick him up. Jones has shown the ability to play consistent and to have week-winning upside.
5. Alfred Blue/Chris Polk (RB, Houston Texans) -- I would have this tandem higher if we knew how things would shake out after Foster's terrible Achilles injury. Unfortunately, it looks to be a time-share approach moving forward. Polk played 14 percent of snaps to Alfred Blue's 7 percent in Week 7, but it was Blue who had the monster game right before Foster made his way back. You're likely only going to get one of them, and I would make Blue the first add, just given what we have seen in past. But again, your guess is as good as mine.
6. Michael Crabtree (WR, Oakland Raiders) -- Crabtree keeps soaking up targets in this new-look Raiders offense. Coming off of a bye, the Raiders look like they have their sight set on a wild-card playoff spot -- and why not? This team is fun, young and has nothing to lose. Derek Carr is chucking the ball around the yard, and Crabtree and Amari Cooper are great complements. The Raiders scored 37 points Sunday and went 1-for-4 on touchdowns in the red zone. Look for Crabtree to continue to be a locked in as a WR3, with upside weeks like this past one. He tallied six catches, 63 yards and scored on his eight targets.
7. Michael Floyd (WR, Arizona Cardinals) -- Floyd's role continues to grow in this downfield-attacking offense. On Monday night, he caught three of four targets for 59 yards and another touchdown. That makes back-to-back weeks with a score, and Floyd seems to have caught Carson Palmer's eye in the red zone. That's worth taking note of, given the Cardinals are one of the highest-scoring offenses in football.
8. Eric Ebron (TE, Detroit Lions) -- Like Reed, Ebron's being vastly underrated. He's a top-12 tight end in points per game, has a touchdown in three of the four full games he has played in and topped double-digit PPR points in four of five games. The one game he didn't, he left with injury. If you are struggling at tight end, there's most likely a TE1 sitting on your waiver wire as I write this.
9. Charles Sims (RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers) -- Sims totaled 12 opportunities for 66 yards this past Sunday and also had a 43-yard run called back on a penalty. It marks his second straight game with double-digit touches, and he hasn't had fewer than seven in any game this year. While Sims has potential standalone flex value through the bye weeks, he possesses monster upside if anything happens to Doug Martin.
10. Zac Stacy (RB, New York Jets) -- Chris Ivory is notorious for soft-tissue injuries, so it may be only a matter of when, not if, that he has to sit out, given that his hamstring was flaring up in Sunday's contest against New England. So this is where Stacy comes in. The Jets love to pound the rock and if anything happens to Ivory, you have yourself a RB2. Stacy hasn't been a complete slouch either; he's racked up 23 touches the last two weeks for 90 total yards. Act now, because if anything happens to Ivory, the mad-dash will ensue.
Just missed: Ryan Fitzpatrick, Orleans Darkwa, Khiry Robinson, Robert Woods, Nate Washington, Brandon LaFell, Ben Watson and Clive Walford.
Jack Thomason is 670 The Score's fantasy football expert and co-host of "Chicago's Fantasy Football Today," which can be heard every Sunday during football season from 8-9 a.m. CT on WSCR-670 and 670thescore.com/listen. Follow him on Twitter @jthomason77and feel free to ask fantasy questions.