Week 7 was a rough one for many fantasy football managers, with numerous underperformances and injuries to key players.
The Week 8 waiver wire may not solve all of those problems, but it can offer some help and intriguing potential, particularly at the wide receiver position.
Here are some Week 8 pickups to consider on the waiver wire:
Quarterback
Tua Tagovailoa
Rostered: 26.5% on ESPN, 46% on Yahoo
While there’s been heavy debate over whether Tagovailoa should return to the field this season, or even ever again due to his alarming concussion history, it appears that Tagovailoa will return for the Miami Dolphins in Week 8 for their home game against the Arizona Cardinals.
Tagovailoa last played in Week 2, when he suffered the third diagnosed concussion of his career. In Week 1, he showed off his fantasy football upside, throwing for 338 yards in a win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Last season, Tagovailoa threw for an NFL-best 4,624 yards and 29 touchdowns (tied for fifth), finishing 11th for fantasy quarterbacks in standard formats.
The left-hander may be rusty at first, but he should still be treated as a top-20 fantasy quarterback for Week 8 if he plays. The matchup helps, too, with Arizona’s defense allowing the seventh-most passing yards this season and a 102.0 passer rating to opposing quarterbacks.
Drake Maye
Rostered: 13.2% on ESPN, 16% on Yahoo
This one is more of a big-picture suggestion, especially for fantasy football managers who are in dynasty, keeper, superflex, or deeper leagues.
Maye — the third overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft — has been impressive over his first two starts, throwing for five touchdowns, two interceptions, and 519 yards despite one of the league’s worst supporting casts with the New England Patriots. He’s also added eight carries for 56 yards on the ground.
The rocket-armed quarterback is likely to go through typical rookie ups and downs, but he has two fantasy performances of 20-plus points in two starts; the fantasy upside is already evident. He’s a great stash and should mix in some big weeks.
Running Back
Jaylen Warren
Rostered: 45.1% on ESPN, 41% on Yahoo
Viewed as one of the hot fantasy football sleepers entering the season, Warren had a season-high 12 carries for 44 yards, to go with two receptions for 15 yards in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ win over the New York Jets on Sunday. He battled a knee injury earlier in the season but appears to returning to form.
In 2023 (his second season), Warren had 149 carries for 784 yards (5.3 AVG) and four touchdowns, while adding 61 receptions for 370 yards. Warren is working his way back into consideration as a flex play or bye-week fill-in — especially in PPR leagues — and could become more than that as the season goes on.
Wide Receiver
Jauan Jennings
Rostered: 45.6% on ESPN, 31% on Yahoo
Brandon Aiyuk tore his ACL and MCL in the San Francisco 49ers’ loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, Deebo Samuel has been hospitalized with pneumonia, and George Kittle is dealing with a sprained foot (and Christian McCaffrey is likely to be out for at least one more game with an Achilles injury). While Samuel and Kittle might not miss time with their ailments, Aiyuk is done for the season. It’s a brutal blow to the 49ers’ passing attack.
But Jennings has already stepped up in a big way for the 49ers this season. In Week 3, San Francisco was without Samuel, Kittle, and McCaffrey, and Jennings went off for 11 receptions, 175 yards, and three touchdowns. Expecting a performance anything close to that again would be unreasonable, but it’s just evidence that Kyle Shanahan and Brock Purdy trust Jennings and will give him opportunities.
It’s easy to see Jennings mixing in a few more WR1-level weeks, and he should be viewed as a top-30 receiver for Week 8.
Romeo Doubs
Rostered: 37.1% on ESPN, 45% on Yahoo
We’re just a couple of weeks removed from Doubs’ future with the Green Bay Packers being in question after he skipped two practices and was suspended for Green Bay’s Week 5 game. But the two sides appear to be on good terms now, with Doubs reeling in 14 catches for 143 yards and two touchdowns over the last two games. Doubs led the Packers in receptions (8), yards (94), and targets (10) in their Week 7 win over the Houston Texans.
On a week-to-week basis, Doubs will be hard to count on with Jordan Love spraying the ball around to Jayden Reed, Christian Watson, Dontayion Wicks, and Tucker Kraft as well. But — in a lethal passing attack — he’ll mix in some “boom” weeks that will keep him in the top-30 conversation at wide receiver.
Keon Coleman
Rostered: 44.4% on ESPN, 33% on Yahoo
Coleman, the 33rd overall pick in this year’s draft, could be a boom-or-bust play the rest of the season, but he showed what he’s capable of in the Buffalo Bills’ win on Sunday with four receptions for 125 yards.
The Buffalo receiver room got more crowded with the acquisition of Amari Cooper, who had four receptions for 66 yards and a touchdown in his Bills debut on Sunday. And Khalil Shakir, the team’s leading receiver, had seven receptions for 65 yards.
But it’s possible that Coleman is improving each week and that Allen gains more trust in the Florida State product as the season goes on. And the 6-foot-4, 215-pounder should become a quality red-zone target for Allen.
Ricky Pearsall
Rostered: 5.5% on ESPN, 14% on Yahoo
Pearsall made his NFL debut for the 49ers on Sunday, reeling in three receptions for 21 yards, while being targeted five times. His immediate production may be harder to trust than Jennings’, but Pearsall was a first-round pick by San Francisco this season and was expected to carve out a role as a reliable target for Purdy.
There’s a ton of upside here (especially in PPR leagues) as far as midseason waiver-wire adds go, particularly for managers who can afford to be patient and not depend on immediate impact. And for dynasty owners, he’s a slam-dunk pickup if he’s somehow still available.
Jalen McMillan
Rostered: 1.5% on ESPN, 3% on Yahoo
In Monday night’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost wide receiver Chris Godwin to a dislocated ankle that will likely end his season, and Mike Evans suffered a hamstring injury that had him in serious pain. Godwin leads the NFL in receptions (50) and Evans is tied for the most touchdown receptions (6).
Baker Mayfield — who threw for 370 yards on Monday, has thrown for at least 325 yards three times this season, and has thrown at least three touchdown passes four times this season — will look for new players to target in the absence of Godwin, and potentially Evans as well (update: Evans is expected to miss at least three games).
McMillan was a third-round pick by the Bucs in April and showed flashes of his intriguing skillset in the preseason. On the season, he has six receptions for 74 yards and a touchdown (he also had one carry for 11 yards on Monday). It’s very unclear how much his role will increase going forward, and Mayfield might trust former Oklahoma teammate Sterling Shepard more initially. But McMillan offers a lot of potential that makes him a worthwhile chance to take, particularly in deeper leagues and dynasty leagues.
Tight End
Cade Otton
Rostered: 42.3% on ESPN, 39% on Yahoo
With the season-ending injury to Godwin and the status of Evans in question, Otton’s role in the Tampa Bay passing attack could see a big boost. Even before the injuries were suffered, Otton led the Bucs in receptions (8), yards (100), and targets (10) on Monday. Those numbers were all season-highs for the 25-year-old.
Otton has just one touchdown reception this season, but Mayfield will likely look his way more in the red zone going forward. It wouldn’t be surprising if Otton performs like a top-10 fantasy tight end the rest of the season.
