Week 9 is yet another week for fantasy owners to be looking to waivers or possibly their bench as 6 teams will be on a bye: the Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, Los Angeles Chargers, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers.

New Faces in New Places

Jay Ajayi, Kelvin Benjamin and Jimmy Garoppolo were the headliners to a busy NFL trade deadline this week. With LeGarrette Blount named the starter in week 9, Ajayi may not make a huge impact right away as his new team, the Philadelphia Eagles will take on the Denver Broncos whose defense is yet to give up a rushing touchdown this season. Kelvin Benjamin will join the Buffalo Bills teaming up with Tyrod Taylor and LeSean McCoy as the main threats for the Buffalo offense. Buffalo is 29th in the league in passing yards and 8th in the league in total rushing yards. With Jordan Matthews and Zay Jones as the team’s top receivers Kelvin Benjamin could make an immediate impact as soon as next week.  Jimmy Garoppolo will not start in week 9 but it will be interesting to see Garoppolo’s fantasy impact going forward as he will most likely be ready to start for the San Francisco 49ers in week 10.

Quarterbacks

My top 3 waiver wire quarterbacks this week are Jacoby Brissett, Josh McCown and Eli Manning. Jacoby Brissett continues to put up solid fantasy numbers and the Indianapolis Colts will take on the Houston Texans in what could be a high scoring affair. Brissett is owned in just 14% of leagues while averaging 13 points per game (more than Derek Carr, Ben Roethlisberger and Marcus Mariota) New York Jets quarterback Josh McCown has flown under the radar as one of fantasy footballs most underrated players. McCown is owned in just 31% of leagues and has moved into the top 10 as fantasy’s 9th ranked quarterback this season. With Sterling Shepard back this week as the New York Giants top wide receiver that gives Eli another weapon along with Evan Engram as the Giants take on the Los Angeles Rams in week 9.

Running backs

As far as running backs go, Jets running back, Matt Forte has proved himself worthy of a starting spot this week, following a pair of double digit fantasy performances in the last three weeks. Ameer Abdullah is another running back who could have a big week as the Detroit Lions take on a struggling Green Bay Packers defense who have given up nearly 126 rushing yards per game (7th most).

Wide Recievers 

Juju Smith-Schuster had a breakout game in week 8 as he had 193 yards on 7 receptions including a touchdown in the Steelers 20-15 win over the Lions on Sunday. Smith-Schuster is worth picking up in your league even with the Steelers on a bye week as he could have a big fantasy impact going forward. This week Kenny Stills and Ted Ginn Jr. are possible flex options this week.  To the surprise of fantasy owners, these two receivers have outscored the likes of Desean Jackson, Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders on the season. Tedd Ginn Jr and the New Orleans Saints will also take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in what should be a shootout. Robby Anderson of the Jets is also worth a start this week as he has posted double digit fantasy numbers in three straight weeks now.

Tight Ends

Jack Doyle is ranked 5th among fantasy tight ends and is only owned in 74 percent of leagues. Prior to his 30 point performance this week Doyle was owned in just 37 percent of leagues. OJ Howard remains a questionable start as he has potential for a big game but teammate Cameron Brate has been the more consistent fantasy start as Howard has been mainly used for blocking purposes. Two more tight ends playing well that may still be on waivers are Austin Seferian-Jenkins of the Jets and Jared Cook of the Oakland Raiders. Both Seferian-Jenkins and Cook ends owned in less than 77% of leagues and Averaging more than 8 points a game.

Defense

Two defenses that stand out this week are the Texans as they take on the Colts and the Lions who will face the struggling Packers offense. The Texans defense could force a lot of turnovers in this one as the Colts are 27th in the league in passing and 19th in rushing.