Fantasy Football Week 8 Early Waiver Wire Pickups (2022)

We’re officially halfway through the fantasy football regular season, assuming your playoffs are three weeks long and you’re not playing in week 18.

Regardless, thanks for checking in again today. You’re clearly avoiding waiver fatigue, which is a crucial element to success in fantasy football. As always, some names from the early slate of games stick out to me as intriguing waiver claims.

Quarterbacks

Daniel Jones (QB – NYG) : 29% rostered

If you need to stream a quarterback, you can do a lot worse than the leader of a 5-1 team who’s also extremely mobile and unafraid to use his legs. Jones dropped 28+ points today, thanks to 107 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground. Jones has the Seahawks next weekend, and they have been a fairly favorable matchup for opposing QBs.

Taylor Heinicke (QB – WAS): 7% rostered

If you’re really scraping by in a deep or two-QB league, Heinicke is your guy. In his first start this season, he beat the Packers and threw for 200 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. The training wheels are off, and this offense is Heinicke’s to run until Carson Wentz returns. For what it’s worth, Heinicke isn’t a total traffic cone in the pocket either, he can move and finished last season with 300 rushing yards in 16 starts.

Running Backs

Gus Edwards (RB – BAL): 13% rostered

I’ve been waiting all season to say this … WHEELS UP FOR THE GUS BUS! Edwards came off injured reserve last week and played as though he never missed a beat. His 16 carries for 66 yards and two touchdowns is enough to make him this week’s top waiver claim after J.K. Dobbins headed to IR.

D’Onta Foreman (RB – CAR): 34% rostered

Foreman’s 17 touches for 145 all-purpose yards impressed fantasy managers today. While I don’t think Carolina winning games by three scores will be a regular occurrence, Foreman appears to be leading the timeshare with Chubba Hubbard, making the 2017 third-round pick a top priority if he’s still available on your waiver wire.

Matt Breida (RB – NYG): 1% rostered

Breida was the only Giants running back not named Saquon Barkley to carry the football today. If you have Saquon, Breida is pretty close to a must-add, as he appears to be a solid handcuff should anything happen to Barkley.

Wide Receivers

Kalif Raymond (WR – DET): 0% rostered

If you’re in a deep league and need to plug a hole at receiver, I’m taking a hard look at Raymond if Amon-Ra St. Brown is out next weekend. D.J. Chark is on injured reserve, and Jameson Williams‘ return is still without a definitive date. St. Brown left the game with a concussion today, and Raymond caught five of six targets for 75 yards.

Wan’Dale Robinson (WR – NYG): 14% rostered

14% is an unreasonably low rostership percentage for Robinson. The new Giants regime hand-picked Robinson in the second round this year and are using him as such. Since returning from injury, Robinson has 12 targets, nine catches, 87 yards, and a touchdown in two games. No, these numbers aren’t jumping off the screen, but they could be pretty soon as he gets more comfortable in his role. I’d be sprinting to the waiver wire if Robinson is there.

Parris Campbell (WR – IND): 3% rostered

Seventeen catches for 127 yards and two touchdowns over his last two games are hard to ignore. With Jonathan Taylor back and Michael Pittman still Matt Ryan‘s favorite target, Campbell’s ceiling isn’t astronomical. Still, he should definitely be considered if you need a receiver for the next few weeks.

Tight Ends

Juwan Johnson (TE – NO): 3% rostered

In a low-scoring week for tight ends thus far, Johnson leads the pack after his two-touchdown Thursday night performance. Look, you really don’t need me to tell you that if you don’t have Travis Kelce or Mark Andrews, you’re basically throwing a dart at the TE spot and hoping you land on someone who scored. Johnson did that this week, and if Adam Trautman stays sidelined, Johnson is worth a look.

Evan Engram (TE – JAX): 33% rostered

Engram has 23 targets in his last three games, which is good enough to warrant starting him in many leagues. Again, the chances he’s finishing as a top-three TE on the season are next to nonexistent, but the parity among the TE position after the elite few makes someone such as Engram a viable start.

Defense/Special Teams

Atlanta Falcons: 2% rostered

This could be the perfect storm for the Falcons D/ST. The Bengals just blew them out, and Atlanta’s opponent next week (Carolina) just secured a miraculous win over Tampa Bay. As a fan of regressing to the mean, count me in for a Falcons win and a solid performance from Dean Pees’ defense.

Tennessee Titans: 13% rostered

I’ll happily stream the Titans in Houston next weekend. As I’m writing this, the Texans have the second-fewest total touchdowns in the NFL. The Titans picked off Matt Ryan twice today and are on a four-game winning streak.

Kickers

Randy Bullock (K – TEN): 1% rostered

Bullock drilled four field goals in today’s win against the Colts. He’s only missed one kick all year. The Titans appear to be content with letting Derrick Henry pound the rock and taking their points as they come, even if it means settling for three. That’s great news for the veteran Bullock, as the Titans head into Houston next week for another divisional rivalry matchup.

Cade York (K – CLE): 17% rostered

The Cincinnati Bengals, for whatever rhyme or reason, are giving up a ton of fantasy points to opposing kickers. This, of course, is often random and at the whim of a million other factors, but I’ll buy into a high floor next week with York, who’s made 13 of 16 field goal attempts so far in his rookie season.