Keepers, Sleepers, and Jeepers: Week Nine

By Adam Filadelfo (@FNTSYArchitect)

Another week, another decimated roster in fantasy football. If your fantasy team (or NFL team)didn't sustain an injury in week eight, consider yourself lucky. It's time once again to get those waiver wire pickups in whether it's to cover a bye week or replace a player lost to injury.

Keepers

DeAngelo Williams- Running Back- Pittsburgh Steelers- Week eight was very cruel to fantasy owners. Many lost their first round pick in Le'Veon Bell for the entire remainder of the season. This makes DeAngelo Williams a must add heading into week nine. Even non Bell owners will want Williams on their roster. In the first two games of the season when Bell was out due to suspension, Williams scored over 13 fantasy points and over 27 fantasy points respectively. Now that Williams will carry the load for the rest of the season, owners that are lucky enough to grab him off of the waiver wire just got themselves a starting running back in week nine. That move could be a potential game changer as fantasy playoffs get closer.

Jeremy Langford- Running Back- Chicago Bears- With a knee injury sidelining Matt Forte for at least two weeks, Jeremy Langford becomes a must own for Forte owners. While fantasy owners have nothing in terms of fantasy production to go on, once again, Langford steps in as a starting running back and finding those at this stage of the season is not an easy task. In the six games Langford appeared in so far this season, he already has two touchdowns on 27 touches and five targets in the passing game. It appears Jeremy Langford will fill the hole Forte left quite nicely.

Sleepers

Vernon Davis- Tight End- Denver Broncos- With the acquisition of former San Francisco 49ers tight end Vernon Davis, Peyton Manning now has another weapon to add to his arsenal. That could mean big things coming from VD. Having been lost in San Francisco for the last couple of seasons, this may be the move that revitalizes the career of VD. Coming off of his best game this season where he saw eight targets and caught six of them, fantasy owners in need of a tight end or just want to upgrade should definitely take a flyer on Vernon Davis.

Kamar Aiken- Wide Receiver- Baltimore Ravens- Now that Steve Smith Sr is done for the season (thanks again to the week eight injury bug), the Ravens will need another receiver to step up in his absence. With the rookie Perriman still not ready to debut, that leaves Kamar Aiken to fill the void. On the season, Aiken has over 330 yards on 25 receptions with two touchdowns to go with it. Now that he projects to be the number one receiver in Baltimore, fantasy owners can expect those numbers to jump up a bit.


Malcolm Floyd- Wide Receiver- San Diego Chargers- Fantasy owners can thank the week eight injury bug on yet another major player going down in Keenan Allen for at least a few weeks. That would make sense for Malcolm Floyd to step in and while Floyd could be a nice addition to a fantasy roster, he himself has a history of not staying healthy. Feel free to use a waiver wire priority on him if you need a receiver being that Philip Rivers is playing out of his mind right now in terms of passing yards. Floyd hasn't had a bad season up until this point hauling in 21 balls for over 400 yards and three scores.

Jeepers

Heath Miller- Tight End- Pittsburgh Steelers- For fantasy owners in need of a tight end, you can do worse than Heath Miller. Just be cautious that you don't expect too much from the Steelers star as he has a few big games here and there then can disappear for a few weeks altogether. On the season, Miller has 27 catches for over 270 yards and is coming off of his first double digit fantasy points game of the season. Grab him if you need a tight end but again, don't expect a repeat performance week in and week out.

Nate Washington- Wide Receiver- Houston Texans- While Washington has been a more productive wide out than anyone would've thought this season, he's a very streaky player who may be good for a few weeks and that's it. With 26 catches for over 400 yards up until this point, he can only keep this up for so long before he disappears completely. With the Texans a team that has to play catch up a lot, fantasy owners can expect a lot of passing from them but it's hard to go into a week relying on Nate Washington to give you much of anything.