
In Episode 279 of the Footballguys Fantasy Football Show, Dave Kluge and Alfredo Brown discuss players to target on the waiver wire after Week 7. Send your questions to fantasyshow@footballguys.com 🎥. SUBSCRIBE to the NEW YouTube page:...
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Jeff
Morning, Zoe. Got donuts.
Dana
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Jeff
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Dave Kluge
Nice.
Dana
Je free.
Dave Kluge
You heard them. T mobile is the best place to get the new iPhone 17 Pro on us with eligible traded in any condition.
Jeff
So what are we having for lunch?
Dana
Dude, my work here is done.
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Dana
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Alfredo Brown
So how you feeling, champ? You said you needed to clear out the old sinuses.
Dave Kluge
Yeah, went to the doctor yesterday. It's just an upper respiratory infection. I'll be all right. But yeah, lots of dayquil and a nasal spray steroid. And my Neti pot. You have one of those? Well, I don't do the neti pot. I do the sinus wrench, like the squeeze bottle. Do you do that?
Alfredo Brown
The, like the thing you just shove it straight up your nose and inhale?
Dave Kluge
Yeah, it's almost like a squeeze bottle.
Alfredo Brown
Squeeze.
Dave Kluge
Put it up one nostril, you squeeze, and then it all like, shoots all the gunk out the other side. Yeah, yeah.
Alfredo Brown
You've never looked cooler than when you're doing that. Actually, Neti pot looks way cooler, I'll say that.
Dave Kluge
Yeah. Yeah, I. I just started using this thing. What was it? I had a. I had sinus surgery a few years ago, and, like, part of my recovery was using that sinus rinse thing. And then I was like, I'm just gonna make this a normal part of my. My routine, my health routine just cleared out these sinuses every now and then. But it is not fun. And I feel bad for my wife just hearing me, like, choking and gagging in the bathroom.
Alfredo Brown
I mean, Dave, the noises that I hear before we turn on the mics.
Dave Kluge
I'm a grunter. Yeah, this. These old. These old bones are not. They don't move around like they used to.
Alfredo Brown
I think my favorite thing is when we finish recording and I. And I do the. For myself, for Dave. We'll see you next time. Adios. Click end recording. And you go.
Dave Kluge
Just lean back in my chair and.
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, you're like every old man getting off the couch.
Dave Kluge
Yeah, these bones, man, they're. They're sitting here and age on them.
Alfredo Brown
You're sitting.
Dave Kluge
Yeah. Foreign.
Alfredo Brown
Welcome into the football guys fantasy football show. We're talking about the Week 8 waiver wire, the top players that you need to be picking up. And, Dave, this is a week that looks very different than I think most we've had. We've come into a lot of weeks saying, this is the guy you got to pick up, or this is a big week for waivers. And I think we can honestly say that this doesn't look like a big week for waivers on the outside. But I think, if anything, that means that you need to be a little bit more vigilant with how you're looking at this, and you actually do need to study the waiver wire a bit more. It's not the obvious top guy. Spend your money. It's go find some of those gems that are a dollar in fab on the waiver wire.
Dave Kluge
Yeah. Different. That's a very nice way to put it. And I think the nice thing, too, is, like, we do.
Alfredo Brown
A lot of girls described me in high school, he's different. He's different.
Dave Kluge
You know, we've got running backs. We got wide receivers. We've got a good tight end, and I think that's really it. Like, this is more of a. Like, find out where your weakness is and see if you can fix that on the waiver wire this week. It's not like, you must go out and get this player, but there are a little bit of every position. Like, we've got a handful of running backs that I'm reasonably excited about. There's some wide receivers that you can plug in your lineup next week, and Then a tight end that we're going to talk about that like could be a rest of season top 10 guys. So yeah, it might not have like the super high end value that we want to see. Like not, you know, any league winning type of guys out there, but definitely some people worth picking up.
Alfredo Brown
By the way, I didn't do the introduction thing that I normally do. I'm Alfredo Brown, joined as always by Dave Kluge. This is the Football Guys Fantasy football show. If it's your first time joining us, please take a second to like this video comment down below with your waiver wire questions. We'll get back to them. If you're listening on Apple or Spotify, take a moment to leave a review. It helps us out a ton. Dave, we're going to go back to the waiver wire and do our rankings of the players on waivers, put them into tiers like we have before. Let's start with the, the top player right now. And honestly, this is the week where you and I have the most dissension ever in opinions on the waiver wire. I mean like, and that's saying something, man. That's really saying something. But at the top, it's just based on the consensus average of where we had them ranked. It's a Ronde Gadsden II tight end for the Los Angeles Chargers. He's available in 89% of leagues. Dave, he's my top waiver wire ad. He's your number four. I think that just kind of goes to show what this week of waivers is like. I kind of did this. I look at him as he's the full time starter, 80% plus snapshare. We just saw him have a historic performance and I get it. There's just going to be a lot of spreading the ball around. I just, if I'm going to take a chance on someone, I'm going to take a chance on a young athletic guy who's had great performances, full time starter, good offense. Like all the, all the puzzle pieces, all the stars align. Tight end stinks for fantasy football. So I'm going to take a swing here.
Dave Kluge
Yeah. And I mean I've already put this guy at tight end 13 in my rest of season ranking.
Alfredo Brown
Right.
Dave Kluge
There's much more of an indictment on how bad the tight end landscape is right now. It feels like we're doing this like every single week. Like we see Darren Waller two touchdowns and we're like this is the tight end you need to get. And we see like Hunter Henry two touchdowns. Like this is the Guy a plug and play set and forget type of guy. Like we've seen this a lot this year where these guys are kind of popping up and, and then not really doing much the week after. And I do fear that that is going to be what happens with Gadson as well. He's a good player. Like this guy was a wide receiver at Syracuse, transitioned to tight end. His dad was an NFL wide receiver. We know he's got that polished athleticism you want to see from a pass catching tight end. But at the end of the day like who's going to fall by the wayside? Because I don't see Keenan Allen, Lad McConkey or Quentin Johnston falling behind a Rodney Gadson in Target. So I think he's worth a pickup just because this is a high volume passing attack right now. Justin Herbert leading the league in passing yards, leading the leading passing attempts. Like there's a lot volume in this offense and I think because of that he can have these boom games. But I think just like every single tight end out there, that's not Trey McBride, Tyler Warren, Jake Ferguson or Tucker Kraft, there's going to be some boom bust tendencies here. So we saw the upside last week, but also I think that there could be these games where he's going to have three targets for 12 yards and you're like well yeah, this guy is just another tight end. So worth a pickup. Absolutely, because we saw the upside. But I'm tempering expectations a little bit. Maybe I'm just being a wet blanket here.
Alfredo Brown
I think you'd be a little bit of a wet blanket. I mean it's, I think this is different because like a lot of the guys you mentioned were they scored two touchdowns on three catches. Darren Waller, right. And like and he wasn't bad either. I mean it's just a lot of it became touchdown dependent, needed. Yeah. And he got hurt. You know, Mason Taylor, like that's Justin Fields. It's just not a good quarterback. Right. Theo Johnson, Jackson Dart is, is a, a teenager finding himself in the NFL. Like we still don't know what that offense is for the most part here we know what Justin Herbert is. We know what this offense is. Now granted you're right. There's just, there's, there's so many targets in this offense. But right now this is also not a run first offense. This is a team that's going to have to rely on the pass. Looking at a Ronde Gadsden three out of his five career games right now with five or more receptions, seven plus Targets in those three games. This isn't something where he's been extremely touchdown dependent. He has one touchdown in the season. This is a guy who's, like, actually getting the volume. The snapshare continues to go up. It gives me more hope. I'm not saying he is a surefire, spend all your fab stardom every week kind of guy, but it's one of those things, like, you don't want to stop believing in humanity. Like, I don't want to stop believing in waiver wire tight ends. And I can't do it this week. So, yeah, I'll keep Ronda Gadsden up at the top. Anything else you want to add there?
Dave Kluge
Yeah, let me ask you a quick this or that. We're not talking about him on today's show because he's rostered in too many leagues, but Evan Ingram still available in 52% of leagues out there. If you're really, really. All right, see, I think I might go with Ingram there just because I think there's a path to more consistency. Looking over the last four weeks. Seven targets, six targets, six targets, eight targets. And outside of Cortland Sutton, there isn't really another guy there. So even though I like the Chargers offense more as a whole, I could see Ingram kind of having a more consistent profile, albeit with a much lower ceiling. I understand that, but, yeah, I mean, it's just kind of picking your flavor here. Like, do you want the rookie who could break fantasy football, or do you want the guy that you're just plugging in and getting seven points per game from? I think given how bad the tight end situation is, I might just be willing to just take that steady, boring Evan Ingram guy right now.
Alfredo Brown
Yes. I'm gonna go the exact opposite way. Like, given how bad tight end is, like, give me. The guy can win me my week because pretty much everyone else is going to lose me my week. Evan ingrams. Evan Ingram's five catches for 26 yards isn't going to help me right now. And, like, that's the thing, is, like, yeah, the, the. And we mentioned him as. As a riser from that Broncos game, but, like, his snapshare still kind of sucks. Like, I just don't trust the Broncos. Like, some weeks it's Troy Franklin, some weeks it's Cortland Sutton. For the most part, it's Cortland Sutton. But, like, I don't know, man.
Dave Kluge
Three games where Cortland Sutton has just been, like, completely deleted. Like, and this is just Sean Payton. And you know how it is like we've seen four street weeks of Evan Ingram pulling consistent volume. This is the week everyone's going to put him in their lineup and he's going to have two targets and no catches because that's how fantasy football works.
Alfredo Brown
Welcome to six straight minutes of Arande Gadsden talks, folks. You're welcome. It's week eight. Let's go down to the second tier, Dave, where we have our players 2, 3, 4, 4 and 5 on the waiver wire. It's Kyle Manungai, running back for the Chicago Bears, who's available at 89% of league leagues. Devin Neal, running back for the Saints, 99% availability. Brashard Smith, running back for the Chiefs, 91% availability. And Tez Johnson, wide receiver for the Buccaneers, 78% availability. So let's go through these one by one. We'll kind of give something on each of these players. Kyle Manunga is the guy at the top here. I think he's a fine player. He. I don't want to say he offers a zero in the passing game, but he kind of offers a zero in the passing game. Like, it's not much. DeAndre Swift has looked good. I think a lot of that is just simply the Bears running attack looking better. Their zone run scheme has looked a lot better. The offensive line has played better. This has been a team that's been able to run the ball. But with Swift playing well and the schedule kind of easing up for Swift, it's still a split. I just see Menungai the same way I see a lot of these running backs is they're handcuffs. Like they are just handcuffs to stash. If I don't have the space to stash because of the bi weeks, I'm not going to value them as highly.
Dave Kluge
Yeah, I'm looking at Manangai the same way. I'm looking at like a Taji Spears, a guy who is the younger back in a split backfield. And we didn't really see much of a split. I mean, it was just like two or three touches in every single game until last week. And they really kind of blew his workload up. And I got to say he looked pretty good. And you say zero in the past game three targets last week kind of, you know, something there. Definitely not a pass catching back the way that DeAndre Swift is. But what we saw was them just like taking Swift out for entire drives and putting Kyle Menungai in. So I think it is in Ben Johnson's philosophy to want to split a backfield. You look at Jameer Gibbs and David Montgomery. You look at DeAndre Swift and Jamal Williams. He's always kind of split backfields up a little bit and we didn't see much of that early in the year. But I can't help but think about these comments that he had in training camp where he said, manung guy is one of those guys that like, as the weather turns cold and games get more physical, he's the type of guy that we can lean on late in the season. And well, I know down in South Florida it's still pretty warm, but out here in Colorado it's, it's cold, leaves are falling off the trees. It feels like it's getting late in the year here. So maybe this growing role that we're seeing for Kyle Manungai is a little bit more intentional than just like a one game fluke. DeAndre Swift is the fast guy and he has looked really, really good in recent weeks as the interior offensive line is starting to improve. But I think Manungai is a guy that, you know, could have some potential value as a flex play as we get deeper into the year.
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, that's the thing. It's like I don't, I don't dislike Manungai. The six receptions across six games, like, the upside is limited. Having Swift being such a big part of the backfield, it's limited. You're right in that he, his skill set does lend towards later on in the year where it's just kind of like, hey, we got some ugly weather games, some ugly games. We need to churn out runs. Let's just. He, he runs very similar to an Isaiah Pacheco. They're both Rutgers running backs too, which, like, it's just. There's something in the water there. He's not like a big guy. He's just sort of a small battering ram who just, he's a big effort player. We've seen a lot of these running backs where they're good for a couple of weeks. The upside always remains limited. So yeah, he could probably give himself a streak here where he's good for a game or two. And I don't want to be like fully down on him. We, I have him as my, my waiver wire priority number four. You have him as number three. That's how weird the opinions are on this between us, is that he ended up being our number two guy, like tied with, with a bunch of different players here. So, yeah, I think he's fine. Like if you, if you have Swift, you want the handcuff grab common on guy. You, you're running thin at running back and you want someone who could be something grab common on guy.
Dave Kluge
And I think that's the real out here. It's not that like you're playing him weekly hoping that he's going to score points. It's that if DeAndre Swift has to miss any time, which, let's face it, DeAndre Swift does have an injury of or a history of injuries. If you get that spot start from Kyle Menungai, we've a good passing attack that forces defenses to play on their heels. They've got good run blocking up front in that interior offensive line and I think that's the hope is that like if you get a spot start from Kyle Nungai, you could be looking at a 20, 25 point game.
Alfredo Brown
Let's go to the next guy on here. Like I said, these are all tied across the board. But Devin Neal, running back for the New Orleans Saints, he jumps into that backup running back role after Kendra Miller suffers a season ending knee injury. Dave, he is your number one waiver wire ad. For me, he's a bit lower. I have him at 6 and it's kind of funny. We probably both look at him the same way. Despite the ranking of 1 and 6. A not so great offense. Sorry, hiccup there in the middle of the podcast. That's fun. A not so great offense. A player who really had not been earning snaps and now the team is doing the thing where they're like, oh, we really love Devin Neal. We believe in him. He's a smart player. And it's like you weren't even giving him a single snap prior to this. And so it's, yeah, maybe he, he can come in and do a little something. To me, it's pure handcuff. It's pure handcuff. If something happens to Alvin Camara, we assume he can go into a Kendry Miller role. But Kendra Miller himself wasn't uber valuable. So I, I, I, I struggle to see a massive value in Devin Neal, but I do think there is handcuff appeal, which is how we're going to look at all these running backs.
Dave Kluge
And it's as simple as that. And I remember like during the rookie scouting season, there are a lot of like hardcore Devin Neal truthers out there that thought this guy should have been like, you know, a round two pick. And I never really saw it with him.
Alfredo Brown
Like, Arnold Cecilami loved Devin Neal. He saw him at, what was it, the Shrine game. Yeah, yeah, Shrine Bowl.
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Alfredo Brown
And he's like he was one of the best players through practice. As the week went on, he got better and better.
Dave Kluge
Yeah. And there are a lot of people, you know, you kind of had that like, bunch up top with Amari Hampton, Drayvon Henderson, Quinjohn Judkins, Ashton Jensey. But a lot of people were slotting Devin Nealon as the guy right behind them, you know, ahead of Caleb Johnson, ahead of Camp Scaboo and Bashal Tut and a lot of these other guys. I was never really there, wasn't the biggest fan of his game. He's just like, he doesn't do anything exceptionally well, but he's a well rounded and versatile running back. And I think there's something to be said there, but I think it is the handcuff appeal and. And we saw last year on a bad losing Saints team once they got to week 16. All of a sudden this injury popped up for Alvin Camara and he didn't finish the season. They might be heading towards another kind of lost year like that where they're just like, what's the point of even putting Elvin Camara out here late in the year? There's also still the ongoing rumors about a potential trade. I don't know if they trade him now that Kendrick Miller is out of the picture, but I think this is just purely a stash like a lot of these other guys that we're talking about today. We know who they are at this point. Devin Neal, there's the allure of the unknown. He's a rookie who could stumble into a bigger workload. Personally, like, I'm not the biggest fan of his talent, but I think that if Alvin Camara has to miss any time, there's nobody else there. Like, they might go to the market and call up Jamal Williams or Gus Edwards or something like that. But I think at this point, you know, the. The team knows what they are. And if Alvin come here, misses time, we could be looking at some nice spot starts from Devin Neal.
Alfredo Brown
The schedule for the Saints, and I was trying to look up depth chart as well, just to see.
Dave Kluge
Brutal.
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, I mean, I know they're gonna have Taysom Hill probably doing some stuff as well, which is, I think, probably. God, I hate to say this, that might be the sneaky waiver wire ad to make, I guess.
Dave Kluge
Right. They don't have another running back on the depth chart. Just, you know, it's Alvin Kamara and Devin Neal. That's it. And like I said, they might go to the market. They might elevate somebody off the practice squad. But right now it's like Devon Neal is the only other guy there.
Alfredo Brown
The schedule going forward sucks, though. Like, if I'm being real, it's the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, good run defense, Los Angeles Rams, good run defense. Carolina Panthers now a good run defense, then a bye week in week 11. So we're talking about four straight weeks where there's very minimal value for Devin Neal come out of the buy against Atlanta. Another good run defense. It's where you really start to see any potential value is week 13 against Miami. And that's when, like, I look at a guy and I say, you know what's likely to happen? Is he going to break out against one of these three good run defenses and then someone carries him through the bye week or someone likely to just be like, ah, I picked him up, spent money on him, didn't do anything. Bye weeks here, drop him right? And like, that's maybe when I can pounce and see what he can do against the Miami or late in the season. If you're talking about like, like you said they might shut down Alvin Camara at some point. Just like, let's not get him hurt, you know, just out of like a sign of respect thing. So probably galaxy braining it, but that's more of how I'm looking at it with Devin Neil. Yeah, let's go to the, let's go to the next guy on here. Bashard Smith, running back for the Kansas City Chiefs. I got him at five. Dave, you've got him at two. We discussed this on the Rises and Followers episode on Monday that Rashard Smith had himself some good work. A lot of it came in garbage time, which we both discussed. Sometimes garbage time is good because it's just the coaching staff wanting to see how you can do out on the field. Can you prove yourself to be in different types of NFL situations? Can we trust you when the game is on the line? Right. I think what I like most about Shard Smith is the pass catching upside and how fun this chief's offense is getting. I think I still struggle with him being the RB3 and I don't know what it would take for him to surpass Isaiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt because they haven't been great this year and Rashard Smith still isn't in that prominent running back role.
Dave Kluge
Yeah. And he is the RB3 for now. And I think the hope here is that he can just be better than the rest of the guys and it's a pretty low bar to Clear right now with Isaiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt. None of them have been exceptionally good this year. And we did talk about yesterday kind of the Andy Reid slow rolling development of rookies. This is something we've seen historically from Andy Reid and it does feel kind of reminiscent of Rashid Rice in his rookie season where we were like looking at the per route run efficiency and we were just like, if this guy could just get on the field, you know, he would break fantasy football. And that's kind of what we're seeing right now from Rashad Smith as well. 3.13 yards per route run lead the league. 46 target share or I'm sorry, target rate on his route runs leads the league. I mean this guy is pulling targets at an elite rate. He is.
Alfredo Brown
They're very intentional about when they put him on the field. They're extremely intentional.
Dave Kluge
Exactly. And, and you know, we talked in the preseason, the kind of the upside case for Rashad Smith would be a Jerick McKinnon type of role where he is just the pass catching running back. And of course there's a lot more mouths to feed now. And we saw that Isaiah Pacheco and Jerick McKinnon, they were both giving us RB1 value down the stretch. A couple of years ago there was no Rashi Rice, there was no Xavier Worthy, there was no Tyree Kill. Like it was kind of out of necessity that they were getting all this work to Jerick McKinnon. Now there are more mouths to feed there with Rashi Rice, healthy Xavier Worthy there, Hollywood Brown doing his thing. But I still think that there could be an out where we have seen so many of these kind of hybrid running backs in Andy Reid system, Char, Kendrick west, and I'm drawing a blank on, on who the other guy was. Niles Davis is another one that comes to mind. There's one other one that I'm forgetting about, but he likes to have these kind of slashing running backs that can catch the ball out of the backfield and make plays after the catch. That's exactly what Brashard Smith, a former wide receiver in college is. So this is one that I'm kind of excited about because we see Andy Reid get a little bit weird with these utility players and it often comes late in the year when we need it most.
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, and that's the thing is like a lot of these guys, the way we're going to be looking at these running backs, man, guy, Neil and Smith is their stash and hold. And if you're going to go out and put any kind of money on them, you have to be patient. And when I say money, I mean fab. Like your, Your. Your waiver budget. Be patient. Like the understanding that they might not produce for you this week. You're probably not going to start them over the next two, maybe three weeks. But all of a sudden, four or five weeks down the line, this is like using a late round draft, doing it in the middle of the season because you can sort of see the forest for the trees at this point. Like, you can see what the team is doing where there's a path. You're not. You're not totally guessing on this, you know? D, let's go to the last guy in this tier. Tez Johnson, wide receiver for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Mike Evans goes down with a broken collarbone, which initially it was reported out for the season. Then I saw reports it could be six to eight weeks. But let's just essentially say season.
Dave Kluge
Right.
Alfredo Brown
Like, I don't think they're saying fs.
Dave Kluge
It'Ll be playoff return, which doesn't matter.
Alfredo Brown
It doesn't matter for fantasy football. Right.
Dave Kluge
Right. Let's just take a moment of silence for the 1,000 yard. All right. We can go back now. We're good. We're back in.
Alfredo Brown
Yeah.
Dave Kluge
Yeah. Yeah.
Alfredo Brown
Sad. Sad. Is. Is your Dave's official statement on Mike Evans Sad. But Chris Godwin is the other player who, like, we're wondering when he's coming back. He's had the fibula injury. He was recovering from an injury before the season started with his ankle, and it's just been kind of a thing where I've heard a lot of medical people just be consistently worried about Chris Godwin and what his recovery looks like, what his return to form looks like. Tess Johnson was a guy who really, really liked coming out of Oregon. I had him ranked pretty highly in my rookie rankings, and then all the measurables came in and the measurables just absolutely killed him.
Dave Kluge
And where's his size adjusted speed? Like on a. On a 1 to 100 percentile. You know where he ranks in that size adjusted speed score?
Alfredo Brown
Because he's a horrendous like 30 or like 20. It's just. It's just horrible.
Dave Kluge
Yeah. Like, what if. Like.
Alfredo Brown
Like that's where I would be, right?
Dave Kluge
Exactly. Yeah. I mean, he's like.
Alfredo Brown
As you can see, we're not the same athlete.
Dave Kluge
You do a backflip as well?
Alfredo Brown
No, I can't. I can barely. I can. I can barely roll around. I can barely do a cartwheel dude. Like, I can't even get my legs straight for when I do the cartwheels. My flexibility is that bad. But Tess Johnson. So it's kind of crazy to say, like the guy was unathletic because of the athletic testing scores, because he's been a punt and kick returner for pretty much all of his college career and he's been doing it for the Buccaneers. Then last night you see him take a screen where he pressed every single button on the controller. Circle, triangle, everything. PlayStation people, what's up? Like, he was just, he looked fantastic, man. And this is a guy that I think he adds a dynamic to the Buccaneers offense that hasn't quite been there for a while. Like, they've had great receivers, but not guys they can really do this with. Like, Chris Godwin is not the catch and run guy. Mike Evans has not been that guy. Mechan Buka for everything he's done. That's not his archetype either. So Tez, I think adds an element to the offense they haven't had. I kind of want to see what happens when a guy like this can get nine targets like he did last night and be tied to Baker Mayfield and have this opportunity. I think the big question is what happens when Chris Godwin comes back. I think Godwin goes into the slot. I think Igbuka stays as the X and they let Tez Johnson be the Z, the guy that can run around and Sterling shepherd is the guy that can rotate in as the slot for when Chris Godwin needs to move around. And I'm sure it'll be a four or five man rotation here, but I'm very intrigued to see what happens to Tez Johnson. This is where I say, like, I can pick up a guy and he has rest of the season upside and tying him to an MVP caliber quarterback and his type of playmaking ability. This has me excited. He's my number two waiver wire ad. I'm, I, maybe I'm over my skis than Tez Johnson, but I'm very excited about him.
Dave Kluge
No, I, I think you should be excited. And you know, we, we've talked about this so much last year and this year, like it doesn't matter who Baker Mayfield is throwing the ball to. He's at the point in his career where he elevates the talent around him. And we saw this last year with Jalen McMillan where he just kept scoring touchdown after touchdown after touchdown and everyone wrote it off as, oh, it's fluky, it's unsustainable. And he did it through the end of the year, and now we could see Tez Johnson in that very same role. And just to go back, athletic testing. I'm almost at the point where I just want to, like, ignore athletics entirely. Seriously.
Alfredo Brown
Like, I saw what they can do on the field, right?
Dave Kluge
And. And I loved Cam Scatterboo. Like, watching his film in the spring was, like, the highlight of my spring. Like, I fell in love with this guy watching him, and then he had some bad testing, opted out of the state strength training. You know, read a, ran a really bad 40 time, and I moved him down in my rankings. Tez Johnson was another guy. Like, if you watch him. If you. If you watch his college tape, the first thing that comes to your mind is just like, athlete jitterbug. Like, this guy's moving all over the field. Impossible. And then he tests poorly, and we're just like, oh, well, I guess this guy isn't athletic. You know, all of the big plays that he made in college were just fluky. And the reality is, Alfredo, you work out. You know how it is. You know, sometimes you go to the gym and, like, you know, you load up £200 on a machine that you're usually moving with ease, and then one day you're like, I can't even move 150. It happens like that. Like, it's not crazy to think that these athletes have those day, too, where Tess Johnson could have just showed up to the combine feeling a little bit under the weather or whatever, was not a great day. And all of a sudden we think he's terrible, and we're just going to ignore everything that he did in a very good collegiate career. So, you know, I don't want to get in my soapbox too much, but the. The combine is fun. I think that the. The most important thing there are probably the medicals and the team interviews, but we as consumers don't get access to that. All we see is them running in a straight line in the practice field, which is probably the most useless point of that entire weekend.
Alfredo Brown
Join us in the off season for our combine coverage, our NFL draft rookie coverage, and everything else we'll be doing throughout that time. It's going to be a blast.
Dave Kluge
Yeah.
Alfredo Brown
Also, yes. I am just like these prospects. I am athlete. Thank you, Dave. Thank you. All right, let's go down to the next tier. This is tier number three. We've got Isaiah Davis, running back for the New York jets, available in 89 of leagues. Alec Pierce, wide receiver for the Indianapolis colts, available in 87 of leagues. And Elisha Arroyo, tight end for the Seattle Seahawks, available in 94% of leagues. And Dave, we're going deeper and deeper into the waiver wire here where I honestly think some of these guys were starting to list, like Pierce, Arroyo and like, the next guys probably aren't getting picked up in leagues. But I'm sure, like, every episode we're gonna have people say, these guys are all already on rosters in my league. None of them are available. Well, don't worry. We've got four more players after this for you. Isaiah Davis, though, is the most intriguing to me, and he's actually my third player on the waiver wire this week because I see him in the same light as I do some of these other running backs we talked about. Devin Neal, Rashard Smith, Kyle Menungai. I see him as the exact same guy. He's got handcuff appeal, he's got pass catching upside. He's a good runner, he's got size, and he's on a team where I think some sweeping changes are about to happen. You don't go.06, bench your quarterback, and you're like, you know what, let's just keep everything the same way it is. And I started to look more into it. There are a lot of reporters, beat writers that cover the jets, that say it feels like an almost certainty that the jets have to trade Breece hall at this point just to get some sort of value out of him because it doesn't seem likely he would resign with the team. His efforts and talents are wasted at this moment.
Dave Kluge
What.
Alfredo Brown
What else can you do? If Isaiah Davis has this sort of path to 15, 16 touches a game, I think that's very valuable even on a bad team.
Dave Kluge
Yeah, I'm an Isaiah Davis fan. You know, this is a guy who we talked about in the preseason. I remember we had JJ Zachary on the show and we were talking about Isaiah Davis being like, one of his favorite stashes because of the speed and the pass catching upside and all those sorts of things. And I do wonder if the jets are just going to get ahead of the inevitable. Like, Pretzel is not returning to the jets next year.
Alfredo Brown
Last year on the contract, man, do something.
Dave Kluge
And I just wrote an article that published this morning if anybody watching this show also likes to read. And I wrote this, like, big, long kind of story about Javante Williams and, like, where I went wrong with my Javante Williams eval this year. And, you know, I look back at recent history, like, we have seen so many running backs find success in their second teams. And Javante Williams is the obvious one. But then Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry and Christian McAffrey and J.K. dobbins. Like there's something about these talented running backs that I think like they suffer these gruesome injuries with the team that they're with and all of those guys that I mentioned had suffered injuries with the team they were with and then somehow they go to a new team and they immediately rebound. Rebound to their pre injury efficiency. And that's what I'm hopeful for with Breece hall. Because this guy, his rookie year, like, we saw the big plays, we saw the pass catching upside. A lot of people are talking about this guy as the most valuable dynasty running back in football. And then he had the ACL tear. His efficiency hasn't been great since, but he seems like such an obvious guy to go to a new team and just completely explode there. And that would open the door for Isaiah Davis. I do wonder if he's going to get traded now that Braylon Allen is out for an extended time. Because if they trade Breeze Holloway, then they've got nobody. But Isaiah Davis. Wouldn't be great for the jets, but it would be awesome for fantasy football.
Alfredo Brown
So. So the jets actually. Oh, we're not gonna say nobody. The jets did go out and add Khalil Herbert to the backfield, Dave.
Dave Kluge
Yeah, they've got nobody.
Alfredo Brown
You shut your dirty mouth. We love us some Khalil Herbert. So they got Khalil Herbert. Kenny. Kenny Nuangwu.
Dave Kluge
And he's purely special teams.
Alfredo Brown
Like, purely special teams.
Dave Kluge
Nuangu into a role since he was with Minnesota.
Alfredo Brown
And I just don't think Keelan Robinson. I'll just say this. Keelan Robinson don't do the. Who cares? Okay? No one's done that to me since high school and I won't fall for it again. It was former Texas running back anyways. It's weird that the team would have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 running backs on their active roster. And then Andrew Beck, a fullback. That's a lot of backs. That's a lot of backs. Like, it just makes no sense to have that many. Oh my gosh. Do they have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7? They have the same amount of backs as they do wide receivers.
Dave Kluge
Insane. One of their wide receivers, too. It sounds like Ellen Lazard is going to be there long, extreme.
Alfredo Brown
He was even there. He was there. I know he was. Literally. But I'm just sitting like, what is he doing? He's that he's not there. Figuratively, anyways. Yeah, I think that that's the. That's the idea. Like, Isaiah Davis hasn't shown anything on the field where you're going. Yeah, man. You see how many runs he's getting, how many touches he's getting. He is getting. Work in the passing game is just small sample size and rushing, but the snap share went up like, it was Almost a pure 50.50sp it. In a close game, which is very weird. In a close game where they bench Justin Fields, Aaron Glenn's talking about, like, I'm gonna go talk to other coaches that have been in bad situations and see how they feel and what to do here and. And how to. How to split the backfield. Like, there's just so many things going on here. I. It would not surprise me, Dave. The jets play Cincy in week eight. It's a good time to let Breeze hall just run free, have himself a big game against a bad run defense. Trade him before the trade deadline, get some value, then you've got the bye week in week nine, and then just send Isaiah Davis to go run against the Cleveland Browns and get absolutely eaten up.
Dave Kluge
It could happen. Yeah. I mean, I said it was definitely worth a pickup, but what do we even get excited about here? I don't know. Is gone. Like, this team is bad, bad. And I think that, like, having Justin Fields out there, at least, like, there's a threat of another rusher out there that keeps defenses a little bit more honest. Gerard Taylor, he can run, but, like, not the same way Justin Fields can.
Alfredo Brown
You're hoping for a PPR scam with Isaiah Davis. Like, that's. That's any running back, even an average running back on a bad team, if he's getting 15, 16 touches, he's worth a roster spot. I think, like, that's, like, the ultimate thing that we're getting. Getting to here. All right. My dogs are going crazy. I don't know if you can hear it. They do not like the Jets. Next player in this tier, Alec Pierce, wide receiver for the Indianapolis Colts. I've got him at 8. Dave, you've got him at 6. This was a big game for him. Big performance for him. We see this, I want to say, like, once every six to seven weeks with Alec Pierce, but we got the 10 targets. For me, what it stood out is 10 targets by the same snapshare. No Josh Downs in this game. A sort of down game for Tyler Warren. Alec Pierce, he's getting used in different ways. Like, he's not purely the downfield guy anymore.
Dave Kluge
Right.
Alfredo Brown
I just don't know that I see enough here to make him worth the waiver wire ad. That's why I got him a little bit lower. I think once Downs is back, you've got Warren, you've got Downs, you've got Pittman. Pierce goes back to being fourth and actually with Jonathan Taylor fifth on the team potentially in the pecking order, I just think this is one of those like standalone games.
Dave Kluge
Yeah, probably. And I think like we do see that there might be some contingent upside here if Josh Downs has to miss anytime, which is weird because they play very different roles. You know, Alec Pierce is not the slot receiver there in Indianapolis, but just fewer targets to be distributed to or the same amount of targets to be distributed to fewer players means that more going Pierce's way. Probably not a guy that I'm like clamoring to get into my lineups, but was a fun best ball pick this off season because, you know, he's got that big play upside. Haven't really seen the big plays yet, but we're starting to see him expand his route tree run some routes across the middle of the field as well. Fan of Alec Pierce the player. But yeah, with how much they run the ball and the other pass catchers, they're probably not picking them up outside of like the deepest leagues that I'm in.
Alfredo Brown
Last guy on here, Elijah Arroyo. Dave. Seattle Seahawks rookie tight end. He started to see a little more work last night. I've got him at seven, you've got him at eight. He's available in 94% of leagues. I. I don't know that there's much to say here other than it's fun prospect, some good athleticism. Someone else on the Seahawks needs to be able to catch passes that's not named Jackson, Smith, Jigba. And we saw the highest workload of of the season for and well, technically his career for Elijah Royal last night. They started to work him pretty early. Almost scored a touchdown last night early in the game. And then the the Seahawks, they got ahead pretty early and just didn't have to pass the ball as much. So we saw a heavy dose of Zach Charbonnet and Ken Walker and that's still incredibly frustrating. Don't want to get into that. We'll do that another day.
Dave Kluge
I still prefer AJ Barn to Elijah Arroyo. Is that crazy? Like he's still getting more snaps, he's still running more routes and Arroyo got some targets last week, but it does seem like Barner is still the tight end one there but even that, like, this is a low volume passing offense. Jackson Smith was taking like 35 off the top for himself immediately. And then you're looking at A.J. barner and Elijah Arroyo kind of splitting snaps here. And it's funny, like, A.J. barner, I think a lot of people just look at him as, like, this, this. I don't want to say nobody, but I don't think there's a lot of excitement about AJ Barner, but still just 23 years old. Like, he kind of got lost in the shuffle last year when they were changing so many things up. You know, getting rid of Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf, dealing with his injuries, the Jackson Smith and the jig, but breakout. There was so much going on last year that A.J. brown or A.J. barna just kind of got lost in the shuffle. But he does feel like that typical kind of Kubiak tight end, the guy who's a really good blocker, the guy who can also get down the seam and make plays after the catch as well. I don't know if I'm crazy about Arroyo or Barner. They're both good football players, but I don't see a path to fantasy relevance for either.
Alfredo Brown
I, I can see a path to relevance for Arroyo because of the athleticism, because of the draft capital and like, who he is and them wanting to use him a bit more. His run after catchability is what inspires me the most. Like, Barner has been a touchdown or bust guy. He's not usable unless he scores a touchdown. With Arroyo, he may not end up being anything because Barner is there blocking him like from getting more snaps, doing more things. But I think as his team continues to, like, get deeper into the season and they say, okay, we're actually competitive, we're looking at playoff spots. We need to have more players other than JSN able to catch this football. There's.
Dave Kluge
They're.
Alfredo Brown
They're sending screens to Elijah Arroyo. Like, they're doing things where last night I initially looked and I was like, oh, Tori Horton. No, that's Elijah Arroyo. And like, they were just doing things. The tight end you don't typically see. And so, like, it does seem like there is an intentionality about it. Seahawks do have the bye week coming up, so we could see that post buy rookie bump. This is extremely speculative. Like, I haven't said you have them at 8. There's not like a huge disparity here in how much more I like Elijah Arroyo. All right, let's go to the final two tiers here. And this is going to be tier number four. We've got wide receiver Jack Besh for the Las Vegas raiders, available in 93% of leagues, and Jaylen Noel, wide receiver for the Houston Texans. Both these guys are rookies. Both these guys very, very available in 93 and 96%. I've got Besh at 9, you got him at 10. I've got Noel at 10, you've got him at 9. Same, same, same, same. I think we can kind of talk about them in the same breath as well. These are guys that due to injury or just lack of good targets on the team, they are getting some run and they're getting a little bit more snaps and a little more targets, but it just nothing has quite come to fruition. Liked both of their prospect profiles. I was very high on Jack Bash. I still think this can be something. He fits perfectly into the Jacoby Myers role. There's a lot of the Jacoby Myers trade talk. There's the injury there. Texans Nico Collins gets his concussion this past game and really there hasn't. Christian Kirk has been out. Jaden Higgins hasn't turned into anything. The, the problem with me is these, both of these offenses look really, really bad and I don't even know what full time roles with six or seven targets a game looks like on how bad these offenses are.
Dave Kluge
Yeah, and I think that's it. I mean, I'm a huge fan of Jalen Noel, so to see him like coming out last night, it's kind of that go to option when Migo Collins was out gets me really, really excited. This was a guy that I was just like gushing about during the entire rookie process and I know you were too. I made the comp to Golden Tate where he's got the after the catch ability and he's a small guy that can like just jump out of the arena and come down with contested catches as well. Crispy route runner. There's so much to like about Jalen Noel and he's just kind of been buried right now. But now with Christian Kirk injured with Nico Collins, we don't know if he'll play next week or not. We'll see how that pans out. But this could be one of those like cats out of the bag sort of things with Jaylen Noel where like he looked like a dominant NFL wide receiver last night. But again, the Houston Texans just don't look that great. This is a guy that we're talking about like at the very end of the waiver show that we have admitted isn't a great week for waivers. So we're the pickup and a stash in your deep leagues, but still tempering expectations regardless of how much I like the player.
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, I don't think there's too much to add there. It's just this is deep, deep league waiver wire stashes. Especially with like trade rumors with Jacoby Myers, I think Jack becomes fun. Wow, dude. Does CJ Stroud look bad? Does he look just. He and Trevor Lawrence are in the category right now where I just call him goofy.
Dave Kluge
He.
Alfredo Brown
Oh, Trevor, C.J. tua. The three of them just look absolutely as goofy as possible out there. They. That's the crazy thing is like they're all actually very talented players. They look like any third string quarterback that just walked into a game right now. It's just horrendous.
Dave Kluge
Just like weird decision making too.
Alfredo Brown
Like one like the CJ Stroud running straight back into the end zone.
Dave Kluge
Right? That was awful. But then also like just his footwork is a mess. Like you see him every time he drops back. Just like happy feet in the pocket.
Alfredo Brown
Terrified.
Dave Kluge
Like he looks terrified. And then he had that one play where like he had like an easy just like run up the middle. Like he stepped up into the pocket. There was nobody in front of him. And it's like, oh, C.J. stroud is just gonna like pick up the six yards for a first down and instead he just rifles the ball at Nick Chubb. Like one of the worst pass catching running backs in the NFL. I don't know what he is doing, but like that's the same thing as Trevor Lawrence. Like you see these throws every now and then where it's just like that arm talent is unbelievable. But then the just like the decision making is just so, so bad.
Alfredo Brown
It's. Yeah, it's really rough. Let's go to the final tier here. And this is for the deepest of deepest of deepest leagues.
Dave Kluge
I can't believe you're making me even talk about these guys.
Alfredo Brown
We don't have to.
Dave Kluge
We don't have to.
Alfredo Brown
Do you just want to. You just want to leave people in mystery there?
Dave Kluge
Thanks for tuning in, everyone. Come back tomorrow when we talk about our takeaways from week seven.
Alfredo Brown
We already did that. Tomorrow's the trade episode. Pay attention.
Dave Kluge
Yeah.
Alfredo Brown
Final tier wide receivers, Chris Moore. And I've heard it both ways. I've heard Shamir DK and I've heard Chimray dk. So at least you did the same.
Dave Kluge
Way that I did the first time I mentioned him in February.
Alfredo Brown
Nope, nope. Nope.
Dave Kluge
Let's go. Delete that one.
Alfredo Brown
Rookie. Rookie wide receiver for the Tennessee Titans. How about that? That dk, just leave it at that. Listen, I don't even know what to say here, man. Like Chris Moore, Debo's been hurt with the heel thing. We don't know how long that's going to be. You know, keep. How long that's going to keep him out. Terry McClorin's been out. It's not looking good. But now Jade Daniels is hurt. The Washington Commanders just look like an absolute mess. Chris Moore, he's getting a few, like, long passes per game, but nothing is really coming to fruition. Where it's like, ah, this is a guy that's getting, you know, ample targets. This is a very, very, very desperate wide receiver, five or six type thing. If you're in a deep league with a lot of buys and a lot of injuries and then DK is a guy who. His role has actually grown throughout the season. Yeah, Tyler Lockett wants. Or Tyler Lockett got his release. Okay, cool. Like, I don't know what it means to be the wide receiver too, or like the, the, like the third leading target earner or fourth leading target earner on the Titans right now. It's just such a bad team. Like both. These are bad teams. The players are fine. I just don't know if they matter for fantasy. But if you've got really deep league, a lot of injuries, a lot of buys, sure, it's. It's worth a look.
Dave Kluge
Yeah, DK is a fun player, you know, very athletic and.
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, seems like a good person. Yeah, like, he's probably a really nice guy.
Dave Kluge
I think these are like dynasty stashes. Like, if you're in like a. Oh.
Alfredo Brown
They'Re already on teams for sure.
Dave Kluge
Yeah.
Alfredo Brown
You know, Jeff bell has Shamir DK like stashed on all 47 of his dynasty rosters.
Dave Kluge
I remember talking about DK in the preseason just because, like, he was drafted before Alec IO Menor. And like, people got really excited about I am an or. And I was like, well, DK got drafted a couple rounds earlier.
Alfredo Brown
Like, I did not like, I did not like his film. It's just. Yeah, it's. He's gonna get five targets for one catch and it'll be a 62 yard bomb or a catch and run. He's got a lot of drops on his film, is not the best route runner.
Dave Kluge
He reminded me a lot. He and Isaac Tesla, to me were very similar prospects. Tesla is on like one of the best offenses in football. And you're not even rostering him. So why would you want to roster a guy who does a lot of the same things on one of the worst offenses in football? We got to talk about him because, you know, he scored a big touchdown last week and that's exciting, but probably not clamoring to get jamir DK on many of my fantasy teams.
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, this is a fun show. Just commiserated.
Dave Kluge
It's a bad week. We tried to bury the lead a little bit. Like, we want people to stick through.
Alfredo Brown
And this week sucks for waivers. Okay.
Dave Kluge
We said it was your time watching this episode, but, yeah, now that we're 40 minutes in, we can say it. Yeah, this is a bad, bad week for waivers.
Alfredo Brown
We suckered you into watching this episode. Gotcha.
Dave Kluge
If you made it this far, prove it. Let us know in the comments. Tell us that you made it all the way to the end where we said that this is just an awful, awful show. So thank you for taking the time.
Alfredo Brown
You know what that means, though, Dave, Check out this spin. With it being a bad week for waivers. There's a lot of injuries. There's a lot of buys. This is where you need to look at some trades. And we're going to be back tomorrow with our week eight trade episode. Looking at some trade targets there, and we'll get a fun spin on this. You know, something that's going to help you turn your season around, help you reach the playoffs, something like that. This has been, you know, we're in the middle of the season. This is. This is put up or shut up time. This is where, like, you're. It's gonna be make or break all the fun, you know, little phrases that we want to use there for your fantasy team. So make sure you are locked in tomorrow as always. Want to thank everybody for watching or listening all the way through. For myself, for Dave. We'll see you next time. Adios.
Jeff
Morning, Zoe. Got donuts.
Dana
Jeff Bridges, why are you still living above our garage?
Jeff
Well, I dig the ma and I want to be in a T mobile commercial like you. Teach me. So, Dana.
Dana
Oh, no, I'm not really prepared. I couldn't possibly at T Mobile get the new iPhone 17 Pro on them. It's designed to be the most powerful iPhone yet and has the ultimate pro camera system.
Dave Kluge
Wow.
Jeff
Impressive. Let me try. T mobile is the best place to get iPhone 17 Pro because they've got the best network.
Dave Kluge
Nice.
Dana
Jeffrey, you heard them.
Dave Kluge
T mobile is the best place to get the new iPhone 17 Pro on us with eligible traded in any condition.
Jeff
So what are we having for launch?
Dana
Dude, my work here is done.
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Hosts Alfredo Brown and Dave Kluge break down their top fantasy football waiver wire targets for Week 8 of the 2025 season. With the waiver landscape looking thin due to injuries, bye weeks, and a lack of obvious pickup priorities, the hosts emphasize the importance of vigilance and creative roster management. The tone is equal parts analytical and humorous, as the Footballguys dissect lesser-known options and discuss the rest-of-season upside for a range of running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends. This episode is especially valuable for players in deep leagues or managers seeking speculative adds with handcuff or breakout potential.
[03:19] The hosts establish that there are no “league winners” this week, but plenty of players with potential value, especially for managers needing bye week fill-ins or looking to stash handcuffs.
[04:36] Alfredo: “I look at him as he’s the full-time starter, 80%+ snapshare… young athletic guy… good offense… if I’m going to take a chance… I’m going to take a chance on him.”
[05:59] Dave: “I’ve already put this guy at TE13 in my rest of season rankings… but that’s more of an indictment on how bad the tight end landscape is right now.”
[07:22] Alfredo: “You don’t want to stop believing in waiver wire tight ends… I can’t do it this week.”
Notable Quote
Dave: “There’s going to be some boom/bust tendencies here… we saw the upside last week, but I think that there could be these games where he’s going to have three targets for 12 yards.” [07:09]
[08:37] Dave: “Evan Engram still available in 52% of leagues… I might go with Ingram because there’s a path to more consistency… albeit with a much lower ceiling.”
[09:26] Alfredo: “Given how bad tight end is, give me the guy who can win me my week, because pretty much everyone else is going to lose me my week.”
[11:23] Dave: “I’m looking at Manungai the same way I’m looking at a Taji Spears… the younger back in a split backfield… but what we saw was them just taking Swift out for entire drives and putting Kyle Manungai in.”
[14:16] Alfredo: “Jumps into that backup role after Kendre Miller’s injury... not so great offense... pure handcuff appeal.” [15:27] Dave: “If Alvin Kamara misses any time, there’s nobody else there… this is just purely a stash.”
[19:30] Dave: “3.13 yards per route run leads the league... this guy is pulling targets at an elite rate... very intentional about when they put him on the field.”
[23:29] Alfredo: “He pressed every single button on the controller… looked fantastic… adds a dynamic to the Bucs offense that hasn’t been there for a while.”
[25:07] Dave: “It doesn’t matter who Baker Mayfield is throwing the ball to… he elevates the talent around him.”
[39:19] Dave: “Jaylen Noel… looked like a dominant NFL wide receiver last night. But… still tempering expectations.”
[43:45] Dave: “I remember talking about DK in the preseason… got drafted before Alec IO Menor… probably not clamoring to get him on many of my fantasy teams.”
[07:22][11:50][16:54][21:09][23:29][40:15]This week’s waiver wire is thin on clear difference-makers, but smart fantasy managers can still find valuable stashes and speculative plays. Running backs like Manungai, Neal, Smith, and Davis offer handcuff or upside appeal, particularly as the season gets deeper and injuries pile up. Tez Johnson stands out as an exciting WR pickup with rest-of-season upside, while Arande Gadsden II headlines the tight end landscape with volatility but tantalizing potential. The hosts encourage patience with deep stashes and emphasize trade activity given the lackluster waivers.
[44:42] Alfredo closing:
“We suckered you into watching this episode. Gotcha.”
[45:02] “With it being a bad week for waivers… look at some trades. We’ll be back with our Week 8 trade episode.”
| Player | Position | Team | Availability | Key Upside | Tier | |------------------------|----------|------------------------|--------------|------------------------------------------------------|-----------| | Arande Gadsden II | TE | Chargers | 89% | High snap %; athleticism; boom weeks | 1 | | Kyle Manungai | RB | Bears | 89% | Handcuff; growing role; power runner | 2 | | Devin Neal | RB | Saints | 99% | Only real backup to Kamara; opportunity knocks | 2 | | Brashard Smith | RB | Chiefs | 91% | Pass-catching upside; Andy Reid’s rookie ramp-up | 2 | | Tez Johnson | WR | Buccaneers | 78% | Volume spike; athletic “jitterbug;” Evans/Godwin out | 2 | | Isaiah Davis | RB | Jets | 89% | Could start if Breece Hall traded/sits | 3 | | Alec Pierce | WR | Colts | 87% | Big target games with injuries; deep league stash | 3 | | Elijah Arroyo | TE | Seahawks | 94% | Athletic rookie; possible post-bye boost | 3 | | Jack Bech | WR | Raiders | 93% | Opportunity if Meyers traded; talent | 4 | | Jaylen Noel | WR | Texans | 96% | Flashed playmaking; team injuries | 4 | | Chris Moore | WR | Commanders | 97% | Injuries to starters; deep desperation only | 5 | | Chimere DK (Shamir DK) | WR | Titans | 98% | Athletic, big-play flashes; dynasty/deep flier | 5 |
It’s not a week for splashy pickups, but those who dig deep might catch rising opportunity or future flex value—especially if injuries and trades create chaos. The hosts’ banter and honest assessments (“This week sucks for waivers. Okay.” [44:42]) will keep listeners entertained and encouraged to play the long game. If your roster needs immediate help, target Gadsden and Johnson; if you can afford a stash, prioritize RB handcuffs. And consider working the trade market while your leaguemates grumble over this barren waiver landscape.