The fantasy football season is pretty much half over at this point, maybe even more than half if you’ve had a rough start and are not making the playoffs. This means that waiver pickups are becoming more and more important with each passing week. Therefore, this week, in addition to all of our other content at PFN, we wanted to present a different method for sharing our waiver wire adds that was a little more creative, potentially more meaningful, and also more fun for us as well, since we’re all missing doing mock drafts. So, without further adieu, here is your Fantasy Football 2019 Week 9 Waiver Wire Mock Draft with the PFN Fantasy staff!
Week 9 Waiver Wire Mock Draft
We decided to have some constraints for this column. For starters, this is for a 12-team, 1QB, PPR, two flex league, and players named must be owned in fewer than 33% of leagues on ESPN. One of the fun things about a draft is that you can get sniped, and it can cause some great trash talk amongst the league-mates. This mock draft was no different.
Round 1, Pick 1 – Mark Walton, MIA RB (12% owned)
“At this time of the year, you don’t find many guys stepping into a starting role. I don’t think he’s going to help Miami win, but he could be a serviceable bye-week flex fill in with Kenyan Drake now in Arizona. Week 9 has several key guys on byes like Alvin Kamara, Latavius Murray, Todd Gurley, Joe Mixon, and Devonta Freeman, so give me the fill-in for a week.” – Tommy Garrett, PFN Fantasy Analyst
Round 1, Pick 2 – Darren Fells, HOU TE (13% owned)
“Darren Fells is TE8 in PPR leagues this year. Assuming you’re in TE hell like most of us, Fells should provide you with some much-needed help. He’s in one of the best offenses in the league, with a QB that most teams would kill for. The name might not be sexy, but Fells should be a priority.” – Corey Ashburn, PFN Fantasy Analyst
Round 1, Pick 3 – Alexander Mattison, MIN RB (18% owned)
“With Walton already taken, it’s wise to pick up Alexander Mattison here as a stash. The jury is still out on whether or not Dalvin Cook can stay healthy for a full season. If he can’t, Mattison instantly becomes an RB1 and could be a league winner. Even with Cook healthy, Mattison has shown his worth, receiving double-digit touches in two of the last three games and has averaged 4.9 yards per carry on the season.” – Eric Frosbutter, PFN Fantasy Analyst
Round 1, Pick 4 – Chris Conley, JAX WR (10% owned)
“With Dede Westbrook banged up again, he could see a rest week against a Houston Texans secondary that’s facing its own health issues with three starters absent from their Week 8 matchup and now that J.J. Watt is done for the year. With his explosive play nature, Chris Conley provides the type of standalone value people need for flex options this week.” – Andrew Jordan, PFN Fantasy Analyst
–Tommy started things off with Mark Walton and we all agreed that he is the clear cut number one waiver addition this week. The other three picks are all must pickups but are more team dependent, based on whether you need help at TE, RB, or WR down the stretch. If you’re cruising to the playoffs already, I think Mattison adds the most potential upside if he’s available.
Round 2, Pick 1 – Dallas Goedert, PHI TE (25% owned)
“The Philadelphia Eagles have a serious two-headed monster at TE right now. Playing in 73.5% of snaps on Sunday, Dallas Goedert is getting more than his fair share of targets as the Eagles WRs fail to get open consistently. Over the past three weeks, Goedert has nearly doubled Zach Ertz’s fantasy points and has earned himself a consistent role in the Eagles offense. With TE as shallow as ever, Goedert has a high-end TE2 upside moving forward.” – Tommy Garrett
Round 2, Pick 2 – Darrell Henderson, LAR RB (23% owned)
“It’s that time of the season where handcuffs are starting to become more important than lower-level role players. That being said, Gurley’s injury history makes both Henderson and Malcolm Brown guys that should be kept in mind. Though both would likely share the backfield if Gurley does go down, Henderson has proven to be the much more explosive playmaker and pass catcher and has received 11 carries in back-to-back games with Brown out.” – Corey Ashburn
Round 2, Pick 3 – Danny Amendola, DET WR (9% owned)
“Amendola has a few poor performances in the first half of the year, but in the Detroit Lions last two games he has a total of 16 receptions for 200 yards, and it’s likely he produces similar results in the second half of the season. Kerryon Johnson is now on IR, and it doesn’t appear Detroit will add anyone to their backfield before the trade deadline after news reported that Kenyan Drake was traded to the Arizona Cardinals. It’s highly likely that we could see more pass attempts from Matthew Stafford, which should result in more targets for Amendola.” – Eric Frosbutter
Round 2, Pick 4 – Jonnu Smith, TEN TE (<1% owned)
“Another benefactor of an unfortunate injury, this time to tough veteran Delanie Walker. Jonnu Smith suddenly finds himself in the driver’s seat at TE now having notched two productive games for new QB Ryan Tannehill. With double-digit upside and the state of the TE position in fantasy football as it is, Jonnu Smith feels like a bit of a steal this far back.” – Andrew Jordan
–It’s possible that Goedert could be the number one overall waiver addition if your team is very needy at TE for the remainder of the year. He’s clearly getting more focus than Ertz and with the way Ertz’s contract is structured, it’s possible he takes over the TE1 role entirely by the end of the year. Amendola is another great addition if you’re looking for solid PPR upside and he is going entirely under the radar in most leagues.
Round 3, Pick 1 – Cole Beasley, BUF WR (26% owned)
“Sunday marked the second week in a row with a touchdown as Cole Beasley has become the WR2 for Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. John Brown’s threat to get behind a defense meshes perfectly for Beasley to work underneath the coverage. Beasley has scored double-digit fantasy points in five out of seven games, making him a WR3 or Flex play in most PPR formats. Matchups against Washington, Cleveland, and Miami in a row make him a solid waiver add.” – Tommy Garrett
Round 3, Pick 2 – Alex Erickson, CIN WR (2% owned)
“Similar to the Beasley pick, Alex Erickson has been a solid floor play in PPR leagues as of late. Three weeks in a row of 6+ targets and 10+ fantasy points should allow you to feel OK playing him as your last flex play if you’re hurting with bye weeks or injuries.” – Corey Ashburn
Round 3, Pick 3 – Chris Herndon, NYJ TE (25% owned)
“Sam Darnold may be seeing ghosts, but as long as he can see his tight end as well, then everything’s fine. Darnold certainly saw Ryan Griffin this past weekend, who finished the game with 4 receptions for 66 yards and 2 scores. Darnold and Chris Herndon built a good rapport towards the end of last season, and the hope is that they can continue with that once Herndon is fully healthy.” – Eric Frosbutter
Round 3, Pick 4 – Russell Gage, ATL WR (<1% owned)
“Mohamed SaWHO? After receiving the start over Justin Hardy, Russell Gage looked exactly the part for the Atlanta Falcons, more than doubling his number of targets on the season to the tune of 13.8 PPR points. It’s early, yet Gage appears to have found a consistent role on an offense that will have to throw it in order to keep up with their porous secondary.” – Andrew Jordan
–Most of these names you’ve seen on fantasy football waiver pick up lists already, but I challenge you to find anyone saying to pick up Russell Gage before the Sanu trade. He definitely came out and made a name for himself and warrants a look in deeper leagues, especially dynasty. Whether you’re needy at WR or not, he deserves a spot on your roster if you have one available.
Honorable Mentions
Josh Reynolds, LAR WR (<1% owned) // Phillip Dorsett, NE WR (32% owned) // A.J. Brown, TEN WR (15% owned) // Hunter Renfrow, OAK WR (2% owned) // Demaryius Thomas, NYJ WR (5% owned)
Hit us up on Twitter @PFNFantasy with your start/sit questions for tonight’s game. Also, continue to visit the Pro Football Network for NFL news and in-depth analysis like the PFN OSM data while also visiting our Fantasy Football section for more coverage.
Andrew Hall is a writer for PFN covering Fantasy Football. You can follow him @AndrewHallFF on Twitter.
