This is a shallow week for Dumpster Diving.
Teams clearly are tightening-up as the playoffs loom, and players are being grabbed off of the waiver wire and free agent pools with frequency. But despite little-to-no easy names, there are still going to be lightly-rostered players that produce solid fantasy lines.
Let’s see if we can identify any of them.
Desperate times lead to desperate measures, but always have a plan of action when you need to dig deep.
As always, our threshold is players rostered in less than 10% of Yahoo! leagues.
Jakobi Meyers WR New England (8%)
If you need a safe floor-play, then Meyers is your guy.
He has seen 16 targets his last two games. He has essentially filled the Julian Edelman role. This week, he has a plus match-up against the league-worst Jets on Monday Night Football. Note, even if you do not want to use him this week, pick him up. He can be a quality depth piece over the next few weeks.
Marvin Hall WR Detroit (7%)
Hall is a sneaky option this week at wideout. Kenny Golladay is set to miss the game. Marvin Jones and T.J. Hockenson look like the clear top-2 options, but the Minnesota secondary is leaky, and a third pass-catcher could be supported.
Enter Hall.
Last week, Hall went for 113-yards seemingly out of nowhere. If you are desperate this week, a bet on last week’s production repeating is not out of the question.
Patrick Laird RB Miami (7%)
Oof.
This is truly an ugly week for dumpster-diving at the running back spot.
Surprisingly-productive Myles Gaskin was placed on IR. The presumed replacement, Matt Breida, was announced as “out” late in the week. Jordan Howard (33%) is the presumed Miami-back-to-play of the week, but he has done virtually nothing. Laird looks like the sneaky bet to at least catch a few passes in what could be a negative game script. This is for the truly, truly desperate (and/or brave), but if he sees a lot of time, Laird could give you a 4-5 catch performance.
K.J. Hamler WR Denver (2%)
Hamler caught his first touchdown of the season, but the production and breakout performances just are not there this season. This could be the week for Hamler to breakout, however, and see an expanded role. Atlanta is getting shredded. They are the worst secondary in yards allowed and the second-worst at conceding touchdowns.
Best of luck in Week 9!