Top fantasy football waiver wire pickups for Week 9

Yahoo: 2% owned | ESPN: 1% owned

Jameis Winston's season is over after he suffered a torn ACL on Sunday, and he was replaced by Trevor Siemian, who somehow led the Saints to victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Trevor Siemian vs. Tom Brady. Go figure.

But it seems Siemian was only in because Taysom Hill has been out with a concussion. With Hill's return impending, the dual-threat specialist should be at the helm of the offense like he was for a good chunk of the 2020 season. There were some great fantasy outings in there as well, including when he scored 24.2, 17.5, 23.6 and 18.9 points across Weeks 10-13.

The one obstacle in this seemingly obvious replacement plan at quarterback is that Albert Breer of the MMQB was told by a staffer that we shouldn't just assume that Hill will become the starter, so we'll have to watch how the situation develops. Spend your FAAB accordingly, but it's not a bad idea to pull the trigger on Hill if you're in need of a quarterback.

Adrian Peterson
Yahoo: 0% owned | ESPN: 0% owned

Expect the rush to Peterson to be the story of the waiver wire this week, as the veteran and surefire Hall of Famer has signed with the Titans' practice squad and should be elevated to the active roster shortly, according to report. By all accounts, he has stayed in great shape and could become the lead back there while the other Tennessee running backs maintain their roles, albeit with larger workloads.

Jeremy McNichols
Yahoo: 2% owned | ESPN: 2% owned

McNichols could get the bulk of the passing work out of the backfield, as he had already accumulated 21 receptions on 27 targets through eight weeks and will absorb a lot more now that Henry is out.

Overall, Peterson is worth more FAAB, but both running backs are priority targets this week.

Jordan Howard
Yahoo: 2% owned | ESPN: 1% owned
Boston Scott
Yahoo: 19% owned | ESPN: 5% owned

After Miles Sanders' injury was significant enough to land him on injured reserve, everyone expected Kenneth Gainwell to emerge as the Eagles running back to own. That made sense, seeing as he spent the bulk of the season as Sanders' No. 2 back, while Howard had spent time on the practice squad and Scott had scarcely seen the field. But Gainwell had just 27 yards on 13 carries Sunday in a win against the Lions. Meanwhile, Howard had 12 carries for 57 and two touchdowns and Scott had 12 carries for 60 yards and two touchdowns.

I'd be careful pursuing Howard or Scott, as I find it hard to expect the Eagles will run the ball in upcoming games as much as they did Sunday. The Lions are the Lions, and the rest of the schedule isn't as easy, with dates against the high-powered offense of the Chargers and the should-be stingy defense of the Broncos coming up.

Still, with both running backs rushing for two scores on the ground, needy teams can pick up one of these players for a short-term solution. I'd lean on the side of Scott if you have to pick one.

Yahoo: 51% owned | ESPN: 46% owned

Aiyuk is one percent over the threshold of eligibility on Yahoo that we usually use for this list, but he's close enough that it's worth including him. One of the most disappointing players of the 2021 fantasy football season, Aiyuk could be turning it around at the right time, though it's a sign of where we're at that we're so excited about a four-catch, 45-yard outing. In Week 8 of last season, Aiyuk had eight catches for 91 yards and a score, so he's far behind in that respect.

Still, the fact that Aiyuk drew seven targets and played 49 of 56 offensive snaps Sunday — more than breakout star Deebo Samuel (46 snaps) — is something that we can't just ignore. He has been a buy-low candidate for the whole entire season, and just when we thought it might be time to admit he's a bust, it may actually be looking up.

Yahoo: 25% owned | ESPN: 18% owned

Conklin has finished as a top-15 tight end three times this season, including doing so in each of the past two weeks that the Vikings have played.

With friendly matchups ahead against the Ravens and Chargers — two of the bottom-eight defenses against the tight end — Conklin could be a nice player to pick up and hang on to for a couple of weeks. If he gains momentum and builds off his last two efforts, perhaps he could become a usable low-end TE1 the rest of the season.