Fantasy Football Waiver Wire: Kyler Murray’s Return, Six Running Backs to Target

The good news is there are no teams on bye in Week 8, but that doesn’t mean it’s a week off from the fantasy football waiver wire. Always strive to improve your depth because injuries can strike at any point. Plus, four teams are on bye each week from Week 9 through 11. No teams have a bye in Week 12 then six have a bye in Week 13 and two in Week 14. Here are the top waiver wire adds for Week 8.

Quarterbacks

Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals
In many leagues, the addition of Murray has started already. Murray was designated to return from the injured reserve last week and could start as soon as Week 9 or 10, after surgery to repair his ACL 10 months ago. While he likely won’t return to what he was before, he can have a higher floor with his ability to run and has solid skill players around him.

Gardner Minshew, Indianapolis Colts
It’s a roller coaster with Minshew, but he can put up stats. Minshew threw an interception and lost three fumbles against a good Browns defense, but passed for 305 yards with two touchdowns and rushed for 29 yards with two scores. He has passed for 300 yards in two straight games. Minshew gets a tough matchup in Week 8 against the Saints before good matchups against the Panthers, Patriots, Buccaneers and Titans. 

Derek Carr, New Orleans Saints
The Saints’ offense has been disappointing, but Carr has passed for 300 yards in consecutive games. There are good players around him with Alvin Kamara, Chris Olave and Michael Thomas. The schedule is favorable with the Colts, Bears and Vikings ahead.

Running Backs

Darrell Henderson, Los Angeles Rams
Those paying attention added Henderson last week. Reports came out over the weekend that Henderson and Royce Freeman would split the backfield. Henderson is familiar with the Rams system and coach Sean McVay showed a lot of confidence in a guy who wasn’t on a team this year before the Rams added him. Henderson played 36 snaps to 26 for Freeman. He wasn’t efficient, with 18 carries for 61 yards, but scored a TD and added a five-yard catch. Henderson ran more routes than Freeman and is the lead back until Kyren Williams returns. Freeman can be added in deeper formats, but Henderson saw most of the goal-line snaps and was more involved in the passing game.

Pierre Strong, Cleveland Browns
Jerome Ford has an ankle injury and will miss 1-2 weeks. Kareem Hunt will likely split snaps with Strong, who was getting touches in the fourth quarter with the game on the line. He played 17 of 28 snaps in the fourth quarter on Sunday. The Browns have focused on the running game even more of late, due to poor quarterback play.

Emari Demercado, Arizona Cardinals
Demercado was a popular addition before Week 6 and barely touched the ball (three touches) with Keaontay Ingram and Damien Williams taking bigger roles; many dropped Demercado. In Week 7, Demercado played 78% of the snaps, while Williams played 12 snaps and Ingram played none. Against the Seahawks, Demercado had 13 carries for 58 yards and four receptions for 17 yards on five targets. James Conner will miss at least two more games. 

Devin Singletary, Houston Texans
The Texans had a bye last week and the week prior, Singletary was cutting into the touches of Dameon Pierce. Singletary had 12 carries for 58 yards and a four-yard catch, while Pierce had 13 carries for 34 yards with no receptions. Singletary played 34 snaps to 21 for Pierce. It could have been matchups or a sign of things to come.

Cam Akers, Minnesota Vikings
One week after Akers was barely involved, the snaps were close with him and Alexander Mattison on Monday night. Mattison played 37 snaps and Akers 27. Mattison ran 21 routes to 12 for Akers. Mattison had eight carries for 39 yards and two catches for three yards, while Akers had 10 carries for 31 yards and two catches for 30 yards. There’s a chance Akers gets more involved and should be a stash on the bench.

Chris Rodriguez, Washington Commanders
This is for deep formats as a stash in case the Commanders make a shift in the backfield. Rodriguez only played nine snaps last week, but he had seven carries for 31 yards. Antonio Gibson only had two carries and two targets.

Wide Receivers

Josh Downs, Indianapolis Colts
Downs has been mentioned here a few times, and he’s here again since he’s still available in shallow formats. Downs has scored in consecutive games and benefits with Gardner Minshew at quarterback. Minshew will run less than Anthony Richardson and look downfield more. Downs had five catches for 125 yards with a TD on six targets against the Browns last week. He has double-digit points in PPR formats in four of the last six games.

Kendrick Bourne, New England Patriots
Another reminder that Bourne can be useful. He is more involved when either DeVante Parker or Juju Smith-Schuster is out. Smith-Schuster was out this past week and Bourne caught six of seven targets for 63 yards with a touchdown. Bourne is averaging more than seven targets per game.

Jalin Hyatt, New York Giants
Hyatt was mentioned last week as an add in deeper formats. He is playing more snaps and is capable of a big play at any point. Hyatt had a season-high five targets and caught two passes for 75 yards. The role is increasing. 

Demario Douglas, New England Patriots
Douglas had a season-high 20% target share and ran the second most routes among Patriots receivers in Week 7. Douglas had four catches for 54 yards on six targets and had a 20-yard run.

Michael Wilson, Arizona Cardinals
Wilson has been inconsistent, but that’s mainly due to the offense struggling. He’s a starting wide receiver and the return of Kyler Murray should help Wilson become a factor in the season’s second half.

JaJuan Jennings, San Francisco 49ers
Jennings is a one-week option with Deebo Samuel missing one more game. Jennings had nine targets on Monday against the Vikings and caught five passes for 54 yards.

Jonathan Mingo, Carolina Panthers
Another rookie receiver that could finish the season strong. Mingo has been on the field for 84% of the plays the last two games.

Tight Ends

Dalton Kincaid, Buffalo Bills
Kincaid finally had a big game and Dawson Knox will have wrist surgery and miss time. After missing a game due to a concussion, Kincaid caught all eight of his targets for 75 yards in Week 7.

Michael Mayer, Las Vegas Raiders
Mayer’s role continues to increase even if the stat line wasn’t great in Week 7. Mayer caught two of four targets for 13 yards with Brian Hoyer at quarterback. The rookie played 81% of the snaps with an 18.7% target share in Week 6, catching five of six targets for 75 yards. Mayer played most of the snaps before the Raiders pulled their starters against the Bears.

Trey McBride, Arizona Cardinals
McBride was already starting to cut into Zach Ertz’s snaps, and Ertz has now been placed on injured reserve with a quad injury. McBride has played more than 50% of the snaps and has at least five targets in each of the last two games. He had four catches for 62 yards in Week 6 and three catches for 29 yards last week.

Taysom Hill, New Orleans Saints
Hill has become more involved in the offense lately. He has at least four carries in four of seven games and has 11 catches on 13 targets over the last two games.