Welcome to week 8 of last-minute moves to make. This article is intended to give you late-week waiver and free-agent advice based on late-week news and gameday inactives. Injuries and other late-week developments can have a huge impact on lines and rosters, and being up-to-date on these, especially before waivers and free agency locks before kickoff, is a huge advantage.
Float Backup RBs
This time of the season is a critical time to make sure you are constantly updating your bench to improve your odds at landing an impactful player. Pay attention to the backup running backs on your roster and the upcoming bye schedules. Week 9 has byes for Denver, Detroit, Jacksonville, and San Francisco. Based on usage in recent weeks, you can preemptively cut Samaje Perine for a player who could potentially be lineup-viable in week 10. Likewise, unless you are playing Craig Reynolds in a lineup this week, you should cut him. His team has a week 9 bye, and David Montgomery is expected to return for week 10. For him to be valuable, he would need another injury ahead of him, and at best, you will have to wait nearly a month for an opportunity to play him. Monitor these opportunities and keep scrubbing the back of your roster to optimize your odds.
Stash Connor Heyward
Pat Freiermuth was placed on injured reserve before week 8 with a hamstring injury that would keep him out for at least four weeks. The situation was projected to be a timeshare between Connor Heyward and Darnell Washington, but Heyward dominated the opportunity. Heyward ran a route on 96% of the team's dropbacks, by far the most a tight end has done in any game for Pittsburgh this season as the next highest was Pat Freiermuth in week 2 (88%). Heyward is a potential aggregator in Freiermuth's absence with potential spot starts in the coming weeks with the upcoming bye gauntlet.
Scrub Backups
This is the time of the season to continuously optimize your roster to secure league-winning opportunities. Prior years saw free agents at this time of the season be league-winning players by the end of the fantasy playoffs. The likes of 2018 Damien Willaims, 2015 Tim Hightower, and 2022 Jerick McKinnon were fantasy afterthoughts at this stage of the season before league-changing performances in the fantasy playoffs. This is the time of year to consistently have those types of opportunities in the back of your mind. With a bye gauntlet coming up, backup running backs will get dropped for other options. Make sure to pounce when an injury-away running back hits waivers. Before lineups are set, make sure to make one last pass through your available running backs and prioritize injury-away running backs. Trayveon Williams for example, is widely available and has been cut in leagues this week. If he or others like him are available, make space for them on your roster.