Week 9 Waiver Wire: Breakout Pickups, Targets and Tips for Fantasy Football

The only consistent storyline in the 2022-23 NFL fantasy season seems to be the inconsistency in scoring from week to week, more notably than in recent years.

Every week, it seems, players jostle for position between starting rosters and the bench; when a player such as Pittsburgh Steelers wideout George Pickens scores 18.1 points one week, we move him to our active roster, only for him to score zero points (which is what happened in Week 8).

The New Orleans Saints' Taysom Hill, the Baltimore Ravens' Devin Duvernay, the Green Bay Packers' AJ Dillon and the Atlanta Falcons' Kyle Pitts are other examples of boom-or-bust players this year.

Add injuries to the mix, and if you want to remain competitive until your playoffs, you'll need to be utilizing waivers to fill the gaps and take advantage of the hot hand. We have a few recommendations for how you can do that heading into Week 9.

For our purposes, for players to be considered breakout pickup options, they must be rostered in less than 55 percent of leagues.

Rostered: 31 percent

Week 8 stats: 7 att, 62 rush yds, 4 rec, 1 rec TD, 16.70 pts

Given that the Baltimore Ravens played Thursday night, Kenyan Drake, who had a big game, is going to be a more obvious waiver target in your league ahead of Week 9. But if you have priority in the order, it's worth putting in a claim.

Except for Week 6, in which the 28-year-old posted 18.7 points after rushing 10 times for 119 yards and finding the end zone, his season has been unremarkable.

However, when Gus Edwards suffered a hamstring injury and left the game, Drake stepped up and amassed 16.70 points thanks to more than 60 yards on the ground and a receiving touchdown.

Edwards may be out for Week 9, so it would be smart to stream Drake in that case, if not actually handcuffing the two backs. It could lead to a headache when you have the wrong player on your bench, but you want to be sure you have whoever Baltimore's lead back is on your team rather than on someone else's.

Rostered: 12 percent

Week 8 stats: 6 rec, 79 rec yds, 2 TD, 25.90 pts

Unless your tight end happens to be named Travis Kelce or Mark Andrews, you've likely had an ongoing headache concerning the spot on your roster this season.

Tight ends have been notably inconsistent this season, with players such as Taysom Hill and T.J. Hockensen scoring less than five points some weeks and more than 30 others.

To wit, few fantasy managers roster New York Jets tight end Tyler Conklin, and for good reason. On the whole this season, the Jets give their tight ends less than four targets per game.

But heading into Sunday Night Football, the 27-year-old was the highest-scoring tight end in fantasy in Week 8, racking up more than 25 points thanks to his high usage (six receptions on 10 targets for 79 yards and two touchdowns). That's coming off six targets in Week 7, so his usage is trending in the right direction.

Conklin hadn't scored more than eight points in a game before Week 8, so add him with caution. But chances are you haven't been happy with the position in redraft leagues and have to start one each week, so why not ride the hot hand?

Rostered: 53 percent

Week 8 stats: 14 att, 39 rush yds, 3 rec, 46 rec yds, 1 rec TD, 17.50 pts

Atlanta Falcons running back Tyler Allgeier has scored double-digit points on one other occasion this season: a Week 4 against the Cleveland Browns. But he didn't start finding the end zone until Week 7, which he did on the ground then and through the air this week.

In Week 5, the 22-year-old moved to the top of the Falcons' depth chart after Cordarrelle Patterson was placed on injured reserve. Since then, he's had 14.7 rushing attempts per game on average and has scored double-digit fantasy points twice on the season, in Weeks 4 and 7.

Allgeier doesn't offer upside in the passing game, so he may not be the best option in PPR leagues. But if you need bench depth or a flex streamer, there aren't going to be many No. 1 running backs sitting on waivers.

At 53 percent rostered, the BYU product is on the cusp of being considered a breakout player this week. But it's still likely he's available in your league, which makes him a solid recommendation for this week's waiver claims.

Rostered percentage and fantasy points via FantasyPros