Dynasty Waivers of the Future: Week 8

My colleague Jeff Blaylock and I gaze into our crystal footballs each week to find players who may become popular waiver targets in the future so that you can pick them up now for next to nothing. We typically start with our priority pickups for the week, then gaze deeper for lightly rostered gems who have been largely ignored by dynasty managers so far.

Priority Pickups

WR Andrei Iosivas, Cincinnati (44% Rostered)

FAHLSING: I thought of Iosivas and then I decided he was probably more than 50% rostered and wouldn't qualify, but would you look at that…44 percent. Joe Flacco rode into town on his Cushman Scooter (Look it up, kids. It means he's old.) and resuscitated hope in the Bengals' passing game. He isn't Joe Burrow, and if he's smart, he'll continue to mostly have eyes for Ja'Marr Chase, but Flacco showed that he still has enough to support and stabilize the values of Chase and Tee Higgins.

Iosivas isn't targeted nearly as much as the top two guys, but in Week 7, he only ran eight fewer routes than Higgins and 13 fewer than Chase. For the season, Iosivas is the only player besides those two to have run more than 200 routes. He is consistently on the field, and if something should happen to one of the superstar receivers in front of him, he could be in a position to reap a huge reward as the running mate to the other superstar.

QB Quinn Ewers, Miami (45%)

BLAYLOCK: Josh, five weeks ago, you highlighted Zach Wilson as a deep dart, noting the negative vibes coming out of Miami and Tua Tagovailoa's injury history. It was a good call at the time, but times have changed. Not the Dolphins offense, mind you. It's still terrible, and the coaching staff is perhaps even more beleaguered now than it was entering Week 3. What has changed is the team's QB2. Head coach Mike McDaniel said he believed Ewers, not Wilson, offered the team the better chance to win against the Browns if he were called upon to play. Ewers didn't pull out a comeback victory, but he went 5-for-8 for 53 yards and, importantly, no turnovers. His 81.8 quarterback rating, while certainly not stellar, was still significantly better than Tagovailoa's 24.1, which was the second-lowest this season for anyone with at least 10 passing attempts. Put another way, Justin Fields has had better ratings in each of his games.

Miami drafted Ewers in the seventh round of this year's NFL draft. He passed for 9,128 yards and 68 touchdowns in three seasons at Texas. Our Matt Waldman said in his Rookie Scouting Portfolio that Ewers was right on the margin between being a capable NFL starter and a career backup. Perhaps he will get an audition, but it's not likely so long as Tagovailoa remains upright. It isn't even clear that Ewers will remain the QB2. McDaniel said he expected a competition for the role this week and that all options were on the table. Given the importance of the QB position for Superflex formats, particularly as bye weeks cut into the number of available starters, Ewers is my waiver priority for this week. 

FAHLSING: The reasoning was sound, but dang it, I knew there was no hope for Wilson. So this has now happened twice. We call the situation right, but get the player wrong. I called Wilson, and it's looking like Ewers. I called Jameis Winston as a potential target for the Bengals, only for the team to trade for Joe Flacco an hour after we posted. Get ready, because this week it's Tennessee's wide receivers.

Dart Throws

WR Van Jefferson, Tennessee (10% Rostered)

WR Chimere Dike, Tennessee (47% Rostered)