Week 9 Waiver Wire: Stat Projections for Top Fantasy Pickups and Sleepers

While the NFL season may only be at its midpoint, those playing in fantasy football leagues are already on the backstretch, looking to jockey for playoff position in Week 9.For the most part, the popular pickups in these later weeks are players thrust into bigger roles due to injuries to starters. This can make the waiver wire especially perilous for a couple of reasons.

These trendy players don’t have much in the way of statistics to pick apart and use to predict future effectiveness. Also, its later in the season, and multiple teams are on byes each weeks, which means some owners will be forced to play them right away instead of stash them and wait to see if they prove to be worth the stress.

Since time is running out on the fantasy football season, it makes sense to see whether or not these players can live up to fantasy expectations in the upcoming week, and not necessarily how effective they might be for the long haul.

Here are the top Week 9 pickups in ESPN and Yahoo Sports fantasy leagues, along with stat projections from ESPN.com. The tables include only those players owned in less than 50 percent of leagues.

Top Pickups and Sleepers

Charcandrick West, RB, Kansas City Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs just may have to turn to Charcandrick West to lead the run game in Week 9 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Jamaal Charles is struggling with a knee injury, and Spencer Ware suffered a concussion Sunday in the Chiefs’ 30-14 win over the Indianapolis Colts. 

West earned 46 snaps against the Colts, per ArrowheadPride.com, tallying 52 rushing yards and eight receiving yards.

Despite a relatively slight frame, Arrowhead Pride noted West was running with toughness on Sunday:

Charcandrick lowering his shoulder and laying the wood on two straight plays.

— Arrowhead Pride (@ArrowheadPride) October 30, 2016

West has seen very few touches on the year with Ware providing much of the offensive firepower, so there’s not much to go on from this season.

Last year, however, West proved to be a good midseason investment, tallying 276 rushing yards, 136 receiving yards and four touchdowns in a three-game stretch as the lead back. That stretch was in late October/early November, so perhaps West can conjure up that same autumn magic again.The Chiefs have a favorable matchup at home against the Jags, who are giving up the 15th-most fantasy points per game this season to running backs, per Yahoo Sports, and just coughed up 214 rushing yards in a loss to the Tennessee Titans.

The Chiefs offense may stagnate some if Alex Smith—who went into the concussion protocol twice Sunday but might actually be OK after all—is unable to go. That said, backup quarterback Nick Foles has plenty of starting experience in his career and should be able to keep the offense chugging along like he did against the Colts.

West is the only sensible security-blanket option for Ware owners and is worth a flex play in Week 9. Seventy all-purpose yards and a touchdown are within reach if Ware and Charles are indeed out.

Tim …

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