The fantasy football schedule is heading into Week 9 and some early pickups and waiver wire options include Willie Snead, Tavon Austin, Jacob Tamme, Benjamin Watson, Brandin Cooks, Charcandrick West, Derek Carr, Malcom Floyd, Dwayne Harris, Shane Vereen and Gary Barnidge. Todd Gurley was one of the top performers of the week along with Drew Brees, Eli Manning, Julio Jones, Tom Brady, Carson Palmer and Odell Beckham Jr.
The Saints and Giants played a shootout on Sunday and Willie Snead was a key part of things for New Orleans, putting up two touchdowns. Brees had seven touchdowns in the win for the Saints and Snead continued his strong season with seven catches for 76 yards and two scores. Snead has put up solid numbers for the Saints and now with Khiry Robinson likely out for the season, the passing game will be even more important for the team.
Check here for NFL injury updates for Week 8, including Reggie Bush, Le'Veon Bell and Matt Forte.
Tavon Austin has been a bit of a boom/bust player this season, but he is worth a look as a WR2 or WR3 for fantasy owners. Austin had four catches for 98 yards against the 49ers on Sunday and also added three rushes for 21 yards, scoring two total touchdowns. Austin also has added value as a punt returner and he has one touchdown on special teams this year as well. Jacob Tamme had a big game for the Falcons with 10 catches for 103 yards and a TD and he is worth a look for fantasy owners. Tamme may be a TE2 the rest of the way, but he can be a reliable target for Matt Ryan.
Benjamin Watson also had a big day at the tight end position for the Saints, putting up nine catches for 147 yards and a touchdown against the Giants. Watson has had a good stretch of games for the Saints and if he is available in leagues he is worth picking up. Watson has had a touchdown in three of his last four games and he has put up over 100 yards in two of the last three. Cooks is less likely to be available, but he is worth checking out if an owner gave up on him earlier in the season, as he had two touchdowns and had six catches for 88 yards against the Giants.
Charcandrick West has been the player that has stepped into the Jamaal Charles starting role for the Chiefs and he had another strong game on Sunday. West had over 120 total yards in the game and had 97 on the ground and that came after he rushed for 110 yards last week against the Steelers. West has been getting the bulk of the carries over Knile Davis.
Todd Gurley was one of the top performing players of the week and he has been putting up some record numbers as a rookie this season. The running back had 133 yards on 20 carries and a touchdown for the Rams and he set a record for most rushing yards for a player in the first four starts of their career. Gurley came into the game with over 400 yards rushing in four games and he has had at least 100 yards rushing in his last four games.
Check here for more on fantasy football and players to pick up.