Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups Week 9

Matt Cassel's arrow is pointing up with the addition of Jonathan Baldwin and a pair of soft opponents on the horizon (Rob Carr/Getty Images)

Matt Cassel, QB Kansas City Chiefs-  Cassel has had his ups and downs this year, but the Chiefs offense is starting to really come together.  The emergence of Jackie Battle is going to force defenses to commit more pressure to stopping the run, opening up opportunities for Matt Cassel and the Chief’s passing game.  Add in the breakout of rookie wide receiver Jonathan Baldwin, and you have a recipe for increased numbers for Cassel.  This next week in particular Cassel faces the Miami Dolphins who are giving up the second most fantasy points to quarterbacks this season.  If you are a Cam or Stafford owner, Cassel would be an excellent choice for a bye week fill-in.

Christian Ponder, QB Minnesota Vikings-  Ponder followed up his week 7 performance against Green Bay with another solid outing against Carolina in week 8.  He improved significantly upon his completion percentage and average yards per catch, in addition to not turning the ball over.  He is still a rookie adjusting to the speed of the NFL game so he is unlikely to put up top 10 numbers, but rookies have done crazy things this year, so who knows.  Ponder is on bye this week, but in deeper leagues he may be a very serviceable option during your own QB’s bye week (Schaub, Brees, and Roethlisberger owners), and should be readily available for pickup on the waiver wire.

Javon Ringer, RB Tennessee Titans-  If you are a Chris Johnson owner, then you already know exactly why Ringer is on this list.  This last week Ringer got equal opportunity, and made the best of the situation.  Both backs saw 14 carries, Johnson made 34 yards out of it while Ringer served up 60.  In addition Johnson only caught three balls for 17 yards versus 5 catches for 42 yards garnered by Ringer.  No one is going to sit here and make the case that Ringer has the possibility of stealing the starting role, as it is unlikely a team will shell out $53.5 million for a guy just to sit him half way through the season.  They are going to try and get CJ going, but I think that at this point there is a good chance that they cannot make that happen.  This team needs to establish the run to be successful on offense, and if CJ can’t do it they will go to someone who can.

Chris Ogbonnaya, RB Clevland Browns-  The Browns backfield right now is about as banged up as an offensive unit can be.  Montario Hardesty left the game with a torn calf muscle this past week in Clevland’s 20-10 loss to San Francisco, and Peyton Hillis continues to be slowed by a nagging hamstring injury that has kept him out of the lineup the last two weeks.  That leaves Thomas Clayton who was signed off the streets by the Browns today, and Chris Ogbonnaya, who came in to relieve Montario Hardesty in San Francisco.  Based on the way that Clevland has handled their backfield up to this point, it is pretty safe to assume that they will be giving the vast majority of the carries to Ogbonnaya this week, barring Hillis making some kind of significant improvement.

Tashard Choice / Roy Helu, RBs Washington Redskins-  Mike Shanahan is the worst thing to ever happen to fantasy running backs.  Week after week he plays whoever he feels, with little regard to how his decisions affect the rest of us down in the fantasy football world.  Its Shanahanigans.  So when Tim Hightower went down with a season ending torn ACL, everyone in the fantasy community believed that this at least cleared the situation up a bit, as Shanahan only had two options to draw upon, Ryan Torain and Roy Helu.  Well Torain has stunk it up now two weeks in a row, and the Skins signed former Dallas running back Tashard Choice off of waivers.  I can’t tell you who the best of these backs are going to be, nor can I speculate as to how Shanahan intends to use them.  But Torain does not appear to be the answer, and I believe that both Helu and Choice have a lot of potential upside.

Jonathan Baldwin, WR Kansas City Chiefs-  In just his second game in his NFL career, Kansas City’s first round pick from 2010 made a huge impact in KC’s Monday night win over the Chargers, racking up 82 yards on five catches, including a 39 yard leaping touchdown grab.  Baldwin was a beast at Pitt during his college career, and is a prototypical “big” receiver capable of going up and elevating over smaller cornerbacks to make the play.  And he did just that last night.  With D Bowe looking to pull the most talented corner week in week out, Baldwin is going to have a big opportunity to make an impact on an improving offense, and could be a choice red-zone target for Matt Cassel.

Laurent Robinson, WR Dallas Cowboys-  It is tough to say the source of the Cowboy’s passing game woes, but clearly something is amiss.  All three of Romo’s primary targets (Witten, Austin, and Bryant) were held to pedestrian stat lines this past week in Philly.  However, Robinson was able to come out and outperform all of these three, putting up 103 yards and catching Romo’s only touchdown pass of the day.  There should be better days ahead for Dallas’ big three, but this game had certainly cemented Robinson’s role as the number three receiver in Dallas.  He may not be able to repeat these numbers week to week, but him and Tony Romo have certainly built some chemistry the last few weeks, making Robinson a reasonable flex option in deeper leagues.

Brent Celek, TE Philadelphia Eagles-  Brent Celek is coming off his second consecutive double digit fantasy performance, after catching seven balls for 94 yards and a touchdown in Sunday’s shellacking of the Dallas Cowboys.  Up to the previous two game Celek was being used mainly in blocking roles, but his potential as a pass catcher is clear.  Next week he faces the Chicago Bears, who are currently giving up a league high number of fantasy points to tight ends.  If you are sporting a lower end tight end week to week, Celek would be a solid upgrade for week 9 with some strong potential going forward.