The unreal carnage we saw in Week 7 at the running back position has created tons of opportunities on the waiver wire. Here’s a list of likely starters in Week 8:
DeMarco Murray, DAL
Ryan Torain, WAS
Pierre Thomas, NO
Bernard Scott, CIN
Knowshon Moreno, DEN
Alfonso Smith, ARZ
Leon Washington, SEA
(Michael Bush, OAK – bye in Week 8)
(Kregg Lumpkin, TB – bye in Week 8)
If Murray, Torain, Scott or Moreno are available in your league, you should grab them. You should also probably join a tougher league.
For the rest of us, here are the top picks to add this week:
1. Pierre Thomas, RB, NO: Mark Ingram is nursing what initially appeared to be a serious heel injury. Thomas could very well share the work evenly with Darren Sproles this week.
2. Roy Helu, RB, WAS: Tim Hightower is done for the year, leaving Torain as the early-down back and Helu as the third-down/change-of-pace guy. But it’s only a matter of time before Torain gets hurt as well. Helu’s time is coming.
3. Antonio Brown, WR, PIT: Hines Ward is nursing an ankle sprain. He’s also not as good as Brown when healthy. Look for the Steelers to limit Ward as the season moves along, shifting to a spread offense that highlights the skills of Mike Wallace, Brown and Emmanuel Sanders.
4. Alfonso Smith, RB, ARZ: Smith isn’t a very good player, but he’s going to be the Cards’ starter for awhile. No one knows how long Beanie Wells will be out, so Smith is staring at 15-plus touches including the goal-line work for the foreseeable future. That’s hard to find on waivers.
5. Sam Bradford, QB, STL: I was surprised to see Bradford dropped in a lot of my leagues. He still has Josh McDaniels, still plays in a dome as winter approaches and now has Brandon Lloyd on his side.
6. Evan Moore, TE, CLE: Sneaky play here. With Ben Watson suffering another concussion, Moore could see 30-plus snaps this week. He’s Colt McCoy’s favorite red-zone target.
7. Shaun Hill, QB, DET: Matthew Stafford (ankle) should be fine, but don’t forget what Hill did last season. In 10 starts, he averaged 259.8 passing yards and tossed 16 touchdowns.
