We are essentially halfway through the fantasy football season. It's cliché, but the time really does fly. The fantasy playoffs are coming into focus, and in most leagues you only have six weeks remaining to solidify your spot, which means it is time to get your roster in order.

This is a really interesting time on the fantasy football calendar because we are one week away from the trade deadline, we have players who were hurt early in the season returning over the next few weeks, and we are getting close enough to the fantasy playoffs to start looking ahead and planning for the stretch run.

This makes for a great dynamic on waivers, where some teams are playing a weekly game and doing whatever it takes to win and stay in the playoff hunt. Other teams have the luxury of planning ahead and targeting ascending players without being worried about their Week 9 production. Regardless of what you are looking for, I've got you covered with some late-week waiver adds to improve your team for Week 9 and beyond.

Christian Watson, WR, Green Bay Packers - 27% rostered

When and how a player returns from injury is always difficult to predict, but what we are witnessing with Christian Watson is about as good as it gets. Despite tearing his ACL in the Packers' regular season finale last season, Watson made his return in Week 8 and had an impressive 65% route participation. 

Bhayshul Tuten, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars - 31% rostered

I am willing to admit that Travis Etienne has been better than I expected this season, but I still believe Bhayshul Tuten is one of the better RBs to stash right now. The rookie has shown flashes of playmaking ability this season, but hasn't had a consistent role. There is a chance that could change coming out of Jacksonville's bye if the coaching staff wants to get the players they selected more involved.

The Jaguars also traded away Tank Bigsby, which made Tuten the clear backup in Jacksonville and was a vote of confidence in their depth at the position. Rookie breakouts can happen quickly, so I want to be ahead of the curve by already rostering a player like Tuten before we see a big game from him.

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Kyle Monangai, RB, Chicago Bears - 29% rostered

I wrote about Monangai last week so I won't go into as much detail this time around, but he is still available in too many leagues. He has locked up the number two job, D'Andre Swift has a nagging injury, and the rookie is a candidate to handle goal-line work for this offense. He should be rostered in more leagues.

Tory Horton, WR, Seattle Seahawks - 3% rostered

The Seahawks have been one of the biggest surprises in the NFL so far, sitting at 5-2 coming out of their bye. Jaxon Smith-Njigba looks like a true superstar, and Sam Darnold is running an efficient offense. One of their lesser-known weapons on offense is rookie WR Tory Horton, but that could change over the second half of the season.

Horton has had a solid start to life in the NFL, running 50+% of routes in all but one game so far and popping up with a few double-digit fantasy point outings in the first half of the season. It is fairly common for teams to use their bye week to install rookies as a larger part of the offense, and there are several reasons to think that might be the case with Horton.

Most importantly, Cooper Kupp has been quite mediocre this year with just 1.61 YPRR. The veteran will remain involved, but Seattle can afford to take him off the field at times in order to give Horton more snaps.

Another factor is that Horton suffered a season-ending knee injury in 2024, which he has been working back from. He was healthy enough to participate in the NFL Combine and offseason program, so I won't pretend it was a major issue for his development to date, but he is now more than 12 months removed from that injury, which suggests he may be just starting to hit peak form.

This is definitely a deep league stash, but I like Horton's potential as a breakout candidate for the second half of the fantasy season.

Isaiah Likely, TE, Baltimore Ravens - 5% rostered

It hasn't been the start to the 2025 season that the Ravens wanted, and that is especially true for Isaiah Likely. He missed the first three games of the season while recovering from surgery for a broken foot, but has been ramping up since his return in Week 4. He hit 85% route participation in Week 6, which told me the team considers him fully healthy. He hasn't had any notable production since his return, but those games have pretty much all come with backup QBs running the offense.

The Ravens are expected to get Lamar Jackson back this week, and they are probably going to be aggressive trying to rack up wins and get back into playoff contention. They also have a very favorable schedule coming up with games against the Dolphins, Jets, Bengals (twice), and Steelers, who all rank among the worst pass defenses in the NFL.

If you have one of the elite TEs, then you probably don't need to roster a second one, but if you are streaming the position, I expect Likely to work his way into the streaming conversation over the next couple of weeks. This is a speculative stash that only makes sense in deeper leagues, but I want to put Likely on your radar because he has been out of sight, out of mind so far this season.

Ameer Abdullah, RB, Indianapolis Colts - 0% rostered

This is the time of year to start handcuffing your stud RBs, and there is no bigger stud than Jonathan Taylor in the 2025 season. We now have clarity on the RB pecking order in Indianapolis, and Ameer Abdullah has won the backup role. My best ball portfolio really wishes it were DJ Giddens, but I can't let that impact my perspective.

If the Colts were worse, it might not be worth rostering the backup, but they have been one of the best offenses in the NFL this season. Their production would certainly take a hit if Taylor missed time, but I have seen enough from Daniel Jones and Shane Steichen to think I would still want the starter in this offense, even if it was just a replacement-level back like Abdullah.

If you have Jonathan Taylor and an open spot at the end of your bench, Abdullah is a valuable waiver add to make sure you have a starter you can turn to if Taylor misses any time.

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