9 Fantasy Football Stash Candidates Ahead of Week 8

Plucking players off the waiver wire and stashing them ahead of your league mates is certainly advantageous if you can make it happen, and this series does its best to provide you with some names to consider every week. With bye weeks in full swing and injuries plaguing rosters across the league, grabbing the right players can be a difference-maker in the weeks to come.

Clear out those benches (check out my Dead Weight Report on who to drop) and make room for this week’s crop of emerging fantasy assets.

Editor's Note: Check out the Week 8 Waiver Wire Watch

Justin Fields, QB - Bears

QB play in the fantasy realm has been sketchy this season, and Justin Fields is right there in the thick of it. However, he has put a few solid games together in his last two outings at 17+ fantasy points apiece and has a favorable schedule on the horizon while we face a brutal 16-team bye stretch over the next four weeks.

This week the Bears face Dallas, who have been stout against enemy QBs, but the next three contests feature the Dolphins, Lions, and Falcons, who rank 24th, 30th, and 31st in QB schedule-adjusted fantasy points allowed so far this season. Grabbing Fields ahead of the six-team byepocolypse in Week 9 could help in your quest for a post-season berth.

JaMycal Hasty & Snoop Conner, RBs - Jaguars

With James Robinson dealt to the Jets, both of these backs get their tickets punched to fantasy relevancy, or at least their odds have gone way up. Travis Etienne is the clear lead back for the Jags, with Hasty as the next guy inline for weekly touches in the passing game, so he’s more valuable in any type of points per reception format.

Conner projects as the next man up if anything were to happen to Etienne or if Jacksonville coaching decides to limit touches for Etienne since he is coming off a major injury. With the RB position so fragile so far in 2022, both of these guys are worthy of a bench spot, at least through the onslaught of bye weeks ahead.

Jameson Williams, WR - Lions

The Alabama product is a repeat stasher in this column but is still only rostered by 31% of Yahoo managers, so he’s here again. Jameson Williams is the ideal late-season WR since he has a fresh body and should be involved in some potential shootouts as part of a high-scoring offense with a bottom-of-the-league defense.

Williams may not be back until the last month of the season but could be a difference-maker if you can continue to stash him for that later push.

Damien Williams, RB - Falcons

On the shelf since Week 1 with a rib injury, Damien Williams is eligible to return and could be back as early as this week. There are several scenarios at play here, either Williams returns and regains his spot behind Cordarelle Patterson, who is sidelined until at least Week 9, he could emerge as a clear back before Patterson hits the field, or the Falcons backfield could become even cloudier with him in the mix.

Atlanta coach Arthur Smith seems insistent on establishing that run, even when behind early or late in matchups, so this backfield could prove valuable depending on how it shakes out usage-wise when all the pieces are in place. What makes Williams (and Tyler Allgeier) even more appealing is the soft schedule ahead as they face the Panthers twice in the next four weeks, who sit 24th against RBs in aFPA, along with the Chargers and Bears who rank 29th and 26th, respectively in that same category.

Darius Slayton, WR- Giants

Flying way under the radar in the New York WR room, Darius Slayton has put together three pretty solid games in a row, leading the pack in targets with 16, which he turned into 155 yards and a score. While your league mates are fighting over Wan’Dale Robinson, Slayton could be a sneaky add to stash for after the Giants' Week 9 bye.

Khalil Shakir, WR - Bills

In Week 5, with Isaiah McKenzie sidelined, rookie Khalil Shakir posted a 3-75-1 line and even topped McKenzie’s output in Week 6 despite his return. It was a rough outing for the veteran, and if those costly mistakes continue, we could see Shakir take over the slot role for Buffalo in the coming weeks.

Many were forced to drop Shakir due to the Bills' bye week or let him go when McKenzie was cleared to return in Week 6, so his rostership is down to just 1% in Yahoo leagues. Grabbing him now as a bye-week filler could prove highly beneficial down the road.

Foster Moreau, TE - Raiders

Carrying multiple TEs is not ideal in leagues with just one spot for the position, but if you have a larger bench and can handle adding another one, Foster Moreau could be your guy. Darren Waller missed Week 7’s tilt against the Texans with a hamstring injury, and Moreau was the second-highest target-getter behind Davante Adams in his absence.

We’ve seen fantasy TE1 performances in previous years from the 25-year-old with Waller on the shelf, so he could be a solid pivot option for bye-week issues at the TE position. Moreau does have a difficult Week 8 opponent in the Saints, who are only yielding 5.2 half-PPR to TEs in 2022, but better days are ahead, so stashing him now could be beneficial in the coming weeks.

Graham Gano, K - Giants

Not only is Graham Gano quietly the fantasy K4 on the season, but he has a juicy schedule on tap after the Giants' Week 9 bye. I know it may be difficult to hang onto your kicker through a bye week that boasts six franchises, but it could be worth it to collect those fantasy points as we head down the stretch of the regular season.

Gano will face four teams from Weeks 10-13 that average a ranking of 26th in kicker aFPA, surrendering an average of 8.7 fantasy points to opposing legs on a weekly basis.