8 Fantasy Football Stash Candidates Ahead of Week 9

Grabbing some waiver wire magic 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.

Logan Thomas, TE – Football Team

Washington is on a bye in Week 9, and Logan Thomas’s rostership dropped to 53% while he’s been sidelined with a hamstring injury. He should be back in Week 10 and is a great one-week stash if he's free in your leagues.

The Washington TE had 12 catches for 117 yards and two touchdowns in the first three contests and should be back in the fantasy TE1 conversation from Week 10 forward.

Mac Jones, QB – Patriots

The rookie QB hasn’t been the most consistent in his debut season, but Mac Jones does have several multiple touchdown games and is putting up fantasy QB2 numbers in 2021. With some starting QBs sitting out in Weeks 10, 11 and 12, now would be a great time to stash Jones considering his beautiful schedule for those three contests.

New England will face the Browns, Falcons and Titans in that three-week span, who are ranked 30th, 28th and 23rd, respectively, in schedule-adjusted fantasy points per game. This trio of defenses is yielding an average of 22.1 points per tilt to opposing QBs, so Jones could be a really nice fill-in for Joe Burrow, Matthew Stafford, Kyler Murray or Patrick Mahomes.

Ty Johnson, RB – Jets

Despite being well behind Michael Carter in the pecking order, Ty Johnson saw six targets last week versus the Bengals, which is something to be excited about considering Mike White threw 38% of his balls to the RB position.

With Tevin Coleman dealing with a hamstring issue, Johnson has some appeal in PPR leagues, and as injury insurance in the event Carter misses any time moving forward. Johnson has quietly put up double-digit PPR points in three straight contests, so desperate managers can possibly insert him now without even stashing if needed as a bye-week replacement.

Jaret Patterson, RB – Football Team

Despite being cleared to play in Week 8, Antonio Gibson still ceded some work to the rookie on early downs and in short-yardage situations. Jaret Patterson saw a career-high 11 carries, which he turned into 42 rushing yards in a loss to Denver.

The Football Team is on their bye in Week 9, so we’ll have to wait to see if this uptick in usage will be a thing moving forward, but grabbing Patterson now in the event Gibson’s injury continues to linger or they decide to give the 21-year-old more work may not be a bad idea.

Rashod Bateman, WR – Ravens

I was surprised to see Rashod Bateman only rostered by 31% of Yahoo! managers, but perhaps the Ravens' bye week had some gun shy. The rookie has seen six targets in each game back from the I.R., which he turned into seven catches for 109 yards. These aren’t game-breaking numbers, but the volume is there and Bateman’s upcoming schedule is noteworthy.

After this week’s contest against Minnesota, Baltimore gets the Dolphins and Bears in Weeks 10 and 11, whose defenses sit 30th and 26th in aFPA to opposing wideouts this season, surrendering an average of 33.6 half-PPR points to the position weekly. The only reason Bateman is a stash and not an immediate plug-and-play is that with Sammy Watkins potentially returning, the 21-year-old’s usage is still not something we can count on until we see them both in the mix.

Elijah Moore, WR – Jets

Elijah Moore caught all six of his targets for 67 yards in Week 8 against the Bengals with Corey Davis on the shelf. The rookie has not lived up to expectations so far in 2021, but this Jets offense could have some new life with QB Mike White at the helm. Davis may be out again on a short week for TNF, but Moore’s real stash-worthiness comes down the stretch of the 2021 fantasy season.

In Weeks 14-17, the Jets face defenses who sit no better than 23rd in WR aFPA and whose average ranking is 27th. Moore could be someone to help you play spoiler during the fantasy playoffs, so if you have the room to grab him, it could benefit your roster long term.

Josiah Deguara, TE – Packers

Yes, Josiah Deguara is a real name and he could be in a position for fantasy relevancy in the coming weeks. Robert Tonyan suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 8 and Deguara caught both of his targets in Tonyan’s absence. The sophomore projects as the primary pass-catching TE and Green Bay has a fairly favorable schedule on the horizon.

Contests with Kansas City, Seattle, Minnesota and the Rams are next, and they sit 28th, 26th, 6th and 27th, respectively in aFPA to the TE position through Week 8. With several fantasy starters set to have their byes in the next few weeks, grabbing Deguara could alleviate the need to stream.

Mason Crosby, K – Packers

The Packers have a really nice schedule on tap for Mason Crosby to add some points to your rosters. He gets a Kansas City team this week that has allowed an average of 29 points to their opponents, then follows that up with games against the Seahawks and Vikings, who rank 19th and 26th, respectively, in kicker aFPA.