Week 8 Waiver Wire Pickups 2021: Fantasy Football Players You Need to Add

Whether you've had a hot or a cold start to the fantasy football season, now is not the time to start coasting. Waiver wire pickups are as critical as ever in the middle of the season, especially with bye weeks wreaking havoc on starting lineups.

Here are the top waiver wire pickups for fantasy football heading into Week 8 (pending Monday night's game).

Week 8 Waiver Wire

Note: Only players rostered in fewer than 50% of Yahoo! fantasy football leagues are eligible for this list.

5. Daniel Jones, QB, New York Giants (28% Rostered)

If you've been streaming quarterbacks this year, you're probably already well aware of how bad the Kansas City Chiefs are against the pass. Pro Football Focus has their defense ranked No. 31 in the NFL (only ahead of the Detroit Lions), and they were already allowing the second most fantasy points per game to opposing QBs before giving up a big game to Ryan Tannehill in Week 7. Danny Dimes bounced back from a couple rough performances with a solid showing in Week 7, and even with a depleted WR corps he shouldn't have too much trouble against KC.

4. Rashod Bateman, WR, Baltimore Ravens (32% Rostered)

A preseason injury soured the hype on Rashod Bateman, but his involvement in the Baltimore Ravens' offense since debuting in Week 6 should catch your eye. He's played over 60% of the offensive snaps in both games, notching 6 targets in each. Those 12 targets put him one behind Mark Andrews (13) for second most on the team in that time. Considering this is both a rookie in his first two NFL games and a guy playing in his first two games coming off IR, it's a pretty safe assumption that Bateman's role and production should also increase as he gets some more live reps under his belt.

3. Brandon Bolden, RB, New England Patriots (6% Rostered)

Because the New England Patriots never do what we expect in the backfield, it wasn't popular pickup Rhamondre Stevenson who took over the receiving work when James White went down for the season. Instead it has been Brandon Bolden, who had previously caught just 59 passes in 8 NFL seasons. He's still not getting a ton of run in this offense (never playing over 50% of the offensive snaps), but he's now seen at least 4 targets in four of his last five games. He's topped 6 receptions and 50 yards twice in his last four, and he exploded for 19.9 fantasy points from his receiving work alone on Sunday.

2. Darius Slayton, WR, New York Giants (15% Rostered)

The Giants' WR room won't always be as thin as it was on Sunday, but with Sterling Shepard, Kenny Golladay and Kadarius Toney all banged up, Darius Slayton should continue seeing an increased role. In Weeks 1 and 2 that translated to a combined 13 targets, and in Week 7 he racked up 9 targets. Efficiency has never been an issue for Slayton, who has averaged at least 15.0 yards per reception in each of his three NFL seasons, and a matchup with the Chiefs should give him no issues in converting his expanded workload into solid production.

1. Kenneth Gainwell, RB, Philadelphia Eagles (21% Rostered)

One of the big fantasy football stories on Sunday was Miles Sanders getting injured after finally getting off to a hot start. Kenneth Gainwell ended up playing over 50% of the Eagles' offensive snaps for the first time all season, racking up 5 carries and 8 targets and scoring 14.1 PPR fantasy points. Boston Scott (33% snap share) got more work on the ground (7 carries), but Gainwell is clearly the upside play here. With Sanders' injury potentially keeping him on the shelf for a while, Gainwell should be just about every fantasy manager's top waiver priority in Week 8.

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Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.