Week 8 Waiver Wire Wide Receiver Debate | Should You Add Colts’ Josh Downs, Chiefs’ Marquez Valdes-Scantling or Seahawks’ Jake Bobo
The week 7 slate of NFL Sunday games didn’t disappoint, with several close games and surprising finishes. Several sparsely-owned players also made a name for themselves and are now possible waiver wire additions heading into week 8.
Let’s take a look at three receivers - Indianapolis Colts’ Josh Downs, Kansas City Chiefs’ Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Seattle Seahawks’ Jake Bobo. Those three put together big fantasy showings, so let's dive into them all and determine which order you should be targeting the three wideouts in on the waiver wire.
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Downs’ Big Showing
This wasn’t Down’s first big showing of the season, so I’m surprised to see he’s owned in just 60% of leagues. He has not been all that consistent a performer, but had put together two straight solid fantasy showings before this week.
A big reason why only 20% of fantasy owners started him this past week was because he was going up against a stellar Cleveland Browns’ pass defense. They couldn’t stop Downs though.
The Colts’ rookie finished the contest with 125 yards and a touchdown on five catches and six targets. He got going early with a 59-yard touchdown reception on the team’s first possession.
Downs seems to have a nice connection with new Indy starting quarterback Gardner Minshew. The backup quarterback stepped into the lead role three weeks ago, and Downs delivered in that contest and the last two weeks when Minshew started.
Downs finished with 97 receiving yards while pulling down all six of his targets three weeks ago. Forty of the yards came on throws from Minshew.
The rookie wideout was held to 21 yards on five catches and six targets last week, but did catch a touchdown. Downs followed that performance up with another touchdown and his most receiving yards yet.
The Colts aren’t afraid to sling the ball around with Minshew, and don’t have too many pass-catching options outside Michael Pittman. These past couple games are no fluke for Downs, he’s going to be heavily involved on offense for the rest of the season. Pittman is still the lead option, but there’s plenty of room for Downs to also succeed.
Valdes-Scantling Finally Breaks Out
With not many proven wide receivers in Kansas City coming into the season, many fantasy owners believed Valdes-Scantling could be a consistent fantasy player, even if he was making just a couple grabs a game.
That hadn’t been the case through the first six weeks. MVS was targeted three or less times in every game, and his most catches in a contest was two. Valdes-Scantling hadn’t topped 50 receiving yards once, and finished under 20 yards on four occasions.
MVS broke out against the Los Angeles Chargers in week 7, catching three of his five targets for 84 yards. One of his grabs was a 46-yard touchdown reception.
I know game isn’t likely to change your overall opinion on Valdes-Scantling, but anytime you have a receiver that plays more often than not (MVS played nearly 70% of the team’s snaps against LA) with a quarterback like Patrick Mahomes throwing the ball, he needs to at least be on your radar.
Another reason that fantasy owners are going to be skeptical of Valdes-Scantling’s showing is that it came against the Chargers. LA is one of the worst defenses in the league against opposing receivers, so maybe it was just a one-game fluke.
Tight end Travis Kelce had another monster game to lead the Chiefs’ pass catchers, but Valdes-Scantling was the next most productive guy, outproducing Rashee Rice (60 yards and a touchdown on six targets) despite less looks and catches.
Teams need more than one reliable receiving threat, and the Chiefs would feel much better about their chances of repeating as champs if someone other than Kelce could continually deliver. Rice is the popular option to fill that role because he's a rookie and Valdes-Scantling hasn't consistently delivered over his career, but MVS has just as good a chance as anyone to fill that void.
Valdes-Scantling is owned in just 6% of leagues and started in 2%, so there’s a good chance he’s available on the waiver wire.
Bobo’s Surprise Outing
The Seahawks entered their week 7 game against the Arizona Cardinals without star receiver DK Metcalf. Jake Bobo turned out to be the guy who took advantage of his extra opportunities.
Bobo had just six targets and four catches for the season before week 7, but ended up catching four passes for 61 yards and a touchdown on five targets. His 18-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter gave Seattle a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
Bobo hadn’t played more than 42% of the team’s offensive snaps in any of the first five games. He played 45 snaps in week 7, which accounted for 75% of the team’s total.
Obviously, if Metcalf were out there, Bobo likely wouldn’t have played nearly as many snaps, or gotten the amount of looks and catches he did. That doesn’t mean that Bobo will automatically go back to his limited role when Metcalf returns though.
Seattle already has a pretty strong trio of receivers in Tyler Lockett, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Metcalf, but having a fourth option is never a bad thing.
Smith-Njigba also had a strong showing in week 7, with four grabs, 63 yards and a touchdown, but he’s already owned in nearly 70% of leagues. If he and Bobo are both available, I’d take my chances with Smith-Njigba over Bobo, but I still think there’s room in Seattle’s offense for Bobo to produce a bit as a fourth option. The questions then become, can Bobo's numbers be consistent enough as a fourth option to warrant a spot on your fantasy roster and possibly inlude him in starting lineups?
Bobo is owned in just 1% of leagues, so there's a pretty strong chance he's available if you want to take a chance on him.
Who to Target on the Waiver Wire
The trio of Downs, Valdes-Scantling and Bobo will be among the hottest wideout names on the week 8 waiver wire. All three are interesting long-term options and should be getting serious consideration for your rosters.
In standard redraft leagues, Downs should be your top priority. He’s been a part of the Colts’ offense all year, just produced his best game and is going to remain involved all season. His own percentage should be near 100% before week 8 kicks off.
Valdes-Scantling and Bobo aren’t going to have nearly that own percentage in standard leagues. If your league is a bit deeper, then MVS and Bobo are guys that could be stashed on the end of your bench. I’d take my chances with MVS over Bobo, simply because MVS can be a bigger part of the Chiefs’ offense on a regular basis than Bobo could be in Seattle.
As much of a cool story it’d be for Bobo to become a relevant part of the Seahawks’ offense, while also being a fantasy asset, I wouldn’t consider Bobo a top-end waiver wire priority unless it’s a deep league. Bobo is going to be buried on the depth chart. If you own Metcalf or Lockett, then I could argue for you stashing Bobo in case an injury knocks one of them out multiple weeks, but otherwise, I'd probably pass on Bobo and focus your attention elsewhere.
