Week 9 Fantasy Football WR Waiver Wire Debate | Should You Add Jahan Dotson, Demario Douglas or Quentin Johnston?

Week 8 of the NFL season is in the books, so it’s time to get those waiver wire claims in.

Let’s take a look at three wide receivers that are hot waiver wire additions - Washington Commanders’ Jahan Dotson, New England Patriots’ Demario Douglas and Los Angeles Chargers’ Quentin Johnston - and determine how you should rank them in your waiver wire priority lists.

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Jahan Dotson Fantasy Outlook

Dotson turned in his best game of the season in week 8 against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Commanders threw for 388 net passing yards, and Dotson was one of the main receiving targets.

Dotson was targeted 10 times, which only trailed Terry McLaurin’s 12 targets. Dotson caught a team-leading eight receptions for 108 yards and a touchdown. He played 61 offensive snaps.

Dotson’s season high in receiving yards coming into the contest was just 43 yards. He matched his touchdown total from the first seven weeks, with his other touchdown also coming against Philly.

Dotson has been on the field plenty during this season, but the results have been inconsistent. This was the second straight game that he had more than eight targets, so could this be a sign of more big things to come?

Washington has played in several high-scoring and close games this year, and the team has relied on the passing game to stay in those games. It would be nice if Dotson didn’t have so many other receivers around him to fight for targets with, but Dotson now has the second-most targets of any player on the team. Fellow WR Curtis Samuel injured his toe in week 8, so if he were to miss time or be limited in any fashion, Dotson would likely be one of the bigger benefactors.

Demario Douglas Fantasy Outlook

Douglas has put together a solid rookie season so far. The sixth-round pick hasn’t had any monster games, or scored a touchdown, but he’s been pretty consistently involved on what’s been a lackluster offense.

Douglas’ stock also got a boost when teammate Kendrick Bourne suffered a torn ACL. DeVante Parker is also dealing with a head injury, so Douglas should be heavily involved if Parker were to also miss time or be limited.

Like Dotson, Douglas has also been trending in the right direction, with six and seven targets the past two weeks. Douglas made four grabs in week 7 and five grabs in week 8, turning those into 54 and 25 receiving yards, respectively.

Douglas has only topped 50 receiving yards once, but does have at least 15 receiving yards in each game. Bourne was the team’s most productive receiver, and the team will have to replace a bunch of targets, catches, yards and touchdowns, so you’d expect Douglas (the second-most targeted wideout on the team) to see an increase in his numbers.

After not playing more than 41% of the team’s offensive snaps in weeks 1-5, Douglas has been over 62% the past two weeks. Another thing to note with Douglas is that he returns punts, with 49 yards on six returns this season.

Quentin Johnston Fantasy Outlook

Fantasy owners finally got what they’ve been wishing for out of Johnston in week 8. The 21st overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft had been sparsely targeted in his first six games, but delivered his season-best showing against the Chicago Bears in week 8.

Johnston was targeted six times, which was three more times than any other game this season. He caught five passes, after a previous high of only two. The rookie turned his five grabs into 50 yards, after a season high of 20 coming in.

The rookie wideout played 48 snaps, which was 70% of the team’s total on offense. It was the third time in the past four weeks he’s played over 50% of the offensive snaps.

Maybe this means he’s finally turned the corner and is going to be a bigger part of the Chargers’ offense. Many fantasy owners expected him to earn a decent role for himself after Mike Williams was lost with a season-ending injury, but Joshua Palmer had been the biggest benefactor up to this point. 

Johnston will have to battle with Palmer and Keenan Allen for targets, but seeing as the Chargers are a much better passing team than running one, there is definitely room for three receivers to be involved, making them all fantasy assets.

How to Prioritize the Three Wideouts

There’s some risk involved with adding any of these three receivers. None of them have been super productive to this point of the season, and the consistency is definitely lacking.

Dotson had a monster game, but one could argue that came because the Commanders were trying to keep pace with the Eagles. Douglas is a popular add because of the injuries around him. He hasn’t played a ton of snaps this season, yet people are projecting that he picks up some of the slack. Then you got Johnston, who hasn’t been a fantasy asset all season and then turned in one solid outing against a poor Bears’ defense.

There’s also upside to each player, but only one of the wideouts has any kind of history to draw from, and that’s Dotson. He scored seven touchdowns and had 523 receiving yards across 12 games played as a rookie last season. 

Seeing that little bit of history is all I need to make Dotson my top priority of this trio. Washington is likely to remain a pretty pass-happy offense, so even though there’s lots of mouths to feed, Dotson still will have plenty of opportunities to make a difference. I’d take a chance on him and hope he turns into the touchdown machine he was last season.

I like Johnston over Douglas long term, but would lean toward Douglas for the remainder of this season. Douglas has a bigger workload and usage in his future, and he’s been pretty solid in his limited chances so far. A few more targets a week could make Douglas a consistent flex option in short time.

Johnston is a guy I was high on coming out of college, but lost some interest in him after he was drafted to the Chargers and their loaded wideout room. He’s got the opportunity to carve out a significant role for himself now with Williams out, and last week might be a sign of things to come. I’m not solid on Johnston after just one solid showing against a below-average defense, and would like to see another week of that level of production before adding him. He might not be available at this time next week, so I’d at least have him on my waiver wire list, just at the bottom of this trio.

Yesterday, I wrote about New Orleans Saints’ Rashid Shaheed and Commanders’ Jamison Crowder in another waiver wire debate story. If those two were part of this story, here’s how I’d fit them in. 

I still like Dotson as my top choice, but would then take Shaheed over Douglas or Johnston. Again, that decision is a history-based one, as Shaheed has been in the league and has a track record that the rookies don’t. Crowder would be the new player at the bottom of the priority list.