Waiver View: Week 8

Off this week: Cincinnati, Buffalo, Baltimore and Houston. That means fantasy owners will be without five startable RBs, including the consensus number 1 overall draft pick. Also missing in that bunch will be four middle-to-sort-of-high-end (and by that, I mean top-15) QBs as well as five fantasy-worthy WRs and four top-12 TEs. A lot of these are repeats from last week, but hey, it's all about consistency, right?

Josh Freeman, QB - Tamp Bay Buccaneers - Josh Freeman, baby! Showed up last week just like  I told you he would. This week, as byes continue, he gets the Vikings, which have a good defense, but mostly against the run. With Martin shut down, Freeman should continue to get great looks, especially down the field to Vincent Jackson (who, by the way, I had ranked VERY highly last week.)
Ownership: 69.3% ESPN, 54% Yahoo!, 68.6% NFL

Matt Hasselbeck, QB - Tennessee Titans - The wily old veteran rallied his team and showed his fantasy worth DESPITE his team having four rushing TDs (two of which were Chris Johnson's, two of which should have been Chris Johnson's). This week, after last week's prepper in Buffalo, he gets the Colts' dumpster fire of a defense.
Ownership: 15% ESPN, 12% Yahoo!, 1.7% NFL

Rashad Jennings, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars - With MJD hurt (not a Lisfranc though, should be back soon), Jennings gets the start. He gets the Packers, who coming off the loss of Charles Woodson, may lean towards more conservative coverages, which could lead to lanes for Jennings. Just hope the game stays reasonably close otherwise he won't get carries after the first quarter. BUT not having your starting QB also tends to lean to the side of rushing.
Ownership: 13.7% ESPN, 31% Yahoo!, 49% NFL

Vick Ballard, RB - Indianapolis Colts - He hasn't lived up to expectations in Donald Brown's absence but he has done everything asked of him from the team. He'll be rewarded with more confidence from the coaching staff and as a result, more opportunities. He now gets Tennessee's fourth-worst rush defense.

Ownership: 45.7% ESPN, 36% Yahoo!, 20.1% NFL

Santana Moss, WR - Washington Redskins - He's been the go-to guy (4 receiving TDs, four times as many as anyone else on the team) and with Garcon struggling to get back, Fred Davis lost for the year and Hankerson's roller-coaster inconsistency, Moss will be the guy RGIII latches on to in big moments. His slowly-rising success this year could take off at any point.

Ownership: 27.2% ESPN, 53% Yahoo!, 57% NFL

Brandon Stokley, WR - Denver Broncos - I've been a big believer this season in starting just about any WR against the Saints, but Stokley's value goes beyond that. He's clearly gone without missing any steps in his few years away from Peyton and with three TDs in his last four games, he's a great fill for bye weeks.

Ownership: 12% ESPN, 17% Yahoo!, 3.3% NFL

Dustin Keller, TE - New York Jets - Another guy I've been plugging for a while now. Sanchez needs big targets to hit. This guy is just that. He's coming off of a 7-catch, 93-yard performance with a score. He has a reception on every single target sent his way. Him and Sanchez connect well.
Ownership: 28.7% ESPN, 38% Yahoo!, 53.5% NFL

Heath Miller, TE - Pittsburgh Steelers - The fact that I've been writing about this guy for weeks and he still has availability (despite being a top-3 fantasy TE) is astounding. He has the most redzone targets for a TE in the entire NFL and he's tied for second total among all positions (tied with Cruz, behind Colston). Pick this guy up.
Ownership: 81.6% ESPN, 86% Yahoo!, 60.8% NFL