Fantasy Football Week 8 Cheat Sheet: Deep Sleepers to Grab on Waiver Wire

The injury bug keeps wreaking havoc on NFL rosters, which puts fantasy football managers in a bind.

Add on the fact four teams are on a bye in Week 8—the Arizona Cardinals, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars and Washington—and chances are most managers will be looking to the waiver wire for some kind of reinforcement.

Luckily, there are still some good choices among the players owned in fewer than 50 percent of Yahoo leagues (per FantasyPros). Whether overlooked all season, primed for a big day because of a favorable matchup or pressed into a bigger role by injury, here are our top waiver-wire finds at the marquee offensive positions.

Quarterback: Teddy Bridgewater, Carolina Panthers

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Need a spot starter at the quarterback position? Just check who the Atlanta Falcons are playing.

Who said fantasy football had to be complicated, folks?

The Falcons have allowed the most fantasy points to the position this season, per Yahoo. The next time they hold a team to fewer than 300 passing yards will be the first. Teddy Bridgewater himself contributed to that stat with his Week 5 eruption for 313 passing yards and two scores.

Bridgewater is still waiting for his first three-score effort of the season and has fewer outings with two touchdown passes (three) than games with one or none (four), so his ceiling is capped a bit by the lack of big scoring. But again, when Atlanta is involved, that almost always means good things for the opposing signal-caller.

Running Back: Carlos Hyde, Seattle Seahawks

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Like some sort of morbid annual tradition, the Seattle Seahawks are once again dealing with injuries at the running back spot.

Starter Chris Carson has a foot sprain. Third-down back Travis Homer has a knee bruise. Even Carlos Hyde, Carson's backup, is battling hamstring tightness.

While the injury report will be key in solving this puzzle, the early chatter suggests Hyde might have the best chance to get the lion's share of the carries against the San Francisco 49ers—his first NFL team—in Week 8.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll told reporters Carson is "week-to-week" but said the team "are hoping" Hyde would be ready to go on Sunday. If that happens, Hyde might be the most valuable plug-and-play pickup on this week's waiver wire. He handled relief duty for a hobbled Carson on Sunday and rushed 15 times for 68 yards and a score, plus he caught three passes for eight yards.

Wide Receiver: Brandon Aiyuk, San Francisco 49ers

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While fantasy managers are often shopping for one-week fill-ins, the best roster adds are the ones who can deliver season-long value. Brandon Aiyuk, whom the 49ers traded up to get on draft night, could fall into the latter category.

Now, his short-term outlook might be brightest with an opportunity bump presumably headed his way in light of Deebo Samuel's latest injury (hamstring strain). With San Francisco already minus multiple offensive weapons (including Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson Jr.), Aiyuk seems almost destined to play a substantial role on Sunday—against a Seattle defense allowing the most fantasy points to wide receivers (by a mile).

Where Aiyuk's potential sustainability comes into play, though, is the fact he was already trending up. Sunday marked the fourth time in the last five games he's been targeted at least five times, and while that hasn't always translated to production, it did help him to a six-catch, 115-yard performance this time around. He didn't find the end zone this week but has three scores in this stretch.

"Aiyuk's talent is already apparent—he can scoot!" ESPN's Field Yates wrote. "Couple that with the way coach Kyle Shanahan creatively incorporates his offensive skill players, and the future is bright."

Tight End: Richard Rodgers, Philadelphia Eagles

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The Philadelphia Eagles can unfortunately rival the 49ers' amount of skill players on the injury report, which is awful news in almost every respect.

But it does at least brighten the outlook for Richard Rodgers, who could be looking at a massive target share with both Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert battling injuries. Rodgers already flashed his potential on Thursday night by turning his eight targets into six receptions for 85 yards.

That night, he drew a New York Giants defense that allows the ninth-fewest fantasy points to tight ends. Now, he's about to face a Dallas Cowboys club allowing the ninth-most fantasy production to the position. Get him in your lineup immediately.

"Rodgers is my favorite streaming tight end this week with his matchup against Dallas," CBS Sports' Jamey Eisenberg wrote.