Fantasy Football Week 8: Braylon Edwards and 5 Waiver Wire Steals

The injuries just keep on coming.

Tim Hightower and Earnest Graham? Thanks for playing.

Beanie Wells, Darren McFadden, Santana Moss, Willis McGahee and Cedric Benson…. take a seat.

The waiver wire is beginning to get thin, and finding worthy players is getting harder to find.

Yet as the mantra of most football coaches goes…who’s next?

There is always somebody on-deck, and here are five guys that are ready to step up and vault your fantasy team to the next level, or keep it afloat while dealing with all of the injuries and byes. 

1. Bernard Scott, RB: Cincinnati Bengals

This is strictly a one-week play because starter Cedric Benson is only suspended for one game, but it’s a great move for this week.

While Brian Leonard will surely steal a few carries, Scott will be the featured back.

Expect about 20 touches between carries and catches. That sort of action is bound to produce at least 70 yards, with a good opportunity to score.

He has remarkable speed and wonderful agility, and will likely break off a big run or two.

The Seahawks are 15th in fantasy points allowed, and expect Scott to get enough touches to land double-digit points.

2. Jabar Gaffney, WR: Washington Redskins

Gaffney vaults up to must-own status now that Santana Moss is going to miss five to seven weeks with a broken hand.

Sure it’s not ideal that John Beck is his QB, but he’s the No. 1 receiver in Washington now, and that makes him worth starting, especially this week against the 30th ranked Buffalo Bills pass defense.

He hasn’t scored a touchdown since Week 1, but expect that to change now that he’s the top dog. 

3. Braylon Edwards, WR: San Francisco 49ers

OK, so Edwards hasn’t even broke the 50-yard barrier yet this season.

It all should change this week, as he finally returns from knee cartilage surgery to face his old team, the Cleveland Browns.

He immediately turns into QB Alex Smith’s third option behind TE Vernon Davis and WR Michael Crabtree.

His length and speed make him extremely dangerous, as he brings a new dimension to a somewhat vanilla offense. He had a great fantasy season last year with a mediocre QB in Mark Sanchez, and now that he’s healthy, there is no reason to think he can’t put up similar numbers now.

This is a guy to pickup and start for the foreseeable future. 

4. Heath Miller, TE: Pittsburgh Steelers

With Jermichael Finley, Tony Gonzalez and Dustin Keller on byes this week, Miller is a great guy to start.

He has touchdowns in two of his last three games, and is playing the worst pass defense in the league in the Patriots.

The Pats pass rush isn’t exactly great, which means Miller will be running plenty of routes without having to block a whole lot.

With the Steelers clearly preferring to throw the ball, Miller should continue to put up stellar fantasy numbers.

5. New York Giants D/ST

Sure, Tavaris Jackson shred them a few weeks ago, but the bye week has allowed the G-Men to get healthy.

Justin Tuck is expected to play on Sunday after missing the last three weeks with a groin and neck injury. He is the catalyst for the vaunted pass rush that makes this defense so ferocious.

Considering they get Matt Moore and the winless Dolphins this week, jump on them ASAP.