Week 9 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Waiver Targets: Troy Franklin, Jayden Higgins and More

If you are reading this, congratulations on surviving the byepocalypse! Of course, six fewer teams in action means we have fewer opportunities to find breakout wide receivers for Week 9 waiver wire pickups.

But, there are still some interesting names to consider, including multiple rookies potentially primed for second-half breakouts. Let's take a look at them all.

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Troy Franklin, Denver Broncos (37.8% Rostered)

Pending Monday Night Football, Franklin is the overall WR1 in half-PPR formats for Week 8. In fact, the second-year receiver is the only WR to have eclipsed 20 points, racking up 23.9 against the Cowboys' woeful secondary. He led Denver with eight targets, catching six for 89 yards and two trips to the end zone.

Despite this obviously impressive performance, there are some reasons to temper expectations for Franklin. He had just a 66% route participation rate on Sunday, which was his highest mark of the last three weeks. He is at 70% for the season, but seems to be trending toward more of a part-time role as rookie Pat Bryant gets more involved. 

With that said, Franklin is definitely worth adding. He is now averaging a respectable 10 half-PPR points per game for the season despite the part-time usage. If that ever changes, he could be a solid weekly option. If not, he's still a valid boom/bust flex play, as long as he keeps earning targets when he's on the field. 

Kayshon Boutte, New England Patriots (24.8% Rostered)

Right now, Boutte is a top-20 fantasy wide receiver. Even switching to points per game to account for the fact that New England has not yet had their bye, he lands just inside the top 30 at WR29. This week, he was the WR9 (pending MNF) with three catches on five targets for 75 yards and one touchdown. 

However, if Franklin had a few small warning signs, Boutte's profile absolutely screams regression. The vast majority of his production has come on deep touchdowns; he isn't seeing consistent volume. He has just a 13% target share in New England's offense, and his 3.6 targets per game rank 75th among receivers with at least three games played.

On the other hand, Boutte clearly has a connection with Drake Maye, who is ascending to superstar QB status. This is less “Nick Westbrook-Ikhine somehow keeps scoring touchdowns on a terrible Titans team” and more “Gabe Davis keeps scoring touchdowns cause Josh Allen is awesome.”

In deep leagues where you're looking for a high-upside flex play, Boutte is a viable option. In shallower formats where consistency is key, I'd let someone else chase his points off the waiver wire. 

Chimere Dike, Tennessee Titans (10.6% Rostered)

I featured fourth-round rookie Dike in last week's article, but I wasn't actually that excited. Although he did have a breakout Week 7 with 14.9 half-PPR points, that production mostly came on one big play in a part-time role. 

Dike's final fantasy stat line this week of 12.9 points was worse than last, but his usage was much more encouraging. He jumped up to an 86% route participation rate from 67% last week, serving as the Titans' WR2 behind fellow rookie Elic Ayomanor. He also set easily a new career-high with a 21% target share, tying with Ayomanor and Van Jefferson with a team-high eight looks.

Looking forward, Dike could still fade back to irrelevance when Calvin Ridley returns. The veteran has popped up in trade rumors, as he is in the last year of his contract and Tennessee is now 1-7 … but the NFL trade deadline is usually disappointing.

Even if he has officially passed Jefferson, Dike may be the odd man out behind Ayomanor and Ridley. Still, when a rookie is flashing like this, the right move is to take notice. Last week, I called him a “speculative stash in deep formats,” this week, he's a speculative stash in normal formats. 

Jayden Higgins, Houston Texans (23.6% Rostered)

Arguably, there are three receivers worth featuring from the Texans' win over the 49ers. Veteran Xavier Hutchinson was the WR6 on the week with 15.4 fantasy points. Higgins' fellow rookie (and former college teammate) Jaylin Noel had his third straight solid outing and set a new career-high with five receptions. But Hutchinson is a known quantity at this point in his career, and Noel was still below a 50% route participation rate (45%) even with Nico Collins and Christian Kirk out. 

That leaves Higgins, who led the team with a 79% route participation and an 18% target share. He caught four of those seven targets for just 34 yards, adding a touchdown to finish with a career-high 11.4 fantasy points.

Collins will likely return from his concussion next week, but usage this week indicates that Higgins will replace Hutchinson as the WR2 alongside Nico. Especially if C.J. Stroud and this offense as a whole can build on this week's performance, he could emerge as weekly flex play sooner rather than later. 

Christian Watson, Green Bay Packers (11.3% Rostered)

Less than 300 days after tearing his ACL, Watson took the field for the Packers on Sunday night. Even with Dontayvion Wicks sidelined, he played a limited role, posting just a 60% route participation rate. But he saw four targets on his 22 routes, catching all four for 85 yards. As always, his usage was mostly down the field — he posted a 36% air yards share on an 18.3-yard ADOT. 

Of course, the Packers' receiver room is, once again, crowded. But Watson has shown signs before of potentially separating as the team's true WR1.

I certainly wouldn't bet on him doing that this season in his return from injury, but stranger things have happened. He's worth snagging if you have space to see how his role develops going forward. 

Ted Chmyz is a fantasy football contributor for FantasySP. Find him on Twitter and Bluesky @Tchmyz for more fantasy content or to ask questions.