Week 9 Fantasy Football Running Back Waiver Adds: Tyrone Tracy Jr., Tank Bigsby and More

After a few weeks of relative calm, the running back injury monster reared its ugly head this week.

Cam Skattebo's gruesome ankle dislocation is the headliner, but Quinshon Judkins and Saquon Barkley also both exited early and failed to return. As always, injury begets opportunity, so the backups in those backfields will be some of the top names on the running back waiver wire heading into Week 9.

However, there are also some more under-the-radar names to consider; let's get started.

Check out fantasy football waiver wire targets all season on FantasySP. 

Tyrone Tracy Jr., New York Giants (41.4% Rostered)

Skattebo is expected to miss the rest of the season. In his absence, sophomore RB Tracy should be the lead back of a New York offense that suddenly has life with Jaxson Dart at the helm (although Skattebo himself also deserves credit for some of that newfound energy). 

On Sunday, Tracy played 33 snaps to Devin Singletary's seven. He also easily led Singletary in carries (10-2), routes (15-4) and targets (2-1). Even if this split narrows slightly once the Giants have a week to gameplan without their rookie RB, Tracy should see the majority of work. That should allow him to provide weekly RB3 or even RB2 value, which makes him the top priority add of the week across all positions.  

Tank Bigsby, Philadelphia Eagles (32.7% Rostered)

In the midst of by far his best performance of the 2025 season, Barkley exited early with a groin injury. It has been reported that he would have returned had the game been closer … but that's what they said about Brock Bowers. Given how valuable the Eagles' starting RB job is for fantasy, we want to be proactive about this situation.

After Saquon's exit, the former Jaguar Bigsby served as the Eagles' RB1. He finished with 15 snaps and nine carries compared to three carries on seven snaps for Will Shipley. Bigsby also made the most of those carries, breaking off multiple chunk plays to finish with 104 yards on the day.  

It is worth noting that Shipley ran three routes to Bigsby's one. If Barkley misses time, this will likely be more of a committee than the one-man show it has been so far. But Bigbsy is the clear favorite to get the early-down rushing work, which makes him the most intriguing add.

In fact, even if Barkley is fine, Bigsby is worth adding in deeper formats — this week made clear that he is the handcuff to roster in this offense.  

Tyjae Spears, Tennessee Titans (40.9% Rostered)

Last week, the workload in the Titans' backfield swung back toward Tony Pollard. This week, in a hugely negative game script, things tilted toward Spears. He saw 34 snaps to Pollard's 32, nine carries to his 11, and three targets to his two. 

Obviously, this split was very close to exactly 50/50. But Spears was far more efficient with his opportunities than Pollard. He broke off a 41-yard run early in the second and added a three-yard TD in garbage time late in the fourth. This led to him finishing with 15.7 half-PPR points, easily his best outing so far this season.

Going forward, Spears will need to actually pull away from Pollard (or for the veteran to be unavailable) to be more than a high-variance flex play. This offense simply isn't good enough to support two consistently fantasy-relevant running backs.

But that's not the most unlikely outcome, especially given that Pollard is in the last year of his contract on a terrible Tennessee team. This performance is a reminder that Spears does have some juice and upside, which makes him worth rostering.

Dylan Sampson, Cleveland Browns (11.3% Rostered)

Sampson originally ranked higher on this list, but news came out as I was writing that Judkins is officially considered day-to-day. Given that the Browns have their bye in Week 9, there's a real chance that he doesn't miss any time at all.  

However, if Judkins were to miss time, it appears likely that the Browns' other rookie RB would be the next man up. With Judkins departing early on Sunday, Sampson outsnapped Jerome Ford 24-12. He also saw more carries (3-0), targets (5-2) and routes (17-10). 

It's unclear how valuable this role would be, as Judkins has been producing fantasy points in spite of the Browns' offensive situation, not because of it. But any starting NFL RB should be rostered in all fantasy leagues, so monitor Judkins' health heading into the bye to see if Sampson is worth adding. 

Devin Neal, New Orleans Saints (6.7% Rostered)

One of the questions of the week was how the Saints would divide their backfield without Kendre Miller. Would they revert to using Alvin Kamara as a bell-cow, or would Neal simply fill Miller's shoes? 

Well, things were complicated by the fact that New Orleans got absolutely nothing going on offense against the Buccaneers. Even if we include Taysom Hill's two totes, they recorded eight carries total as a backfield. Neal didn't claim any of those looks, but he did see a very healthy 45% snap share. He even led Kamara in route participation, 33-25%. This led to three targets, which he caught all three of, although just for 11 yards.

Prior to his injury, Miller actually seemed to be approaching standalone value, occasionally seeing more carries than Kamara. After one week, that doesn't seem to be in the cards for Neal, given his zero carries, but his snap share is encouraging. At the very least, he's worth adding in deep formats as the handcuff behind one of the league's oldest starting RBs.  

Bam Knight, Arizona Cardinals (18.3% Rostered)

I covered Knight in last week's article, and the Cardinals were on bye in the meantime, so nothing has changed.

The only difference is that his roster percentage has actually fallen, likely because desperate managers dropped him due to the byepocalypse. He's a starting NFL back, so you should check your waivers for him if you need RB help. 

Isaiah Davis, New York Jets (16.3% Rostered)

The Jets' offense exploded on Sunday, putting up 39 points on the hapless Bengals. As a result, they were able to spread the wealth. After previously being used primarily as a receiving back, Davis more than doubled his previous season-high with seven carries. He also saw his usual role as the team's primary passing-down RB, catching all five targets on a 34% route participation rate. He was efficient on his touches, finishing with 94 total yards and 15.4 half-PPR points. 

Looking forward, the Jets won't have this much offensive success every week (or potentially ever again). But Davis already had value as the handcuff to Breece Hall, who is one of the most popular names as we approach the NFL trade deadline (fair warning — nothing exciting ever happens at the NFL trade deadline). If he can also provide occasional standalone spike weeks, that makes him rosterable in a few more leagues. 

Samaje Perine, Cincinnati Bengals (3.5% Rostered)

To start the season, Perine was simply a third-down back in the Bengals' offense, while Chase Brown was a true workhorse. However, that has changed. Over the last three weeks (the Joe Flacco era), Perine has played 42% of Cincinnati's snaps and handled 41% of their RB carries.

He's actually trending in the wrong direction on the receiving front, with just four targets in those three weeks, but he did still post a solid 32% route participation rate. 

This week, this increased usage turned into fantasy production: Perine racked up 94 yards and a touchdown on his nine carries and added one catch for six yards for a total of 16.5 half-PPR points. The Bengals' rushing offense as a whole has found much more success over the last couple of weeks, so there's a chance this wasn't a complete fluke.

As long as the Bengals' offense continues humming under Flacco, Perine is worth considering as a handcuff/desperation flex play for deep leagues.