10 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Targets Heading Into Week 8

Darren McFadden

ESPN Ownership: 43%
Yahoo Ownership: 34%

Look, everyone and their mother knows about how bad Darren McFadden has been the last few years. Our own editor-in-chief, JJ Zachariason, went on record talking about just how bad he was before the season began.

But after McFadden's 29-carry, 152-yard, 1-touchdown performance against the Giants yesterday, I think it's fair to say that McFadden is worth owning at the very least because of the opportunity he's inherited. It is true, last season McFadden was the 42nd ranked running back in terms of Rushing NEP per rush out of 43 total running backs who carried the ball over 100 times, with a -0.15 Rushing NEP per rush. That's really, really gross.

But after Sunday's performance, McFadden is now sporting a 0.08 Rushing NEP per rush behind the Cowboys' offensive line in 2015, and he appears to be the lead dog in the Dallas backfield. Moreover, McFadden has also been a contributor in the passing game as well, snagging two passes in Week 7, and an impressive nine passes in Week 6, so there's PPR upside to boot.

Don't go crazy and think McFadden's turned back into the prospect that came out of Arkansas in 2008, and certainly don't go starting him against the Seahawks next week, but put a flier out on McFadden to see if he can continue to take advantage of the opportunity to run behind one of the best run-blocking units in the NFL. There's worse things that could happen than having to drop Darren McFadden for the 12th time over the course of your fantasy football playing career.