Fantasy Football Waiver Wire 2014: Top 10 Week 9 pickups

Ronnie Hillman-RB-Denver Broncos (30.2%)

Even though he’s been great for the Broncos, Hillman remains amazingly available and is on our list for the third straight week. He’s been very solid as the Broncos top back and is making a strong case for his continued involvement even after Montee Ball returns from his injury.

Ball has been sidelined for three games and Hillman has totaled 283 yards with a pair of 100+ yard games and a pair of touchdowns.  Both his touchdowns came against the 49ers in week seven, but he came close to the end zone this week against the Chargers.  He lost both of the short-yardage touchdowns to rookie Juwan Thompson. Thompson was in as fullback in front of Hillman, so Hillman was still on the field even in the short-yardage situations and could get the call in the next goal line situation.

This week against New England, it looks like Hillman will get another game as primary rusher to state his case. According to the Denver Post, Ball may have lost his job to Hillman permanently which is why Hillman is our top pickup.  His long-term upside is enormous if he maintains his role in Peyton Manning’s prolific offense, but he may lose some carries in the coming weeks.  Either way, he’s a low-end RB1  this week as he takes on a suspect New England run defense. If he’s still available in your league, Hillman needs to be your top pickup regardless of your team need or depth at the position based on his upside and his stellar performance in a prolific offense.