FanHouse Brandon Pettigrew

Weeding through those unwieldy waiver wires requires a keen eye and a quick trigger. Thus, Waiver Wire Wonders provides a weekly snapshot of players worthy of consideration who should be available on a good portion of league waiver wires.

It looks like we have the makings for some steamy waiver wire action as Week 9 provided a host of interesting plays. In the "one man gathers what another man spills" department, we saw a perennial backup step in as a fantasy big shot suffered a concussion, a couple of forgotten old timers break out for their new teams, a couple deep-on-depth-chart overachievers make a name for themselves and we even saw a Lion play a good game. With the trade deadline looming, waiver wire moves get even more important down the stretch, so stay on your toes. Let's go.

Sunday Evening Wrap checks out players who increased or decreased their value during the Sunday afternoon games.

Riser of the Week: After a five-interception game against the Panthers last week, Kurt Warner owners may have been a bit worried, especially since his next task was facing a ball-hawking defense like the Chicago Bears (which, by the way, is more reputation than actuality anymore). Some people were even talking about taking a flier on Matt Leinart in larger leagues. Sunday, Warner put a stop to that, breezing through the Bears' defense like a knife through hot butter. He ended with five touchdown passes and no doubt he's finishing the season as the Cards' starter.

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Everyone loves fantasy football sleepers, but they change depending on league size and availability. We're here each and every week to give you a look at good plays for all types of leagues.

You know it's going to be a great week when your featured sleeper suffers an injury so bad, his bone sticks out of his skin. While that was unfortunate (and likely very, very painful) for Leon Washington, the matchup advice turned out to be sound, as Shonn Greene stepped right in and put up a great line for absolutely no fantasy teams.

This week's slate of sleepers features many players coming out a bye week, hopefully feeling refreshed and ready to put up big points.

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Sunday Evening Wrap checks out players who increased or decreased their value during the Sunday afternoon games.

Sunday's Top Riser: We've seen this Tom Brady before, and it was in 2007 when he threw for almost 5,000 yards and totaled 50 touchdown passes. So far in 2009, he'd been good, but not great. And we drafted Brady for great in fantasy football. Enter the Tennessee Titans and the worst pass defense in football. Brady, despite playing in a quasi-blizzard, completed 29-of-34 passes for 380 yards and six touchdowns. That's all he'll need to get that swagger back. Next week against Tampa Bay, he's going to put on a show across the pond in London's Wembley Stadium, and he's a bonafide top-three fantasy QB again -- you can take that to the bank.

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There are plenty of solid options to be had this weekend at the tight end position. Sure, Dallas Clark, Jason Witten and Vernon Davis are all on the bye week. If you need to replace one of those guys this week, you'll be able to get by via playing the matchups correctly. (As a side note: it just feels right to have Tony Gonzalez and Antonio Gates back atop the fantasy tight end hierarchy)

Both Gonzo and Gates have prime-time favorable matchups that they should very well dominate. On the heels of his monster game against the Eagles, Kellen Winslow has caught our eye and deserves even more attention based upon the soft matchup against the Panthers. It hasn't hurt that Josh Johnson is locked in on Winslow as his new favorite target. Chris Cooley and Brent Celek are also eying down cupcake matchups. You're in good shape if you're starting any of these guys.

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Every week in this space we've been bragging about the abundance of depth at the tight end position. Well, thanks to the bye weeks the pickings have gotten just a little slimmer. Or maybe, it's just that some of the hot starts have cooled off a little. Anyhow, prepare to yawn as it's another week and yet again Dallas Clark clutches onto the top spot. Until we see proof otherwise, that's that.

Tony Gonzalez returns from the bye week, but faces a tough defense in San Francisco. Surely, the 49ers will be amped to stop the run which may lead to Gonzo slipping in a nice game. John Carlson returns to the upper echelon this week and should be primed to get back into good graces against a soft Jaguars defense at home. If Jason Witten can't somehow exploit the Chiefs' horrid defense, then you may want to press the panic button. And as for the rest of the ranks, follow along...

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We've been down this road before. We get it -- Dallas Clark is distancing himself as the clear-cut top tight end option in fantasy football. So, don't expect us to bump him from his lofty perch just yet. Really the only other tight end keeping the pace might be Brent Celek, but he's on a bye this week.

Well, insert Jason Witten to finally break out in a big way against the Broncos this weekend. We saw that the Cowboys were comfortable playing it safe on MNF with a lot of Tony Romo dump-offs to Witten. That was good enough for Witten to rope in nine passes. Of course, he didn't find the end zone, but that's coming on Sunday. Welcome back to the elite, Mr. Witten.

As for the rest of the ranks...

1. Dallas Clark, IND vs SEA
2. Jason Witten, DAL @ DEN
3. Chris Cooley, WAS vs TB
4. Jeremy Shockey, NO vs NYJ
5. Greg Olsen, CHI vs DET

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If you're still having trouble finding a decent tight end option at this point, you're doing something wrong. The tight end position has been consistently deep and productive over the first two weeks of the season. The Big Four is becoming more like the Big Dozen -- well, maybe.

There's simply no shying away from what Dallas Clark did on Monday night. He is essentially a No. 2 wide receiver for this Colts offense with Anthony Gonzalez down and out. However, you already knew that, right? And so, we must stick to our guns for yet another week with Mr. Clark leading the tight end rankings.

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Training camps have wrapped up, the NFL season is right around the corner, and it's still hot as sin outside. But instead of cooling you off with a warm island song, FanHouse break out ye old heat check for our 2009 NFL Season Previews." We'll rate each club in 5 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Without playing a game, the Detroit Lions have matched their 2008 regular season win total. Naturally, this is an embarrassing fact, and one that Lions fans are probably sick of hearing. However, it also serves to show how easy it will be for head coach Jim Schwartz to be hailed as a genius this season. The Lions will win a game (or more!) in 2009, and Schwartz has done some things in the offseason to point this franchise in a positive direction. It's time now for the players to see the benefits of their hard work during the spring and summer.

Offensive tackle Andre Smith became the 31st 2009 first-round draft pick to sign, coming to terms with Cincinnati. Find all the signed picks' contract details below: