Fantasy Football Week 9 Waiver Wire Debate: Troy Franklin vs Christian Watson
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It is waiver wire tuesday and it is time to find the best pickups across the board. Today, this brings us to the wide receiver position. We are going to look at Troy Franklin and Christian Watson. On one hand, Franklin has been seamlessly connected with his college quarterback, Bo Nix. As for Christian Watson, he just returned for the IR and looks to be playing in an immediately impactful role. You can likely only get one of them, if you are lucky. We will tell you which one is the pick.
The Case for Troy Franklin
Franklin has been the clear WR2 on this Broncos offense. In 8 games, Franklin has 52 Targets (20% Target Share), 33 Receptions, 358 Yards, and 4 Touchdowns. He leads the offense in receiving touchdowns. In the Red Zone, Franklin has 12 Targets, or a 30% Target Share.
Troy Franklin has gotten more usage and outproduced Courtland Sutton over the last two weeks 👀 pic.twitter.com/S7ChV2apeO
— Yahoo Fantasy Sports (@YahooFantasy) October 26, 2025
This is a situation where a player may be on waivers, but he should absolutely not be here. I have raved about Franklin for weeks and he continues to produce as a very high usage WR2. He had not one, but two touchdowns in Week 8. The connection with Bo Nix is seamless, and must be leveraged.
The Case for Christian Watson
Watson is another player on waivers that has tremendous upside going forward. We found the right week to spend our FAB.
Just one game is under Watson's belt, but he was immediately inserted into this offense. Watson had 4 Targets (12% Target Share). Watson did play just 56% of team snaps, and we can expect that number to end up closer to 80%. His true target share likely will not be groundbreaking, but should work itself to 16-20%.
Christian Watson picking up right where he left off before the ACL. He was ranked 2nd in 2024 in yards per reception. First game back, 4 targets 4 catches averaging 21.3 yards per reception 🧀🏈 pic.twitter.com/mJDXSjfL2v
— Packerfan Total Access- Clayton (@packers_access) October 27, 2025
To correctly value Watson, we must look at his history. Watson played 15 Games in 2024 and had a 12% red zone target share. He has the same target share in general. This also came with Jayden Reed being active, which is not the case. Our 16-20% target share projection should be accurate.
Waiver Wire Debate: Troy Franklin vs Christian Watson
The picture is quite clear. We will go with Franklin with our waiver claim. His upside is through the roof and he is a WR2, solidified.
Watson is not a bad pickup. In fact, he can end up with upside that of Romeo Doubs. That warrants Flex upside. He is absolutely worth a pickup. In this Packers spread offense, it just becomes difficult for any player to have consistent value. The only player that does is Tucker Kraft.
Stock Watch
Troy Franklin: WR2, Flex in a bad matchup. Mostly startable.
Christian Watson: Weekly Flex consideration.
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Thomas Carelli is a sportswriter based on Northern New Jersey. He is a massive New York Jets and Mets fan, but that is not where is sports fandom stops. He loves to watch and play golf, all things football, baseball, and much more. If he can watch it, he will. Thomas graduated from William Paterson University in 2018 with a Bachelor's Degree in Sport Management. He spent 4 years working at a local golf course, volunteered past PGA events, and spent some part-time experience with the New York Jets events team. His passions for sport runs deep and his articles show for it.