As the NFL reaches the second half of the regular season and the playoff field begins to take shape, teams have until Oct. 30, to upgrade their rosters in the trade market. Let the trades begin.

Carlos Hyde, running back for the Cleveland Browns, was traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars last week for a fifth-round draft pick. Hyde was a usable fantasy asset with the Browns but now looks to be merely a precautionary addition as former first-round pick Leonard Fournette will be returning from injury shortly.

The Oakland Raiders have continued their wholesale, trading wide receiver Amari Cooper to the Dallas Cowboys for a 2019 first-round pick. Cooper was having another miserable season in Oakland, but this trade may bring new life to the former fantasy stud. To make matters worse, Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch has been placed on Injured Reserve. It’s looking like a total rebuild in Oakland and Jon Gruden and company will have three first round picks in the 2019 NFL Draft.

With injuries piling up across the league, there looks to be a lot of spot start players available on the waiver wire heading into Week 8.

Are you sitting? Good, because the number one waiver wire pick-up this week comes out of the San Francisco 49er backfield. There isn’t a lot matriculating out of San Francisco as far as fantasy value is concerned but the former Purdue Boilermaker, Raheem Mostert, may change that trend. Mostert wasn’t involved much early on in the season but with Matt Breida dealing with an ankle injury and Alfred Morris underperforming, this guy has a shot to take over lead back duties at least for this week. Mostert has racked up at least 78 combined yards in each of his past two games and has tremendous pass-catching ability out of the backfield. Coming in last week after Breida aggravated his ankle injury, Mostert had 48 yards on his first four touches and looked solid. Assuming that Breida takes this week off, Mostert has a solid matchup against a poor run defense in the Arizona Cardinals. Now that fantasy owners are dealing with bye weeks and injuries, Mostert is a must add and a great spot start for Week 8, and he’s owned in only 15 percent of Yahoo leagues.

Geronimo Allison of the Green Bay Packers has been dealing with a concussion the past several weeks but looks to be emerging healthy from his team’s Week 7 bye. Allison has been a reliable second target for quarterback Aaron Rodgers and when healthy should slide right back into that role upon his return this week. Ahead of what could be a shootout against the Los Angeles Rams this week, Allison is a great add and start. Owned in only 38 percent of Yahoo leagues, Allison is the best wide receiver pick-up of the week.

Now for my personal favorite pass-catcher of the week. Rookie wide receiver Tre’Quan Smith of the New Orleans Saints made some noise two weeks ago, hauling in three passes for 111 yards and two scores. Last week Smith played 73 percent of snaps and looks to be an integral part of this passing attack moving forward. This week the Saints face-off against the Minnesota Vikings and number one target Michael Thomas should be shadowed by the Vikings shut-down corner, Xavier Rhodes. This could turn into a busy day for the Saints rookie. Smith who is owned in just 18 percent of Yahoo leagues should be rostered in all formats.

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Danny Amendola has quickly emerged as Brock Osweiler’s favorite target the past two weeks. With the other two starting wideouts already ruled out this week with injuries, Amendola should see a hefty number of targets come his way Thursday night against the Houston Texans. Owned in only 11 percent of leagues, Amendola could be a sneaky start this week.

The New England Patriots 2018 first round pick Sony Michel is currently week to week with a knee injury. This leaves only James White and Kenjon Barner as the only two options in the Patriots backfield. Barner came in last week for the injured Michel and rushed the ball 10 times for 36 yards. Fellow running back James White is very talented and has been tearing it up this year, but he isn’t built to take the workload himself and the Patriots have never been a team to use just one back. Assuming the Patriots don’t sign any free agents before their Monday night game against the Buffalo Bills, Barner should get a fair amount of touches and goal-line work in what should be a blowout. With the Patriots expected to win big this week, they will look to run the ball and kill the clock, giving Barner starting potential this week for those teams in running back trouble. Owned in only two percent of leagues, Barner is a must-add for this week.

As we get into the second half of the season it might be a good idea to take a look at some handcuffs for these stud running backs. If they were to go down to injury which none of us want to see but if it did happen, these running backs would be the most sought-after players in fantasy. Malcolm Brown of the Los Angeles Rams backs up the best fantasy running back in the game, Todd Gurley. With little work, Brown has looked good and is part of the best offense in the NFL. If you have the room, Brown is a must-stash as we inch closer to playoffs. The same goes for the Kansas City Chiefs bell cow, Kareem Hunt. Hunt is an amazing talent on probably the second-best offense in the league and if he were to ever get injured, Spencer Ware would be the next man up. Some food for thought.

Good luck this week and may the fantasy gods be ever in your favor.

Until next week.