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We are at the halfway point of the regular season. The next four to five weeks are going to make or break your fantasy season. As you try to make that push from the middle of the pack to get one of the last playoff spots, it’s going to take the utmost perfect lineup changes and proper fantasy starter submissions. Here is a look at post week eight’s fantasy waiver wire pickups.

Quarterbacks

Josh Freeman-
It is visibly noticeable now that Freeman appears settled in with the new talent surrounding him offensively. After a shaky first month, he has developed and made Vincent Jackson into one of the top fantasy wide receivers in football. Doug Martin finally came around in a big way against the Minnesota Vikings, as the offense continues to move forward each and every week. Freeman is still available in about 40 percent of Yahoo leagues.

Blaine Gabbert
His week was a one week wonder as well as he has not done anything to be remotely considered a fantasy football quarterback this season. Based on his preseason and how he performed against Oakland before getting hurt though, you could say he is starting to turn the corner again. As noted in the weekly wonders article it use to take a young quarterback a full year to get use to the NFL speed and play. Gabbert may be approaching that period. Keep an eye on how he keeps producing in the coming weeks.

Running Backs

Jonathan Dwyer-
Another consecutive repeat entrance from Dwyer. All the injuries to the Steelers back field has allowed for Dwyer to be the main back two weeks in a row where he has shined for 100 yard performances. After struggling tremendously to get the ground game going the first five games, Pittsburgh will now be able to factor in Dwyer once Mendenhall and Redman are healthy. His carry amount load will dwindle but the Steelers will not ignore the past two weeks.

Donald Brown
Brown is not going to be a fantasy stud each week and finish as a top fifteen back. What he can do though is provide sneaky fantasy points each week. The Colts look like they’ve decided to limit his role as a feature back, but that doesn’t mean his productivity will decline. He can produce results with twelve to fifteen carries a game while maintaining his role as a solid pass catching running back. A quality back to have stashed on your roster especially if you are in a PPR league.

Ronnie Hillman
The Broncos really like this young rookie, and they finally unveiled what Hillman can do with a double digit carry load. Albeit his performance was against the poor defense of the Saints but it still yielded strong results and positive signs. The Broncos have not shied away from being a heavy run team this season. With Knowshown Moreno still shelved on the sidlines, Hillman is going to continue to get opportunities to rush the football to spell McGahee. That may rise as the weeks carry on so the Broncos have a healthy 30 year old McGahee come playoff time.

Wide Receivers

Titus Young
Megatron was negated Sunday so Matt Stafford had to look elsewhere to make big plays. Titus Young who was questionable to play gutted it out and had a huge performance with nine catches and two touchdowns. He was on the waiver wire list last week and is still available in a wide range of leagues.

Joshua Morgan
The longer and longer Pierre Garcon sits out the more the depth of the Redskins begins to rise in the fantasy football picture. Leonard Hankerson has been to inconsistent and Santana Moss is good for a solid game once a month. Morgan seems to be the guy RG3 is leaning more and more as the weeks stretch on.

Brandon LaFell
Even amidst Cam Newton’s second year struggles, LaFell has started the year off as a solid flex and borderline number three/four fantasy wide receiver. He is on pace to finish the year near 850 yards receiving with six touchdowns, and that’s with how poor Newton has played. If Newton can snap out of his funk and throw a few more 300 yard games, LaFell could be a sleeper strong finisher to the fantasy season.