The Patriots won in Week 8, but the victory over the Dolphins didn’t come without a cost. Tight end Hunter Henry suffered a foot injury and didn’t return, and there’s been no update yet on his status as of Monday evening. If he doesn’t play in Week 9, though, there’s a rookie who could be in line to make a massive impact from the jump. With that in mind, Eli Raridon might just be one of the best waiver wire targets on the market this week.
Should you add Eli Raridon for Week 9?
If the name Eli Raridon sounds familiar, it’s probably for one of two reasons. He was a key piece of a Notre Dame team that went to a College Football Playoff title game last year, but he also caught the first touchdown of the 2026-27 NFL season in Week 1 of his rookie campaign against the Seahawks.
He wasn’t a star in college by any means, breaking out in his fourth year with the Fighting Irish as he caught 32 passes for 482 yards without a touchdown. However, the traits he displayed in the NCAA have translated to the professional level. Raridon scored a 9.52 in RAS testing at the NFL Draft Combine, running an elite 4.62 40-yard dash at 6-foot-6 and 245 pounds. He also recorded a 36-inch vertical jump, good for an elite composite explosion grade. Those standout athletic tools helped earn the third-round draft capital the Patriots spent on him back in April.
Raridon’s counting stats don’t sound spectacular by any means. Through his seven games, he has just 13 receptions, but he’s taken those for 173 receiving yards and scored two touchdowns. It doesn’t sound like anything too impressive, but the underlying metrics are quite encouraging for the rookie. He’s averaging 1.92 YPRR, which grades out ninth among 41 qualifying tight ends. He also has the third-best explosive play rate among the same sample at 27.3%, which is a product of that elite athleticism that got him drafted on Day 2. Factor in a top-15 separation score and win rate, and it’s easy to see a world in which he could break out with more opportunities.
The encouraging signs for Raridon moving forward – beyond a potential absence for Henry – are that he’s getting on the field with a 56.7% snap share and that he’s becoming more involved. He has a low 8.6% target share, but he’s actually posted an 0.20 TPRR that ranks 19th among the aforementioned sample of qualifying tight ends. That’s solid for a Day 2 rookie. He’s also seen his chances tick up over the last few weeks. Over his last four games, Raridon has garnered at least three targets in each with four-plus targets in three of them. He has two outings of three-plus catches and 50+ yards over this small sample, which includes one of his two touchdowns.
The athletic tools are clear as day and the rookie seems to be getting a little more involved as his season goes along. He’s not guaranteed to take on a huge role moving forward, even if Henry sits in Week 9 due to injury – he put up just one catch for five yards on four targets this past week, even with the veteran injured for the second half. However, he would almost certainly see a large uptick in snap share as the next tight end up, which could translate to a few extra targets in turn. If A.J. Brown, who missed Week 8 due to injury himself doesn’t play, the ceiling grows higher for the remaining receiving weapons in the Patriots’ offense. New England heads home this week for a matchup against a Packers offense that loves to throw the football, so there’s definitely room for passing volume if this game turns into a duel between Drake Maye and Jordan Love.
There are various factors that may need to go his way, but if anything breaks in his favor, Raridon will be a high-upside speculative play with a low profile in Week 9. He may not get much hype on the waiver wire this week and is almost certainly available in most traditional leagues, so consider putting in a low-priority claim and seeing how the next few days play out.
