| | | | Monday, November 8, 2021 | | Week 9 was weird. The run up to Sunday's games was filled with an unusually busy news cycle, and we entered Sunday morning with an unusually high number of injury questions -- would Christian McCaffrey play? (Yes.) What about Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins? (No.) We also had at least one surprise injury keep a starter out, in Tua Tagovailoa. | | And then there were the games. The Browns blowing out the Bengals after a week filled with drama. The Broncos beating the Cowboys by 14 in a game that wasn't nearly as close as the final score indicated. The Falcons beating the Saints. The Packers and Chiefs combining for 20 points. The Cardinals stomping the 49ers without Murray and Hopkins. The Titans 28-16 win over the Rams might've been the most surprising outcome of the week if not for the Bills somehow managing just two field goals in a loss to the Jaguars where the Jaguars themselves only managed three field goals. I mean ... what? | | So, it's fair to say you might have some questions coming out of Sunday's games. And injuries will add to that list. Here's a quick update on some news this morning: | | David Montgomery will be activated from IR and will play Monday against the Steelers. I'm certainly worried about what this means for Khalil Herbert's value because I do expect Montgomery to be the lead back. I don't necessarily think either is likely to be particularly great for Fantasy. Chase Edmonds suffered a high-ankle sprain and is likely to miss 4-6 weeks. Which would put his potential return right around the start of the Fantasy playoffs. I'm probably stashing him if I can, but I understand you may not be able to. James Conner -- who had three touchdowns and played a big role in the passing game Sunday -- should be a must-start Fantasy RB with Edmonds out, and Eno Benjamin will be a priority on waivers this week. Trevor Lawrence suffered a low-ankle sprain Sunday and will be limited in practice this week. Hopefully, he'll be find for Week 10, but it's something to watch. | | In today's newsletter you'll find my recaps of every game, including the biggest winners and losers from Sunday's action -- and then my early waiver-wire targets column from Sunday evening and Heath Cummings' breakdown of the top storylines from Week 9 , including some tough questions about one of the biggest stars in football. I'll have my full rankings for Week 10 and Jamey Eisenberg's full waiver-wire priority list for tomorrow's newsletter, and if you have any waiver-wire or trade questions, make sure you send them my way with the subject line #AskFFT to Chris.Towers@ViacomCBS.com. | | | | Week 9 Recap: Winners and Losers | | | | Here are the biggest winners from Sunday's action, and you can read my full recap of every game here, including winners and losers, one big takeaway, and one more thing to know for each game as well. Here are a few key picks: | | Winners | | These players come out of Week 9 looking better than they did coming in. | James Conner. Well, that was unexpected. Conner, who has been mostly written off as a touchdown-or-bust guy stepped up in a big way with Kyler Murray out and Chase Edmonds leaving with an ankle injury early on, rushing for 96 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries plus 77 yards on six catches with another touchdown. The rushing work isn't terribly surprising, but Conner being that effective in the passing game was eye opening; I wasn't sure he could still do that at this point. If Edmonds has to miss time moving forward, Conner is probably a top-15 back for Fantasy.
Marquise Brown. Even with Rashod Bateman taking a step forward and earning a career-high eight targets, Brown had another big game, with nine catches for 116 yards on 12 targets. Maybe when Sammy Watkins returns, his volume will take a hit, but I doubt it. Brown is being used as a legitimate No. 1 WR with a 25% target share, and they're throwing more than ever.
Joe Mixon . Mixon scored two touchdowns on the ground, but once again, it's his work in the passing game that draws our attention. Mixon had five catches on five targets in this one, his third game in the last four with at least five. Seeing as he went four games in a row where he had just six targets total between Weeks 2 and 5, that's very, very good news. Even better news is that Samaje Perine and Chris Evans combined for just four targets in a game where the Bengals were trailing basically from the start. I'm still not 100% sure I trust the Bengals to use him like this every week, but when they're getting him involved in the passing game, Mixon is among the handful of best backs in football.
Javonte Williams. There's no sign that the Broncos are getting ready to take work away from Melvin Gordon to feature Williams -- Gordon had 21 carries and three targets while Williams had 17 and zero. However, games like this do show how much more dynamic Williams is than Gordon, who rushed for 3.8 yards per carry and is averaging 3.84 since Week 1. There's been a running joke on Fantasy Football Today this season about how someone declares this is "Javonte Week" every week, and I won't be the next one to do it. I have no idea if or when the Broncos are going to make the change. But Williams remains well worth stashing, even if you can't exactly rely on him every week.
| | | | Losers | | It's hard to feel better about these players coming out of Week 8 than you did coming in. | Alvin Kamara. Okay, there's probably nothing you can do about it, but I've gotta be honest, I hate what I'm seeing from Kamara since Mark Ingram joined the team. Kamara split carries with Ingram 13-9 and didn't see a target until there were 12 minutes left in the third quarter Sunday. After playing a season-low 67% of the snaps in Week 8, Ingram's first game, and it remained steady this week. He still scored a touchdown and ended up with four catches for 54 yards on seven targets, so it was a fine game for Fantasy, but in a worse offense that isn't featuring him as a passer nearly as often, Kamara losing snaps is definitely a bad sign. He's more like a low-end RB1 for me.
Kadarius Toney. I don't want to say you should drop Toney with the Giants bye week coming up, but you're going to face some awfully tough decisions. For instance, if Brandon Aiyuk was out there on the wire in my league, I'd probably have to drop Toney to add Aiyuk; ditto for Rashod Bateman, and I might do it for Elijah Moore, too. I still like Toney's potential, but in two games since coming back from injury, he has six targets, five catches, and 35 yards. I just don't know if this offense is good enough to support multiple Fantasy relevant wide receivers, and I'm not sure Toney is ready to stand out just yet.
Rondale Moore. With DeAndre Hopkins (hamstring) and A.J. Green (reserve/COVID-19) out, Moore ran a route on nearly every pass play, which was a good sign, but he really didn't do much to take advantage of the opportunity. Obviously, Colt McCoy is no Murray, but Christian Kirk still managed six catches for 91 yards; Moore had just five for 25. I love Moore's talent, and he's going to have moments where he makes a real impact for the Cardinals, but he has more than 28 receiving yards in just one of his past seven games now. You can probably drop him.
Adrian Peterson. I suppose you could spin this as a win for Peterson, as he led the team with 10 carries and found the end zone despite signing just six days ago. However, D'Onta Foreman also had five carries and Jeremy McNichols had seven, while Peterson predictably had a very limited passing game role. Maybe his usage will increase moving forward, but I didn't see any reason to think Peterson is going to be much more than a fringe Fantasy option. If last week was the best time to trade him, this week is the second-best.
| | Believe It Or Not | | | | Every week, Heath Cummings takes a look at the biggest storylines in Fantasy to try and separate fact from fiction for you. Here are this week's narratives and some of Heath's thoughts: | Patrick Mahomes is no longer a must-start QB: "Don't believe it. As someone who writes about streaming QB every week, I very strongly agree with Adi Joseph. Streaming has been miserable this week. We started Week 9 with Tua Tagovailoa and Taysom Hill as the top streamers. By Sunday morning we'd switched to Daniel Jones and Tyrod Taylor . The four of them combined for 17.7 Fantasy points this week. The Chiefs offense, and Mahomes, look broken. I still believe they will eventually snap out of it, but I have no idea when. That doesn't offer any comfort, I'm sure. Neither should the prospect of benching Mahomes for the top Week 10 streamers. Like the Chiefs, you're just going to have to keep running Mahomes out there and hope that he figures it out in time for you to sneak into the playoffs."Jordan Howard is the best RB on the Eagles until Miles Sanders returns: "Believe it. Boston Scott actually got the start, but it was clear early who the hot hand is. And it shouldn't be as surprising as it seems. Howard had three consecutive seasons with 250-plus carries, Scott's career-high is 80. And while it seems like Howard has been around forever, he's barely six months older than Scott."James Conner is a top-12 RB if Chase Edmonds misses time: "Believe it. Conner was already dominating inside the five-yard line and has 11 touchdowns in his first nine games. while he'll still share with Eno Benjamin , Conner now figures to play a more prominent role in the passing game, especially after his 45-yard touchdown scamper on Sunday. Conner, for the time being, is a workhorse back on arguably the best offense in football. Top-12 might be selling him short. But also, with Conner's injury history, you should probably pick up Benjamin if Edmonds' injury is serious."
| | Top early waiver-wire targets | | | | Brandon Aiyuk, WR, SF 50%Elliah Moore, WR, NYJ 14%Jordan Howard, RB, PHI 38%Rashod Bateman, WR, BAL 59%Rhamondre Stevenson, RB, NE 26% | | For the rest of my top early priorities and why I'm targeting them, head here. | | | | | | | | Europe's Best on P+ | | Just Women’s Sports | The 2021/22 UEFA Season promises to be one of the most exciting and thrilling in recent times! Watch Europe's Elite on the road to glory exclusively on Paramount+.
Watch Live
| | Just Women’s Sports is here to bring you everything you need to see and know in the world of women’s sports. From in-depth news and analysis, to podcasts and more, Just Women’s Sports is 100% women’s sports, 100% of the time. Check it out online & on social.
Visit Now
|
| | | | |
|
|
