Week 9 Roundup

A-Z FFB
Nov 10, 2020
11 min read

Updated: Dec 3, 2020

Y'all... it's week 10 already. Where has the time gone?! It has been a crazy season, jam packed with highs & lows. My hope with this series of articles is that you have been able to reflect on those highs and lows with me, and also look ahead to the next week as we explore some waiver wire targets to get you ready for the next week of fantasy football action.

Injuries:

DNP Week 9

- Brandon Aiyuk - COVID

- Deebo Samuel - COVID

- Kenny Golladay - Hip

- N'Keal Harry - Concussion

- Sam Darnold - Shoulder

- Chris Carson - Foot

Injured in Week 9

- Kyle Allen - Ankle

- Christian McCaffery - Shoulder *

- David Montgomery - Concussion

- Laviska Shenault Jr. - Hamstring

- Justin Jackson - Knee

- Preston Williams - Foot *

- Ben Roethlisberger - Knees *

Returning from Injury

- Nick Chubb - MCL *

- Miles Sanders - Knee

- Alshon Jeffery - Foot

- Allen Lazard - Core

Christian McCaffery played in week 9 for the first time since week 2 when he suffered a high ankle sprain. CMC returned right back to form. He posted 151 scrimmage yards & 2 TD's. Unfortunately CMC find himself right back on the injury report after sustaining a shoulder injury on the final drive of the game vs. the Kansas City Chiefs. McCaffery is considered day-to-day, but his week 10 availability is already in question.

Preston Williams was having a nice day before exiting week 9's contest early in the 2nd quarter after injuring his foot during a TD celebration. C'mon, Preston. Fortunately the x-rays did come back negative, so this is not believed to be a long term injury.

Ben Roethlisberger gutted out a whole half of football versus the Cowboys after an awkward tackle that ended up injuring both of his knees. You could see that his left leg was sort of trapped underneath a defender as Ben fell awkwardly to the turf. Major strain was placed on his MCL due to this tackle, however there is optimism within the Steelers building that Ben will be able to play versus the Bengals in week 10. Probably a good thing so they don't have to roll out Mason Rudolph for any meaningful snaps. One series on Sunday versus the Cowboys was plenty of Rudolph for me in 2020.

Nick Chubb has been designated to return off of the IR. Chubb injured his MCL in week 4. Prior to his injury, Chubb was balling out. Despite all of the missed time, Chubb still ranks second in the NFL in Rushing Yards Over Expectation (RYOE) with 112. Chubb should be a nice boost to the CLE offense as Baker continues to underwhelm.

What I Learned From Week :

- Aaron Rodgers: "I've played well on Thursday nights, Sunday's, Sunday nights, Monday's"

I am truly jealous of 'Aaron Rodgers Tuesday's' on The Pat McAfee show. Every Tuesday Aaron Rodgers joins Pat for a laid back, chill AF interview where he usually drops a BOMB quote. The Packers torched a depleted 49ers team on Thursday Night Football, a great mental hurdle for them to overcome after two bad losses last year. Aaron Rodgers is currently 3rd in the NFL in TD's with 24 while maintaining am amazing TD/INT ratio with only 2 picks on the season, both came in week 6's game vs. Tampa Bay.

- Davante Adams has arrived at super stardom

At the beginning of Adams's career he was not overly impressive. He had a lot of concentration drops and just looked sloppy at times. Fast forward to now, Adams is without a doubt one of, if not the most polished route runners in the game. Throughout his career, he & Aaron Rodgers have re-defined 'rapport'. Adams & Rodgers are seemingly always on the same page. As a Packers fan, Davante's ascension into truly elite territory has been a joy to watch. Davante's last three games look like this: 39 targets / 30 receptions / 422 yards / 6 TD's.

Photo: sportingnews.com

- Drew Lock, not a lock

There are a lot of asterisks that can be placed on the 2020 season, but before the season I said that Drew Lock was on the hot seat in just his second year in the league, first year as the full time starter. I said this because the team sold out to surround Lock with high level weapons to the point where if he failed, it was because he was bad, not because he did not have a supporting cast. Now in Lock's defense, he did lose WR 1, Courtland Sutton. That is a huge blow to the WR core. Jerry Jeudy has dealt with some injuries of his own that have delayed his breakout. Noah Fant & Phillip Lindsay have missed time. Lock himself has been banged up... In his two games back, we saw a heroic comeback and another attempt at a heroic comeback. Both of those games had one thing in common, a very sloppy first half for Drew Lock. The Broncos are wanting Drew Lock to be the future of their franchise, I think that is to be determined.

- Dalvin Cook, best RB in the game?

Dalvin Cook is playing at a different speed right now. He looks like a man amongst boys. Cook is coming off of back-to-back 200+ scrimmage yard games. Versus the Lions in week 9, Cook recorded 202 yards rushing alone. Cook also has 12 rushing TD's to his credit in 2020. A healthy Dalvin Cook is proving to be the best Running Back in the NFL. Oh yeah, he can catch too.

- The Dolphins are well ahead of schedule

After recording two consecutive 'upset' victories, Miami has to be feeling great. In his second start, Tua really showed what he could do. Tua threw for 248 yards and 2 TD's vs. a stingy Arizona defensive unit. In week 8 vs. the Rams it was the Dolphins defense that got the job done, scoring 2 TD's and forcing 4 total turnovers. The Miami defense is currently 4th best in the league with a +5 turnover differential. Now if only they had a stud safety who's name rhymes with Flinkah Mitzmatrick....

- Trap Games are real, ask the Steelers

The Steelers nearly saw their claim is the final undefeated team in the NFL slip away from them versus one of the most unlikely foes, the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys were down to their 3rd QB of the year, and even they didn't know who it was going to be until half way through the week. They would up going with former St. Louis Ram circa 2014, former AAF "superstar", Garrett Gilbert. Gilbert entered the arena to take on one of the NFL's toughest defenses, and he nearly did what we all thought was impossible. It came down to a 'Hail Mary' attempt in the final seconds of the game. A valiant effort, but the Steelers emerged victorious in a tightly contested game, 24-19.

- What the Buc happened out there?

You like the pun? Thanks, me too. I really just should have used the other word, because what in the world happened to the Bucs on Sunday night? This game was over at halftime when the Saints found themselves with a 31-0 lead. The game ended with a score of 38-3. Mind you this was with Antonio Brown, Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, Rojo, Leonard Fournette & Gronk. They simply had NOTHING for the Saints, who have completed the divisional sweep of Tom Brady's Buccaneers in the 2020 regular season. The Saints defense was dominant, forcing 3 turnovers & holding Tom Brady and that loaded WR core to just 209 yards on the game. This game even saw former Bucs QB, Jameis Winston get 12 yards of sweet, sweet revenge on his former club.

Report Card:

So, speaking of traps.... Fantasy Football Twitter indicated that I was not the only one to fall victim to a number of 'Trap Matchups' in week 9. Let's take a look and see where the wheels fell off this week.

Starts:

QB - Josh Allen: Was this chalky? Sure, but Josh Allen has not been all that inspiring as of late. As I predicted (real Nostradamus here), Josh Allen had himself a DAY vs. the exploitable Seattle defense. Allen finished the week as the QB 2 after passing for over 400 yards & notching 4 total TD's.

Photo: buffalonews.com

RB - James Conner: See 'Trap Games are real, ask the Steelers'. James Conner's usage in this game frankly did not make any sense. Yes the Steelers were trailing for a good chunk of the game, but Conner saw only 2 targets the entire game. Conner is one of the better pass catching RB's in the NFL, so this was puzzling to me, but then again so was this entire game.

WR - Allen Robinson: Robinson caught 7 out of his 9 targets for 81 yards, but this week he was unable to find the end zone vs. the Titans. Robinson had a couple of nice grabs, yes. But ultimately he let you down for fantasy football, coming in as this week's WR 29.

Photo: yahoo.com

TE - Rob Gronkowski: See 'What the Buc Happened out there?'. It's hard to pin this all on Gronk, the entire Bucs team had absolutely nothing for the Saints. I think the words I used were "This one actually makes sense" when declaring Gronk as my TE start of the week. I should have know at that moment that it was too good to be true.

Sits:

I actually did not declare and 'Sits' of the week. Last week was CRAZY, and we had some technical difficulties with our podcast that put us in a pinch for time as we were racing the 9 year old, lithium ion battery of Alex's computer. We didn't make it to 'Sits', but no worries, they will be back next week.

My Score:

You know the old saying, "1 out of 4 kinda sucks!" This particular weekend the NFL decided to get as weird as crazy as fantasy football is known to get as they sabotaged my Starts of the Week in a sick twist of fate.

Grade: D

Popped Off | Dropped Off

Popped Off

- QB - Kyler Murray - QB 1 | 38 pts.

21/26 passing / 283 yds. / 3 TD | 11 rush att. / 106 yds. / 1 TD

- QB - Josh Allen - QB 2 | 36 pts.

31/38 passing / 415 yds. / 3 TD | 7 rush att. / 14 yds. / 1 TD

- RB - Dalvin Cook - RB 1 | 38.2 pts.

Rushing - 22 att. / 206 yds. / 2 TD | Receiving - 2 rec. / 46 yds.

- RB - Christian McCaffery - RB 2 | 32.1 pts.

Rushing - 18 att. / 69 yds. / 1 TD | Receiving - 10 rec. / 82 yds. / 1 TD

- RB - Kalen Ballage - RB 4 | 15.4 pts.

Rushing - 15 att. / 69 yds. / 1 TD | Receiving - 2 rec. / 15 yds.

- WR - Richie James Jr. - WR 1 | 28.9 pts.

13 tgt. / 9 rec. / 184 yds. / 1 TD

- WR - Tyreek Hill - WR 2 | 28.6 pts.

18 tgt. / 9 rec. / 113 yds. / 2 TD

- WR - Jerry Jeudy - WR 6 | 22 pts.

14 tgt. / 7 rec. / 125 yds. / 1 TD

- TE - Travis Kelce - TE 1 | 20.9 pts.

12 tgt. / 10 rec. / 159 yds. / 0 TD

- TE - Irv Smith Jr. - TE 2 | 14 pts.

4 tgt. / 2 rec. / 10 yds. / 2 TD

***

Dropped Off:

- QB - Lamar Jackson - QB 19 | 18.6 pts.

19/23 passing / 170 yds. / 0 TD | 13 rush att. / 58 yds. / 1 TD

- QB - Philip Rivers - QB 28 | 7 pts.

25/43 passing / 227 yds. / 0 TD / 1 INT

- RB - Derrick Henry - RB 37 | 6.8 pts.

Rushing - 21 att. / 68 yds. / 0 TD | Receiving - 0 rec. / 0 yds.

- RB - James Conner - RB 55 | 3 pts.

Rushing - 9 att. / 22 yds. / 0 TD | Receiving - 2 rec. / -2 yds.

- WR - Diontae Johnson - WR 34 | 11.1 pts.

10 tgt. / 6 rec. / 60 yds. / 0 TD

- WR - DeAndre Hopkins - WR 75 | 4.5 pts.

3 tgt. / 3 rec. / 30 yds. / 0 TD

- WR - D.J. Moore - WR 82 | 2.8 pts.

3 tgt. / 2 rec. / 18 yds. / 0 TD

- TE - Mike Gesicki - TE 23 | 5.7 pts.

4 tgt. / 3 rec. / 42 yds. / 0 TD

- TE - Mark Andrews - TE 28 | 3.7 pts.

5 tgt. / 3 rec. / 22 yds. / 0 TD

The Waiver Wire:

Quarterback:

Drew Lock - 20% Rostered

Drew Lock has put up back-to-back top 7 weeks. He hasn't always looked amazing, but he has been great for fantasy football. If you need a QB, Lock is your best option that is widely available on the waiver wire.

Photo: thednvr.com

Alex Smith - 1% Rostered

Alex Smith is obviously a much deeper play, but how insane is it that Smith back as the presumed starting QB for a NFL team. With weapons like Terry McLaurin and Antonio Gibson, in the right matchup, Smith could provide fantasy value... again, the right matchup.

Running Back:

Zack Moss - 73% Rostered

Zack Moss has found the end zone in back to back weeks now. Take this with a grain of salt, but Moss significantly outproduced his co-RB, Devin Singletary in week 9. Moss had a whopping 9 carries, but Singletary only had 2. The Bills appear to be comfortably with Zack Moss handling more and more work. At 73% rostered it's a slim chance, but check your waiver wires.

Photo: sports.yahoo.com

JaMycal Hasty - 53% Rostered

JaMycal Hasty let a lot of folks down vs. Green Bay. On paper this was a dream matchup, but leave it to Kyle Shanahan to go with the other RB on the team. I still like Hasty has a waiver wire target because if it would have been Hasty instead of McKinnon in week 9, we would be all over Hasty... fact of the matter is next week it might actually be Hasty instead of McKinnon vs. the Saints.

Wide Receiver:

Jalen Reagor - 24% Rostered

Jalen Reagor has made this list over the past few weeks. The first round pick is back in action. Yes, Travis Fulgham appears to be very legit. But in Reagor's first game back from his thumb injury he saw 6 targets and found the end zone. Coming off a bye week Reagor should be ready to rock. When he is healthy, Reagor has huge upside.

Allen Lazard - 38% Rostered

Allen Lazard is returning this week from core muscle surgery that sidelined him for about a month. The Packers have made due without Lazard, but it is very apparent that none of their WR's had it in them to emerge as a true WR 2. We have seen solid performances from Lazard with & without Davante Adams on the field. If Lazard is back and healthy, he brings high end WR 3 - low end WR 2 upside with him.

Photo: nflspinzone.com

Jakobi Meyers - 13% Rostered

Jakobi Meyers was a buzzy name last offseason. Meyers was making highlight grabs in practice & preseason games on the reg. But the team drafted N'Keal Harry in the first round, no path to relevance for Jakobi Meyers, right? Hold up... Harry simply hasn't worked out. He has been banged up causing him to miss time. That may have allowed Meyers the opportunity to establish himself. Meyers (who just celebrated his 24th birthday on 11/9) is coming off of back to back weeks with double digit targets. In week 9 vs. the Jets, Meyers went OFF with 12 catches for 169 yards. Meyers may be emerging as Cam Newton's favorite target which certainly holds some value.

K.J. Hamler - 2% Rostered

K.J. Hamler makes the list because this speedster saw 10 targets vs. the Falcons. Yes, the Falcons have one of the worst defenses in the NFL, however if Hamler & Lock continue to establish this rapport, Hamler has the speed to take the top off of a defense, and Lock has the arm to get him the ball. This weekend Hamler showed that he can also make himself available in the intermediate level of the route tree.

Preston Williams - 18% Rostered

Preston Williams is on this week's injury report, but with negative x-rays, Williams may be back on the field as soon as this week. Williams left this game early in the 2nd quarter, but despite the early exit, Williams was already targeted 5 times by Tua, including an impressive deep throw and catch that Williams hauled in despite a DPI penalty. I have always believed in the talent of Preston Williams, he has just lacked volume. If Tua proves to have a good rapport with Williams, this could be the opportunity for volume that I have been waiting for. Now Preston just needs to take it easy on the dance moves.

Photo: palmbeachpost.com

Tight End:

Dallas Goedert - 53% Rostered

Philly TE's might as well be WR's. Goedert has been Wentz's favorite target before, there is a solid chance that he returns to that status again. Goedert returned from injury vs. Dallas. He underwhelmed in his return, seeing only 1 target, but Goedert is a guy who typically sees 7+ targets per game. I like him as a mid-tier TE 1 rest of season. Right now there is a 47% chance he is sitting on your waiver wire, don't miss out.

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