| | | | Tuesday, November 3, 2020 | | Welcome to Week 9! We've made it halfway through the Fantasy season — at least for everyone except you weirdos who play into Week 17 — and the sprint to the playoffs is about to begin. If you're sitting pretty at 7-1 or 6-2, it's time to start looking ahead to the playoffs and consolidating your strength — a deep bench matters less with each week that passes than your lineup's upside. And if you're on the opposite end of the spectrum, it's time to get desperate — swing an all-or-nothing trade or blow all of your FAB, because every game is a must-win from now on. | | We'll help you do both this week. First up, Jamey Eisenberg's Waiver Wire column will help you figure out who your top priorities should be and Dave Richard's Trade Values Chart will help you find the right deal. Then I've got the answers to your biggest questions for Week 9 and beyond plus a breakdown of a pretty interesting Monday Night Football game between the Buccaneers and Giants. If you missed my analysis on the George Kittle and Jimmy Garoppolo injuries yesterday, head here for my breakdown of what it means for the 49ers offense and how you might — might — be able to replace Kittle without missing too much. | | And, of course, I also have to remind you that Thursday's game between the Packers and 49ers has plenty of question marks after A.J. Dillon's positive coronavirus test. At the very least, Dillon and Jamaal Williams have been ruled out — Williams was deemed a high-risk close contact and won't be allowed to play. Aaron Jones may not be able to return in Week 9 from his calf injury, either, and Tyler Ervin is the only other back on the 53-man roster — Dexter Williams is on the practice squad and figures to get called up and might even get the start. It might be worth putting in a small bid on Ervin or Williams just in case the Packers top three backs are out for this one. We'll obviously have all the latest on that situation as it breaks throughout the week, as well as any trades that go down at Tuesday's deadline, so stay tuned. This promises to be another wild week, and we'll help walk you through it. | | And, as always, if you want your questions answered, send them directly to me at Chris.Towers@CBSInteractive.com with the subject line "#AskFFT" for inclusion in our next mailbag — I'll be focusing on trade questions tomorrow, so write in if you need help making a deal. Here's what you need to know to kick off Week 9: | | | | Week 9 Waiver Wire Priority List | | | | Before waivers run tonight, check out Jamey Eisenberg's Waiver Wire priorities column, with the best targets for every position. Here are Jamey's top-five targets for Week 9: | | DeeJay Dallas 33% — Chris Carson was a game-time decision Sunday, so he could be back in time for Week 9 against the Bills. However, he will follow the same practice protocol he did last week, sitting out practice until Friday before testing his sprained foot out. Which means he is very much questionable, while Carlos Hyde's hamstring injury kept him out of practice all of last week, a sign that he might still be farther away. That's all to say, Dallas' chances of being the lead back against the Bills look pretty good, and we know the Seahawks will use him near the goal line and in the passing game, making him a solid starting option as long as he remains in that role. Damien Harris 61% — There's no question who the Patriots lead back is at this point: Harris has 49 carries since making his Week 4 debut, compared to just 26 for Rex Burkhead and nine for James White. It's still a three-headed backfield — White has 22 targets and Burkhead has six to Harris' two in that same span — but Harris should continue to get the bulk of the RB carries. If nothing else, that should make him a solid No. 2 RB in Week 9 against the Jets. Jordan Wilkins 1% — Colts coach Frank Reich said he was playing the hot hand in giving Wilkins 20 carries in Week 8, but he revealed after the game Jonathan Taylor is also dealing with an ankle issue, so that's something to keep an eye on. Wilkins probably earned himself a larger role with his performance Sunday, but he could be a solid starting option even against the Ravens if Taylor has to miss any time. Marvin Jones 52% — Jones hasn't exactly had targets funneled to him when Kenny Golladay has been out of the lineup, but hopefully that will change in Week 9 against the Vikings, who have allowed 15 touchdowns to opposing wide receivers this season — including 10 over the past four games. Jones should be a No. 3 WR for this one. Eric Ebron 53% — Ebron hasn't had more than 52 yards in a game yet and he has just two touchdowns, but I'll bet he tops the former and adds to the latter in Week 9. After all, he's got the Cowboys on the schedule. The Cowboys haven't been that bad against tight ends, and they aren't quite as good a matchup since they aren't playing at their same early-season breakneck pace, but when you're looking for streamers, they're still as good a team as you can find to target. | | Head here to see who else Jamey is targeting for Week 9, and check out Tuesday's episode of theFantasy Football Today podcast for more on the top targets. | | | Week 9's Biggest Questions
| | | | I went to Twitter Monday night to seek out your biggest questions for Week 9, and there was no shortage of responses. Here are my answers to just some of these questions: | | Dan (and many others): What do I do with Ezekiel Elliott? Where do you rank him rest of season? Who is the worst running back you would trade him for? | | Faced with what looks like a crisis situation with Elliott, I can understand the impulse to want to do something, anything, to try to fix it. You probably shouldn't trade Elliott. That's where I'll start. You'd be selling him at the absolute lowest point of his career, and things won't get worse than this. Andy Dalton may not be able to fix what's wrong with this offense — not unless he can get the offensive line healthy — but he's a more competent quarterback than Ben DiNucci , whose limitations were on full display as the Cowboys leaned into more of a gimmick offense to try to squeeze something out of him in Week 8. Things will get better, even if the chances of Elliott playing like that top-three back you were hoping for seem slim. | | I'm viewing him as more of a No. 2 Fantasy RB rest of season, so if someone was willing to offer a legitimate No. 1 back — maybe someone like Chris Carson, if he's healthy for Week 9 — then you can do it. But otherwise, you're probably best just hanging on to Elliott and hoping Dalton can make this more like a run-of-the-mill bad offense than the Jets-ian mess it's looked like of late. And hopefully Dalton will start targeting him in the passing game more, as Elliott has two or fewer targets in three of his last four games. That's been a big hit to his value. | | C.M. (and many others): What do I do with Jonathan Taylor? What do you expect rest of season? | | As with Elliott, Taylor's value probably isn't going to get much lower than it is right now. Maybe Jordan Wilkins just takes this job and runs with it, but Frank Reich said he was playing the hot hand Sunday, and Wilkins got off to a hot start. Taylor hasn't been great, but he's certainly got the potential to have some hot hand games himself. You probably won't want to start Taylor in Week 9 against the Ravens, but if he returns to being the No. 1 back in that game, you'll feel good about him being a No. 2 back moving forward — and I still believe the upside is a lot higher than that. | | Dylan: How does Chase Edmonds project going forward and what could his role look like when Kenyan Drake eventually returns? | | Things looked a lot brighter for Edmonds before Monday, when Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury told reporters the injury wasn't as severe as it initially seemed, and "he's really made good progress." The Cardinals official website reports Drake is still unlikely to play in Week 9 against the Dolphins, but it may not be much longer than that. Edmonds looks like a must-start back for this week, but when Drake is healthy enough to play, I expect him to return to being the lead runner. I know that isn't what you want to hear, and others may disagree, but the Cardinals have given no reason to believe Drake's job is in any kind of jeopardy, and I doubt an injury would change that. Edmonds will still be a useful, high-upside flex option when Drake returns. | | Bryan: Marquise Brown headed for a squeaky wheel game? Will he ever live up to the boom in his boom/bust profile? | | I sure hope so. Brown tweeted (and then deleted) criticism of the team's offense — "What's the point of having souljas when you never use them (Never!!)" — and John Harbaugh acknowledged Brown's frustration and praised his play Monday. Brown is actually getting plenty of targets overall, though just two Sunday against the Steelers was obviously disappointing. The problem for Brown is he's been used more as a deep threat this season, and he and Lamar Jackson just haven't been able to connect on enough of those big plays yet. There's going to be a stretch where Brown hits on four or five big plays over a couple of games and puts up huge numbers, and if they try to force him the ball a bit more after this, all the better. | | Jon: What do you expect Antonio Brown's impact to be in Week 9? | | It's going to largely depend on Chris Godwin's status as he returns from surgery on his finger. There's no guarantee Godwin will be back in time for Week 9 against the Saints, but if he is, I wouldn't expect much from Brown. I know everyone remembers Brown's performance in his only game with the Patriots last season, but the Bucs have a lot more weapons in the passing game than those Patriots did, and this year's Saints aren't last year's Dolphins. Tom Brady has been spreading the ball around a lot, leading to some disappointing performances from Godwin and especially Mike Evans, and I have a hard time believing they'll force the ball to Brown with one week of practice. He's a flex option for Week 9, one who might just be overhyped. | | Collin: Who would you pick up at TE for this week with Kittle out? | | I wrote about the Kittle injury when the news broke Monday, and my first suggestions were to try to buy low on Mark Andrews or to add Dallas Goedert on waivers. The problem is, Andrews may not be available this week for your team and Goedert is on a bye in Week 9. So I would make Eric Ebron the priority on waivers with the Cowboys on the schedule this week. If you can't get him, Trey Burton's role near the end zone — two rushing touchdowns over the last two weeks — makes him an interesting add and I like Logan Thomas' skill set and improving play. | | | | MNF Recap: Buccaneers 25, Giants 23 | | | | Daniel Jones made a few brilliant plays and a few more awful ones, and the Giants came up just short again. | Winner: Sterling Shepard — There wasn't much excitement for Shepard when he came off IR last week, but he's immediately emerged as the top target in the passing game for Jones. He had 17.9 PPR points in Week 7 and followed that up with 15.4 Monday, catching eight balls on 10 targets for 74 yards — all of which were team highs. This isn't a great offense, but it's been a bit better since Shepard returned, and if he's going to keep seeing this many targets, he's going to be a solid Fantasy option moving forward, one who is rostered in just 45% of CBS Fantasy leagues.
Loser: Ronald Jones — Jones got the first six carries for the Buccaneers before he fumbled on a short catch in Tampa territory that led to a Giants touchdown in the first quarter. From that point on, Leonard Fournette had 15 carries and Jones had just one. As has been the case since last season, Bruce Arians simply gives Jones no margin for error. However, Arians has also consistently gone back to Jones even after these benchings, so why would this situation be different? Fournette didn't exactly dominate, rushing for 52 yards on 15 carries with three catches for 19 yards on six targets, while Jones rushed for 23 on seven carries with four catches for 23 yards. There has been a tendency in the Fantasy community to overreact to the most recent week's playing time split between Jones and Fournette, but things have tended to return to the same equilibrium every time — Jones is the lead back, Fournette relieves him and gets a bigger share of the passing work. I'll just assume that's going to remain the case until Arians says otherwise, which means I'm going to continue to treat both backs like questionable low-end No. 3 Fantasy RB. What you might have missed: There are moments when this Giants offense looks like it might be turning the corner, and then Jones usually overthrows that moment. He had several opportunities to hit Darius Slayton on long balls early in this one, but the duo simply didn't seem to be on the same page, with Jones overthrowing at least three balls where Slayton had a step on the defender. He also got bailed out on the final drive before throwing (an admittedly brilliant) touchdown pass to Golden Tate, when Jamel Dean failed to hold on to a diving interception. Jones was also too late and too far behind Dion Lewis on what should have been an easy game-tying two-point conversion. There are sparks there for Jones, who clearly isn't afraid to try to make a play, to his credit. But he has 13 turnovers in seven games, including nine interceptions, and the most concerning thing is he isn't showing any signs of improvement. He's holding the offense back right now.
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