Happy Halloween fantasy football team owners! Hopefully this week’s bye week teams won’t haunt you for the rest of the season. The league’s third-highest scoring QB (Tom Brady), best WR (Antonio Brown), two of the league’s best RBs (Le’Veon Bell and Melvin Gordon) and the league’s 2nd best TE (Rob Gronkowski) are all out this week so you’ll need to make smart adds to stay floating down here!
Speaking of Tom Brady — I need your help to solve an argument. I was discussing with some of my friends about who is the best player of all time in each of the four major sports. Hockey is obviously Wayne Gretzky, basketball is Michael Jordan (for now), baseball could be Barry Bonds, but who is the best NFL player of all time? I’m leaning towards Brady, but was told to “chill” on that assessment. What do you all think?
Quarterbacks
Tyrod Taylor, BUF, 64.5% owned: Looking for your Brady/Ben Roethlisberger fill in option? Look no further. Taylor has scored over 15 fantasy points 4 times this season including each of the past two weeks. A lot of that has come on the strength of his legs (53 yards rushing in week 7, 1 rushing TD in week 8.) Well week 9 sees Taylor lining up across from the Jets defense who have given up the 4th most rushing yards to opposing QBs. But what about the pass? You may ask. Well they’ve given up the most passing TDs as well.
Jared Goff, LAR, 26.6%: Another week, another Goff recommendation. Coming off a bye week the Rams head to the Dirty Jerz to face off with the NY Giants. While the Giants defense has been pretty solid against the run they’ve been a little weak against the pass. They’ve allowed 14 passing TDs to only 3 INT and are averaging 19.1 fantasy points allowed per game to opposing QBs. Also, they suck.
Drew Stanton, ARI, 0.6%: Extremely deep 3 QB league add here! No such thing? I’m sure there’s some lunatic GM out there who runs a 3 QB league. Here’s the deal with Stanton — in his last two starts against his week 9 opponent, the 49ers, Stanton has thrown for a total of 368 yards and 4 TDs with 0 INTs. This year’s 49ers have allowed the 4th most passing yards. I’m not expecting HUGE numbers, but 200+ yards and 2 TD’s is a feasible deep league option. You remember Stanton don’t you:
Running Backs
Alex Collins, BAL, 32.1%: This add window is going to close fast and hard. Collins has had more rushing yards and attempts than Javorious Allen for the third week in a row. Allen will still be involved in the passing game, but Ravens coach John Harbaugh said recently that Collins is going to get more opportunities in the coming weeks. If you need RB help, make Collins your #1 waiver priority this week.
Corey Clement, PHI, 1.3%: Last week (and seemingly every other week) I was telling you to grab and start Wendell Smallwood. Well Smallwood has officially found himself on my do-not-mention list with Jay Cutler. Smallwood was used for 1 rush and 2 pass targets and that’s it. Clement found himself rushing 10 times for 54 yards. LaGarrette Blount rushed 16 times for only 48 yards, but still scored a TD to help his cause. Blount really hasn’t done much worth writing about and Smallwood isn’t taking advantage of his opportunities so the chance is there for Clement to take this job and run with it.
Tre Madden, SEA, 0.0%: This is a bit of a joke, but SOMEONE has to run the ball in Seattle right?! Check the math — in week 8 the three Seattle running backs rushed 16 times and totaled 5 yards. That is not a typo. FIVE. With that type of production why not give a shot to fullback Tre Madden? Madden to his credit made his second catch of the year, but it was a big one, breaking out for 66 yards and 7 fantasy points. Why not try going unconventional Pete Carroll and make your fullback the focal point of your running game?
Wide Receivers
Kenny Stills, MIA, 37.5%: After a big 2 TD game in week 7 for Kenny Stills I recommended him as a waiver add last week. He responded with 5 catches in 10 targets to lead the Dolphins receivers with 65 yards. Stills is averaging 17 fantasy points over his last three weeks and should definitely be swiped up in your league. He’ll get the Oakland Raiders in week 9 who to their discredit have allowed the 8th most receiving yards to wide receivers.
Robby Anderson, NYJ, 26.4: Three straight weeks with double-digit fantasy points and back-to-back weeks with a receiving TD for Robby Anderson. Is Josh McCown the franchise QB this team has been looking for for decades?! No. No he’s not. But Robby Anderson is a good 5th WR you should own on your team. The Jets passing game is surprisingly adequate this year and Anderson is a big part of that attack. They get a tougher opponent in week 9 with the Bills, but long term Anderson should be owned and FLEXed.
JuJu Smith-Schuster, PIT, 29.1%: JuJu does it againgain! 193 receiving yards in only has 7th NFL game? Sign me up! I know the Steelers have a bye in week 9, but he’s obviously worth owning more than Martavius Bryant at this point, right? Pick him up before it’s too late because by the end of the year he’ll end up being your favorite player with antics like this:
Andre Holmes, BUF, 0.2%: Last week I recommended Jordan Matthews because I threw a dart at my Buffalo Bills wide receiver board and thought he might be the one to help get the Bills out of their dead last ranking in receiving yards (he wasn’t.) It was actually Holmes who lead the Bills in yards and even hauled in a receiving TD! The Jets have allowed the 6th most fantasy points to wide receivers this year. If this is the start of something good between Tyrod and Holmes — get on board now. (Note: it probably isn’t and I’ll be throwing another dart next week.)
Tight Ends
Tyler Kroft, CIN, 37.4% owned: Kroft was one of my TE ‘start’ recommendations for this past week. Here is what I said, “Kroft, definitely undrafted in your fantasy league, has had 3 pretty nice weeks in a row: 24, 7, and 12 fantasy points with 3 TDs.” So what did Kroft do in week 8 against the Colts? 5 catches, 46 yards, 9 fantasy points. That’s not bad for a Rob Gronkowski replacement in week 9 even with a tough Jaguars opponent.
AJ Derby, DEN, 2.4%: Derby’s Monday night game hasn’t happened yet as of me writing this article, so if he has a terrible game or Zach Millers his knee — don’t blame me. But — Derby had a few good games over the past few weeks scoring 17 fantasy points in week 4 and 10 in week 7. Week 6, against one of the worst-TE containing teams in the Giants he scored only 2. In week 9 he’ll get the Philadelphia Eagles who have allowed the 4th most receiving yards to TEs. Sneaky deep league value can be had from Derby in week 9.
Defense/Special Teams
Rams D/ST, 52.2%, vs NYG: The Rams defense has probably been dropped over their week 8 bye, but you smart reader can remedy that. Over their three previous pre-bye week games they were averaging over 15 fantasy points. They have an INT in all but one game and at least 2 sacks in every game. The Rams are going to beat the Giants in week 9 who have scored the 3rd fewest points in the NFL.
Titans D/ST, 21.2% owned, vs BAL: Boy, the Titans defense has had an incredible string of good luck in their opponents the past three weeks. In week 5 they faced the team with the fewest yards per game (Dolphins), the team with the 5th fewest yards per game in week 6 (Colts) and the team with the 7th fewest yards per game in week 7 (Browns.) After their week 8 bye, the Titans now are getting the team with the 2nd fewest yards per game in the Ravens. The Ravens have still scored the 12th most points, but I think the Titans defense is a good one to add for week 9.
Kickers
Mike Nugent, DAL, 1.1%: Nugent was grabbed to replace an injured Dan Bailey and went 4 for 5 with his FGs and kicked 3 extra points for 15 fantasy points. In week 9 Nugent will be kicking his leg off in what could be one of the highest scoring games of the year as the 5th highest scoring Chiefs take on the 6th highest scoring Cowboys. Just keep him out of the way on kick returns:
