The weekend provided a nice little throwback to the late 90’s WWE that either made or broke your fantasy outing. There was a huge shift in expectations this week, your studs either didn’t perform or were ejected and the sleepers you’ve been stashing for weeks finally came to fruition. At least if you’re players are out moving forward it’s more likely due to legal implications than injury.
One of the biggest stories coming out of last week was the trading of former Miami Dolphins running back Jay Ajayi to the Philadelphia Eagles. Hopefully you hung onto Jay, as I suggested, and saw him score his first touchdown of the season. He had a season-low eight carries but went for 77 yards behind the much superior Philadelphia O-Line. It looks like Blount should still cut into his carries on occasion and Corey Clement will be the goal-line man, but Ajayi is of RB2 status for the time being.
I will admit I was wrong about the fate of the Miami Dolphins run game after Ajayi’s departure. Kenyan Drake and Damien Williams did split carries, but they had a greater effect than I predicted. I still stand by the fact that Williams is not a good running back as he had seven carries for 14 yards, but Sunday night showed that the Dolphins are now able to implement a backfield passing script that Ajayi wasn’t on the same page with. Both Williams and Drake came down with six receptions, but it was Williams who snagged the touchdown. Interpret that as you may, Drake is still the obviously more talented back, but this new scheme could see Williams heavily utilized in the passing game.
Several wide receivers undoubtedly sparked frustration in countless fantasy goers as they wet the bed on Sunday. Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green caught one pass for six yards before getting in a tussle with Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey. The textbook chokehold throw earned Green an ejection from the competition but he somehow avoided any further suspension.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers wideout Mike Evans wasn’t so fortunate as he laid a cheap shot to a New Orleans Saints defender Marshon Lattimore in defense of his quarterback, Jameis Winston, whose injured shoulder has him sidelined the next two weeks. Evans also hauled in just one pass for 13 yards, and while not ejected from the game, he will suffer a 1-game suspension. Corey Davis, DeSean Jackson, Jordy Nelson, Nelson Algholor, Julio Jones and Emmanuel Sanders are some other notable names that didn’t show up this weekend.
Houston Texans wide receiver Will Fuller V fell back to earth with the loss of star rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson. With Tom Savage under center once again, Fuller failed to score for the first time since returning to the field in Week 4. DeAndre Hopkins still reeled in six receptions for 86 yards and one touchdown but it took a whopping 16 targets. Unfortunately, I think this will be the new status quo for receivers in Houston while Savage is under center.
For the majority of the players that underperformed this week, it’s not anything to get too worked up about. What you do need to concern yourself with is players like C.J. Anderson who are finding themselves with smaller and smaller workloads. I didn’t buy into the Alex Collins buzz last week and he proved me right by going 41 yards on 13 carries. Aaron Jones and Ty Montgomery split carries right down the middle on Monday night and yet it was Jamaal Williams who took the goal-line carry. Unfortunately, everyone’s struggling in Green Bay as Brett Hundley can’t move the ball downfield and their defense can’t stay off the field. I’m weary of the wide receivers but I think you still start Jones going forward as it was clear the Packers wanted him to be the primary runner.
Sign: Jared Goff is owned in less than half of ESPN leagues and ranked the No. 12 signal caller. I talked about him a few weeks ago but he’s strung together a few great weeks and his offense is now the No. 1 scoring team in the league. Plus, he’s got a tasty schedule ahead of him.
Sign: I think it’s a safe bet to at least hold Damien Williams on your bench. He won’t become the lead rusher in Miami, but if he’s going to be involved in the passing game he’s worth the stash.
Sign: Terrance Williams had a career day Sunday with nine receptions for 141 yards. The Dallas Cowboy has shown plenty of potential and bursts of athleticism this season. Now he suffered an ankle injury, and so did Dez Bryant. If Dez misses any time, I like Williams to have a much bigger role. Plus, he’s taking part in the largest over/under this week as the Cowboys take on the Falcons in Atlanta. On top of all that, Williams is owned in just 7.1 percent of leagues. Other wideouts you check availability on include Marvin Jones Jr., Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods.
Sign: Marquise Goodwin of the San Francisco 49ers is faster than fast. He’s also on a team that’s badder than bad. With No. 1 wide receiver Pierre Garcon and tight end George Kittle sidelined this weekend, Goodwin should see a healthy helping of targets against a suspect Giants secondary.
Drop: Honestly, I dropped Ameer Abdullah a few weeks ago and haven’t looked back. The Lions haven’t gotten the run game going and Abdullah isn’t making things happen despite his high carry count. I know he got his touchdown Monday night but that was after crawling for 48 yards on 21 carries, including 2 fumbles. He’s had just one game over 10 fantasy points this season and there’s no place for that if you’re in a must-win situation.
Start: Sterling Shepard was injured the same week Odell Beckham was sent to the IR with a high ankle sprain. He finally returned this week and shared a team-high seven target with Evan Engram. He takes on the 20th ranked San Francisco secondary this week and his five receptions for 70 yards should increase as he holds the role as the WR1.
Sit: I really want to like Rob Kelley and believe the Redskins can run the ball effectively. The fact of the matter is they can’t. The only back having real success is Chris Thompson when he catches a pass out of the backfield. Kelley did rack up three scores the last two weeks. But he also has run for 37 yards on 22 carries. I don’t care how good the Seahawks run D is, that kind of yards per carry is almost hard to pull off. This week he faces the No.1 ranked Minnesota run D and while I’m not dropping Kelley, I’d be a lot more interested in trading him after two solid weeks.
Week 10 byes: Baltimore, Kansas City, Oakland, Philadelphia
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