Here we are, cruising past the mid-point of the NFL regular season and fantasy football owners need to be paying more attention now than ever. The NFL trade deadline is here and we're already seeing a flurry of activity. Some moves are opening doors and some aren't, but it's how you spin it for your fantasy team that matters most. As we head into Week 9, here are some risers and fallers for you to take notice.
Stock Rising
Ryan Fitzpatrick , QB TB – And here we go again. After a nightmarish start for Jameis Winston this week, head coach Dirk Koetter has apparently pulled the plug already and put FitzMagic back into the driver’s seat. From a fantasy perspective, this is obviously big as Winston’s value goes to zero (or close to it) and Fitz gets a bump. Just be wary, folks. He’s a journeyman back-up for a reason. Don’t assume you’re getting the same guy who quarterbacked the Bucs to open the season. Remember the Fitz we saw as the team was eyeing a return for Winston. He was not looking good. The FitzMagic is very finite. Could last three games, could last three quarters. That’s the problem…you just never know.
Jordan Howard , RB CHI – Well don’t look now but Howard suddenly has touchdowns in back-to-back games and just saw his second 20-carry game of the season. Could Matt Nagy finally be utilizing his backfield correctly? Sure looks like it. We’re not sure if this was the plan the whole time, but the heavier usage for Howard should continue given the weather changes. The colder it gets, the more you want to pound the ball on the ground and weaken that defensive line. The Bears head to Buffalo next week so you can expect Howard to shoulder the load there as well and then they come home for back-to-back divisional games against Detroit and Minnesota. After those, the Bears head up to Detroit then head to the Giants before coming back home to face the Rams and Packers. These are not strong run defenses they’re facing.
Josh Adams , RB PHI – Hard to say whether Corey Clement has fallen out of favor or if head coach Doug Pederson views him more as a complementary back, but Adams not only saw more carries than Clement but he was also on the field for more snaps. Wendell Smallwood led the charge in snaps out fo the backfield as he is better in pass-protection, but it looks like the team is looking to give Adams a shot at taking over this backfield, at least on the early downs. If that’s really the case, you should probably grab him now before the rest of your league mates catch on.
Chris Carson , RB SEA – This is more of a reminder that, if you haven’t made a move for Carson by now, you could be missing out on a potential game-changer. Everyone is eyeballing Marlon Mack as they should, but for whatever reason, they are ignoring the fact that Carson has three 100-yard games in his last five, along with a pair of touchdowns. The Seahawks are committed to the run and Carson is seeing a tremendous amount of work. If you’re working the trade phones and prepping your team for the playoff run, then Carson makes for a solid, still under-the-radar running back to own.
Courtland Sutton , WR DEN – The trade that sent Demaryius Thomas to the Texans has now opened the door for the Broncos rookie wideout as he is expected to fill in as the primary outside receiver moving forward. Emmanuel Sanders will maintain his spot as Case Keenum ’s favorite target and we should see an uptick in looks for DaeSean Hamilton and Tim Patrick , but the real increase in fantasy value lands on Sutton right now. He’s already established himself with Keenum, so this works out very nicely.
DeVante Parker , WR MIA – With Kenny Stills out of action, the Dolphins turned to their former first-round pick to step up in the passing game. He responded with a six-catch, 134-yard performance and immediately jumped onto everyone’s radar. But before you go opening up the wallet at Club FAAB, keep in mind a few things. First off, Stills was out. Second, the Texans secondary is atrocious. And third, 47 of those 134 yards came on a look-what-I-found grab that was much more luck than skill. Brock Osweiler threw the ball to Jakeem Grant who caught it and started to turn upfield. The Texans defender came in and popped the ball out of Grant’s hands with his helmet and the ball shot up into the air and landed in the unsure hands of Parker. It’s really the only way he’s every going to be a 100-yard receiver.
D.J. Moore , WR CAR – The Panthers handed more snaps and targets to the rookie wideout in the absence of Torrey Smith and he turned out a rock-solid performance with five catches for 90 yards and he even grabbed 39 rushing yards on a pair of gimmick run-plays. The condition of Smith’s knee is not yet known for the upcoming week, but Moore definitely showed some grit and tenacity in this game and Cam Newton definitely took notice, looking for him on key downs. If he can continue to see decent targets and build his on-field rapport with Newton, he could be primed for a strong second half.
Larry Fitzgerald , WR ARI – Welcome back to the party, Larry Legend! The Cardinals fired OC Mike McCoy, promoted QB coach Byron Leftwich to the position and watched as the new man in charge stayed true to his word and shuffled a significant targets-increase Fitzgerald’s way. That gave Fitz his first 100-yard effort on the season and he’s now got touchdowns in back-to-back games. If Leftwich continues with his Arians-like plans, then Fitz should be a strong play moving forward, especially in PPR formats.
Jordan Thomas , TE HOU – With a position as trashy as the tight end position, anyone who starts seeing red zone looks should be on your radar. Yes, Ryan Griffin is still listed as the Texans primary tight end, but with a two-week absence and a decent week for Thomas, perhaps he starts seeing an increase in looks moving forward, particularly inside the red zone. It’s not a lot, but when you’re dealing with the tight end position, you really can’t expect much.
Stock Falling
Joe Flacco , QB BAL – One of the biggest draws towards roistering Flacco was his schedule during the fantasy playoffs. Match-ups with Atlanta, Kansas City and Tampa Bay are ridiculously enticing, but as we sit here and watch the current performances, against both good defenses and bad, you have to be concerned over Flacco’s level of play and the increased usage of Lamar Jackson . Head coach John Harbaugh continues to have his quarterback sling the rock excessively, but there’s no upside to using him. How many other quarterbacks get to throw 40 times a game without being able to reach 300 yards?
Drew Brees , QB NO – The return of Mark Ingram has brought the Saints back to their “newfound” run-first mentality and that means, even in a match-up that looked as good as Sunday’s on paper, the team is still going to pound the ball on the ground with Ingram and Alvin Kamara . That’s not to say that Brees won’t be able to have a 300-yard day, but that’s just not the team’s priority anymore.
T.J. Yeldon , RB JAC – While we’re still waiting to see the condition of Leonard Fournette if/when he returns (they say Week 10, but we should all remain skeptical), but if Sunday’s carry distribution was any sort of an indication, the Jaguars are clearly leaning towards using Carlos Hyde as their primary. Yeldon did get involved in the passing game this past week, but is that something we’re really going to be able to bank on moving forward? Probably not. Also, if Fournette does come back, then it’s going to be him and Hyde with Yeldon on the outside looking in. He’s rosterable as a potential flex play this week, but after that, he’s likely nothing more than a handcuff.
Duke Johnson , RB CLE – For now, Johnson lands here as his usage has been ridiculously low even with the trade of Carlos Hyde . The Browns are clearly viewing Nick Chubb as an every-down back. However, the recent coaching change may change this around. The team promoted RB coach Freddie Kitchens to offensive coordinator and he is a disciple of Bruce Arians, so there is potential. How much potential is obviously the question, but you should probably stash Johnson away for a week and just see what happens. If Kitchens opts to rotate Johnson in a little more or start using him on passing downs, he could be an interesting PPR option for thee bye weeks. Just wait and see.
Chris Thompson , RB WAS – He continues to work himself back from the rib injury that had him sidelined, but the coaching staff’s confidence in Adrian Peterson continues to grow. Peterson isn’t a premier pass-catching back, but he can certainly be used as such if needed. The team won’t ever phase Thompson out completely, but his limited usage is going to hinder his fantasy value. You don’t want him in standard scoring formats and, right now, he’s a low-end flex in PPR.
Raheem Mostert , RB SF – If Sunday’s game wasn’t a clear indication that Kyle Shanahan prefers a banged-up Breida to a healthy Mostert then we don’t know what more you need. Yes, we’ve seen reports that Mostert now has some sort of an ankle issue, but even so, this was not the reason Breida led the way with 16 carries against the Cardinals. Mostert may see touches here and there as Shanahan still likes to mix his running backs in, but this backfield belongs to Breida and Alfred Morris and should be viewed as such moving forward.
Keke Coutee , WR HOU – Oh well. It was fine while it lasted. We were all set to put Coutee into the Stock Rising section due to the injury to Will Fuller , but with news breaking that Demaryius Thomas has been dealt to Houston, Coutee’s value goes right back down to where it was. He’ll serve as the team’s No. 3 right now, but between Hopkins and DT, it’s difficult to imagine Coutee seeing any real increase in looks now.
Geronimo Allison , WR GB – We don’t want to overreact to a bad game against the Rams, but it would appear as if Aaron Rodgers has eyes for Marquez Valdes-Scantling more than he does for Allison. The two saw the same number of snaps this week, but it was MVS who saw five targets to just the one for Allison. With Davante Adams and Randall Cobb as the likely favorites for Rodgers it’s going to be a battle between Allison and the rookie moving forward and right now it looks like MVS is in the lead..
Eric Ebron , TE IND – While we didn’t expect the return of Jack Doyle to ruin Ebron’s value all that much, but if you look at the snap counts for the Colts tight ends this past week, you might be getting a little nervous. Yes, Ebron still caught a touchdown and his red zone work is likely to remain, but the yardage numbers may not get back to where you want them. Doyle saw 73% of the snaps to just 22% for Ebron. Meanwhile Mo Allie-Cox saw 32% and Ryan Hewitt , more of a blocking tight end saw 27%. If Ebron’s snap count doesn’t rise next week, we may have to downgrade him even more.