Slate Overview- Week 9 Thoughts- High Scoring

This is going to be one of the most fun weeks of the season. On the main slate, we have nine teams that have a team total of 25 points or higher. This makes it a very easy staking slate with this many opportunities. The key to this week is to ensure that you are factoring in the projected roster percentage as you build your roster. Typically, on a given week, you’re only going to see 3-4 games that are truly stackable with a potential shootout, which drives the roster percentages up in those given games. This week, as of Saturday, we’re seeing just one quarterback who is projected to be more than 10% rostered.

Games to Target:

• Green Bay vs Detroit
• LA Rams vs Seattle (LA Side)
• Miami vs Buffalo.

Games to potentially fade based on ownership. These players are not fades but instead just overall game stacks that are going to have most of the roster percentage.

• New Orleans vs Carolina. This game worries me simply because of the blowout factor. Alvin Kamara is projected to be around 40% rostered, while some of the Carolina options are also getting some love this week because of the Diontae Johnson trade and because of the 0

Key Injuries for Week 9

• Cincinnati is a mess this week. Both Tee Higgins and Zack Moss are doubtful. We mentioned it last week, but with Higgins out, people are going to look at Ja’Marr Chase as a top play this week. That’s a mistake, which we will get into further detail in the wide receiver section. Meanwhile, Chase Brown should see a majority of the volume for the Bengals in a favorable matchup against Las Vegas.
• DK Metcalf will miss this week with a knee injury. Noah Fant is also out for the Seahawks. This should force a significant amount of volume through Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Tyler Lockett. There is risk here, even in a positive matchup against the Rams, as last week we saw both Smith-Njigba and Lockett struggle against Buffalo in a 31-10 blowout.
• Carolina will once again start Bryce Young this week even as Andy Dalton returns from injury. The Panthers traded Diontae Johnson to Baltimore this week, which will leave them incredibly thin in terms of wide receivers. Both Xavier Legette and Jalen Coker should see an increase in the role this week.
• One big injury situation to watch is the health of Tony Pollard. Tyjae Spears has already been ruled out this week, while Pollard has not practiced Wednesday through Friday. If Pollard would miss this week, Julius Chestnut would become interesting in a very positive game script against one of the league’s worst run defenses in New England.
• Puka Nacua was a late addition to the injury report due to a knee injury. While he’s expected to play, it’s still a concern for any player that’s added late to the injury report.

Stacks

Top Stack

Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, Kyle Pitts

We saw this Prescott/Lamb relationship take time to develop last year and then when it clicked it won GPP’s for several weeks in a row. We may be approaching that again this week, as Lamb had 13 receptions for 146 yards and two touchdowns last week. The Cowboys are in desperation mode at 3-4 this season. With Ezekiel Elliott going to be inactive, they’re going to rely even heavier on their passing attack than they normally would this week. Atlanta has not faced a receiver even close to the caliber of Lamb, but the receivers that they have faced they’ve struggled against, as DK Metcalf, Diontae Johnson, Rashee Rice, and Devonta Smith, all had big games against the Falcons secondary.

For Pitts, he’s finally emerging as the player that most thought he could be when he was a top 5 pick in the 2021 draft. Pitts has at least 65 yards in each of his last four games and is facing a defense that was absolutely torched by George Kittle last week, allowing 128 yards and a touchdown to the 49ers tight end.

Josh Allen, Khalil Shakir, Tyreek Hill

The game that seemingly no one is talking about being a potential shootout this week is the Buffalo vs Miami game. It’s likely due to the recent history where the Bills won 12 of the last 13 games against Miami, with 8 of those being blowout victories. However, we’ve seen three of the last five meetings between these two teams, with a total score of over 60 points. Josh Allen has flown completely under the radar this season as he is consistently less than 5% rostered while still being third overall in fantasy points scored this season. Picking a receiver to stack him with can always be a challenge, but it appears that Khalil Shakir is emerging and excelling, especially with the team adding Amari Cooper, who is taking some attention away from the young receiver. Over the last two weeks, Shakir is averaging eight receptions for 86 yards per game.

For Tyreek Hill, he’s going to be a solid GPP play until DraftKings adjusts his pricing. There’s simply no reason that the player who was second in DraftKings points scored per game with Tua Tagovailoa last season is just $7,300. He needs to be in your player pool until he either has a breakout game or DraftKings raises his price.

Under the Radar Stacks

Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp, Jaxon Smith-Njigba

Matthew Stafford is going very much under the radar this week. At just 2% rostered, Stafford is coming off of a 279-yard four-touchdown performance last week and is now priced at just $5,700. This is a secondary that has allowed 250 passing yards or more in four of their last five games, as Brock Purdy, Daniel Jones, Jared Goff, and Josh Allen all topped 250 against this defense. For Kupp, this is all about the projected roster percentage shifting towards Puka Nacua and leveraging that to take the 31-year-old receiver this week. Kupp should draw a favorable matchup this week against former first-round draft pick Devon Witherspoon, who has seen a second-year regression after a very promising rookie season.

With no DK Metcalf or Noah Fant this week, both Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Tyler Lockett should be in consideration. However, the difference maker is the matchup, as Smith-Njigba is going to get to the lineup against undrafted rookie Josh Wallace. Wallace played collegiately at Michigan, where typically if you’re undrafted from the National Champion, the chances that you’re going to succeed are far lower than if you are from a small school that scouts just did not get enough evaluation on. So far, Wallace is proving that he simply is not an NFL-caliber corner thus far in his career, as the Rams are struggling to defend slot receivers this season.

Jameis Winston, Cedric Tillman, David Njoku, Ladd McConkey

We saw this last season when Deshaun Watson went out, and all of a sudden, the Browns passing offense was one of the elite units for several weeks under Joe Flacco. Last week, we saw Jameis Winston lead the Browns to a 29-24 victory against the Ravens while throwing for 334 yards and three touchdowns. Of the Browns targets, Cedric Tillman is the most intriguing simply because of the skillset and the draft capital that the Browns used on him in the 2023 draft. There’s a bit of a psychology game going on in Cleveland, as the GM and coaching staff are going to do everything they can to point toward the future and showcase their 3^rd-round pick in the 2023 draft as a piece that the Browns can build around is something that could help keep their case for the team to retain the leadership for an additional season. Over the last two games, Tillman has 21 targets, and his price has not increased nearly enough to reflect that, as he is still priced at just $4,300. For Njoku, he also has 21 targets over the last two weeks and has topped 60 yards in each of those games.

Ladd McConkey had his breakout game last week with six receptions for 111 yards and two touchdowns. The Browns have struggled mightily against slot receivers this season as Greg Newsome II has taken a significant step backward compared to 2023. With the Chargers struggling to run the ball, expect them to once again look at their second-round pick receiver out of Georgia who is the Chargers most talented receiving option.  

Jordan Love, Tucker Kraft, Amon-Ra St. Brown- very much a longshot

This could end up being one of the highest-scoring back-and-forth games of the season, and it would surprise no one. These are two of the best offenses in the NFL this season, and the way to beat Detroit is through the air, as they allow 265 passing yards per game. Jordan Love has been volatile this season when he’s been great. He’s looked like the best quarterback in the NFL as he’s thrown for four touchdowns twice this season, but his floor is relatively low given the lack of rushing upside that the quarterback has shown this season, averaging just 4.7 rushing yards per game. The thinking here for Love is that at $7,000, he’s largely going to be overlooked due to the injury that caused him to leave the game early last week. He’s currently projected to be just 1% rostered this week. Meanwhile, Tucker Kraft is another player largely under-looked at for all of the tight-end options. Kraft’s ceiling has been tremendous, as he has four touchdowns over the last four games. While he’s not a tight end who is going to have a significant amount of targets, he's a big-play tight end, averaging 14.3 yards per reception while catching a touchdown on 21% of his targets this season.

For St. Brown: with Jameson Williams suspended once again this week, Amon-Ra St. Brown will be extremely low rostered as he’s projected to be just 10% rostered due to his performance last week, where he only saw two receptions for 7 yards. St. Brown has had a disappointing 2024 season but has scored a touchdown in five consecutive games, which has kept his value and price high. St. Brown still has those ceiling performances, which is really what we’re looking for as he has topped 100 yards twice this season, and if this game shoots out, it will likely be because of St. Brown this week for the Lions.

Position Breakdown

The purpose of this section is to discuss how opponents are going to approach their lineups as well as the top plays at each position. Note a player that is not mentioned does not necessarily mean that he is a poor player. Oftentimes, when players are roughly the same each week, it's difficult to mention them in every article. Also, players listed in the Stacks section will not be listed twice down here, as we’ve already established the analysis for them.

QUARTERBACK

High-End Play

Jayden Daniels- $7,500- 2%

With all of the high-scoring stacking opportunities this week, Jayden Daniels is going completely under the radar at 2% rostered. In the team’s first meeting this season, Washington was very close to a breakout game only to be on the wrong side of variance as they kicked seven field goals, winning the game 21-18. Daniels showed last week against a very good Chicago defense that he is largely matchup-proof as he threw for 326 yards while rushing for another 52 on the day, alleviating any concern of still dealing with his rib injury that kept him out of Week 7. At 2% rostered, even the opportunity to have a multi-rushing touchdown game would have him pay off his $7,500 price tag.