If you’re a Darren McFadden owner, yesterday was the day you were waiting for. No, not a 150+ yard rushing game with multiple TDs that would propel you to a fantasy victory. That would have been nice, though. Instead, yesterday featured the inevitable injury that would leave you saying “I knew it!” as RunDMC stood by idly on the sidelines (note: full timetable for the injury still unknown as of this writing).

Of course, if you built a contingency plan by handcuffing Mike Goodson, you probably didn’t expect him to go down with his own high ankle sprain the very same day. The fantasy gods wouldn’t be that cruel, right? Indeed, it was a tough turn of events even for those who had prepared well.

With those sobering thoughts in mind, if you’re looking for a replacement (for McFadden or anyone else), this week’s Featured Pros are here to help. We’ve given the experts a list of 16 RB/WR/TE options and tasked them with ranking the players based off of rest of season value. Read on to see how the consensus rankings turned out.

Featured Pros

Mike Clay – (Pro Football Focus)

Justin Sablich – (The N. Y. Times)

Ken Zalis – (Fans Fantasy Football)

oMatic – (FantasyOMatic)

Joshua Kay – (The Fantasy Fix)

Waiver Wire Rankings (STD Scoring)

 *Note: Rankings compiled Mon evening. Be sure to monitor OAK’s situation to see if a RB is added to the roster.

Week 10 Waiver Wire Advice

We also asked each expert to share advice about a target they like this week along with any other waiver wire suggestions they have. Here’s what the experts had to say.

Mike Clay – Pro Football Focus

My No. 1 target on the waiver wire this week will be James Starks. I realize Darren McFadden is injured, but (A) he figures to return in a few weeks and (B) the situation behind him on the depth chart is very cloudy, especially after Mike Goodson suffered an injury of his own. Starks, meanwhile, has a real shot to lead the high-powered Packers in carries the rest of the way. He’s worth an add, even with Green Bay headed to a bye week. Emmanuel Sanders should be your top non-running back target unless, of course, there are indications that Antonio Brown will return in Week 10. If Brown is out, Sanders would be in line for 50-plus snaps and could easily see between eight to ten targets. He’d certainly be on the WR3 radar this week.

Justin Sablich – The N. Y. Times

The running back situation in Oakland became a little clearer on Monday when it was revealed that both Darren McFadden and Mike Goodson have high-ankle sprains, meaning they’ll likely both be out for at least two weeks and possibly longer. That leaves the fullback Marcel Reece and Taiwan Jones to fight for carries. If you’re looking to pick one up, make it Reece, especially if you’re in a PPR league. He hauled in 8 passes for 95 yards and a touchdown last week, and should now tack on some added touches, making him a pretty strong flex option in Week 10. In deeper leagues, Jones is still worth an add, as he will get his fair share of carries, maybe even more than Reece, but Reece seems to have more overall value.

Ken Zalis – Fans Fantasy Football

With Darren McFadden and Mike Goodson going down I think your first target is Taiwan Jones. At this point in the season a starting running back is like gold. If McFadden and Goodson are out for an extended period you don’t want to be left out. Emmanuel Sanders is option 1B for me as Antonio Brown may have the dreaded high-ankle sprain that could sideline him for 4 – 6 weeks, although word now is he may be better than first thought. Sanders is a quality receiver for a team that loves to throw the ball. Danario Alexander is the most intriguing pickup as he is a huge target that could see a lot of time. I just don’t like the SD offense enough to recommend him higher than 6th, though.

oMatic – FantasyOMatic

Darren McFadden and Mike Goodson have both been diagnosed with high-ankle sprains. Although Coach Allen has not yet ruled out McFadden for week 10, players usually miss a minimum of two weeks with high-ankle sprains. The normal 4-to-6 week timeframe could be extended by both Goodson’s and McFadden’s regular slow healing. For the moment, it’s Marcel Reese and Taiwan Jones in the Oakland backfield for week 10, but Reece’s style is the best fit in the passing game and could have more long term value. The Raiders enjoy the easiest remaining schedule of any fantasy running backs with bottom rated BAL, NO, CIN, CLE left to play and KC and CAR in the fantasy playoffs. So its worth a gamble to buy a lottery ticket here.

Jim Schwartz confirmed that Calvin Johnson is “no worse for the wear” after playing 60 snaps so Ryan Broyles and Titus Young will still fight for looks behind him. If Antonio Brown can’t play in the great matchup next week (vs. KC), Emmanuel Sanders would draw the start, but might not be an extended replacement. Coby Fleener (shoulder) has been ruled out this week, meaning Dwayne Allen gets the start again in a great matchup (@JAC) but he might only be valuable for W10. James Starks got the Week 9 start and rushed 17 times for 61 yards with Alex Green finishing with 13 touches. However, this could be an RBBC at best. T.Y Hilton has two excellent matchups vs NE and BUF coming up in the next 3 weeks and could benefit in a high volume passing game with Donnie Avery injured. Joique Bell continues to impress when given the opportunity, but he still remains only a PPR flier since he gets most of the work when the game is out of hand. Laurent Robinson played 45 snaps, third behind Cecil Shorts‘ 60 and Justin Blackmon’s 58. Golden Tate has shown flashes but his fantasy ceiling is capped by inconsistent targets. Norv Turner promised that Danario Alexander will maintain a “big” role in the Chargers’ offense after Thursday night so look for him to rotate with Robert Meachem and Eddie Royal behind Malcom Floyd moving forward. Joel Dreessen has more of a red zone role than Jacob Tamme but just doesn’t do much between the 20s.

Joshua Kay – The Fantasy Fix

Although we are dealing with standard scoring and not PPR, Brandon Myers’ PPR scoring output so far this season lends credibility to his usage levels in the Oakland offense. With 10 PPR points in 6 of 8 games, it’s clear Myers has been a major focal point of the offense every week. If Oakland begins looking to him in the red zone more consistently (as the game vs. Tampa showed), he is worth a low end TE1.

As for James Starks, are we really going to fall for this again? First of all, Starks is terrible. There’s a reason the Packers brought in Cedric Benson. Everyone has talked about the great upside of Green Bay running backs (especially if a good one comes to town) because the defense will focus first on stopping Aaron Rodgers. The reality of the situation is that the Packers in 2011, and in 2012 so far, have 4 rushing touchdowns from running backs not named John Kuhn. In standard scoring, touchdowns are extremely important. Owners should leave Starks on the waiver wire where he belongs.

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Thanks to this week’s Featured Pros for sharing their advice! Stay tuned for more picks as their weekly rankings are unveiled shortly.

Also, if you’d like a shot at making your own picks this week, be sure to check out our Week 10 FanDuel Contest. There are $1,000 in cash prizes up for grabs and the top 5 finishers will earn a ticket to our FPFC Championship in week 13 that gives away $5,000 (with only 25 entrants). Good luck!

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