And then there was one. The 49ers are the last of the NFL’s unbeaten teams after the Ravens’ impressive takedown of the Patriots last night. But there are still plenty of unbeaten fantasy teams out there, and if you had one of this week’s surprise players in your lineup, there’s a good chance you kept your winning streak alive in Week 9.
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Top 5 Surprises
Melvin Gordon (RB – LAC)
Gordon’s impressive Week 9 numbers — 23 touches for 109 yards and two scores — were fairly typical for him in years past, but it’s been a completely different story since he ended his holdout and returned to the Chargers in Week 5. Austin Ekeler set the world on fire in September, but this entire offense had been riding the struggle bus lately, with Gordon failing to reach even 50 scrimmage yards in any game prior to Sunday’s outburst. The most encouraging sign for Gordon owners isn’t the numbers — it’s the fact that he looked so good producing them. With an impressive victory under their belts, it stands to reason that the Chargers will feed Gordon a similar workload on a short week against Oakland on Thursday. Expect to see him rocket up FantasyPros’ Expert Consensus Rankings for that contest.
Devin Singletary (RB – BUF)
The talented rookie out of Florida Athletic has been highly productive this season on a per-touch basis, but a hamstring injury he suffered in Week 2 delayed Singletary’s true breakout game until now. Singletary received 23 touches in Week 9 — the first time he’s reached double-digits — and turned them into 140 yards and a touchdown. Frank Gore has been a steadying presence for a team with its sights set on the playoffs, but there’s little doubt that this offense is more dynamic with Singletary in the backfield. The Bills aren’t going to run the ball 30 times every week — they don’t always get to play Washington — and Gore should continue to see around 10 touches per game. But expect Singletary to lead this backfield in touches going forward, which should translate into quite a bit of fantasy value for a player who is currently averaging 6.7 yards per carry.
Damien Williams (RB – KC)
Williams’ huge fantasy numbers for Week 9 are fairly misleading — 91 of his 125 rushing yards occurred on a single long touchdown run in the third quarter. The much more encouraging sign for Williams owners is that he got 12 carries compared to just three for LeSean McCoy, while Williams completely dominated the backfield in terms of snaps. The Chiefs have not run the ball very well at all this season — their 90.1 rushing yards per game ranks 24th in the league — but any running back playing heavy snaps in this offense is going to have a lot of scoring potential once Patrick Mahomes returns. For now, that running back is clearly Williams.
Noah Fant (TE – DEN)
Fant is another guy whose big fantasy day was largely fueled by one big play — in his case a 75-yard catch-and-run TD — but there is still plenty of reason to be excited about his outlook going forward. A first-round selection out of Tight End U. (Iowa), Fant is an example of talent meeting opportunity. Following the Emmanuel Sanders trade, there are plenty of targets to be had in this offense, and Fant looks ready to fill the void. Brandon Allen’s performance against Cleveland is a nice feel-good story (unless you’re a Browns fan, that is), but Fant’s performance is far more significant from a fantasy perspective. It’s only one game, but given the state of tight end, it’s enough to immediately vault him into the TE1 conversation. This guy is putting the Fant in Fantasy (sorry, I just couldn’t resist typing that).
Preston Williams (WR – MIA)
The Dolphins’ offense looks halfway decent with Ryan Fitzpatrick back at the controls, and Williams seems to be emerging as the team’s primary target. Williams is averaging five catches and eight targets over the last three weeks, and he found the end zone twice on Sunday against the woeful Jets. Unfortunately, he also injured his knee and is set for an MRI today. If he’s able to avoid a significant injury, Williams looks like a legit WR3/flex option for the second half of the season.
Top 5 Disappointments
The Packers
Green Bay’s trip to LA to face the Chargers was expected to feel like a home game, but the home cooking ended up tasting pretty awful for the Packers’ skill position players. Philip Rivers and Co. dominated the time of possession, while Aaron Rodgers couldn’t manage to keep his offense on the field. Rodgers sleepwalked to 161 yards and a single touchdown, Davante Adams was held to just 41 yards in his return to action, and Aaron Jones was a non-factor as Green Bay handed the ball off just 10 times. Jamaal Williams scored the lone touchdown and was the only Packer who had anything resembling a decent fantasy day. Adams’s return signals that it’s time to move on from Green Bay’s other wide receivers in fantasy leagues, but there should be better days ahead for Adams, Rodgers, and Jones.
Adam Thielen (WR – MIN) and Stefon Diggs (WR – MIN)
There are some weeks where we wonder whether the Vikings passing attack will be able to support both of its stud receivers, but it’s hard to remember a game where Thielen and Diggs were shut out of the box score like this. Thielen left the game in the first quarter after re-injuring his hamstring, allowing the Chiefs’ secondary to focus all of their attention on Diggs. Diggs had at least 143 yards in three straight games coming in, and ended up with one catch for four yards in this one. The funny part — and by funny, I mean insanely frustrating — is that Kirk Cousins had a fine day. It just so happened that his three touchdown passes went to Kyle Rudolph, Ameer Abdullah, and Olabisi Johnson, while his leading receiver was none other than Laquon Treadwell (remember him?). The beauty of the Vikings offense from a fantasy perspective has been the narrow usage tree, so for now we can probably consider this game an anomaly pending Thielen’s health status.
The Jaguars
Jacksonville has been one of the most surprising offenses of the entire season, with D.J. Chark entering Week 9 as a WR1 on the year and sixth-round rookie Gardner Minshew emerging as both a cultural icon and viable streamer in 10- and 12-team leagues. With Dede Westbrook out, Chris Conley seemed like a good bet to get in on the action against a leaky Texans secondary, but instead, the entire offense went in the toilet in London. Leonard Fournette was given fewer than 20 touches for the first time since Week 2, Chark and Conley each managed just 32 yards, and Minshew struggled to move the offense before getting desperate and committing multiple turnovers late in the game. With Nick Foles due back in Week 11, the Jags suddenly have a real QB controversy on their hands. It’s not inconceivable that Foles is an upgrade, but if I was a Chark owner, I’d be rooting for Minshew to hold onto the job.
JuJu Smith-Schuster (WR – PIT)
Ben Roethlisberger’s injury hasn’t completely ruined JuJu’s fantasy season, but it’s been very feast-or-famine. Through eight weeks, JuJu has five games with 75+ yards and three games with 16 or fewer. While it was encouraging to see Mason Rudolph target him down the field in Week 8 against Miami, Rudolph reverted to a check-down machine this week against the Colts, peppering Jaylen Samuels with targets while Smith-Schuster was barely heard from. The odds of JuJu returning WR1 value went out the window with Big Ben’s injury, but fantasy owners would surely settle for WR2 value at this point. Hopefully, the Steelers make it more of a priority to get the ball in their best playmaker’s hands going forward.
Allen Robinson (WR – CHI)
Robinson is another talented receiver who has suffered mightily from inconsistent quarterback play. In fact, it’s really been true his entire career. Robinson looked like a bonafide WR1 option against an Eagles secondary that gives up more fantasy points to WRs than any other, but instead, he caught one pass for six yards. Insert expressionless face emoji. Mitchell Trubisky’s inept play had already sapped a lot of the fantasy value out of the Bears’ backfield and secondary receiving options, but Robinson had been the one consistent fantasy option in this offense, producing 60+ yards in six of seven games entering Sunday. A-Rob is talented enough to produce WR2 value despite Trubisky, but this will probably be the last time I rank him among my top-12 receivers regardless of matchup. Lesson learned.
Key Stats
Christian McCaffrey (RB – CAR) is on pace for the best fantasy season ever. He good.
CMC is on pace for 492.8 fantasy points!! (that would be the most by anybody in NFL history ever😳) pic.twitter.com/sHAfX5ibk4
— NFL Fantasy Football (@NFLFantasy) November 4, 2019
Jamaal Williams (RB – GB) has more receiving TDs (5) than Michael Thomas (WR – NO), Julio Jones (WR – ATL), DeAndre Hopkins (WR – HOU) and Stefon Diggs (WR – MIN). In other words, don’t be afraid to flex the Packers’ number two RB.
Lamar Jackson (QB – BAL) is averaging 79.6 rushing yards per game, more than twice as much as any other QB. Jackson finished as the overall QB3 against the Patriots this week, so hopefully, that will put an end to any questions about whether to bench him for tough matchups.
Keenan Allen (WR – LAC) hasn’t topped 61 receiving yards since Melvin Gordon (RB – LAC) returned. Allen’s share of the Chargers’ targets (20 percent) and air yards (30 percent) is also way down with Hunter Henry back and playing a big role in the passing game.
Odell Beckham Jr. (WR – CLE) has averaged double-digit targets for his career but hit double digits in just 3 of 8 games for the Browns. It seems obvious, but Freddie Kitchens and Baker Mayfield need to start force-feeding OBJ. He’s more than capable of hauling in jump balls, so it shouldn’t be hard.
Top Takeaways
The Bills and Chiefs look to have new lead RBs. If Devin Singletary and Damien Williams continue to see a majority of snaps and touches in their respective backfields, they can both be weekly RB2s.
The Raiders are pretty good in fantasy and reality. With multiple touchdown passes in five of his last six games, Derek Carr certainly seems to be taking a big step forward under Jon Gruden’s tutelage, while Josh Jacobs has emerged as a legit RB1. Darren Waller and Tyrell Williams didn’t have huge weeks, but Waller is still a high-end TE1 and Williams is a solid WR3 at worst. Oh, and the Raiders are in the thick of the playoff chase at 4-4.
Russell Wilson (QB – SEA) is having an MVP season. It’s no surprise that Russ shredded the Bucs’ secondary, but he’s now up 22 touchdowns with just a single interception. This is still a team that likes to run the ball, but with Josh Gordon ready to step in and replace Will Dissly’s production, this pass offense could still hit another gear.
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Andrew Seifter is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Andrew, check out his archive and follow him @andrew_seifter.
