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It was another week rich in action in the National Football League and, as usual, we learned a lot. Here are 10 takeaways from Week 9 to consider for next week and beyond.
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MVS plays as an MVP for fantasy owners
When you insert a talented young catcher into an attack led by Aaron Rodgers, good things can happen and that's exactly what we're seeing with Marquez Valdes-Scantling. While Geronimo Allison and Randall Cobb had been injured in the past month, Valdes-Scantling had at least 100 receiving yards or one touchdown in four straight games, and it's just getting started.
MVS has won several terrific games against the Patriots on Sunday night and it was obvious that he had won the confidence of Rodgers. Thanks to Mike McCarthy's ineptitude, the Packers offensive relies more on Rodgers' improvisation than on concrete game planning, which should translate into many broken pieces turning into big ones. coins for Valdes-Scantling – a bit like Russell Wilson's connection – Doug Baldwin from years past. Expect MVS to be on the ground for just about every two and three receiver sets, and to push for a weekly WR2 value for the rest of the season. Not bad for a waiver wire pickup.
Dalvin Cook is back, but his RB1 status is still uncertain
Cook was only to play 15 to 20 times returning from a hamstring injury that had cost him four weeks of action. ended up playing 28 – six more than Latavius Murray. Cook manipulated the ball on half of those shots – and – turned those hits into 109 yards, rewarding fantasy owners who were brave enough to use it.
Cook will now benefit from the Viking Week 10 holiday and should be in good health for running. But before we get too caught up in his glaring numbers, it's worth noting that 70 of his 89 rushing yards were on a single 70-yard goal through a gaping hole created against the Lions' defense. Of course, Cook resisted this game well, but outside of that, he had nine runs for 19 yards.
There is also the question of Murray, who treated the football on half (11) of his attempts. Murray did not have a great game in terms of distances, but he scored his fifth touchdown in the last four games and was awarded the two quick throws of the Minnesota Red Zone.
Cook was drafted in the first / second round in most fantasy leagues because he was supposed to serve as a bellboy for most, if not all, of the season. But Murray proved his worth in the absence of Cook, a quick return, if nothing else. So, although Cook must be the back end, expect Murray to remain very involved, especially on the goal line. As long as it continues, it will be difficult for Cook to produce the RB1 value that his fantasy owners were hoping for. It is safer to expect Cook to produce RB2 and a steady value of Murray's RB3 / flex.
The Browns finally gave Duke Johnson more work
Hue Jackson had been promising it for weeks, but it was apparently the ouster of Jackson and Todd Haley that the Browns finally got more than a few touches to Duke Johnson. Johnson's count has not changed drastically and he remained a significant factor in the match against the Chiefs – Nick Chubb outshot him 22-1 – but Johnson caught his nine targets for 78 yards and two touchdowns. . This use was reminiscent of last year, when Johnson had collected at least four badists in 11 of the Browns' last 14 games and finished in the top 20 fantasy BRs, even in formats other than PPR.
The course of the game certainly benefited Johnson against the Chiefs – the Browns were led by two points for most of the match – but it would not be surprising to see this happen often to the Browns for the rest of the season, particular considering the dazzling defense is.
The real question is whether Duke's high target volume was intentional on the part of the new offensive coordinator, Freddie Kitchens, or whether it was merely circumstantial. It's hard to say, but we should know a lot more after the Cleveland tenth week match with the Falcons, who gave away most of the receptions to the backs. It would be a logical game for the Browns to feature Johnson, and if they do, we can feel much better about continuing to include Duke in our fantasy lineups.
Jarvis Landry is used as he was in Miami
During his last season in Miami, Landry averaged only 8.8 yards per jack, which is the lowest average of all receivers with 100 or more receptions in NFL history. Landry has averaged at least 12.9 yards per shot in four of his first five games in Cleveland, but has since returned to former Landry, averaging less than 10 yards per jack in all four games. last matches.
The Browns indicated during the pre-season that they planned to use Landry on more routes than the Dolphins and that they did not consider his role as limited to short and intermediate catches outside the slot. They seemed to keep their promise at the start of the season, but Landry may have been a victim of the team's offensive turmoil last month.
It's too early to get a good impression of Freddie Kitchens as a call to the game, but it's safe to say that the Browns will have to be more creative in the way they use Landry to make it a success. As it stands, Landry is a WR2 that is better suited for PPR formats and is slowly advancing to WR3 status. If he's unable to enjoy a friendly against the Falcons next week, Landry owners will have to hope the Browns will reinvent their attack during week 11.
The Falcons finally introduced Tevin Coleman as a goaltender
Back in 2016 – Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman, both Falcons teammates as offensive coordinators of the Falcons, were among the top 10 in the net-receivers. Freeman and Coleman both saw their pbading game usage drop significantly the following year under new offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, and that continued until Sunday.
Coleman scored seven career goals by beating Washington, a career-high, in five catches for 68 yards and two touchdowns. Coleman also ran the ball very well (6.8 yards per run) against a defensive defense against Washington, but that's the pbad game work that could really increase its fantastic value in the future.
The Atlanta offense has long been marked by two halves, and with Freeman in the IR, Ito Smith should continue to be part of the game plan. Coleman is not really designed to handle more than 20 pressing attempts anyway. But if he manages to see regular use of the pbading game, it will strengthen his RB2 floor and allow him to get RB1 weeks more explosive than the one we just saw.
Julio Jones is finally out of play
It's finally happened, people. Julio Jones scored a touchdown, his first TD in the regular season since latest November. Josh Norman from Washington and Julio could easily have had a second TD if Norman had not blatantly interfered with him on another deep bullet.
The landing certainly deserves to be celebrated by the owners of Jones, but there is no reason to consider it as an avant-garde sign. Jones did not have a red-zone target against Washington, even though the Falcons had 38 points. In fact, Jones has only two targets in the red zone all year, behind teammates Tevin Coleman, Austin Hooper, Calvin Ridley, Mohamed Sanu and Ito Smith.
Jones deserves a lot of praise for his altruism, but as a fantasy owner, we are intrinsically selfish. We want these TDs. We need these TDs. But Jones was not a big player of TD even when the Falcons were ready to target him in the red zone, so we have to accept him for what he is at the moment: we can say that the best receiver of the league, but better in reality than fantasy.
Lions waste their offensive talent
Over the last two weeks, we have dedicated a space to the frustration of the owners of Kerryon Johnson and Kenny Golladay. Suffice it to say that Detroit is not taking full advantage of the dynamic capabilities of these two young stars, and this was again presented during an anemic performance against the Vikings during the 9th week.
Johnson owners who thought he was definitely going to overtake LeGarrette Blount and Theo Riddick were deeply disappointed. Blount has scored three touchdowns this season; Kerryon has one. Riddick has 37 targets in six games; Kerryon has 31 targets in eight games. Kerryon is good enough to succeed with one of these obstacles, but Riddick's return really compromises Kerryon's ability to produce the kind of high-end RB2 numbers that fantasy owners hope for.
Meanwhile, Golladay's owners who thought Golden Tate's departure would open up a ton of targets remained mystified when he got a total of four targets in week 10 – half less than Riddick, and the same number as striker Michael Roberts.
The good news for the owners of Kerryon and Golladay, if any, is that the Lions seem to be at their lowest. It was easy for coach Matt Patricia to justify the under-use of his young offensive playmakers while Detroit was 3-3 and a consecutive 30-point performance. But the Lions have scored just 23 points in their last two games combined. The change may be in progress. Otherwise, we simply can not get the fantastic level of Kerryon and Golladay production they can deliver.
Jeff Heuerman is worth taking over, even though he is about to say goodbye.
We all know how tight the final position has been this year. Therefore, those of us who do not have Travis Kelce or Zach Ertz are always looking for ways to improve their position. It was widely accepted that Courtland Sutton would be the largest beneficiary of Demaryius Thomas's trade, and that might very well still be true. But we can no longer afford to sleep on Heuerman, who led the Broncos in targets, catches, receptions and receptions against the Texans.
Clever readers will know that Heuerman was already leading Denver into the red zone targets before Thomas was traded. He had not taken advantage of these opportunities until last week, but he now has a touchdown in the home and away matches.
Any tight end that could realistically lead his team in terms of targets or red zone in a given week is a clear advantage in all fantasy leagues. Yes, Heuerman is entering his farewell week, and holding two tight ends is never fun. But in this case, it's worth it if you fight for the job.
We had a comment from Keenan Allen
Allen has certainly not been bad this season: he has managed at least four catches and 62 pbading yards in every game except one. But he was also not the creator of difference that fantasy owners were expecting from their second-round pick.
Allen had not broken 100 yards of gains or scoring since the first week, but he ended one of those droughts against the Seahawks on Sunday, scoring six catches on 10 targets for 124 yards. Allen did not find the end zone, but the performance is nevertheless very promising, especially since it suggests that the Chargers have made a concerted effort to put forward their best receiver.
We already knew that Allen had a very high weekly floor, but he's just wondering what is the actual height of his ceiling. With Phillip Rivers and Melvin Gordon playing at a very high level, the Chargers are a transient offense with low volume and high efficiency. And when LA scores through the air, it's often through a big game played by Williamses, Tyrell and Mike, rather than Allen.
Still, with his big performance of the 9th week, Allen is now 13th in the league receiving yards per game. If he can continue to approach double-digit targets, he could be a poor man, Julio Jones, a level of performance that most Allen owners would likely reach at this point.
George Kittle is an elite TE1, no matter who plays QB
I must admit that I dropped Kittle from a few places in my weekly standings when I learned that Nick Mullens would start quarterback for San Francisco on Thursday night. I always had Kittle among the first six TE1, but not in the top three, as I would have ranked if C. J. Beathard had started.
Mullens was more than ready to demolish a pathetic defense of the Raiders, but even though he was now on QB2's radar in the superficial leagues, Kittle's fantastic ramifications are more relevant to most fantasy owners. In a year in which little has been delineated, Kittle has consistently demonstrated his ability to win big games and make disputed catch in the red zone. Against the Raiders, he caught his four Mullens targets for 108 yards and a touchdown, demonstrating once again that he is an elite player no matter who the 49ers are forced to trot to quarterback.
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Andrew Seifter is a featured Writer of FantasyPros. For more of Andrew, check out his archive and follow him @andrew_seifter.
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