🤔 5 Players With Uncertain Workloads

Your fantasy team is well-rested today after getting an extra hour of sleep. Great managing...

In today’s Fantasy Life Newsletter presented by BetMGM:

One of the biggest riddles for today's set of games is how involved the recent trade acquisitions will be on their new teams.

Luckily we have a few bread crumbs of reporting to help us make informed decisions...

🐻 Chase Claypool: Coach Matt Eberfuls is estimating anywhere between 10-35 snaps Sunday depending on "how much he can handle." That said,  Dwain and Waz both have him ranked as WR5/6, so only use him if you are in dire straights.

⚔️ T.J. Hockenson: Reports say Hock is going to be a "key part" of the offense Sunday vs. Washington after he worked extra hours to get up to speed on the game plan. The TE position is so gross this week that you probably need to fire him up where you got him (He's our TE10 in consensus ranks).

🐬 Jeff Wilson Jr.: Wilson immediately finds himself in a juicy matchup on his team vs. the Bears. Mike McDaniel said Wilson (and Bradley Chubb) will play "more than zero snaps," but the exact number would depend on "several variables." In a perfect world, you'd wait a week for Wilson, but there are certainly paths to him putting up nice numbers on limited touches (just ask Tony Pollard).

🐃 Nyheim Hines: Hines told reporter Jon Scott that learning the playbook has been "chaotic" and "hard" so that doesn't bode well for a big workload vs. the Jets today. I'd keep him on the bench until we get confirmation he's up to speed.

🏹 Kadarius Toney: Since arriving in KC, Toney has been miraculously healed of all his ailments, as he's not even listed on the Chiefs injury report. Andy Reid has said he'll play tonight, but it's pure guesswork as far as how much. I'd keep him on the bench for now.

Read on for the rest of the overnight news and take advantage of all our great resources when setting your lineups:

• INACTIVES - updated at 11:30am ET for 1pm games

• RANKINGS - Full Week 9 rankings for multiple scoring settings from Dwain & Waz

• FANTASY LIFE TWITTER - If news breaks, we'll have it.

• START/SIT TOOL - Debating who to start? Simply type in both players to this tool and we'll tell you the best option:

• PLAYER PROPS TOOL - Our freshly updated props tool is here to give you the best bets for each game.

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💰 Eliot Crist is betting: Washington Commanders +3

The most bet team in Week 9 is the Minnesota Vikings. The one-loss NFC North leaders may look like an easy bet as a field goal favorite, but buyer beware. The Vikings have been outgained by their opponents 383-345 on average and face a strong Washington defense.

The Commanders’ defensive front is generating pressure at the 4th highest rate, an area where Kirk Cousins has struggled. Cousins' passer rating drops from 14th from a clean pocket, to 26th under pressure. On the other side of the ball, Taylor Heinicke is 8-2 against the spread as the market continues to undervalue him.

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📁 Damien Harris likely to sit

Harris has been questionable all week with an illness and is unlikely to play today, per sources. Rhamondre Stevenson is an elite play today. Dwain has him ranked as the RB5.

📁 Limited snaps for D'Andre Swift

This is an extremely frustrating situation and the Lions should shut him down until he gets healthy. Alas:

We have Swift ranked as an RB3 right now, so if you have two other Top 30 options, feel free to sit him. Jamaal Williams gets a nice boost, as well. 

📁 Cordarrelle Patterson is back

The Falcons have officially activated Patterson off IR, and he will play today vs. the Chargers. Considering the game has a 49.5-point total, feel free to fire him up where you got him. If you are on the fence, watch this hype vid.

📁 James Conner

It sounds like Conner is going to gut it out and play today despite the rib injury that has forced him to miss the past couple of weeks. You'll need to keep an eye on this around inactives since it's a late game and he'll be testing it out in pregame warmups. If he goes, you can fire him up as a solid RB2, otherwise, Eno Benjamin will be the guy. 

📁 Darren Waller unlikely

Death, taxes, and Waller unlikely to play. He's still battling with his hamstring injury, which means Foster Moreau will get another spot start.

📁 Fire up Michael Carter

It's a rough matchup vs. the Bills, but RB James Robinson was added to the injury report with a knee injury. Carter could catch a ton of a balls in a negative game script.

📁 The Ravens are down bad

As if losing Rashod Bateman for the season wasn't enough, Baltimore will also likely be without alpha TE Mark Andrews, RB Gus Edwards, and WR Demarcus Robinson for their MNF tilt vs. the Saints:

⁉️ Cam Akers is back?? See if you can solve this riddle.

🤯 Wow, these trades would have been insane. Big moves almost happened at the deadline.

📻 Get ALL of your Fantasy questions answered! Join Dwain McFarland & Jordan Fiegleman LIVE on AMP at 11 am ET.

🤝 Game recognize game. Terry McLaurin gives Kevin Durant his jersey.

🐻 Times are changing in Chicago. Find out why this WR is headed for a spike week.

📒 Hidden upside on the Rams? Seems unlikely, but tell me more. 

🥶 D.J. Moore dodges a fine. His teammate wasn't as fortunate, though.

🖖 A.J. Brown, however, does not escape a fine. Gotta be careful with those little finger points.

When playing DFS, we want to correlate our lineups because it means we have to get fewer things right. Tournaments have such top-heavy payout structures that when you are right, you want to be right in a big way. That’s where stacking teams and games come into play. Today, Eliot shares his favorite game to stack...

🚀Justin Fields > Darnell Mooney (Bring Back: Tyreek Hill)

Another week of targeting a game featuring the Miami Dolphins - if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. 

The Dolphins' offense has been phenomenal with Tua this season, ranking top 4 in EPA per pass play and explosive pass rate. On the other side of the ball, their man heavy coverage has led to opponents having big games - ranking 30th in EPA per pass play.

Justin Fields is the perfect quarterback to take advantage of the Dolphins' defensive struggles. Their man-heavy coverage (2nd highest rate) presents a  perfect opportunity for Fields to hit his ceiling as a rusher. When teams play man coverage, they turn and run with receivers, leaving quarterbacks opportunities to leave the pocket with plenty of green grass in front of them.

Fields has been dynamic scrambling, averaging 8.6 yards per attempt, accounting for 75.5% of his total rushing yards. It may seem high, but I’m confidently taking his over 49.5 rushing yards on BetMGM

Fields has been a top-12 fantasy QB in four straight weeks, and that trend is likely to continue this week against a Dolphins defense that plays to his strengths.

Fields struggles with moving through his progressions as a passer when under pressure, but luckily for him, the Dolphins generate the pressure at the fourth-lowest rate in the league

That could be huge for Darnell Mooney, who we have projected for 78.6 receiving yards. The day that Fields has a ceiling passing day, Mooney will show off his massive upside. His 70.41% WOPR (weighted opportunity) is the seventh most in football, higher than guys like Justin Jefferson and Davante Adams. 

Tyreek Hill continues to dominate, as he is on pace to set the all-time receiving yards record. He leads the NFL in targets (92), culminating in both target share and air yards for the Dolphins. Since 2020 in games that Tyreek Hill has seen 12 or more targets he is averaging 10.3 catches, 141 yards, and 0.94 touchdowns. We have projected for over 12 targets again this week, with a track record that strong in volume games, Hill is my top priority play of the week.

There's no way to sugarcoat this...tonight represents a brutal spot for the Titans, who are 12.5 point road underdogs vs. the Chiefs.

It's never fun heading to Arrowhead for a primetime game and it's especially not fun when you're starting QB is a game-time decision with an ankle injury and the hometown favorites are coming off a bye.

Good luck, Tennessee...

Here's everything we like tonight from a fantasy, DFS, and betting perspective:  All odds via BetMGM...

👑Who scores more Fantasy Points?

Every Sunday we'll highlight two interesting matchups you should be aware of before setting your lineup. Take it away, Kevin...

🥵️ Justin Fields vs. Mia

The evergreen thesis behind rostering a QB with rushing upside has always been that their floor is always higher due to more avenues for fantasy production. If Tom Brady has a bad day throwing the ball, you’re rarely, if ever, getting rushing production to buoy his lackluster performance.

Enter fantasy football’s QB2 over the last four weeks. (Not a typo.)

No, really.

It’s been a long time since it’s felt good to roster a Bear in fantasy. I mean, sure, in the last four weeks, Justin Fields has only one week of 200 or more passing yards and only one week where he’s passed for multiple touchdowns. That doesn’t seem great. But, of course, Fields makes his money on the ground, where he has three straight games of 60 or more rushing yards, including rushing touchdowns in back-to-back games. That’s #good

The Dolphins have been a bottom-seven defense against opposing fantasy QBs, and while the Bears don’t have the most capable offensive line, that defense pressure from the Dolphins should let Fields use his legs a bit more than his arm.

Success breeds confidence, and I’m confident in Fields delivering another top performance in fantasy in Week 9.

🥵️ Terry McLaurin vs. Min

As I’m contractually obligated by Matthew Berry to use the company’s preferred nickname for Terry McLaurin, Terry McScorin, I’ve been impressed by Taylor Heinicke’s willingness just simply to target the best player in the Commanders’ offense. It seems so easy as a game plan for an offense, but in this world of NFL teams playing 4D chess and overthinking, that’s exactly what’s happening.

In the last two games, McLaurin has commanded (pun may or may not be intended) 26% of target, 55% of the team’s air yards, and most importantly, two consecutive top-20 fantasy performances since Heinicke’s been under center. Helping the Commanders in Week 9 is that the Vikings are the worst team in DVOA against the opposition’s top WR. McLaurin should be able to avoid the Vikings’ top CB, Patrick Peterson, who only stays on the left side of the formation. Additionally, McLaurin should be able to pick on other CB due to his versatility in moving around the formation.

While McLaurin took a week off from getting into the end zone in Week 8, I like his chances to get back in as “McScorin” this week.