1. Who’s the top receiver for the Jets?

It’s Garrett Wilson. He made one of the best catches you’ll ever see for his second touchdown (check out Watercooler). Wilson is quicker, gets open easier, and is more explosive. Wilson has three 100-yard games in the last five. If teams are going to put their best corner on Adams, it will only help Wilson. Adams left this game briefly after being evaluated for a concussion and returned with four minutes left in the game. Adams had his best game since coming to the Jets with 7 catches for 91 yards with a touchdown on 11 targets.

2. Why is the Texans’ passing offense so bad?

Injuries are a big factor and the offensive line hasn’t been able to protect C.J. Stroud as well as they were able to last year. Stroud went 11-for-30 with 191 yards and was sacked eight times. The running game has been really good and is being leaned on more thanks to Nico Collins being out with a hamstring injury and with Stefon Diggs out for the season with a torn ACL. That said, there’s hope that we see Collins in Week 10. Tank Dell took advantage of the absences with his best game of the season—6 catches for 126 yards on 9 targets—and will be a good fantasy option for the rest of the season. 

3. How valuable is Joe Mixon?

He has been one of the best values in drafts. He’s getting massive volume every week and producing. Mixon has saved the Texans’ offense. Mixon has played in six games and has five 100-yard games. The one he missed was a game he left early due to injury and finished with 9 carries. Mixon has at least 24 carries in five games and scored in every game except one. He finished with 24 carries for 106 yards with a touchdown. Before Week 9’s Thursday Night game, Waz had Mixon ranked as his RB5 in his rest-of-season rankings (No. 8 overall player).

What else is in today’s newsletter?

1. Start/Sit Decisions for Week 9: A trio of sneaky starts …

2. Watercooler: Buy/Sell/Hold

3. Throwing Shade: Everyone knows this fantasy football manager …

A Deep Sleeper To Start At WR and Laghezza’s RBs To Boot

• By Gene Clemons and John Laghezza

John Laghezza and Gene Clemons dig deep with non-obvious, outside-the-box lineup advice. John's a numbers guy, Gene is a literal football coach—what more could you ask for?

Good luck! Enjoy the column! And to fill in any players we didn't cover here, check out our premium set of expert fantasy football rankings.

Dive fully into the data behind your biggest start/sit dilemmas with our Start/Sit Tool, giving you player vs. player comparisons and judgments on who the best start is!

Laghezza's Week 8 RBs To Start: Streaming Austin Ekeler and Jamaal Williams

Using a weighted mix of over a dozen different advanced stats on each side of the balI, I reverse-power-ranked every defense in the league—all to point fantasy gamers of any league size toward the right start/sit answers this weekend.

1. Commanders (vs. Giants)—The Giants continue shaping into the perfect weekly RB magnet and that trend extends on Sunday. Not only is Big Blue dead last in yards/rush (6.2), yards before contact/rush (2.7), and 20-plus-yard carries (8), the offense stinks. Easily a bottom-5 unit, Daniel Jones’ inability to sustain drives disallows an already-struggling defense proper rest between beatings. Brian Robinson has “start of the week” vibes going for him, but I’m also queuing up Austin Ekeler as a FLEX play when he may have otherwise been benched.

2. Saints (vs. Panthers)—Oh, Carolina, just shut it down. Bad turns to worst for the now historically bad Panthers, who just lost whatever talent was left after injuries and trade. Pile all your fantasy players against the Panthers, dead last in rush success rate (48.1%) and rushing TDs allowed (8). No one’s really even considering sitting auto-smash Alvin Kamara, but there may be another sneaky path less trodden here. Kendre Miller left last weekend’s game injured (again), so I’m scooping up Jamaal Williams as a deep-league stream with a real chance to find the end zone.

Gene’s Bold Prediction: Start Ray-Ray McCloud, WR, Falcons

This is a deep cut for sure—but you don't need me to tell you to start Mark Andrews, right? The truth is this: if you had better options, you wouldn't need a bold prediction. 

McCloud has played well in his role for the Falcons this season. He has turned into the de facto WR3 on the team and has as many targets (42) and catches (29) as Kyle Pitts. He also is good for a carry or two, which is amazing when you think about who Atlanta has at running back, but that's how good McCloud is with the ball in his hands. The Cowboys offer an intriguing matchup because they have really struggled to stop the “others” in pass coverage. Two weeks ago Tim Patrick had 3 receptions for 68 yards in the Cowboys' loss to the Lions. Last week Ricky Pearsall had 4 catches on 4 targets. Ray-Ray can reap the benefits of a defense that will not have him as a first or second priority. If you are looking for someone off the radar—this is a perfect fit.

RELATED CONTENT:

• Jonathan Fuller runs through fantasy football trade targets.

• NFL Pigskin Pick’em: Picking every winner for Week 9.

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The latest analysis and insights from our merry band of football nerds:

❤️ Want some great advice? Check out Week 9 Love/Hate.

👀 Looking for a sleeper at WR? … Fred Jones, err, Matthew Berry has the answer.

✍️ Target a player on bye? Cooterdoodle has that and more in buy, sell, hold.

🤔 Can’t decide whether to start a player? Our updated rankings will help.

🔎 Speaking of rankings … dive deeper into studs, sleepers, and more.

🏈 New QB1 for the Browns. Will their WR1 enter every-week must-start status?

🤯 Nominee for Catch of the Year. How’d he catch it and stay inbounds?

Throwing Shade … At The GMs Who Conspire to Pull Off One-Sided Trades

Throughout this season, we’ll be “throwing shade” at some of the elements of fantasy that we could do without.

Today’s topic: The Trade Colluders

Shoutout to Knockaround Sunglasses for the inspiration! This week we’re rocking the Denver Broncos—really just because we love the underdog story. Embrace the fun!!

Subject: The Trade Colluders

Identifying Traits: They say “bro” a lot … they may actually be related to each other, usually in-laws … They think they are more clever than they actually are … At the draft, they will make everyone do shots … But the reason you keep them around is because they pay for the shots … they are likely the richest people in the league.

Brief Synopsis: The Trade Colluders pop up every year around now, when one of their teams is doing remarkably well and the other isn’t. They reveal themselves by pulling off a one-sided trade that is very obviously some type of collusion, while denying any wrongdoing. Eventually, when one of the long-standing members threatens to quit, one of the colluders will say something like, “Fine, fine, we can reverse it,” and then executes an almost-similar-but-every-so-slightly-different deal within 24 hours. The beauty of this is that karma will likely come back to haunt the colluders, as the 7-1 team will go on an ugly losing streak, and the 2-5 team will win just enough games to almost make the playoffs … but will lose out thanks to a tie-breaker the last week of the regular season.

What to do if you see The Trade Colluders in real life: Run up a giant bar tab and disappear.

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