Good morning to everyone except those who put their worst players on the trade block...
In today’s Fantasy Life Newsletter presented by Pristine Auction:
- Could CMC and Cam Akers be on the move?
- Morning Download: Pete gets you caught up
- Pristine Auction is giving away a signed Davante Adams helmet
- A RB you can't trust today
- Eliot's favorite stack: Seahawks/Cardinals
- SNF: Our SNF Picks & Plays
- Player Matchups: Jakobi Meyers & J.K. Dobbins
- It’s 10/16. Take it away, Peter Overzet...
On Tuesday, we highlighted some potential trade rumors involving the Carolina Panthers after they fired head coach Matt Rhule.
Well, those rumors appear to have legs after league sources told ESPN that the Panthers are listening to other teams about potential trade offers involving Christian McCaffrey.
All four of the teams who have shown "varying" degrees of interest are very interesting for fantasy purposes:
- Broncos (lost Javonte Williams)
- 49ers (lost Eli Mitchell)
- Rams (issues with Cam Akers)
- Bills (expressed interest before the draft)
Of all those teams, the Rams would seem to make the most sense:
In response to questions on the McCaffrey thing - no, it's not a stretch to imagine Rams might be monitoring the situation, especially (as noted previously) bc he's pretty much paid out this yr. A few notable ties include friendship with Stafford and to LA area in general. BUT
Adding more smoke to the fire, the Rams are reportedly fielding trade calls themselves for RB Cam Akers, who possibly has played his last down for the team. Akers is out today due to "personal reasons" and has been butting heads with head coach Sean McVay, per Rapoport's report.
🚨 Make sure you are stashing rookie RB Kyren Williams, by the way.
The NFL's trade deadline is November 1, so there are still a couple of weeks for a trade to materialize. If something were to go down, here's also a good look at what to expect from the Panthers backfield and two more RBs to consider stashing, as well.
Until then, we got a Week 6 slate to tackle...
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As always, FantasyLife.com has all of the info (read on for the biggest Week 6 news items) and tools (linked below) to help you make the most informed decisions. Take advantage of all our free tools on the site and follow our Twitter account for any late-breaking news updates:
- INACTIVES - updated at 11:30am ET for 1pm games
- RANKINGS - Full Week 6 rankings for multiple scoring settings from Dwain, Waz, and Hill.
- 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 newly updated props tool is here to give you the best bets for each game.
🏈 Can we interest you in a free Davante Adams signed helmet?
Last Monday, Davante Adams reminded fantasy managers why they selected him in the first round after he put up a massive 124 yards and 2 TD line on just three receptions. He also reminded cameramen not to get in his way after a tough loss, but let's stay on track...
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📁 No Jonathan Taylor or Nyheim Hines
In a surprise piece of news, Taylor was ruled out yesterday despite practicing for two days. Hines will be inactive as well, which means we get another week of Deon Jackson and Phillip Lindsay leading the backfield. Jackson looks like the slightly better play of the two if you need a spot start.
📁 Tee Higgins a GTD
Higgins, who missed multiple practices this week and was limited to 10 snaps in Week 5, is a true game-time decision for Week 6. There is optimism he'll be able to go, but the team wants to see him workout pregame before making any decisions. Veteran WR Mike Thomas (not the Saints one) would be the biggest beneficiary if Higgins were to miss (ran routes on 35 dropbacks and played 45 out of 63 snaps last week).
📁 Damien Harris ready to play spoiler?
Despite initially looking like a multi-week absence with a hamstring injury, Harris will workout before the game with hopes of playing. Reports say it would "be a surprise, but not impossible" if he were active. Rhamondre Stevenson would take a small hit (mainly in DFS) if Harris were to go. You're playing him no matter what in season-long, though.
📁 The Saints have no WRs
The Saints will be without Chris Olave (concussion), Michael Thomas, and Jarvis Landry. They signed three WRs from the practice squad to stop the bleeding, but you know deep down know what this actually means...more Taysom Hill.
📁 Misc. files
Some questionable players expected to play: Kyle Pitts (hamstring), CeeDee Lamb (hip), and Alexander Mattison.
📉 A RB you can't trust today. Be careful, even though they are starting.
📵 Why teammates don't like Russell Wilson. Richard Sherman explains.
💍 Robert Kraft got married on Friday night. Can you spot Tom Brady in the photo?
🚑 When Will Keenan Allen return to action? He has a specific game circled.
🙃 It might be crazy, but this stack could win you a DFS tournament. It's kinda gross, though.
🐬 Tua's expected return date. Here's the update.
✍️ A sneaky tip for streaming defenses. Don't get caught sleeping.
⚖️ An update on the Davante Adams suspension. Feel free to exhale, managers.
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...
🚀Geno Smith > Tyler Lockett (Bring Back: Eno Benjamin + Marquise Brown)
The game environment between the Seahawks and Cardinals makes for an excellent DFS stack. The Cardinals are playing fast, ranking fourth in pace of play per Football Outsiders. Neither team can stop anyone as the Seahawks rank 32nd in EPA per pass attempt against, and the Cardinals are dead last in play success against.
The Seahawks’ offense has been elite to start the season, ranking 1st in explosive pass rate and 3rd in play success rate. A fast-paced game with two bad defenses and an offense firing on all cylinders is a recipe for DFS gold.
Geno Smith has been the biggest surprise in football to start the season. With three straight games of 23 or more points, Smith has dominated teams beyond the sticks, ranking 1st in both completion percentage and passer rating this season. Taking on a Cardinals team that ranks 31st in explosive pass percentage allowed, look for the big plays to continue. I'm hammering Geno Smith O266.5 yards on MGM.
While I won’t fault you if you lean toward DK Metcalf as we have him projected for the second most receiving yards on the slate, Tyler Lockett is the Seahawks receiver I want this week. As Dwain McFarland has pointed out time and time again, when an opponent plays heavy zone, it is a Lockett week.
Lockett’s target share jumps from 20% to 29% against zone and a heavy workload has meant slate-breaking performances for Lockett. He had 11 career games of double-digit targets and averaged 29.2 fantasy points in those games. Our projections have Lockett for 9.95 targets against the Cardinals.
While Kenneth Walker makes for an intriguing option in a triple stack, it is the Cardinals' Eno Benjamin who I want to roster the most. He is Run the Sims highest projected owned player on the slate, but building a game stack around him will help make those teams unique. Per Fantasy Points’ Scott Barrett, Kliff Kingsbury has gone the bellcow route when his typical starting RB is injured. In those 10 games, the top RB averages 18.6 carries, 5.4 targets, and 24.3 fantasy points. Both Darrell Williams and James Conner are set to miss this one, putting Benjamin in a smash spot.
Rounding out the game stack is Marquise Brown who ranks 3rd in the NFL in total targets, having earned 26% of his team targets and 41% of the air yards. That level of workload against the league's worst pass EPA defense makes him a must-play for me.
The Eagles will do their best to give us a decent primetime game tonight when they host the Cowboys as 6.5 point home favorites. The sports books aren't holding out much hope for fireworks (42.5 over/under) with Cooper Rush once again at the helm for Dallas.
Here's everything we like tonight from a fantasy, DFS, and betting perspective: All odds via BetMGM...
Every Sunday we'll highlight two interesting matchups you should be aware of before setting your lineup. Take it away, Kevin...
🥶 Jakobi Meyers @ CLE
Meyers has been dominant and consistent so far in 2022... when he’s been on the field. After missing both Weeks 3 and 4, Meyers returned to the Patriots lineup in Week 5 like he never left, putting up a 7-111-1 line on eight targets and, more importantly, a 38% target share. Meyers is the only pass-catching target worth a damn in fantasy on the Patriots.
Fantasy’s WR8 in fantasy points per game, Meyers travels to take on the Browns, who allow the fifth-most yards per reception (12.5) per PFF and are in the bottom half at giving up fantasy points to WRs.
He’s as close to matchup-proof as it gets, and Meyers should continue his awesome roll against a suspect Browns defense this week.
🥵️ J.K. Dobbins @ NYG
The Ravens seem to have found the happy medium between 2020’s run-heavy attack that led the league in run-play percentage and 2021’s sharp 11% increase in pass-play percentage. The Ravens are passing the ball 54% of the time but still skew run-heavy and dipped a bit lower last week without Rashod Bateman, and he’s been ruled out for Week 6.
“So, we start J.K. Dobbins against the Giants, right? Easy game.”
Well… not so fast.
Starting with Dobbins’ first game in Week 3, he’s had the following snap share percentages: 43% in Week 3, 50% in Week 4, and 40% last week. We had hoped Dobbins’ snap share would increase as he’s gotten back into the swing of things following a 2021 preseason ACL injury that ended his season.
Unless last week’s 40% was an aberration, it has not.
While the Giants have allowed 5.1 yards per carry to opposing RBs this season, will it even be Dobbins taking full advantage of the plus matchup?
As long as Kenyan Drake, Mike Davis, and Lamar Jackson continue to siphon off more and more carries in this offense, Dobbins’ upside will be capped. He’s a touchdown-or-nothing RB3 right now without the safety of rushing volume. And that’s BEFORE Gus Edwards returns, which could be soon.
You’re likely starting Dobbins due to the matchup, but there’s a reason for trepidation here: we’re hoping for a touchdown (or two) rather than carry volume.
🥵Bills @ Chiefs
