Week 10 Adds, Drops, Buys, and Sells
What a week! Week 9 was exhilarating but the turnaround is quick. Waivers are running and we have championship rosters to build. With that in mind, here are the adds, drops, buys, and sells to consider making in Week 10.
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Add Eno Benjamin
With Chase Edmonds going down early in Week 9, it was James Conner who stepped into a bellcow role, playing 79-percent of the snaps, seeing 19-percent of the targets, and consuming a 72-percent opportunity share. But it’s likely we see Eno Benjamin a little more involved in future weeks especially after his impressive touchdown run late against the Niners. Benjamin is similar to Edmonds and is best comparable to Duke Johnson on PlayerProfiler.com. He’s super explosive with impressive agility. He was dominant at Arizona State with 77 receptions and 30 touchdowns over his final two seasons. Even if he doesn’t land a fantasy-relevant role, he’s next man up if Conner were to go down.
Add Dan Arnold
Since coming to Jacksonville via trade, Dan Arnold has had target shares of 24-percent, 12-percent, 19-percent, and 25-percent. He is out-targeting every Jaguars pass -catcher not named Jamal Agnew. And even Agnew has just one more target. Arnold has finished as a top-10 tight end in two of his last three games.
Add Elijah Moore
Elijah Moore has seen his role steadily increase since his return from injury. And actually, he was ascending even before he went down. In Week 9, Moore had his best game yet with seven receptions (on eight targets) for 84 yards and two touchdowns. We loved him coming out of Ole Miss and the Jets are making an effort to get him more involved. Corey Davis will be back, maybe as early as this week, but it’s hard to imagine the Jets put Moore back in the box after this performance. He’s not ready to be confidently put into fantasy lineups quite yet, but he’s certainly heading in that direction.
Buy/Add Brandon Aiyuk
This is a repeat from last week, partly as a victory lap, but partly as a reminder that it’s safe to go after Brandon Aiyuk now. Last week, I noted that Aiyuk’s Week 8 usage was really encouraging. He came out in Week 9 and played a season-high 93-percent of the snaps. He saw 20-percent of the targets and set new season-highs in targets, receptions, and yards. He’s back.
Buy/Add Rashod Bateman
I have talked about Rashod Bateman here a few times already but I feel like it needs to be said one more time. Whether he’s on your waiver wire (available in 64-percent of Yahoo leagues) or in a trade, go get Rashod Bateman. In three games since returning from injury, Bateman has had target shares of 22-percent, 14-percent, and 20-percent. The Ravens are passing at a higher rate than they ever have with Lamar Jackson at quarterback and they lead the league in offensive plays per game. He should be viewed as a weekly WR3 with upside to finish as a high-end WR2 in any given week. It’s a crime that he’s so widely available.
Add Nico Collins
This is for you deep leaguers. Nico Collins’ snap shares have steadily increased since his return from injury. He was up to 70% in Week 9. The targets have been inconsistent but it’s clear his role is growing. Collins has an alpha profile and would likely lead the team in targets if anything were to happen to Brandin Cooks. He’s worth a stash in deep leagues.
Hold Jeremy McNichols
I got some hate for my Jeremy McNichols takes last week. Frankly, the Adrian Peterson victory laps that were happening on Twitter were embarrassing. Sure, things didn’t quite pop for McNichols as I’d hoped, but you’re celebrating “being right” about 10 carries for 21 yards? Really? But let’s peel the onion back a little more to really expose them. While Peterson got the carries (as expected) and some of the goal line work (again, as expected), McNichols still led Titans running backs in snap share (45% McNichols, 33% Peterson, 21% D’Onta Foreman) and, most importantly, target share (11%). This was in a game that Tennessee led from the start. The game script was not at all what we expected. We thought it would be a perfect environment for a pass-catching back like McNichols to get plenty of looks in a high-scoring, competitive game. However, it ended up as the opposite. And yet, Peterson still was only given 10 carries. If McNichols continues to see a third of the carries and weekly double-digit target shares, he will prove to be the running back we want in Tennessee.
Hold Emmanuel Sanders
I’ve talked about Emmanuel Sanders a lot this year. He has put up a couple duds in back-to-back weeks with a goose egg in Week 8 and then just 10.5 points in Week 9. However, he once again found himself top-12 in air yards in Week 9. Wide receivers are volatile, we know this. With guys like Sanders who consistently get targets and air yards, we have to embrace the volatility and keep playing him so we can enjoy the spike weeks. We’ve seen a few of them from him already this year, and there’s every reason to believe he has several more coming.
Buy Devonta Smith
Speaking of embracing the volatility, the production hasn’t been there every week with Devonta Smith, but he has had a target share over 20-percent in six of nine games. That included a season-high 35-percent in Week 9 which was good for third among all wide receivers. He accounted for more than half of Philadelphia’s air yards against Miami. He turned that into 116 yards and a touchdown on five receptions.
Add Tyler Johnson
Tyler Johnson has proven to be a solid fill-in while Antonio Brown is out. With AB still looking a couple weeks away from returning, Johnson will continue to be a streaming option at wide receiver. He had a 15-percent target share against New Orleans before the bye week. He turned that into five receptions for 65 yards, a solid 11.5 fantasy points.
Add Sony Michel
We saw earlier in the season that when Darrell Henderson is out of the lineup, Sony Michel steps right into a bellcow role. When Henderson missed Week 3, Michel was on the field for 74-percent of the snaps. He carried 20 times for 67 yards against a tough Bucs run defense and added three receptions on four targets. When Darrell Henderson briefly left the game with an ankle injury in Week 9, it served as a reminder that Sony Michel is one of the most valuable handcuffs in fantasy football. He’d have RB1 upside as the bellcow in one of the league’s best offenses if Henderson ever misses time. We’re getting to the part of the fantasy season where handcuffs are extremely valuable. He’s available in 67-percent of Yahoo leagues. Go get him.
Sell Deebo Samuel
Deebo Samuel had a season-low 22-percent target share in Week 9. While that’s still solid, it coincided with the return of George Kittle (20-percent) and the ascending role of Brandon Aiyuk (25-percent and 20-percent target shares over the last two weeks). Even Elijah Mitchell (12-percent target share) is looking like he’s going to be more involved as a pass-catcher moving forward. There are only so many footballs to go around, especially in a low-volume passing offense. Samuel will definitely still be a productive fantasy asset but we may not see the dominant performances he was giving us earlier in the season.
