XANDAMERE’S SHOWDOWN SLANT
Week 9 wraps up with the Cardinals visiting the Cowboys for a 54.5 total game with Dallas favored by 2.5. Dallas, of course, has an elite offense and whatever the opposite is of elite defense, while the Cards are in the middle of some QB controversy. Kyler Murray has been hurt, and when he was healthy, he led the team to a 2-3 record, including losing to the Titans (lol), while backup Jacoby Brissett has kept the team competitive but ultimately gone 0-2 against two very good teams in the Colts and the Packers. Kyler was expected to return after the Week 8 bye but was working with the backups in practice, listed questionable, and now it’s come out that he could be active and “could have a role,” but Brissett is going to start. Meanwhile, the Arizona GM was somewhat noncommittal when asked about Murray’s status as their franchise QB. I have no earthly idea what’s going on here. Brissett is a capable backup, but he is in no way a starting-caliber quarterback for a franchise that wants to contend, while Murray has at least shown that upside in the past, even if this year has not been his finest season. I don’t know. I’m going to assume Brissett is the starter and plays the whole game – just be aware there’s a little bit of additional risk here.
DALLAS
On the Dallas side of things, Javonte Williams has been a top-scoring running back this year, largely on the strength of his 9 touchdowns in eight games. He’s looked okay on the ground, reaching 100 yards twice and showing some decent passing game involvement, but his success has really been more about his role and Dallas overall offensive strength than it has been about him being super talented. Role will do, though – he’s a home favorite, 3 down running back with little workload competition. They finally started working in Jaydon Blue in the last couple of weeks, only to have him fumble in a ridiculous way last week. I expect Javonte to play at least 70% of the snaps and handle at least 80% of the running back touches, putting him in a very strong position. Blue and Hunter Luepke can be viewed as very thin punt options.
Showdown Ownership Projections!
Ownership updates automatically
In the passing game, CeeDee Lamb is back to health and back to his badass self. Lamb has 8+ targets in every game and is averaging 10.5. He’s also averaging just over 100 receiving yards per game, and that includes a matchup against the Broncos. Dude’s a boss. Wide receivers are more volatile than running backs, but overall, Lamb should be viewed as having the highest raw projection of any skill position player in this Showdown. His median outcome is a little lower than Javonte’s, but his ceiling is significantly higher. George Pickens had his highest ceiling games without Lamb (duh), but has still shown upside with Lamb healthy, with target counts of 4, 9, 6, and 9 in games alongside CeeDee. His price has dipped down from life without Lamb to a more reasonable level, and it’s firmly in play as a WR2. He’s a more volatile option than Lamb, but his ceiling is still up there amongst the highest on the slate. After that, we get thin. KaVontae Turpin plays mostly gadgety-type stuff; however, he hasn’t been getting the same kind of schemed red zone usage as we saw for him last year, with just 2 red zone targets all year. Last year, Turpin was a high touchdown equity play even on limited snaps, whereas this year, they’re using him more like a traditional wide receiver. Still, at $2k, he’s in play. Ryan Flournoy and Jalen Tolbert are competing for WR3 snaps, and while Flournoy played more last week, that could well be because the game was a blowout. I would treat them both as highly volatile options and would max 1 on a roster.
At tight end, Jake Ferguson has one of the best red zone roles in the game with 11 targets on the season. Otherwise, he’s a fairly short area yardage guy, and he’ll probably need a touchdown to pay off, but his odds of getting there are always solid. His price is the problem, as at $8k it’s entirely plausible that he finds the end zone but not the optimal lineup, as his per-catch yardage upside is quite low. TE2 Luke Schoonmaker is a thin punt option who generally gets 1-2 targets per game.
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