A quick-hit recap of what really mattered from Thursday through Sunday. We skip the obvious studs and instead focus on usage trends, injuries, and key shifts that actually impact your lineup decisions.

Welcome to the Monday edition of the Daily Dose newsletter, our “Fantasy Fallout” day. In this article, you will get a quick rundown of the relevant things we learned from the week’s games from Thursday through Sunday. 

We won’t talk about every single player and we usually won’t spend time on studs who go nuts (no one needs to be told to start Bijan Robinson right now!), but rather, the idea is to update you on usage trends, injuries, and other relevant things to help your decisions with your teams for the coming week and beyond.

VIKINGS @ CHARGERS

• Kimani Vidal took control of the injury-riddled LAC backfield with 23 carries for 117 yards and one rushing TD while seeing both of the teams’ RB targets. He seems likely to lead the RB room until rookie Omarion Hampton is deemed ready to return.
• Rookie TE Oronde Gadsden caught all five of his targets for 77 yards and a TD. His 20% target share is sustainable, he’s an easy fantasy starter until further notice.
• Ladd McConkey (6-88-1) drew 10 targets and continued his recent stretch of strong play. Keenan Allen (4-44) drew five of his own and Quentin Johnston was held without a catch or target. QJ hasn’t topped four catches or 40 receiving yards since the end of September.
• Aaron Jones returned to the Vikings’ lineup and handled seven touches for 30 yards. Jordan Mason had five touches for six yards. 
• Jordan Addison (3-26-1) was the only real fantasy bright spot for Minnesota. Addison has either a TD or 100 yards receiving in each of his four games this season.

DOLPHINS @ FALCONS

• The Falcons offense fell completely apart without QB Michael Penix Jr. and WR Drake London. Atlanta travels to New England in Week 9 and is expected to get both Penix and London back on the field.
• Miami’s offense scored 30+ points for the first time this season. They have quietly been playing pretty well, scoring 21+ points in six of their last seven games, with the game in Cleveland with awful weather being the lone outlier.
• The Dolphins had a run-heavy game plan with all of De’Von Achane, Ollie Gordon, and Jaylen Wright having 10 or more opportunities. Achane is still the primary option for this offense, but the Dolphins will likely try to continue playing this way due to the state of their receiving corps.

BEARS @ RAVENS

• Baltimore’s defense came to life in their first game after the bye thanks to the return of several key players. They are not an elite unit that we need to avoid at this point, but they are also no longer one we should go out of our way to target.
• Ravens QB Tyler Huntley played extremely well in place of Lamar Jackson. The Ravens play Thursday night and Jackson is expected to be cleared by then, but we should remember this performance from Huntley for all Baltimore skill players if he is thrust into the lineup again.
• Bears TE Cole Kmet missed this game with a herniated disc, while WR Luther Burden III suffered a concussion. The Bears offense is quickly getting more concentrated as they head into a juicy matchup with the Bengals next week.

JETS @ BENGALS

Your weekly roadmap to the wire. Each Tuesday, Tony Kneepkens highlights the top adds across positions — complete with FAAB recommendations and context to help you prioritize based on your league size and format.

These are the top players to consider adding from waivers this week. Unless otherwise noted, all players below are available in greater than 50% of Yahoo leagues (as of Sunday evening). Priorities and FAAB recommendations are meant to differentiate between some of the options available and are assuming 12-team, single-QB, fantasy formats.

Week 9 teams on bye: Buccaneers, Browns, Eagles, Jets

Roster/bench management feel a little easier this week with four teams on bye compared to the six from last week. Even so, I don’t see as many widely available spot starting options to be picked up this week, either. Another significant RB injury opens up a high-priority, spend-all-the-FAAB waiver recommendation and beyond the top of the market, there are several more RB options to consider for spot starts or longer stashes. I only have two medium-priority recommendations, or higher, who aren’t RBs this week.

QB Pickups

J.J. McCarthy, MIN, Week 9 at DET

• Carson Wentz is set for season-ending shoulder surgery and JJM is rumored to be set to return from his ankle injury this week on the road in Detroit. McCarthy still has everything going for him that made him a fantasy sleeper before the season, including an elite coach/playcaller and one of the top WR duos in the NFL to throw to.
• Low-priority add. The waiver wire is pretty thin at QB and the four starting QBs on bye include an elite QB option and two more who have been in starting consideration for much of this fantasy season. McCarthy is my favorite widely available QB for both an immediate spot start and as a longer-term stash.
• 5% or less of FAAB.

Other QB spot-start options ::

• Sam Darnold (SEA) – Seattle is coming off of its bye and plays on the road against a Washington team on a short week off of MNF.
• Trevor Lawrence (JAX) – The Jags are favored on the road against the Raiders in a game that both teams are coming into off of their bye.

RB Pickups

Each week, Juan Carlos Blanco spotlights 4–5 under-the-radar plays who combine DFS tournament upside with season-long streaming value. These matchup-driven picks are usually available in most leagues.

Each week, Streaming Sleepers will highlight at least five non-QB skill-position players and one team defense that currently have start or roster rates of 20% or less in season-long leagues but may be prudent options this week due to matchups and other circumstances, particularly in deeper formats. 

Additionally, the plays suggested here could be viable DFS large-field tournament options for the coming slate and are likely to carry modest ownership rates in that format as well.

Chimere Dike, TEN vs. LAC – 5% start rate                    

Dike graduates from our “Also Consider” section in Week 8 to a main suggestion in Week 9, as the rookie continues to flash improving chemistry with fellow draft class mate Cam Ward. Dike posted a career-best 7-93-0 line on eight targets against the Colts last Sunday, playing a career-high 59 snaps on offense in the process.

Dike had just posted a then-career-high 4-70-1 tally against the Patriots in Week 7, so the Florida product is certainly on an upward trajectory. Calvin Ridley (hamstring) could miss another game this week as well, but irrespective of his veteran teammate’s availability, Dike is an intriguing option against a talented Chargers defense that’s nevertheless yielded just under 12.0 yards per reception to WRs.

Kyle Monangai, CHI at CIN – 9% start rate

Monangai is another first-year player that’s shown some signs of ascending within his offense, having contributed 105 rushing yards and a TD on 20 carries over the last pair of games while logging his two highest snap counts of the season in that span.

The seventh-round pick has also been productive during his few opportunities as a receiver, generating a 6-61 line on nine targets while already taking one of those catches for 20+ yards. 

While it’s undeniable that Monangai is best suited as a deep-league start if you’re trying to cover a bye week or as a larger-field tournament option in DFS, the matchup against the Bengals does offer reason for optimism – Cincinnati has allowed a league-high 5.4 adjusted line yards and AFC-high 5.3 RB yards per carry.

Troy Franklin, DEN at HOU – 19% start rate

Xandamere breaks down the Thursday Night Football matchup with leverage angles and roster construction tips — the perfect way for fantasy players to start learning DFS through Showdown.

XANDAMERE’S SHOWDOWN SLANT

Week 9 and we’re officially at the midpoint of the regular season. Thursday has the Ravens in Miami for a whopping 51.5 total game with Baltimore favored by 7.5. Lamar Jackson is expected to be back after, oddly, barely missing playing Week 8. It cannot be overstated how much of an upgrade this is for Baltimore after they managed 30 against a listless Bears team last week, but otherwise scored 20, 10, and 3 points in their games without Lamar. The Ravens are shockingly 2-5 on the season, but in a weak division, they are still very live for the playoffs (and perhaps even the favorites with Lamar back). They’ll be playing with a ton of motivation here. Miami, of course, sucks. 

MIAMI

On the Dolphins side of things, De’Von Achane has seen his snaps drop to 55% and 67% the last two weeks after previously not being any lower than 73% in a game this season. The last two games were blowouts, and surely that had something to do with it, but of course, there’s some real blowout risk in this game, too. The bad for Achane is that he’s only averaging 13.4 carries per game. The good news for Achane is that he’s very talented and averaging a massive 6.25 targets per game. He’s not quite CMC, but the receiving role is kinda close to CMC’s. It’s tough for me to want to spend $11.4k on a running back who’s only broken 20 DK points three times this year and only really had one smash ceiling performance, but the floor is rock solid due to all of the passing game work, and there’s clearly ceiling as well. RB2 Ollie Gordon is a bit expensive for the RB2 role, especially considering his very modest workloads in non-blowout situations. The one thing in Gordon’s favor is that he has 10 red zone rushes (compared to Achane’s 16), so there is some goal-line vulture opportunity, but it’s possible a touchdown doesn’t get him into optimal lineups given his price, relatively few touches, and lack of passing game work. RB3 Jaylen Wright got his first touches of the season late in last week’s blowout win, but it’s unlikely he’s a difference maker, as the odds of Miami blowing out the Ravens are fairly low. Overall, Achane is fine (especially given the volatility of the skill position players on the Baltimore side), but probably a little bit overpriced relative to his ceiling.

Showdown Ownership Projections!

Ownership updates automatically

In the passing game, without Tyreek Hill and with Darren Waller hurt again, it’s basically Jaylen Waddle, Achane, and a pile of people most folks haven’t heard of. Waddle obviously has much-improved upside without Tyreek (outside of Cleveland curb-stomping Miami, Waddle has 95, 99, and 110 receiving yards in the games since Tyreek got hurt). His target volume is still relatively modest, but if Miami keeps this one close, he could push for 8-10 targets, and he’s also seeing more downfield work with 3 receptions of 40+ yards in those four games. Similar to Achane, Waddle is a good on-paper play whose only real sticking point is his price. At $10.4k, he’s priced like a top-tier wide receiver, and on this offense, he’s more of a high-end WR2 than a WR1. WR2 Malik Washington has at least 5 targets in every game since the Hill injury, though that’s topped out at 36 receiving yards as he’s working shorter areas of the field while Waddle runs more deep routes. The volume puts him firmly in play for me, especially in a game script that is likely to see Miami passing heavily as the game goes on. Nickeil Westbrook-Ikhine has actually outsnapped Washington in all four non-Tyreek games, but while Washington has 23 targets in those games, NWI only has 8. Yikes. NWI has been a solid target-earner at previous stops in his career, so I think there’s some upside here, but it’s a very risky spot to attack given his lack of volume. Washington is the far superior on-paper play, but NWI makes sense as a contrarian tournament option. Miami also had Cedrick Wilson on the field for the first time last week, and with Dee Eskridge questionable, Wilson would be in line for some work – he’s flashed some talent earlier in his career as well and could be a punt play, as could Eskridge if he plays. I wouldn’t play these guys together.

Primary tight end Julian Hill is also questionable with an ankle injury and has not practiced this week, which last game led Tanner Conner and Greg Dulcich to split the tight end snaps. If Hill plays, he’s primarily a blocker who mostly just sucks any upside from the other TEs, but he is cheap enough to use as a thin value option. Tanner is the more interesting pass catcher who is overpriced if Hill plays, but a potentially useful piece if Hill is out, while Dulcich was just recently signed to the active roster and could potentially get a couple of targets if Hill misses. 

BALTIMORE

Each Friday, Mike Johnson tackles lineup and trade dilemmas pulled from the OWS X and our Fantasy Football Discord channel. Real questions, real context, and actionable advice to guide you through the toughest calls of the week.

Some things in fantasy football are easy. We know we should start Puka Nacua (when healthy!) and Bijan Robinson. We know we should bench the backup running back who is only on our roster in case of injury and the guy who was ruled out early in the week. A lot of the decisions are made for us. However, there are a lot of things that are not so simple. All of the “in between” situations are what can make the difference between a few wins and losses, and therefore it can be the difference between a successful season or a failed season. Every Friday, we are here to help!!

I’ll take questions each week in our #fantasy-football channel in our Discord from people looking for Start/Sit advice and give my thoughts. This article will feature a few of those questions and responses each Friday, so join our Discord to be a part of the conversation or ask questions of your own!!

Question 1 :: Jordan Mason or Tyjae Spears? (Standard scoring) (Chunk)

Answer :: Both of these players are operating in timeshare situations with their teams entering the week as relatively heavy underdogs and Vegas implied team totals of under 20 points. However, Spears is explosive and his team seems to be inclined to increase his role, plus his skill set fits well with the presumed game script of his team playing from behind. On the flip side, Mason’s role is less involved in the passing game and this could easily be a spot where he is taken out of the flow of things early. I’d roll with Spears.

Question 2 :: DJ Moore or Cooper Kupp? (PPR) (dame)

Answer :: Without a doubt, Moore has been frustrating to own this season. Despite that reality, the matchup this week could not be any better, as a trip to Cincinnati seems to cure everything for a lot of struggling players and teams. Moore also benefits from the likely absence of rookie WR Luther Burden III and the potential for lead RB D’Andre Swift to be limited with his groin injury. The fact is Moore is still a talented and explosive player who is going to have a huge game at some point, and I won’t be surprised at all if it is this week.

Question 3 :: Pick one to start in the Flex: Darnell Mooney, Josh Downs, Kyle Monangai, or TreVeyon Henderson?  (Sef20)

Every Saturday, MJohnson86 posts full positional rankings (QB, RB, WR, TE, DEF) to get you ready for Sunday’s slate. Built for 12-team, full-PPR formats — with insights that translate across most league settings.

The weekend is here and it’s time to get our lineups set before Sunday’s full slate of games. Each week, the Saturday edition of the Daily Dose will feature my rankings for all players who have yet to play a game this week. Obviously this will not include the Thursday games, but always feel free to hit me up in Discord or on X/Twitter if you have some tough decisions around guys who play on Thursday. 

Most of the leagues I play in are full-PPR, 12-team leagues and these rankings are designed for those settings – you may need to make some slight adjustments based on your own league settings.

QB :: 

1. Josh Allen
2. Patrick Mahomes
3. Justin Herbert
4. Daniel Jones
5. Drake Maye
6. Jayden Daniels
7. Dak Prescott
8. Caleb Williams
9. Jaxson Dart
10. Jordan Love
11. Jared Goff
12. Matthew Stafford
13. Trevor Lawrence
14. Joe Flacco
15. Arizona QB
16. Bo Nix
17. Aaron Rodgers
18. Mac Jones
19. J.J. McCarthy
20. Sam Darnold
21. Cam Ward
22. C.J. Stroud

RB ::

1. Jonathan Taylor
2. Christian McCaffrey
3. Bijan Robinson
4. Jahmyr Gibbs
5. Josh Jacobs
6. Kyren Williams
7. James Cook III
8. Javonte Williams
9. Kimani Vidal
10. Kyle Monangai
11. Jaylen Warren
12. Ashton Jeanty
13. Tyrone Tracy Jr.
14. Travis Etienne Jr.
15. Kareem Hunt
16. Rico Dowdle
17. Chase Brown
18. Zonovan Knight
19. David Montgomery
20. TreVeyon Henderson
21. Kenneth Walker III
22. J.K. Dobbins
23. Alvin Kamara
24. Zach Charbonnet
25. Woody Marks
26. Tyjae Spears
27. Jacory Croskey-Merritt
28. Aaron Jones Sr.
29. Tony Pollard
30. Jordan Mason
31. Brashard Smith
32. Samaje Perine
33. Nick Chubb
34. Emanuel Wilson
35. RJ Harvey
36. Kenneth Gainwell
37. Blake Corum
38. Chuba Hubbard
39. Tyler Allgeier
40. Terrell Jennings

WR :: 

Mike Johnson (MJohnson86) has racked up over $500,000 in DFS profit as an NFL tournament player with success in all styles of contests

Welcome back to my (Mjohnson86) Player Grid. The format will vary slightly from JM’s Player Grid, as we each see things slightly differently and play in slightly different contests, but should complement his thoughts and content very well for those looking to build their lineups for the week. The format of this article will vary slightly from my FanDuel Player Grid, which will be more direct in terms of which players I like. Enjoy!!

The Core ::

This is a list of players that stand out to me at each position from using my “Checking the Boxes” criteria outlined in my course you can find in our Marketplace. This list is a starting point, from which I build out lineups using game theory and roster construction concepts (which we will also touch on) with the mindset being to find the best plays with big ceilings. Low ownership is a bonus, but not a must. This section will focus primarily on three positions – running back, tight end, and defense – as the other two positions (quarterback and wide receiver) tend to have more dependent tendencies which I try to attack from other angles (which we will get into in the other sections). I like all of these plays on all sites unless otherwise noted:

Running Back ::

• Kyle Monangai – The matchup and game environment couldn’t be much better, and Monangai is likely to have a huge workload with multiple Bears RBs inactive. At this price, we don’t overthink it.
• TreVeyon Henderson – A talented and explosive running back, Henderson finally gets his chance to shine.
• Christian McCaffrey – CMC struggled against the Texans’ elite defense last week, but he has 23+ DK points in every other game this season and faces the Giants 32nd-ranked run defense this week.
• Jonathan Taylor – Despite the price hike, JT is still an elite option. The value opening up late in the week creates a situation where salary matters less than we would have thought a couple days ago.
• Kimani Vidal – Elite matchup, game environment, and volume. Has shown to be a talented and sometimes explosive player.
• Tyrone Tracy Jr. – Tracy has averaged 4.5 yards per carry over the last two games against two elite defenses. He now has the feature-back role in a matchup with a struggling and depleted defense, while at a modest salary.
• Kareem Hunt – A $4,700 lead back in a high-scoring game environment, likely at low ownership. I don’t usually entertain players like Hunt who lack explosive ability and rely on touchdowns, but the spot here is pretty clean.

Tight End ::