DFS Alerts
Michael Thomas (ankle) practices again Thursday; Jared Cook (groin) DNP
Thomas was limited in practice for a second straight day, and he appears to be on track to return to the field in Sunday’s Week 4 matchup against the Detroit Lions after missing two games due to a high ankle sprain. Thomas doesn’t necessarily need to get in a full practice on Friday to be cleared to play, but it would certainly go a long way in cementing his health status for this upcoming weekend. Obviously, if he’s able to suit up without any significant limitations, his presence in the wide receiver corps is enough to remove Emmanuel Sanders and Tre’Quan Smith from consideration in daily fantasy formats. As for Cook, he was unable to participate in practice once again following his exit from Sunday night’s loss with a groin injury, and in the seemingly likely event he is inactive, rookie Adam Trautman should see an increased role in the offense after accumulating two targets on a 52% snap rate in the Saints’ Week 3 contest.
As reported by: Mike Triplett via Twitter Other tagged players: Jared Cook
Davante Adams (hamstring) returns to practice Thursday
Adams was able to participate in at least portions of the Packers’ practice on Thursday, and even though he’ll likely be listed as a limited participant, this is certainly a positive sign for his potential availability in Monday night’s Week 4 matchup against the Atlanta Falcons after missing one game with a hamstring injury. Since Adams has been given the green light by the Green Bay medical staff this far in advance of Monday, he should be good to go and be the usual stud wide receiver option for daily fantasy formats on the primetime and single-game slates across the industry this weekend.
As reported by: Rob Demovsky via Twitter Terry McLaurin (thigh) limited in practice Thursday; Steven Sims (toe) DNP
McLaurin was downgraded to a limited participant in Thursday’s practice due to a thigh injury, and while there currently isn’t any reason to worry about his status for Sunday’s Week 4 matchup against the Baltimore Ravens, it is certainly something to monitor as the week progresses. As for Sims, he wasn’t able to practice for a second straight day with a toe injury and appears unlikely to be active for this weekend’s contest. His potential absence won’t have too significant of an impact on Washington’s wide receiver corps after Sims was held targetless on 14 routes prior to his exit in last Sunday’s loss, but it should still allow Isaiah Wright and Antonio Gandy-Golden to absorb the vacated snaps as the third and fourth wideouts in spread formations.
As reported by: Nicki Jhabvala via Twitter Other tagged players: Steven Sims DeSean Jackson (hamstring), Alshon Jeffery (foot), and JJ Arcega-Whiteside (calf) don't practice Thursday
Jackson, Jeffery, and Arcega-Whiteside didn’t participate in practice for a second consecutive day, and they’ll likely need to at least put in a limited session on Friday to be able to play in Sunday night’s Week 4 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers despite battling their respective ailments. This means that Greg Ward was the only wide receiver on the Eagles active roster to practice today with Jalen Reagor still on injured reserve, though Quez Watkins hasn’t been ruled out after having his 21-day practice window to return from injured reserve activated earlier in the week, and Deontay Burnett, Travis Fulgham, and Marcus Green are available to be recalled from the practice squad at any time. Additionally, John Hightower was also missing from practice on Thursday, but with no designation given on the practice report, it appears likely he’ll fine to be one of the top two receivers for Carson Wentz if Jackson and Jeffery are unable to suit up this weekend.
As reported by: Dave Zangaro via Twitter Other tagged players: Alshon Jeffery, JJ Arcega-Whiteside Best Matchup to Date
As noted earlier, wide receiver is loaded with good plays this week. However, I don’t see much that separates a lot of the names at the top. For that reason, I will start lineups with my favorite stacks, fill in my favorite running backs, and then see how much I have left over to spend on the other receivers. As noted earlier, my favorite three quarterback targets are Kyler Murray, Deshaun Watson, and Ryan Fitzpatrick. For this reason, I will have a lof of exposure to DeAndre Hopkins, Will Fuller, and DeVante Parker. It doesn’t look like Parker is going to be highly owned and that’s likely due to his slow start. He’s actually been efficient with his targets, he just hasn’t had many of them. There’s a good reason for that, as he was shadowed by Stephon Gillmore in Week 1, he was shadowed by Tre’Davious White in Week 2, and the Dolphins only threw the ball 20 times in Week 3. I like his chances to crack double-digit targets this week against the Seahawks, who have allowed the most fantasy points to wide receivers this season. Parker has immense upside in this matchup and we don’t have to pay a premium for it.
Am I Taking Crazy Pills?
I’m a little confused why nobody is talking about CEH this week. Perhaps everyone is leaning too heavily on the projection models, which tend to be lower on rookie running backs. I see a workhorse back that’s playing at home on a team with an implied total over 30 points. Yes, Patrick Mahomes could always take over the game and score all of the touchdowns. That is certainly in the range of outcomes, but so is Edwards-Helaire scoring three touchdowns. He’s already topped 20 carries in two of his first three NFL starts and he’s seen 14 targets over the last two games alone. Darrel Willams has not been productive this season and Darwin Thompson lost a fumble last week against the Ravens. CEH is going to play the lion’s share of snaps, he’s going to get all of the goal-line work, and he’s going to be heavily involved in the passing game. What exactly am I missing here, or better yet, why isn’t the field seeing what I am seeing? It’s not like this is a tough matchup, as the Patriots now have a below-average defense after many of their key players opted out of the season.
Ultimate GPP Play for Week 4
Jacobs is the ultimate tournament play this week. He’s expected to garner less than 10% ownership across the industry, even though he has the best matchup of the slate. As noted above with Stefon Diggs, everyone is assuming the Bills win this game by a large margin. The betting market doesn’t seem to agree, as the spread is set at only three points. The Raiders are playing without their three best receivers and they are facing the worst run defense in football. Their best plan of attack is to give the ball to Jacobs 30 times and keep Josh Allen and company off the field. The Raiders offensive line has done a mediocre job of run-blocking this season, but Jacobs should be able to find holes against a Bills team that is ranked 32nd in DVOA against the run and 24th in defensive adjusted line yards. We often hear how we can’t target Jacobs in games where the Raiders are underdogs, but I’m not buying it. For one, a three-point spread doesn’t mean the Raiders can’t win this game or play from ahead. And two, Jacobs has already racked up 13 targets in the first three weeks of the season.
McCaffrey-Like Usage
I’m not going to lie, I was not a fan of Davis last week against the Chargers. They were playing on the road against a capable defense and we haven’t seen Davis used as a workhorse back more than a couple of times in his career. I was quickly proven wrong, as the Panthers used him the same way that they used Christian McCaffrey. Davis played on 39 of the 48 available running back snaps, he had 13 carries, and he saw nine targets. He finished the day with 22 touches, 91 yards from scrimmage, and a touchdown. He’s obviously not as talented as McCaffrey, but he’s getting similar usage and is much, much cheaper. Over the last two weeks, he’s essentially been a RB2 mixed in with a WR2. Teddy Bridgewater is clearly looking to check the ball down, which is great news for the fantasy outlook of Davis moving forward. He draws a pace-up matchup against the Cardinals, who are ranked 13th in DVOA against the run and 20th in fantasy points allowed to running backs. The sheer increase in plays for the Panthers is enough to give their offense a boost as a whole.
The Field Seems to be Missing Something Here
This really isn’t rocket science — the Vikings want to run the ball as many times as possible and the Texans are one of the worst in the NFL at stopping the run. On the season, Houston is ranked 24th in DVOA against the run and 28th in defensive adjusted line yards. They have allowed a league-high 502 rushing yards to running backs, while the Vikings offensive line has been the second-best run-blocking unit in football. I usually don’t love targeting road underdogs at the running back position, but the total for this game opened at 49.5 points and has already been bet up to 54.5 points. Despite Minnesota being dead last in time of possession this season (22 minutes per game), Cook has still managed to rack up 318 yards from scrimmage and four touchdowns. Imagine what he can do if the Vikings can sustain some drives. I love Cook regardless, but like the idea of stacking this game by using Deshaun Watson and Will Fuller on the other side.
Steelers-Titans will not be played in Week 4 due to additional positive COVID-19 tests
The Week 4 matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans has been postponed due to two additional positive COVID-19 tests within the Titans organization. The NFL is currently considering all options to reschedule the game, including altering the schedule and bye weeks later in the season since the initial plan of moving the game to Monday or Tuesday night is no longer feasible. The sites across the daily fantasy industry have yet to announce how they’ll handle this schedule change for upcoming Week 4 slates, but Steelers and Titans players will almost certainly not accrue fantasy points if the game hasn’t already been removed from slates altogether.
As reported by: Tom Pelissero via Twitter Other tagged players: Pittsburgh Steelers Phillip Lindsay (toe) unlikely to play Thursday night
Lindsay has been able to be a limited participant in practice this week, but according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, he is unlikely to play in Thursday night’s Week 4 matchup against the New York Jets despite being listed as questionable on the Broncos’ injury report with a turf toe injury. This means that Melvin Gordon is on track to be the lead workhorse running back for a third consecutive game, and he’s managed to see at least a 71.7% snap share in both of the contests Lindsay has been sidelined thus far. In a more favorable game script, Gordon would likely see an even larger portion of the backfield work as he managed to accumulate 19 rushing attempts in Week 2 to go along with six targets from quarterbacks Drew Lock and Jeff Driskel, both of whom won’t be starting tonight as Brett Rypien gets the nod from head coach Vic Fangio with Lock still battling a shoulder injury.
As reported by: Tom Pelissero via Twitter Jamison Crowder (hamstring) and Chris Hogan (ribs, knee) listed as questionable for Thursday
Crowder and Hogan have officially been listed as questionable on the Jets’ injury report for Thursday night’s Week 4 matchup against the Denver Broncos due to their respective ailments. Both Crowder and Hogan were able to be limited participants in practice on Monday and Tuesday, so they’re firmly on track to be active for tomorrow’s contest, and barring any sort of setback or snap count limitation, Crowder instantly becomes the number one option on offense for quarterback Sam Darnold with Breshad Perriman and Le’Veon Bell still sidelined with injuries. Crowder saw a massive 39.4% market share of the targets in Week 1, and not only was he targeted near the line of scrimmage in that game, but he also accumulated 42.0% of the Jets’ air yards, only adding to his ceiling if the volume of high-leverage opportunities maintain similar rates moving forward.
As reported by: Brian Costello via Twitter Other tagged players: Chris Hogan James White (personal) returns to practice Wednesday
White is back with the Patriots and is participating in Wednesday’s practice, which puts him firmly on track to play in Sunday’s Week 4 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs after missing two games following the tragic death of his father in a car accident. Rex Burkhead had a monster fantasy performance in Week 3, but he essentially split backfield work with Sony Michel in a game where New England was comfortably ahead of the Las Vegas Raiders for a large portion of the game. The likely return of White this weekend will only further muddy the projected outlook of this running back committee, and that’s without factoring in the potential presence of Damian Harris, who was just activated from injured reserve and now has a maximum 21-day window to practice with the team before returning to the active roster and doesn’t even rule him out of being available to play this Sunday afternoon.
As reported by: Mike Reiss via Twitter Sunday's Steelers-Titans game will be rescheduled for Monday or Tuesday
The Week 4 matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans on Sunday has been postponed, and the NFL is currently considering all options to reschedule the game, including Monday or Tuesday night. This expectation will hinge on the status of test results within the Titans’ organization, but if the COVID-19 outbreak remains isolated to the nine individuals that already tested positive, then there appears to be extreme optimism in the game only being delayed by a day or two. The sites across the daily fantasy industry have yet to announce how they’ll handle this schedule change for upcoming Week 4 slates, but Steelers and Titans players will almost certainly not accrue fantasy points if the game isn’t removed from slates altogether.
As reported by: Ian Rapoport via Twitter Other tagged players: Pittsburgh Steelers Henry Ruggs III (hamstring) unlikely to play Sunday; Bryan Edwards (ankle) ruled out
Ruggs is still dealing with a hamstring injury, and according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, he is a “longshot” to play in Sunday’s Week 4 matchup against the Buffalo Bills, while Edwards was previously ruled out and will be inactive because of an ankle injury. The Raiders are hoping Ruggs is able to return in Week 5, but Edwards’ injury could keep him sidelined for multiple games and is considered week-to-week, With Ruggs and Edwards two of the team leaders in snaps and routes at the wide receiver position through three weeks, there will certainly be a plethora of opportunity for Nelson Agholor and Zay Jones, who should be elevated to the starting wideouts alongside Hunter Renfrow in three-receiver sets. However, Renfrow and Darren Waller are still the heavy favorites to lead Las Vegas in target market share while their promising rookies are sidelined with their respective ailments.
As reported by: Ian Rapoport via Twitter Other tagged players: Bryan Edwards