Puka Nacua
35.00 pts
14 catches on 19 targets, 150 yards, a touchdown - and a knee that ends his month.
Week 9 is in the books and you won it, 97.06 to 84.30. Then the bill arrived: Puka Nacua is headed to injured reserve, Denver is on bye, and you have exactly seven healthy bodies for seven lineup slots.
LordHaveMRSA
97.06
honeybadgerr1
84.30
Week 9 final - win. Record 4-5, sixth of twelve, inside the six-team playoff cut. Week 10 opponent: markc1281 (3-6), first kickoff Thursday, November 12, 8:15 PM US Eastern.
J.K. Dobbins
3.20 pts
Four carries, 18 yards, a 15% snap share. The job belongs to Jonah Coleman now.
Corey Kiner
Top add
Rhamondre Stevenson is out for weeks. Kiner is the lead back in Germany on Sunday.
Where the matchup stands
Week 9 is final. LordHaveMRSA 97.06, honeybadgerr1 84.30 - a 12.76-point win that moves the record to 4-5 and keeps the sixth and last playoff spot. Your 916.28 points scored is the best mark of anyone outside the top three, and your 1,066.28 potential points (what you would have scored with a perfect lineup each week) says the lineup card, not the roster, has been the problem.
Week 10 is markc1281, 3-6 and eleventh in points. Their projected starters are Jared Goff (Detroit Lions), Ollie Gordon II (Miami Dolphins), Tyler Allgeier (Arizona Cardinals), Matthew Golden (Green Bay Packers), Amon-Ra St. Brown (Detroit Lions), Greg Dulcich (Miami Dolphins) and Demarcus Robinson (San Francisco 49ers). That is one genuine star and six coin flips. This is a game you should win - if you can field seven startable players.
Your starters in Week 9
Puka Nacua (Los Angeles Rams) - 35.00 points
The best game anyone on your roster has had all season. Fourteen catches on nineteen targets for 150 yards and a touchdown in a 20-13 win over the Washington Commanders. Then, on the Rams' final offensive play, a jet sweep put him on the ground. Enjoy the box score, because it is the last one for a while.
Drake Maye (New England Patriots) - 21.26 points
The number lies. Maye threw three first-half interceptions, was pressured on 51.2% of his dropbacks - the highest rate of his career in a regular-season game - and New England was down 24-7 in the second quarter on the way to a 45-27 loss to the Green Bay Packers. Nearly all of this was garbage-time passing against a defense sitting on a three-score lead. He is still your starter; just do not read 21 points as a good day.
Trey McBride (Arizona Cardinals) - 12.40 points
Arizona scored three points in a 17-3 loss to the Seattle Seahawks and McBride still cleared twelve. That is the whole case for paying up at tight end. The worry is downstream: Gardner Minshew's elbow and Michael Wilson's neck injury are both reportedly serious, so Arizona may be on its third quarterback by the time you need McBride most.
Tre Tucker (Las Vegas Raiders) - 9.50 points
A nothing game in a 38-17 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Las Vegas' offense ran through Ashton Jeanty and Mike Washington Jr.; Tucker was an afterthought. Replacement-level output from a starting slot.
Kyren Williams (Los Angeles Rams) - 9.10 points
Nine points from your RB1 in a game the Rams won is a bad day, full stop. The silver lining is structural: with Puka Nacua out and Davante Adams already on injured reserve, Sean McVay has almost nothing left at receiver, and the Rams are 9.5-point favorites at the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. Game script - whether a team is ahead or behind, which drives how much it runs versus passes - should hand Williams his best volume of the season.
DJ Moore (Buffalo Bills) - 6.60 points
Dead weight on Monday night. Buffalo beat the Minnesota Vikings 23-6 and did it on the ground: James Cook carried 31 times for 107 yards and a touchdown, while every other Bill combined for 34 rushes and receptions. Moore has now been invisible in a good offense for weeks. He is a flex at best.
J.K. Dobbins (Denver Broncos) - 3.20 points
The stinker, and not a surprise one. Four carries for 18 yards on an 11-of-75 snap count - a 15% snap share, meaning the share of Denver's offensive plays he was on the field for. His last four weeks read 52%, 23%, 21%, 15%. Jonah Coleman took 17 carries for 57 yards and a touchdown plus four catches, ran 25 routes to Dobbins' four, and played roughly 80% of the snaps. Sean Payton called it after the game: 'JK played, Jonah played. RJ will be back here shortly.' This is not a committee any more. Denver is on bye in Week 10. Cut him.
Bench outscored the lineup
DeMario Douglas (New England Patriots) - 15.20 on your bench
Five catches on nine targets for 102 yards, good for the WR23 finish on the week. He outscored both Tre Tucker (9.50) and DJ Moore (6.60) from the bench, and he is on 46% of rosters league-wide for a reason. Douglas is a starter from here on, not a bench stash.
Xavier Worthy (Kansas City Chiefs) - 10.80 on your bench
Also beat DJ Moore. Moot now: Worthy is listed Out with a hamstring injury and is expected to miss at least a couple of weeks.
Two bench receivers beat a starting receiver, and the one who should have been in the lineup is healthy and available again this week. The fix is not subtle: Douglas plays.
Injuries and byes - five of fourteen are unusable
Puka Nacua (Los Angeles Rams) - out at least four weeks
Sprains of the MCL and PCL in his right knee plus turf toe, suffered on a jet sweep on the last offensive play against Washington. Sean McVay said Monday he 'will probably be a guy that we'll put on IR' and that the team is 'thinking it's going to be at least a month.' A season-ending injury is not believed likely. With the Rams on bye in Week 11, the realistic return is Week 12. This is the loss that defines your next month - he was 70 catches, 715 yards and four touchdowns in seven games.
Xavier Worthy (Kansas City Chiefs) - Out, hamstring
Expected to miss at least a couple of weeks. Worth holding one more week given the Chiefs' need for a secondary receiver, but he is the first drop after Dobbins if you need the roster spot.
Cam Skattebo (New York Giants) - Out, hamstring
Zero points in Week 9 and still shelved. A stash, not an asset, and Devin Singletary is taking the New York Giants work.
Byes: Denver Broncos and Tampa Bay Buccaneers
J.K. Dobbins and Chris Godwin Jr. are both off this week. Chicago and Philadelphia are the other two byes; you have nobody there.
Recommended Week 10 lineup
| Slot | Player | Status |
|---|---|---|
| QB | Drake Maye (New England Patriots) | Start. At the Detroit Lions in Germany, Sunday 9:30 AM ET. Detroit is favored by 2.5 with a 51.5 total - the second-highest of the week. |
| RB | Kyren Williams (Los Angeles Rams) | Start. At the Arizona Cardinals, Rams favored by 9.5. Best game script he has had all year. |
| RB | Corey Kiner (New England Patriots) - if you win him | Start if the claim lands. Fallback is Samaje Perine (Cincinnati Bengals), who is a low-volume backup and nothing more. |
| WR | DeMario Douglas (New England Patriots) | Start. 102 yards last week and the clear WR1 on this roster now. |
| WR | Tre Tucker (Las Vegas Raiders) | Start by default. Home against the Seattle Seahawks, who are favored by 3.5. |
| TE | Trey McBride (Arizona Cardinals) | Start. Hosting the Los Angeles Rams. Volume carries him even in a bad offense. |
| FLEX | DJ Moore (Buffalo Bills) | Start reluctantly. At the New York Jets, Buffalo favored by 8.5 with a 50.5 total - the matchup is right even if his usage is not. |
| BENCH | Keon Coleman, Samaje Perine, Cam Skattebo, Xavier Worthy, Chris Godwin Jr., Geno Smith | Out, on bye, or behind the starters above. |
| REMOVE | J.K. Dobbins (Denver Broncos), Puka Nacua (Los Angeles Rams) | Dobbins is on bye and out of a job. Nacua is going to injured reserve. |
Count the healthy, non-bye bodies: Drake Maye, Kyren Williams, Samaje Perine, Tre Tucker, DJ Moore, Keon Coleman, DeMario Douglas, Trey McBride. That is exactly enough to fill seven slots with one spare, and the spare is Keon Coleman, who scored 4.70 and is one of the most-dropped players in the game this week. You have no margin. Win a running back on waivers.
Waiver wire - $34 of your $100 FAAB remains
| Player | Why | Bid |
|---|---|---|
| Corey Kiner (New England Patriots), RB | The priority. Rhamondre Stevenson has a plantaris tendon injury behind the knee - no surgery, but he is expected to miss several weeks and November 29 looks like the earliest realistic return. TreVeyon Henderson has been sidelined since Week 7. Kiner took eight carries for 55 yards and his first NFL touchdown on just eleven snaps in Week 9, and is slated to get first crack at the starting job against the Detroit Lions. He is rostered in 4-5% of leagues right now. You need a second running back and there is no better one available. | $14 |
| Konata Mumpfield (Los Angeles Rams), WR | Direct Puka Nacua replacement. With Nacua and Davante Adams both out, Mumpfield 'could be the Rams' No. 1 receiver by default.' He ran 20 routes in Week 9 and is on 1% of rosters. Season line is 11 catches for 162 yards and a touchdown on 23 targets - modest, but the opportunity in front of him is not. | $4 |
| Tank Dell (Houston Texans), WR | The upside swing if you would rather chase points than fill the running back hole. Four catches on nine targets for 105 yards and a touchdown out of the bye, 22 routes run, third on the team. The counterargument is real: Houston spreads targets across five receivers, and some analysts have him as fool's gold. Unowned in your league. | $8 (only if you skip Mumpfield) |
| Audric Estime (New Orleans Saints), RB | The cheap contingency if Kiner costs more than you can pay. Flex value hosting the Carolina Panthers, 4% rostered. | $4 |
| Tutu Atwell (Los Angeles Rams), WR | Ran 20 routes with five targets in Week 9, more than Mumpfield. But he has little to offer week to week and is not the preferred Rams add. Watchlist only. | Pass |
Spend aggressively on Kiner. You have $34 left and nine weeks of season, your waiver priority is eighth of twelve, and a starting-caliber running back on 4% of rosters is exactly the asset FAAB exists for. Drop J.K. Dobbins to make room for him and Xavier Worthy next if you need a second slot. The trade deadline in this league is Week 13, so if you would rather solve the receiver problem by trade than by waiver, you have three weeks.
What happened across the league in Week 9
Fourteen games, all final. Thursday: the Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Baltimore Ravens 33-10. The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Atlanta Falcons 34-17 in the Sunday morning international game. The Dallas Cowboys edged the Indianapolis Colts 27-23, the Kansas City Chiefs ran over the New York Jets 35-12, the Detroit Lions beat the Miami Dolphins 19-9, the New Orleans Saints held off the Cleveland Browns 23-22, the New York Giants beat the Philadelphia Eagles 19-11, the Los Angeles Rams beat the Washington Commanders 20-13, and the Denver Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers 26-21. In the late window the Houston Texans hammered the Los Angeles Chargers 44-22, the Green Bay Packers beat the New England Patriots 45-27, the San Francisco 49ers beat the Las Vegas Raiders 38-17, and the Seattle Seahawks beat the Arizona Cardinals 17-3. Sunday night the Chicago Bears beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27-24, and Monday night the Buffalo Bills beat the Minnesota Vikings 23-6.
Week 10 opens Thursday, November 12 at 8:15 PM US Eastern with the Washington Commanders at the New York Giants. Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay are on bye. The highest total on the board is San Francisco at Dallas at 55.5; the lowest is the Los Angeles Chargers at the Baltimore Ravens on Monday night at 38.5.