It was another action-packed week in the National Football League, and as usual, we learned a whole lot. Here are 10 takeaways from Week 9 to take into account for next week and beyond.
Import your team to My Playbook for instant Lineup & Trade advice 
MVS is playing like an MVP for fantasy owners
When you insert a talented young receiver into an Aaron Rodgers-led offense, good things can happen, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing with Marquez Valdes-Scantling. With Geronimo Allison and Randall Cobb dealing with injuries over the last month, Valdes-Scantling has produced at least 100 receiving yards or a touchdown in four straight games, and he is just getting started.
MVS made several terrific grabs against the Patriots on Sunday night, and it was plainly obvious that he’s earned Rodgers’ trust. Thanks to Mike McCarthy’s ineptitude, the Packers’ offense is predicated more on Rodgers’ improvisation than on concrete game planning, and that should mean lots of broken plays turning into big plays for Valdes-Scantling — sort of like the Russell Wilson–Doug Baldwin connection of past years. Expect MVS to be on the field for just about all two- and three-receiver sets, and for him to push for weekly WR2 value over the rest of the season. Not bad for a waiver wire pickup.
Dalvin Cook is back, but his RB1 status is still in doubt
Cook was only expected to play 15-20 snaps in his return from a hamstring injury that cost him four weeks of action, but he ended up playing 28 — six more than Latavius Murray. Cook handled the ball on half of those snaps — 14 — and turned those touches into 109 yards, rewarding fantasy owners who were brave enough to use him.
Cook will now benefit from the Vikings’ Week 10 bye and should be just about 100 percent healthy for the stretch run. But before we get too carried away with his gaudy numbers, it’s worth pointing out that 70 of his 89 rushing yards came on a single 70-yard scamper through a gaping hole created against a horrid Lions run defense. Sure, Cook showed good burst on that play, but outside of that one run, he had nine carries for 19 yards.
There’s also the matter of Murray, who handled the football on half (11) of his snaps. Murray didn’t have a great game from a yardage perspective, but he did score his fifth touchdown in the last four games and was given both of Minnesota’s red zone rushing carries.
Cook was drafted at the first/second round turn in most fantasy leagues because he was expected to serve as a bell-cow back for most — if not all — of the season. But Murray has proven his worth in Cook’s absence, as a short-yardage back if nothing else. So while Cook should be the lead back going forward, expect Murray to remain highly involved, particularly at the goal line. As long as that continues, it will be difficult for Cook to produce the RB1 value his fantasy owners were hoping for. It’s safer to expect RB2 production from Cook and continued RB3/flex value from Murray.
The Browns finally gave Duke Johnson more work
Hue Jackson had been promising it for weeks, but it apparently took the ouster of Jackson and Todd Haley for the Browns to finally give Duke Johnson more than a handful of touches. Johnson’s snap count didn’t change drastically, and he remained a non-factor in the running game against the Chiefs — Nick Chubb out-carried him 22-to-1 — but Johnson caught all nine of his targets for 78 yards and two touchdowns. That usage was reminiscent of last year, when Johnson caught at least four passes in 11 of the Browns’ final 14 games and finished as a top-20 fantasy RB, even in non-PPR formats.
Game flow certainly benefited Johnson against the Chiefs — the Browns were behind by two scores for most of the game — but it wouldn’t be shocking to see that often happen to the Browns over the rest of the season, particularly given how banged up their defense is.
The real question is whether Duke’s high target volume was intentional on the part of new offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens or just circumstantial. It’s hard to say for sure, but we should know a lot more after Cleveland’s Week 10 matchup with the Falcons, who have surrendered far and away the most receptions to running backs. This would be a logical game for the Browns to feature Johnson, and if they do, we can feel a lot better about continuing to slot Duke into our fantasy lineups going forward.
Jarvis Landry is being used like he was in Miami
In his last season in Miami, Landry averaged just 8.8 yards per catch, which was the lowest average by any wide receiver with 100 or more receptions in NFL history. Landry averaged at least 12.9 yards per catch in four of his first five games in Cleveland, but he’s since reverted to the Landry of old, averaging fewer than 10 yards per catch in each of the last four games.
The Browns indicated in the preseason that they planned to use Landry in more downfield routes than the Dolphins did and that they didn’t view his role as limited to short and intermediate catches out of the slot. They looked to be making good on that promise early in the season, but Landry has perhaps been a victim of the team’s offensive turmoil over the last month.
It’s too early to have a great feel for Freddie Kitchens as a play-caller, but it’s safe to say that the Browns will need to get more creative with how they use Landry in order to turn his season around. As it stands, Landry is a WR2 who is better suited to PPR formats and slowly creeping towards WR3 status. If he isn’t able to take advantage of a soft matchup with the Falcons next week, Landry owners will have to hope the Browns reinvent their offense over their Week 11 bye.
The Falcons finally featured Tevin Coleman as a pass-catcher
Back in 2016 — Kyle Shanahan’s last as the Falcons’ offensive coordinator — Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman both finished among the top-10 running backs in receiving yards. Freeman and Coleman both saw their passing game usage decline significantly the following year under new offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, and that had continued into this season — until Sunday.
Coleman received a career-high seven passing game targets against Washington and turned those targets into five catches for 68 yards and two touchdowns. Coleman also ran the ball very well (6.8 yards per carry) against a previously-stout Washington run defense, but it is the passing game work that could really boost his fantasy value going forward.
It’s long been a staple of the Atlanta offense to feature two running backs, and with Freeman on IR, Ito Smith should continue to factor into the game plan. Coleman isn’t really built to handle 20+ rushing attempts anyway. But if he can see consistent passing game usage, it will solidify his RB2 floor and allow for more explosive RB1 weeks like the one we just saw.
Julio Jones is finally off the touchdown schneid
It finally happened, people. Julio Jones scored a touchdown, his first regular season TD since last November. It came against shadow coverage from Washington’s Josh Norman, and Julio could easily have had a second TD if Norman hadn’t blatantly interfered with him on another deep ball.
The touchdown is surely worth celebrating for Jones owners, but there isn’t much reason to view it as a sign of things to come. Jones did not get a red zone target against Washington, even as the Falcons piled up 38 points. In fact, Jones has just two red zone targets all year, trailing teammates Tevin Coleman, Austin Hooper, Calvin Ridley, Mohamed Sanu, and Ito Smith.
Jones deserves plenty of praise for his unselfishness, but as fantasy owners, we’re intrinsically selfish. We want those TDs. We NEED those TDs. But Jones wasn’t a big TD guy even when the Falcons were willing to target him in the red zone, so we just need to accept him for what he is at this point: Arguably the best receiver in the league, but one who is better in reality than fantasy.
The Lions are wasting their offensive talent
We’ve devoted space in this column over the last two weeks to the frustrations of Kerryon Johnson and Kenny Golladay owners. Suffice it to say that Detroit is not taking full advantage of the dynamic abilities of these two young stars, and that was on full display once again during an anemic Week 9 performance against the Vikings.
Johnson owners who felt he would surely blow past LeGarrette Blount and Theo Riddick have been sorely disappointed. Blount has three rushing touchdowns this season; Kerryon has one. Riddick has 37 targets in six games; Kerryon has 31 targets in eight games. Kerryon is good enough that he could succeed with one of these obstacles, but Riddick’s return really puts a squeeze on Kerryon’s ability to produce the kind of high-end RB2 numbers fantasy owners are hoping for.
Meanwhile, Golladay owners who thought Golden Tate’s departure would open up a ton of targets were left mystified when he got a grand total of four targets in Week 10 — half as many as Riddick, and the same number as thoroughly unremarkable tight end Michael Roberts.
The good news for Kerryon and Golladay owners, if there is any, is that the Lions appear to be hitting rock bottom. It was easy for coach Matt Patricia to justify underutilizing his young offensive playmakers when Detroit was 3-3 and coming off back-to-back 30-point performances. But the Lions have scored a mere 23 points over their last two games combined, so perhaps change is afoot. If not, we simply won’t be getting the level of fantasy production from Kerryon and Golladay that they’re capable of providing.
Jeff Heuerman is worth a pickup — even though he’s heading into his bye
We all know how ugly the tight end position has been this year, so those of us who don’t have a Travis Kelce or Zach Ertz are always on the lookout for ways to upgrade at the position. It was widely assumed that Courtland Sutton would be the biggest beneficiary of the Demaryius Thomas trade, and that could very well still be true. But we can no longer afford to sleep on Heuerman, who led the Broncos in targets, catches, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns against the Texans.
Astute readers will know that Heuerman was already leading Denver in red zone targets before Thomas was traded. He hadn’t capitalized on those opportunities until last week, but he now has a touchdown in back-to-back games.
Any tight end who could realistically lead his team in targets or red zone looks in any given week is an obvious pickup in all fantasy leagues. Yes, Heuerman is heading into his bye week, and holding two tight ends is never a fun thing to do. But it’s worth it in this case if you’re struggling at the position.
We had a Keenan Allen sighting
Allen certainly hasn’t been bad this season — he’s had at least four catches and 62 receiving yards in every game but one. But he also hasn’t been the difference-maker fantasy owners were expecting from their second-round pick.
Allen hadn’t broken 100 receiving yards or scored since Week 1, but he ended one of those droughts against the Seahawks on Sunday, hauling in six catches on 10 targets for 124 yards. Allen didn’t find the end zone, but the performance was very promising nonetheless, especially since it suggests the Chargers made a concerted effort to feature their top receiver coming out of their bye.
We already knew Allen had a very high weekly floor, but it is fair to wonder how high his ceiling truly is. With Phillip Rivers and Melvin Gordon playing at a very high level, the Chargers are a low-volume, high-efficiency passing offense. And when LA scores through the air, it is often via a big play to one of the Williamses, Tyrell and Mike, rather than Allen.
Still, with his big Week 9 performance, Allen is now 13th in the league in receiving yards per game. If he can continue to approach double-digit targets, he could be a poor man’s Julio Jones, which is a level of performance that most Allen owners would probably take at this point.
George Kittle is an elite TE1 no matter who’s playing QB
I must confess I dropped Kittle a few spots in my weekly rankings when I heard that Nick Mullens would be starting at QB for San Francisco on Thursday night. I still had Kittle as a top-six TE1, mind you, but not in the top three as I would have ranked him if C.J. Beathard had started.
Mullens was more than ready to tear apart a pathetic Raiders defense, as it turned out, but while Mullens is now on the QB2 radar in superflex leagues, the fantasy ramifications for Kittle are more relevant for most fantasy owners. In a year where few tight ends have stood out, Kittle has consistently shown the ability to break big plays and make contested catches in the red zone. Against the Raiders, he caught all four of his targets from Mullens for 108 yards and a touchdown, demonstrating yet again that he is an elite play no matter who the 49ers are forced to trot out at quarterback.
Get a free analysis of your team with My Playbook
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | TuneIn | RSS
Andrew Seifter is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Andrew, check out his archive and follow him @andrew_seifter.
