Every week we’ll bring you The Primer, a deep dive into every fantasy-relevant player from every NFL game of the week. You can find the full weekly Primer here. Below we dive into a few notable players ahead of this weekend’s games.
- Fantasy Football Start/Sit Advice
- Waiver Wire Picks
- Weekly Fantasy Football Expert Rankings
- Fantasy Football Trade Tools
Fantasy Football Outlook
Isiah Pacheco: Pacheco continues to operate as the team’s workhorse, with his weekly snap share settling into the 50-60% range. He has averaged 16.5 touches and 72.4 total yards. Pachecho is 15th in explosive run rate and 20th in yards after contact per attempt. He is set to do battle with a tough Dolphins’ run defense, but there’s an avenue for him to surprise this week. Miami has held tight with the ninth-lowest explosive run rate and eighth-lowest yards after contact per attempt allowed, but they have shown some give in some metrics. They have the lowest stuff rate in the NFL and have given up the seventh-highest yards per carry to gap runs (4.53). Pachecho has been quite successful on gap runs (49.1% of his rushing attempts) with 5.25 yards per carry this season. Kansas City could look to establish the run early. Week 9 Positional Value: Borderline RB1
Rachaad White: White continues to be an ugly volume play as the RB24 in fantasy. He has played at least 70% of the snaps weekly while averaging 17.2 touches and 76.9 total yards. Among 65 qualifying backs, White is 54th in explosive run rate and 51st in missed tackles forced per attempt. His pass game usage has been a saving grace as he’s tenth in targets and 14th in target share among backs. He has 135 receiving yards across his last two games. Houston has been an up-and-down run defense. While they have smothered backs to the eighth-lowest explosive run rate and the second-lowest yards per carry allowed to zone runs (White 56.5% zone), they have also given up the fourth-highest missed tackle per attempt rate and sit at 16th in yards after contact per attempt. They have been generous to receiving backs with the seventh-highest yards per reception and tenth-most receiving yards given up. Week 9 Positional Value: RB2
Rashid Shaheed: Shaheed has been the Saints’ zone-beating deep threat. Against zone, he has had an 11.8% target share (17.3 aDOT), a 25.2% air-yard share, 2.30 YPRR, and a 12.6% first-read share. He leads the team with 0.44 fantasy points per route run against zone, but he’s second to Olave in expected fantasy points per game (0.46 vs. 0.30). Shaheed is fourth in deep targets, but he has only one red zone target since Week 2. Shaheed will run nearly half of his routes against Kyler Gordon (85.7% catch rate and 99.4 passer rating). Week 9 Positional Value: WR4 with WR2/3 upside
Marquise Brown: Brown is the WR26 in fantasy, drawing a 25.5% target share, a 39.7% air-yard share, and producing 1.61 YPRR. Brown has a 30.1% first-read share. He has five weeks this season as a WR24 or higher. Cleveland has the highest man coverage rate (43.6%) in the NFL. Against man, Brown’s numbers have been crazy, with a 38.1% target share, a 62.7% air-yard share, 2.32 YPRR, and a 37.5% first-read share. Brown ranks tenth in deep targets and 17th in red zone looks this season among wide receivers. Brown will run about 80% of his routes against Martin Emerson (since Week 4: 47.6% catch rate and 43.8 passer rating) and Denzel Ward (since Week 4: 57.9% catch rate and 103.6 passer rating). Against the man coverage heavy Giants and Cowboys this season, Brown averaged 57.5 receiving yards with touchdowns in both games. Week 9 Positional Value: Volume WR3
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | SoundCloud | iHeartRadio