Fantasy Football Outlook: Michael Pittman, Tony Pollard, Josh Jacobs, Gabe Davis

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 Outlook

Michael Pittman: Pittman has been the team’s go-to receiver against zone with a 26.2% target share, a 29.9% air-yard share, and a 36.3% first-read share. Carolina has the second-highest zone coverage rate (84.4%) in the NFL. Pittman is the WR17 in fantasy, running 23rd in deep targets and second in red zone targets. Carolina has been torched by the deep ball, allowing the ninth-highest yards per attempt and passer rating on deep passes. Pittman leads the team in deep targets. Pittman will run about 70% of his routes against Donte Jackson (75% catch rate and 144.4 passer rating) and C.J. Henderson (78.1% catch rate and 119.7 passer rating). Week 9 Positional Value: WR2 with WR1 upside

Tony Pollard: Pollard’s season has made me immensely sad. The special sauce he had last year is gone. It has expired. He is the RB16 in fantasy, ranking eighth in snap share, 15th in opportunity share, eighth in weighted opportunities, and second in red zone touches. Among 65 qualifying backs, he ranks 33rd in explosive run rate and 47th in yards after contact per attempt. I didn’t have 2023 Pollard running like 2022 Ezekiel Elliott on my bingo card. It has been a tough scene. It won’t get any easier this week against an Eagles run defense that has the fourth-best stuff rate, the sixth-lowest yards after contact per attempt allowed, and the 12th-lowest yards per carry given up to gap runs (Pollard 64.8% gap). Week 9 Positional Value: RB2

Josh Jacobs: Jacobs has been a volume RB2 this season. He is the RB17 in fantasy, ranking sixth in snap share, third in opportunity share, and first in weighted opportunities. He ranks in the top three among backs in carries, targets, and red zone touches. His inability to break tackles has been an eye sore all year. Among 65 qualifying backs, he ranks 51st in explosive run rate, 43rd in missed tackles forced per attempt, and 60th in yards after contact per attempt. The Giants have been a run funnel all season, and losing Leonard Williams this week won’t change that. New York has given up the fifth-highest explosive run rate and the 13th-highest yards after contact per attempt while also having the third-lowest stuff rate. Week 9 Positional Value: RB1/2

Gabriel Davis: Davis is the WR32 in fantasy as the team’s deep threat. Davis has a 16.4% target share, a 26.6% air-yard share, 1.72 YPRR, and a 17.7% first-read share. The Bengals have utilized zone coverage on 69.4% of their defensive snaps. Against zone, Davis’ air-yard share has increased to 27.7%, and his YPRR skyrockets to 2.03. Also working in Davis’ favor is his 22.9% target share on play-action passes. Last week, when he was ripping apart the Bucs secondary, he had a 50% target share on play-action passes with a 73.8% air-yard share. Davis could repeat those numbers this week. Davis has five of his eight red zone targets this season over his last two games. Davis will run about 81% of his routes against D.J. Turner ll (41.2% catch rate and 50.9 passer rating) and Cam Taylor-Britt (55.6% catch rate and 76.3 passer rating). Week 9 Positional Value: WR2/3