Happy Halloween. To celebrate the holiday, we’ve included the best NFL Halloween moments, which includes Bill Belichick dressed as a pirate on roller blades.

And what a weekend. We saw unreal catches by AJ Brown and DeAndre Hopkins, while the drop by Velus Jones summed up the Chicago Bears' season perfectly.

TRIVIA

RANKINGS

Jordan Addison falls to WR31. Kirk Cousins tore his achilles, so Addison and the rest of the Minnesota pass-catchers will be relying on rookie backup QB Jaren Hall (for now - rumors of Jameis Winston abound). With Justin Jefferson possibly returning soon, Addison’s ceiling takes a hit.

DeAndre Hopkins rises to WR30. Rookie QB Will Levis lit up Atlanta’s secondary. Levis fed his top target and was willing to take shots downfield. We could see vintage D-Hop in the weeks to come.

Our rest-of-season 0.5 PPR rankings were updated early this morning 👇️ 

WAIVER WIRE

Running it Back

Zach Charbonnet completely took over on third downs and in two-minute drills for the first time this season. He has standalone value and is tied with Tyjae Spears as the most valuable handcuff. We were banging the drum on Chuba Hubbard weeks ago, so it was great to see Hubbard (16 rush snaps) takeover despite Sanders (2 rush snaps) practicing in full all week.

If anyone dropped Zack Moss, grab him. Jonathan Taylor’s ankle issues have plagued him for nearly two seasons. Gus Edwards was our No. 1 start at RB last week, and he went nuclear. Must add.

Leonard Fournette signed to the Bills. He could slide into the 40-50% snaps Latavius plays w/ more fantasy juice in the receiving game, but unlikely to have a big impact with James Cook (besides limiting his upside), per Jakob Sanderson.

Emari Demercado led the Cardinals backfield with 20 carries for 78 yards “despite barely playing in the fourth quarter”, per Nathan’s article on PFF. With Damien Williams (foot) injured, Demercado becomes the most trustworthy RB in Arizona in Week 9. James Conner is eligible to return in Week 10.

• Tank Bigsby is Travis Etienne’s handcuff and played all of his offensive snaps when Etienne left the game briefly, per Nathan Jahnke of PFF. Etienne is leading the NFL in touches.

• Bigsby did a lose a fumble, making D’Ernest Johnson an interesting deep league sleeper as Etienne’s backup’s backup.

• Rico Dowdle is starting to see an uptick in opportunities as Dallas navigates Tony Pollard‘s struggles under a heavy workload. Stash.

• Pierre Strong Jr. rushed for 41 yards on 10 carries and had one catch for 41 yards, showing his playmaking ability, per Chris Towers of CBS. Lower priority stash.

Don’t waste an add on Devin Singletary, who saw 10 carries for 30 yards. Most people with eyes don’t see him overtaking Dameon Pierce and Mike Boone is seeing all the third-down work. Gross committee. Darrell Henderson and Royce Freeman are also members of a gross committee in Los Angeles.

Wide Receiver

Jahan Dotson returned just as everyone gave up. Wish the same thing happened with my hairline. As we wrote on Sunday, Dotson sees a boost with Curtis Samuel (toe) injured. Hopefully you added him. If not, he’s the top WR add in a relatively weak group.

Demario Douglas was a full-time player with a 77% snap share and a team-leading 24.1% target share. There’s a chance his role grows significantly with DaVante Parker (head) and Kendrick Bourne (knee) injured, while Juju Smith-Schuster (tik tok) didn’t see a snap until Bourne was hurt. Juju could be moved.

Jayden Reed had arguably his best game of the season. He played a season-high 79.4% of snaps, saw a 14.6% target share and led the Packers with 83 receiving yards. Among 116 qualifying WRs, Reed entered Week 8 as WR28 in fantasy points per route run (per Fantasy Points Data), via Pat Fitzmaurice of FantasyPros. Stash as Christian Watson’s hamstring injury could flare up. 

Quentin Johnston had the best game of his career in Week 8. His profile is a 1-for-1 Mike Williams replacement and he showed some impressive YAC skills. Don’t go crazy on faab, but he’s worth an add everywhere incase he takes Palmer’s role, which is unlikely.

Khalil Shakir “saw a big bump in playing time in Week 8 with a 66% route run rate. He had a 15% target share, finishing with 92 receiving yards and a scorching 3.07 yards per route run (per Fantasy Points Data)”, per Pat Fitzmaurice of FantasyPros. Shakir should see added run with Dalton Kincaid playing more tradition TE.

• Rashid Shaheed is a boom-bust WR who you might get lucky with in your lineup.

• Grab Marvin Mims if the Broncos trade one of their starting receivers; it’s what Mims needs to be fantasy-relevant this year.

• Brandin Cooks just won’t quit. He saw just four targets but translated it into over 16 PPR points after Cooks told Mike McCarthy to run a stutter and go (which worked, video).

The Other Guys (QB & TE)

QB Sam Howell finished as a top-8 QB for the third time in four weeks. He’s worth starting when the Commanders are underdogs or expected to be in a close game. Tough Patriots matchup incoming, though.

QB Will Levis threw bombs (his 12.3-yard average depth of target was the highest among QBs this week) and had more passing touchdowns (4) in one game than the Titans offense had this season (3). Levis offers the best upside of available QBs.

QB Taylor Heinicke replaced Desmond Ridder (head), who was benched despite passing the concussion protocol. Heinicke threw for 175 yards and a TD and was leading a come-from-behind victory before Van Jefferson’s drop. Heinicke is the best QB on the team.

Recent waiver targets Jake Ferguson, Logan Thomas and Trey McBride are still available in several leagues and should be added first. Donald Parham had 43 yards and a TD with Gerald Everett (hip) injured. If Everett sits in Week 9, Parham is a worthy streamer against a Jets defense allowing the most points to TEs this season.

TE Taysom Hill saw his receiving share (1 catch) plummet with the return of Juwan Johnson, but Hill still took significant snaps as TE. He also pivoted into a run-first QB (63 yards rushing -- and two touchdowns -- on nine designed carries). He’s a TE who sees more opportunities than most but is still largely TD dependent.

The below QBs are potential streamers if you’re a lunatic.

• QB Mitch Trubisky replaced Kenny Pickett (ribs) and may fill in again this week.

• QB Jaren Hall will take over for Kirk Cousins (achilles) unless the Vikings bring in veteran help.

• QB Brett Rypien would start for the Rams if Matthew Stafford (thumb) can't go this week against the Packers.

• QB Tommy DeVito stepped up after Tyrod Taylor (ribs) went down. With Daniel Jones (neck) still out, there’s a chance DeVito starts next game. Yikes.

D/ST

Studs: Browns (vs. Cardinals), Saints (vs. Bears), Patriots (vs. Commanders) all have favorable home games.

Streamers:

1. Colts (@ Panthers) - the past four D/STs facing Carolina averaged 11.5 points per game.

2. Chargers (@ Jets) is also appealing, because we’ve seen Zach Wilson throw.

3. Bengals (vs. Bills) have become close to a must-start D/ST under Lou Anarumo.

4. Falcons (vs. Vikings) with Kirk Cousins (Achilles) and Justin Jefferson (hamstring) out

SPONSOR

DEEP DIVES

Hunting for Huntley

The idea is you pick up players the week before everyone adds them off the waiver wire. Last week, the perfect pickup was Will Levis.

BAL QB Tyler Huntley (0.1%) is worth stashing in 2QB/Superflex leagues. Lamar Jackson has missed multiple games the last two seasons and 5 starting QBs got hurt this past Sunday alone. Huntley is a former Pro Bowler (lol) and offers rushing upside if an opportunity arises.

DAL WR Jalen Tolbert (0.1%) was involved early for the Cowboys on Sunday. Both he and Michael Gallup played 10-of-18 snaps in the first quarter with each running seven routes. Gallup and Brandin Cooks were also substituted out of 11 personnel at times for Tolbert, per Nathan Jahnke of PFF. Post-hype sleeper potential after a disappointing rookie year in 2022.

NE WR Tyquan Thornton (1.0%) was a healthy scratch last week, but could see some increased playing time with Kendrick Bourne tearing his ACL. the 6’2” Thornton was a 2nd round pick last year and has 4.28 speed — he’s worth a shot.

Similarly, fellow NE WR Kayshon Boutte (0.1%) could see more action as well. The rookie 6th round pick has a less impressive athletic profile (5’11” with 4.50 speed), but looked good in the preseason (video) and played 69% of the snaps in Week 1 before injuring his hamstring.

QUICK SLANTS

📖 Read JJ Zachariason’s Fantasy Football Dump Thread for Week 8. Key insights from JJ:

• Dameon Pierce has now seen 50% or fewer of Houston's backfield rushes in consecutive games, and he hasn't been targeted since Week 5.

• Diontae Johnson ended up with a 35% target share today (was 26% last week). George Pickens hit a season low 12.5% target share.

📖 Read Rebuilding a Dynasty Fantasy Football Team by Kevin Coleman of Footballguys ($). Read this before you sell your top talent for draft picks as a rebuild strategy.

📖 Read the 2024 Dynasty Rookie Mock Draft by Ian Snowdeal of Roto Street Journal. It’s never too early!

🎙️Listen to Week 8 Studs & Duds from The Fantasy Footballers. They also dive into injury news and analysis, like why they are terrified of starting Vikings playmakers moving forward.

🎙️Listen to Week 8 Instant Reactions from Josh Norris and Hayden Winks of the Underdog Football Show. They do a game by game breakdown on everything you need to know, including what you should expect from Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua if Matthew Stafford has to miss time.

📺️ Watch The Craziest Final 2 Minutes in NFL History

SPOOKY SEASON

Best NFL Halloween Moments

Inspired by the Giants and Jets offenses in Week 8 (there were more punts (24) than points (23)), we wanted to find the spookiest moments in NFL history. Five great ones:

1. Bill Belichick dressing for Randy Moss’ halloween party (video)

2. Finding a Matt Canada-led offense in a Snickers bar (tweet)

3. Watching Lawrence Taylor, the scariest NFL player in NFL history (video)

4. Jerry Jones risking a fine to dress up as a blind referee (photo)

5. The Horror-movie themed highlight reel from the Seahawks destroying the Broncos in Super Bowl 48: Peyton’s Dead 👇️ 

Last year, Bengals CB Mike Hilton served some tricks before the Halloween weekend when he pretended to be a mannequin in the locker room (video).

Tweet of the Day

Before we go, send your well wishes to Kirk Cousins, who tore his achilles Sunday. Anybody who watched Netflix’s “Quarterback” knows how much work he put into his craft — hoping for a speedy recovery for a true pro.🤞

- Jake, Eddie, Marcus & Sean

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