Week 9 Upgrades & Downgrades
Week 8 is over and that means we are midway through the season. I have alluded to this before, but look for a Midseason-Evaluation coming for each team including how they have done offensively and defensively, how a few players have done compared to what I expected, and finishing off with a way-too-soon playoff picture. It’s been a wild ride so far this season and I honestly expect it to continue.
As I’ve said before, with the new setup, keep in mind that for players I have listed as “downgrades”, I simply mean you should expect less than their statistical average given the current matchup. They may still start for you and of course, they still may have a good week, but you shouldn’t expect as much from them. For “upgrades”, you can expect them to score more than they typically do but they may not be a starter in your league or for your team. Let’s get started!
Position: Quarterback
Upgrades –
- Dak Prescott, KC has been giving up a ton of yards through the air, time for the team to hop on Dak’s back.
- Drew Brees, Tampa has one of the worst pass defenses in the league, if you haven’t been paying attention, and Brees is one of the best QBs in history, in case you just started watching football.
- Matthew Stafford, Green Bay won’t be able to keep up without Rodgers, but Stafford loves to throw and GB is bad in the secondary.
- Russell Wilson, What a game that was last week, if you didn’t see it do yourself a favor and watch the recap. Wilson gets the Washington defense now at home.
- Alex Smith, #1 fantasy QB in many league types and now he gets a Dallas defense that has been vulnerable through the air. This may be a shootout.
Downgrades –
- Carson Wentz, Even though he is at home and Ertz will be all over the field for him, Denver’s pass D is still incredible and can more easily be run on.
- Kirk Cousins, Not sure if they are going to give me a call to fill in on the O line, but I’m always available. Anyway, playing in Seattle against that defense isn’t ideal and with seemingly no weapons to use and no protection I’m not sure how he’s going to get through this game.
- Marcus Mariota, Down 2 key playmakers and still a bit dinged up himself; a game against Baltimore is not what the doctor ordered.
- Andy Dalton, I’m seemingly up and down on him week-to-week and it’s worked out so far, but Jacksonville is downright good at stopping the pass, down-week.
- Cam Newton, Just lost KB (wonder how he feels about that trade?) and still no Olsen so there won’t be much to work with and he hasn’t been particularly good so far this season.
Position: Running Back
Upgrades –
- Kareem Hunt, Has really slowed down as of late, but Dallas can be run on and if the defense can keep Dak from lighting up the field then he will see a ton of carries.
- Leonard Fournette, Cincy is pretty adept at stopping the run, but they are even better at stopping the pass and Bortles sucks, he’s getting the rock 30 times this week.
- Mark Ingram, He’s been really good lately, odd that Payton has finally committed to him, but for fantasy purposes I can’t complain. Easy matchup against Tampa but he needs to hold onto the rock
- Aaron Jones, With no Rodgers the way to a win is on the back of Jones. Detroit isn’t bad against the run, but Hundley has just been awful.
- Lamar Miller, Indy is about as good as it can get and with the recent, very unfortunate news about Watson it appears that he may be relied upon more than in recent weeks.
- Adrian Peterson, Frisco is the worst at stopping the run in the league and Drew Stanton should not be on an active NFL roster so plenty of carries to be had this week.
- Alfred Morris/Rod Smith/Darren McFadden, So here’s how I understand it: Morris is getting the start, Rod Smith is getting the 2nd crack, and McFadden is 3rd in line. Good matchup against KC, but use at your own risk until we have a better idea of what this situation will look like.
- Joe Mixon, So frustrating that he’s getting the opportunities, but the OL is just bad in Cincinnati. I’m going to keep beating the bush and saying he’s a good option because you don’t want to pass on the Jags if you don’t have to.
Downgrades –
- DeMarco Murray, Teams only have success running against the Ravens because they run the ball 30 times. Murray won’t likely get that treatment so there are better options out there.
- Devonta Freeman, He’s a bit banged up at the moment and even though he has had success against the Panthers in his career to this point; THIS Panther defense is much improved.
- Carlos Hyde, Not an easy matchup and I doubt the Arizona secondary is fearful of Beathard, so he’s probably going to see a few 8-man fronts.
- CJ Anderson, He’s been very up-and-down so far this season and the Eagles are filthy when it comes to run defense, my money’s on a “down” week.
- Alex Collins, Beat up on Miami last week in the worst Thursday night game I have seen in a while, but Tennessee is much better at stopping the run so temper expectations.
- Rob Kelley, Has not been good and this Seattle defense is better than years past at stopping the run.
- Jay Ajayi, I’m not playing him until he does something on this new team. Trades in the NFL are hard because he has to learn an entire new system now and Blount isn’t going anywhere yet.
- Marshawn Lynch, Back from his suspension and even though Collins just ran all over them they were proficient at stopping the run in the prior 6 weeks.
Position: Wide Receiver
Upgrades –
- Dez Bryant, KC has let up a lot through the air this season, all signs pointing toward a good game for Dez.
- Michael Thomas, Tampa’s secondary is pathetic and if Ingram keeps fumbling the ball Brees may be back to throwing it 40 times a game.
- Tyreek Hill, Hill has been a yo-yo this season. Don’t believe me? Look at his point totals every other week so far this season. Last week bad, this week good. Did I mention a potential shootout?
- Golden Tate/Marvin Jones Jr., Green Bay is soft in the secondary and if they struggle to move the ball then that means plenty of chances for these two to catch some balls.
- Sterling Shepard, There is no other WR on this team worth throwing to so even though the Rams are decent against slot receivers he is going to be peppered with targets like my dad’s eggs on Sunday morning.
- Jarvis Landry, Cutler is back (which is hilariously a good thing for this team) and Oakland is very beatable through the air.
- Demaryius Thomas, Just score a TD, one please? Unreal how much this guy is targeted and he doesn’t have one yet, but Philly’s weakness is through the air and Sanders is still ailing even though he may suit up.
- Devante Parker, Again, Cutler’s back and Oakland doesn’t have the speed to catch up with him so there’s potential again this week.
Downgrades –
- Mike Evans, Winston is in line to play but he hasn’t had success against New Orleans historically and they’ve been pretty decent defensively so far this year.
- Doug Baldwin, There are a few other options to throw to in Seattle apparently and he’s likely seeing some Norman this week.
- AJ Green, Jalen Ramsey is going to be all up in his stuff this week but Green is still going to see a lot of targets and just needs a TD to provide enough value to not be bitter about the matchup this week.
- DeAndre Hopkins/Will Fuller V, Horrible, horrible news about the up-and-coming QB Watson this week, until further notice these guys can be ranked as a high-end WR2 and low-end WR3 respectively.
- Davante Adams, Plain worthless without Rodgers, maybe he will get a TD pass though…
- Alshon Jeffery, Hasn’t been too reliable yet this season and now plays Denver.
- Rishard Mathews, Not many other options on this team this week so likely he is double covered all game and Baltimore is good defensively.
- Pierre Garcon, Supposedly may not even play so there’s that. There’s also the fact that Patrick Peterson will be covering him like a blanket, and he’s got a mess of a QB situation.
Position: Tight End
Upgrades –
- Jack Doyle, Has been really coming through as of late and Houston is weak against TEs.
- Zach Ertz, One of the best TEs this year and Denver’s weak spot defensively is against TEs.
- Jimmy Graham, TD machine lately and Washington is soft over the middle.
- Tyler Kroft, They still have to throw the ball and with all the attention likely to be on AJ that will free up somebody.
- Vernon Davis, No Reed this week, so Davis gets a big bump in the rankings.
Downgrades –
- Travis Kelce, Byron Jones has shut down opposing TEs and there will be better options this week for Smith; Kelce will still get his though.
- Evan Engram, Again, not many other options here, but the Rams have been the best team against opposing TEs so far in the year.
- Cameron Brate, I don’t like that they have a 2nd option here and NO has been really good against TEs the last month or so.
- Delanie Walker, May not even suit up and I’m not expecting much offensively in this game.
- Jason Witten, Has been down recently and KC is good against TEs, so I think Dak is going to go through his WR core this week.
