Arizona Cardinals running back David Johnson
Welcome to our weekly injury analysis article! It's an odd week with injuries, and a lot of decisions that might come down to the wire. Let's jump in.
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Opponent CIN
Proj Points FD - 0 DK - 0
Well, we live in a world where sitting next to the wrong guy on the plane can land you on the IR. Roethlisberger did just that last Sunday, sitting next to Vance McDonald, who received a positive Covid test on Monday. Ben is now in a five-day quarantine, and we won't know his status until Saturday when he might participate in a walk-through. If he plays, it's a green light from us on the entire Steelers offense in a great match-up. If he sits, the Steelers become irrelevant for DFS purposes with Mason Rudolph under center.
Opponent DET
Proj Points FD - 0 DK - 0
Allen's season is over, leaving the quarterback duties to soft throwing Alex Smith. While it's not clear that either quarterback should be chucking balls in the NFL, Alex Smith does change the offense considerably. We saw this come to pass in dramatic fashion against the Giants, where running back JD McKissic receive 14 targets, even lining up in the slot for a number of snaps. For now we're downgrading conventional deep threat Terry McLaurin, and upgrading McKissic to cash game consideration on DraftKings.
Opponent TB
Proj Points FD - 0 DK - 0
McCaffrey is out for week 10, leaving the running back duties back in Mike Davis' mostly capable hands. It's a tough match-up with the Bucs, but Davis is cheap enough that you're going to need to consider running him in all formats.
Opponent HOU
Proj Points FD - 11.96 DK - 12.35
The final word on Chubb for this weekend is that the Browns will consult with the medical staff before clearing Chubb to play against the Texans. If Chubb is cleared, we'll be staying away from the Cleveland running game altogether. If he sits, we'll take a long hard look at Kareem Hunt in cash games.
UPDATE: Chubb has been cleared, and the Browns' running game is a stay-away.
Opponent LAR
Proj Points FD - 0 DK - 0
Opponent LAR
Proj Points FD - 0 DK - 0
Carson didn't practice on Friday, but Hyde was able to get out there in a limited fashion. We know that Seattle can produce cash game viable running backs if things break right for us, but with both of these guys game time decisions in a 4:25 EST game I am not optimistic that we'll get to dabble in Seattle running backs in cash games. If both of these guys were to sit, I'm still not honestly thrilled about running DeeJay Dallas given the limited opportunity last week.
UPDATE: Both Carson and Hyde have been ruled out, leaving us to a Homer/Dallas time share. Count me out of this equation for cash games.
Opponent PIT
Proj Points FD - 0 DK - 0
Mixon is now listed as doubtful, leaving the running back duties to Gio Bernard in this one. While we were happy to run Bernard at $4,800, I am not interested in paying a premium to run him into the teeth of this Steelers defense with other great punts available. Bernard does make for an excellent big tournament pivot from the obvious cash game plays, though.
Opponent CLE
Proj Points FD - 1.86 DK - 2.21
DJ has been ruled out of this one, and we'll get a chance to run the other Houston DJ in Duke Johnson. Johnson touched the ball 20 times after David Johnson went down last week, and he's in a great spot here against Cleveland. He's a fantastic play in every format.
Opponent BUF
Proj Points FD - 0 DK - 0
Drake will be a game-time decision on Sunday, which is no fun for our cash game purpose. If he happens to sit it would leave Chase Edmonds as an excellent play in every format once again. Don't be spooked by the relatively low fantasy totals last week, the 28 touches are all we need to know about how the Cardinals intend to use him. Unfortunately, we might not know anything about his status before the 1 PM lock, so you might only want to run Edmonds in big tournaments if we haven't heard for sure.
Opponent MIA
Proj Points FD - 1.85 DK - 2.24
Justin Jackson is ruled out for Sunday's game against Miami, but what does it really mean for the Chargers' running game? I'm not sure it means much, for our purposes. Joshua Kelley touched the ball 14 times against the Raiders, but was pretty ineffective in those touches. Kalen Ballage had 18 touches (including the touchdown), and was better on his touches than Kelley. Troymaine Pope had 17 touches the prior week, before being taken out of the offense entirely last week. If I simply had to roster one Chargers running back I'd probably just go with Ballage, but we're talking deep cuts for big tournaments only here.
Opponent WAS
Proj Points FD - 0 DK - 0
Golladay will be out with a hip injury once again, turning over a number of targets to the guys behind him in the pass-catching pecking order. We assumed Marvin Jones Jr. would be the primary beneficiary last week, but it wound up being Danny Amendola instead, who garnered 10 targets and turned them into 7 catches for 77 yards. Amendola is absurdly cheap on DraftKings, and you could certainly see people sticking their necks out there.
Opponent NO
Proj Points FD - 8.96 DK - 10.86
Deebo Samuel has been described as a "long shot" to play this weekend, leaving extra targets for Brandon Aiyuk and newly minted Richie James. Don't get over-excited about James' performance last week, though, as it also coincided with Aiyuk missing that game. Aiyuk would be the guy I'd be targeting if I wanted a San Francisco wide receiver this week.
Opponent LV
Proj Points FD - 11.77 DK - 14.2
This is a dicey one, with Juedy "likely" to play after being limited in practice all week. With 24 targets over his last two weeks, the electric rookie wideout is firmly in cash game consideration for us at these prices, but we wouldn't go there if we don't have some assurances that he will be on the field prior to lineup lock. His absence wouldn't really make any Denver guys viable from where I am sitting.
Opponent WAS
Proj Points FD - 11.42 DK - 14.12
We are really, really running low on interesting tight ends at this point. Hockenson missed Thursday's practice before returning as a limited participant in Friday's practice and is currently listed questionable for Sunday's tilt with Washington. It's currently believed that he'll be out there, and we should know since this is a 1 PM game. If he plays, we like him as a cash game option once again with Golladay out of the game.
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