Good morning. Congratulations to Christian McCaffrey, who escaped the Carolina Panthers football club last night to join the San Fran 49ers.

Christian McCaffrey to the 49ers just made sense. It made so much sense, that @timkawakami wrote about this fit BEFORE the trade went down (The Athletic).

49ers gave up: a 2023 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th draft pick, plus are on the hook for McCaffrey's cap hits, which are:

• $19.6M in 2023

• $19.6M in 2024

• $15.5M in 2025

As for Carolina, they've got a plethora of picks. And DJ Moore, who has a big dead money number ($41m in 22) and reasonable cap hit compared to other starting WRs age 25. Trading a RB (CMC) is VERY different than trading DJ Moore, Brian Burns, etc. Premiere young players at premiere positions. If those are traded, what are the next HC and QB left with? I'd be shocked if DJ Moore is moved.

Will CMC play this week? McCaffrey is scheduled to fly to San Francisco on Friday, when he will meet his new teammates and begin to learn the new playbook. It will be challenging to have him in uniform Sunday vs. the Chiefs, but he's Christian McCaffrey.

PROFILE

Spotlight: Josh Jacobs

Josh Jacobs was thrown into the starting RB role after the Oakland Raiders drafted him 24th in 2019. During three seasons at Bama, Jacobs put up decent numbers but nothing eye-popping. His intangibles measured off the charts, after it was determined Jacobs played most of his sophomore season on a broken ankle. Legend.

In his first two seasons with the Raiders, Jacobs was a bellcow, averaging over 18 carries per game. 

• Year 1: 242 carries for 1,150 yards (4.8 avg) and 7 TDs

• Year 2: 273 carries for 1,065 yards (3.9 avg) and 12 TDs

Despite the opportunity, Jacobs never jumped to the elite tier of RBs. He also was quiet in the passing game, catching just 53 passes in his first two seasons combined.

• Year 3: the Raiders dialed back his workload, signed Kenyan Drake and shifting to an RB committee approach. Jacobs had 217 carries for 872 yards (4.0 avg.) and 9 TDs.

Then, his career took a nosedive after Jacobs tweeted this:

Without concern for us, the fantasy community, Jacobs ADP understandably fell to new lows. In fact, his own team (the Raiders) even passed on his fifth-year option and didn't extend him.

Big mistake. Through the first 6 weeks of the season, Jacobs is ranked as RB7 in 0.5 PPR leagues, even though he has already had his bye. 

His carries are back up to over 18/game and he is currently averaging 5.4 yards per carry, a career high. We think his strong start continues and Jacobs proves all fantasy managers wrong: he does care about us.

BUY & SELL

The case for...

Buying David Njoku, who ranks 3rd among all TEs in yards per route run (1.96) and 1st among TEs in receiving yards over the last 4 weeks (308). Njoku is a priority buy if you don't have one of the elite TEs.

Overpaying for Kenneth Walker: was on the field for 71% of Seattle's offensive snaps last week. He had a 10% target share while seeing 91% of the team's RB rushes. Walker is also forcing missed tackles (almost) better than anyone, with 14 missed tackles forced in the last two weeks (2nd, behind Dameon Pierce) and has a total of 22 missed tackles forced on just 44 rushing attempts (leads the NFL).

Picking up Greg Dulcich: registered an 81% route participation in his NFL debut. He also saw 13% of the targets. "The Broncos offense is struggling, but the rookie has the allure of unknown upside as a talent — more than we can say for a lot of TE options. High-end TE2 with upside." - @dwainmcfarland.

Buying Travis Etienne because his role continues to grow and his acceleration is bonkers. Leaves folks in the dust consistently. The Jags main passing down back, playing 93% of snaps in 2-min offense, 75% in long down & distance (thanks @dwainmcfarland’s Fantasy Life Utilization Report). He has the most total yards without a TD this season (447), so positive regression is coming.

Selling Jerry Jeudy, who has a 47.2 percent catch rate this season, which ranks 80th among 81 qualified WRs. That's really bad. 

QUICK SLANTS

• Per @RapSheet: Jets WR Elijah Moore has asked the team for a trade, citing his frustrating with his role and usage. The Jets have no plans to trade their former 2nd rounder, who only saw 1 target in their win over the Packers. This comes after Moore took a "personal day" and was excused from practice by the team on Thursday.

• Mark Andrews (knee) and J.K. Dobbins missed their second straight practices on Thursday, @jamisonhensley

• Tyler Lockett (hamstring) remained sidelined for Thursday's practice. Keep a close eye.

• The Dolphins are expected to trade TE Mike Gesicki by the NFL Trade Deadline, @MichaelBalkoJr.

Thanks for joining us this morning. And don't forget to never trust Nathaniel Hackett when making fantasy lineup decisions - sincerely, Matt, a Melvin Gordon owner.

Jake, Eddie, Coach Wehler & Matt

Tweet of the Day

John Johnson is still getting after it!