Good morning.

Today is a monumental day across the United States. From coast to coast, people everywhere will be on the edge of their seat awaiting the results. History will be made and hearts will be broken.

This, my friends, is the NFL Trade Deadline.

AROUND THE LEAGUE 🚨

Dennis Allen Fired

The Saints have fired HC Dennis Allen after seven straight losses. He finishes his head coaching career in New Orleans with an 18-25 record and is perhaps more known for his hatred of Kendre Miller than winning football games.

Special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi, who gives off major Dan Campbell vibes, will step in as interim HC.

Kupp on the Move?

With the trade deadline being at 4pm ET today, multiple names are floating around NFL circuits as potential trade targets. Many of them are defensive players, but there are some fantasy-relevant offensive players to keep an eye on, too, namely Cooper Kupp, Bryce Young, David Njoku, Travis Etienne, Mike Williams, Adam Thielen, Darius Slayton, Khalil Herbert, and Miles Sanders.

The deadline rarely delivers on the hype, but stay tuned to the latest headlines just in case major moves are made.

Dak to IR?

In the latest injury-related news, Dak Prescott will miss multiple weeks with a hamstring injury and could potentially land on IR. Meanwhile, his teammate CeeDee Lamb is “week-to-week” with a shoulder injury, but has a chance to play Sunday.

Elsewhere around the league:

• Christian McCaffrey has been designated to return from IR and is expected to play this week

• A.J. Brown is day-to-day with a knee injury

• Drake London is day-to-day with hip and oblique injuries

• Nico Collins is eligible to return from IR, but the Texans will still monitoring his hamstring injury throughout the week

• Zack Moss is out “indefinitely” with a neck injury

• Keon Coleman is still undergoing tests on his wrist injury that caused him to leave Sunday’s game

SPONSOR

WAIVER WIRE 🧐

Not gonna lie, it’s pretty bleak out there. We’ll highlight some potential bye week fill-ins, but many of these targets shouldn’t be major season-long investments for you.

Running Back

Bills RB Ray Davis produces whenever he gets the ball. He’s still just a James Cook handcuff, but last week he caught both of his targets for 70 yards, including a 63-yard TD. He also ran the ball four times for 20 yards.

Steelers RB Jaylen Warren received double-digit touches in Weeks 7 and 8 and produced 118 scrimmage yards while averaging 4.3 yards per carry. He’s also forced six missed tackles on 21 carries during that two-game stretch, per PFF, breaking off three runs of 10+ yards. Look for his workload to continue trending up after the team’s Week 9 bye.

49ers RB Isaac Guerendo might be the RB3 in San Fran, but he has some serious juice. Given the uncertainty surrounding CMC and Jordan Mason’s injuries, Guerendo is worth a stash.

As always, keep an eye out for other handcuff options that could offer league-winning upside:

• Falcons RB Tyler Allgeier

• Seahawks RB Zach Charbonnet

• Cardinals RB Trey Benson

• Rams RB Blake Corum

• Vikings RB Ty Chandler

• Dolphins RB Jaylen Wright

• Bears RB Roschon Johnson

Wide Receiver

49ers WR Ricky Pearsall has a 77% route rate and a 17% target share in his two games this year. The Niners have made it a point to get him involved with seven first-read targets (21% first-read target share), and he gets a Seattle defense this week that has allowed the 10th-most fantasy points to opposing receivers, per NBC Sports’ Kyle Dvorchak

Panthers WR Xavier Legette now has a TD catch in four of his last six games and has scored 13+ fantasy points in each of his last two outings, leading the Panthers in targets in both of those games.

Chargers WR Quentin Johnston relies on the big play, but he has at least a 29% air yards share in every game he has finished this season, per Kyle Dvorchak. The big play hit for him in Cleveland last week (4/118/1), so if you’re desperate, throw him in your FLEX and see if it can happen again.

Browns WR Jerry Jeudy now has 19 targets over the last two weeks and has scored double-digit PPR points in each of those games as well. Although Cedric Tillman’s gotten all the hype, Jeudy’s quietly been producing FLEX-worthy numbers.

Rams WR Demarcus Robinson benefitted from Puka Nacua’s ejection, catching two TDs for the second time in as many weeks. While Puka’s return next week should bring Robinson back to Earth, he has been on the field for at least 85% of the offensive snaps in every game this season, per Yahoo’s Andy Behrens, so playing time isn’t a concern.

• If Browns WR Cedric Tillman and Bears WR Rome Odunze are still available, they take priority over all the names above. Tillman has been a monster the last three weeks and Odunze’s primed for a second-half breakout after putting up over 100 yards on Sunday.
  

• Cowboys WR Jalen Tolbert and Falcons WR Ray-Ray McCloud are also potential streamers if CeeDee Lamb and/or Drake London miss next week.

QB & TE

Chargers QB Justin Herbert: After posting 6.4 yards per attempt in Weeks 1-4, he’s averaged 8.7 YPA since returning from a Week 5 bye, 6th-most in the league among players with at least 30 dropbacks over that span, per NFL.com’s Dan Parr. He’s averaging 21.4 points per game in his last four contests and should keep it going in Week 10 against a weak Tennessee pass defense.

Patriots QB Drake Maye has probably been picked up already, but if not, go get him:

Jets QB Aaron Rodgers is averaging 17 points over his last three games (all with Davante Adams) and has three soft matchups coming up (ARI, IND, SEA). He’s a fine plug and play if you need him.

Giants QB Daniel Jones has been the QB11 or better in four of nine weeks this season. This week, he takes on the Panthers, who have given up 23+ points to opposing QBs in three of their last five games, with a floor of 12.5 points in that span, per Dan Parr. New York has a bye in Week 11, but some of the league’s weakest defenses (Buccaneers, Cowboys, Saints) will be awaiting Danny Dimes when the Giants return from the break.

Bengals TE Mike Gesicki is basically a Tee Higgins handcuff. If Higgins has to miss another week, plug in Gesicki one more time.

Saints TE Taysom Hill rushed for 19 yards and one TD on five carries, adding four receptions for another 41 yards last week. New Orleans is decimated with injuries, so they’ll have no choice but to use their Swiss Army Knife. Plug him in and pray for a TD.

D/ST

The Chicago Bears take on the Patriots, who are dead last in total offense and passing offense and are ranked 30th in total scoring. They’ve also allowed 31 sacks (2nd most), while the Bears defense is 10th in the league with 23 sacks, per Roto Street Journal’s Sean Keegs.

The New York Giants: “Dexter Lawrence and friends currently lead the NFL in sacks (35), and they’re headed into a neutral site matchup with Bryce Young — a highly sackable QB. No need to make a long-term commitment to the Giants, but they can certainly help us in Week 10.” — Andy Behrens

The Atlanta Falcons aren’t a great defense by any means (24th overall in fantasy football), but they get to take on Derek Carr and a battered Saints offense lacking playmakers outside Alvin Kamara.

POLL 📊

DEEP DIVES 🤿

Stash these players on your bench before they blow up. Last week, the perfect pickup was Mike Gesicki.

Panthers TE Ja’Tavion Sanders “led the team in receiving yards during Sunday's win over the New Orleans Saints. He's also had at least five targets in four of his last five games and has scored at least nine PPR points in three of his last four.” — USA Today’s Joe Hoefling

Giants TE Theo Johnson had a season-high six targets and scored 14.1 fantasy points against the Commanders in Week 9. It's also worth noting that he has run the 4th most routes among Giants players over the past three games, per ESPN’s Eric Moody.

Panthers WR Jalen Coker got a ton of hype last week, but fell flat, playing just 45% of snaps. He’s still worth a stash for another week or so — especially if Adam Thielen gets dealt.

Titans WR Nick Westbrook-Ikhine has now scored a receiving TD in four straight games. While that streak won’t continue all season, he’s clearly stepped up as the WR2 following the trade of DeAndre Hopkins.

Commanders WR Noah Brown had a quiet performance in the blowout Week 7 win over the Panthers, but in the other three games over the past month, he’s averaged four receptions on 6.7 targets for 63.7 receiving yards and 10.4 fantasy points per game, per FantasyPros’ Mike Fanelli.

QUICK SLANTS 👀

📖 Read Jack Reinhart of the Fantasy Footballers’ Red Zone Report, where he looks at the latest trends among RBs and WRs inside the 20.

📖 Read Tera Roberts of Yahoo’s Fantasy Football Pulse Check. This week, she highlights five RBs drafted with ADPs of 90 or later who finished in the top 11 overall backs last week: Tony Pollard (90.8 ADP), Chase Brown (113.8), J.K. Dobbins (130), Rico Dowdle (128.3), and Chuba Hubbard (129.9).

📖 Read Jordan Woodson of FantasyPros’ Fantasy Football Heat Index, where he looks at breakout performances from the weekend and analyzes their potential for sustained success.

🎙️ Listen to Week 10 Waivers Q&A from the Rotoworld Football Show, where Patrick Daugherty and Kyle Dvorchak discuss waiver wire targets and other major topics around the league.

📺 Watch Blue, the Colts’ mascot, start a fight with 4th graders😂

TWEET OF THE DAY

@ArtButMakeItSports has been so good, he’s getting three Tweets of the Day:

I don’t know how he does it…

Before we go, send your well wishes to Derek Carr, who became the first QB in NFL history to lose to 31 different teams. He also got Chris Olave laid out, got roasted by his former teammate, Michael Thomas, and (along with his brother) has built quite the legacy:

Try your best to enjoy election night.

See you Thursday.

- Marcus