Good morning.

Happy Thursday! We’ve got a fun TNF game (Vikings @ Rams) and only two days of work left until the weekend. Life is good.

While it might suck seeing half your fantasy team hurt and the other half turning out to be busts, any football is better than no football. So soak it in while you still can.

AROUND THE LEAGUE 🚨

D-Hop Traded to KC

WR DeAndre Hopkins has been traded to the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange for a conditional 5th round pick. He and Patrick Mahomes get a boost, obviously, but don’t forget that Hopkins is 32-years-old and Mahomes is averaging just 231.5 passing yards per game.

Calvin Ridley gets a slight boost in Tennessee, but still has to catch passes from Will Levis/Mason Rudolph and the worst ranked passing offense in the league. Meanwhile, Travis Kelce and Xavier Worthy might get knocked a little, but their roles should remain the same.

Here’s what else has been going on around the NFL over the last couple days…

• Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa (concussion) returned to practice and is expected to play Sunday.
  

• Panthers QB Andy Dalton sprained his thumb in a car accident Tuesday afternoon. Fortunately everyone involved is safe, but Bryce Young will start in his place on Sunday.
  

• Rams WR Cooper Kupp (ankle) is expected to play tonight. His name has also been floated around in some trade rumors, but nothing has come to fruition yet. Meanwhile, fellow WR Puka Nacua (knee) returned to practice, but is unlikely to play.
  

• Vikings TE T.J. Hockenson could play tonight, but don’t be surprised if he’s on a snap count. Keep him on your bench for now.
  

• Bucs WR Mike Evans is expected to miss the next three games with a hamstring injury.
  

• 49ers WRs Deebo Samuel and Jauan Jennings, as well as TE George Kittle are all not practicing and their statuses for Sunday night remain up in the air. Ricky Pearsall is a must-add if he somehow slipped through waivers.
  

• Commanders QB Jayden Daniels is unlikely to play Sunday. Veteran Marcus Mariota would get the start in his place.
  

• Seahawks WR DK Metcalf sat out of practice yesterday, but is “hopeful” to play Sunday.
  

• Saints WR Chris Olave is likely to return this week from concussion protocol, but QB Derek Carr will remain out with an oblique injury.
  

• Browns QB Jameis Winston will get the start on Sunday, but expect the team to steer toward youngster Dorian Thompson-Robinson as the season goes on. Potentially following their Week 10 bye.
  

• Titans QB Will Levis is unlikely to play Sunday. It’ll be Mason Rudolph under center again for Tennessee.
  

• Cowboys K Brandon Aubrey missed practice due to jury duty. Yes, jury duty. He’ll be in court today and tomorrow as well, but is expected to be available for Sunday’s game.

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MARKET TRENDS 🧐

Running Back

🚀 Buy De’Von Achane. Most of your leaguemates aren’t stupid — they know Tua’s coming back. But still try to trade for Achane if you can. Even though Raheem Mostert was healthy again, Achane still led the backfield in snaps, attempts, routes, and targets, per Fantasy Life’s Dwain McFarland. He’s the clear RB1 in an offense that should return to their explosive ways after the return of their QB.

💰 Buy Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren. With Justin Fields no longer vulturing rushing opportunities and Russell Wilson surprisingly looking good, expect the Steelers RBs to thrive:

As for Warren, we noted in Tuesday’s newsletter that between 2022 and 2023, no QB checked the ball down more often than Russell Wilson, per USA Today’s Joe Hoefling. That bodes well for a pass-catching back like Warren, who is finally healthy and ready to take on a larger role.

📈 The Return of Rachaad White. While we and everyone else left him for dead, Rachaad White reminded us that he’s still a receiving threat out of the backfield. His receiving production alone (6/71/2) would’ve made him the WR2 last week — just 0.1 points away from Amon-Ra St. Brown.

With injuries to their top WRs, expect the Bucs to turn to White more in the passing game, making him a viable starter once again.

😤 Kareem Hunt is a workhorse. He’s currently the only RB in the league to average 20+ carries per game, according to FantasyLife’s Ian Hartitz, and has major TD-upside until Isiah Pacheco returns. If you’re a middle-of-the-road team who needs to make a playoff push, he could be worth acquiring. But if you’re near the top of the standings, sell him high before Pacheco comes back.

📉 Sell Tank Bigsby. The stars aligned just right last week for Bigsby, as the Jags had a positive game script (for once) and faced a struggling rush defense. After holding Seattle to just 46 rushing yards in Week 2, the Patriots have since given up 133, 148, 193, 192, and 161 rushing yards in their following five games. Going forward, the Jags will be forced to throw the ball much more often, which favors D’Ernest Johnson, not the Tank.

😳 Derrick Henry is a freak. He’s the RB1 so far this year, and it’s easy to see why…

Wide Receiver

👀 Monitor the Bucs’ WR situation. With both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin out, rookie Jalen McMillan was primarily used outside, while veteran Sterling Shepard manned the slot, per CBS Sports’ Jacob Gibbs.

McMillan was primarily a slot receiver in college, but Shepard is trusted by the coaching staff to slide into the Godwin role right away. McMillan has the higher ceiling, though, but he’ll need to take advantage of these reps with Evans out of the lineup. One metric he has going for him is his frequency of horizontally breaking/underneath routes, which are conducive to success:

📈 Brighter days are ahead for Dolphins WRs. Much like with De’Von Achane, Tua Tagovailoa’s return means you can comfortable start Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle once again:

💰 Continue to buy high on Brian Thomas Jr. I don’t know how many times we can say this, but the dude is legit. Last Sunday, he became the 1st player with 500+ receiving yards on 30 or fewer receptions through seven career games since Randy Moss in 1998, per CBS Sports’ Doug Clawson. He’s gone from an intriguing rookie, to a must-start, to a top-10 alpha WR real quick.

💰 Buy low on Chris Olave. He should be returning to the lineup this week, and while Derek Carr remains out, he should be back soon too. Don’t forget that Rashid Shaheed is on IR, so expect a heavy dose of targets to go Olave’s way.

🚀 Once he’s healthy, Deebo Samuel could be a league winner:

📉 DeVonta Smith isn’t the same with A.J. Brown in the lineup. He isn’t necessarily a sell candidate, especially coming off 0.8 point performance, but temper expectations as long as AJB is healthy:

QB / TE

🚀 Lamar Jackson is ridiculous. There’s no way you’ll be able to trade for him at this point, but this stat was just too mind-blowing not to share — especially for a “running QB”:

Congrats to all you who have the clear-cut QB1.

📉 Sell Anthony Richardson. He finished as the QB23 with just 8.8 fantasy points, despite leading all QBs in rushing attempts (14). His terrible passing (except for the odd deep ball) is just weighing him down too much…

💰 Buy David Njoku. With Amari Cooper in Buffalo, Njoku tied Brock Bowers for the most receptions in the league (10) last week. Factor in Jameis Winston airing it out now in Cleveland, and it’s easy to see how Njoku could get back to the form we saw last season with Joe Flacco.

💰 Buy Cade Otton. Going into Week 7, Otton was 3rd on the Bucs in targets per game (5.2), catches (19), yards (163) and target share (16.5%). He was also 3rd in red-zone targets, one behind Godwin and two behind Evans, per CBS Sports’ Dave Richard. And once Evans was sidelined, Otton caught 7 of 9 targets for 12.4 yards per catch. He should be a target hog over the middle of the field and in the red-zone going forward.

👀 Mark Andrews is back! We’re glad we told you to hold him last week, because he was the only WR or TE to finish the day with 2 or more receiving TDs. While the usage is still concerning, it’s hard to ignore the fact that he’s the TE5 over the last three weeks and is arguable the top target on one of the best offenses in the league.

QUICK SLANTS 👀

📖 Read The Week 8 Everything Report from Fantasy Points’ Scott Barrett. The report is free this week (no pay-wall), so soak in everything from Barrett’s biggest takeaways over the past week.

📖 Read Robert Lorge of RotoBaller’s Week 8 Cut List. Lorge is ready to cut bait on Patrick Mahomes, who is currently being outscored on a point-per-game basis by Bo Nix, Drake Maye, Aaron Rodgers, Derek Carr, Russell Wilson, and Trevor Lawrence.😬

📖 Read Liz Loza of ESPN’s Facts vs. Feelings, where she combines narratives and stats while analyzing fantasy football trends around the league.

🎙️ Listen to Top-10 2024 NFL Draft Classes from The PFF NFL Podcast, where PFF’s Trevor Sikkema and guest Jon Ledyard discuss their top-10 team draft classes so far this season.

📺 Watch Bill Belichick’s appearance on The Pat McAfee Show from Monday, where he looks back on his Super Bowl runs, talks about the latest trends around the league, and absolutely 💩s on the Jets.

TWEET OF THE DAY

Enjoy TNF.

See you Sunday.

- Marcus