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Heading into the 2020 season with Marlon Mack and Jonathan Taylor on the roster, Nyheim Hines had become the third wheel in the Colts backfield. Fast forward nine weeks and Hines has 28 receptions and 220 receiving yards (both good for No. 8 among qualified running backs) on a 32.5-percent (No. 63) Snap Share. His fantasy output on a week-to-week basis has been up and down, but Hines has produced boom weeks resulting in Top 5 running back performances.

Jonathan Taylor’s dynasty ranking has fallen and is teetering on the edge of the top 10. Since returning from bye, the much-hyped prospect has seen his Snap Share fall from 35.6-percent in Week 8 to 30.8-percent in Week 9. Taylor fumbled his way to a season-low six carries in Week 9. Sure it doesn’t look good right now given the high expectations, but it would be foolish to panic sell in dynasty at this point.

With D’Andre Swift’s role increasing, he ranks as Detroit’s most fantasy-relevant running back. Unless there’s an injury to Adrian Peterson, it doesn’t look like Swift’s Snap Share and opportunities will increase too significantly moving forward. Peterson’s role continues to decline with his primary involvement being in the rushing game. And although Kerryon Johnson also occasionally eats into Swift’s production and workload, continue to fire up Swift as an RB2 in PPR leagues.

The tricky part of navigating this Ravens backfields is accounting for the rushing ability and production of quarterback Lamar Jackson. The Ravens run a league-high 33.2 Team Run Plays per Game, but they unfortunately split up the touches three ways. Still, prioritize J.K. Dobbins in the Ravens backfield due to his involvement in the passing game, explosiveness, and efficiency. Prioritize Gus Edwards in non-PPR leagues and fade Mark Ingram in all formats. 

Next up for Aaron Jones is Jacksonville, whose 10 touchdowns allowed to running backs ranks No. 27 in the league. With four touchdowns over the last three weeks, James Robinson enters Week 10 ranked No. 6 among qualified running backs with 580 rushing yards. Entering Week 10, Green Bay is tied for dead last with 15 touchdowns allowed to running backs. Jones and Robinson is the Smash of the Week for Monkey Knife Fight Touchdown Props.

This week, The Podfather sees the first of many matchups between Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert being a shootout. Herbert has passed for less than 278 yards just once, in Week 5 at New Orleans where he finished with 268 yards. In his second career start, Tagovailoa looks to capitalize on a Chargers secondary that is vulnerable to the deep ball while missing cornerback Chris Harris to injury.

The Jerry Jeudy breakout is in full swing. The first-rounder from Alabama has seen 24 targets over the last two weeks. He received 14 of those in Week 9, converting seven for 125 yards and a touchdown in last Sunday’s loss to the Falcons. Jeudy has scored twice in the last five weeks and has been particularly dominant over the last two, thanks to a noticeable bump in usage within the Denver offense. His DraftKings salary of $5,600 is not in line with his recent performance. Take advantage.

Christian Kirk has been hot over the last three games, finishing as a top-15 wide receiver with seven or more targets in each. Kirk has a 17.4 (No. 10 among qualified wide receivers) Yards Per Reception average and a 32.2-percent (No. 8) Dominator Rating. With the Bills likely focused on locking down DeAndre Hopkins—much like the Dolphins did—Kirk is in line for another high Target Share. With another boom week looming, he’s a nice play at $5,700.

John Brown ($5,300 DraftKings salary) appears back to full health after dealing with a knee injury that forced him to miss two games and hampered his play when he did suit up. The differential between Brown’s 197 (No. 68 among qualified wide receivers) Completed Air Yards and 310 (No. 25) Unrealized Air Yards means a boom week looms on the horizon with consistent volume.

Brandin Cooks carries the No. 14-ranked Weekly Volatility score, which signals his extremely volatile fantasy scoring nature. In regard to the metric, values over 10.0 are considered very volatile. But he also brings a 30-point ceiling to the table and carries a salary ($5,600) that’s $1,000 cheaper than teammate Will Fuller ($6,700). He’s trending in the right direction post-Bill O’Brien and possesses the ability to produce a slate-breaking performance at low rostership.

In the six games Mike Davis filled in for Christian McCaffrey earlier this season, he averaged 17.3 fantasy points and finished as an RB1 three times. Davis boasts a 38.5 percent (No. 2 among qualified running backs) Juke Rate with 49 (No. 4) Evaded Tackles on his 128 touches. His elite receiving role, ability to create on his own and minimum salary makes him a lock in cash games.

D’Andre Swift broke the slate in Week 6 (30.3 DK points) with multiple Breakaway Runs and touchdowns, so we know it’s in his range of outcomes. Despite this, he will check in with minuscule Week 10 ownership. Most casual DFS gamers will also see the Washington defense and shy away from him. His snaps and opportunities are all trending in the right direction and we’ve already seen his explosiveness this season.

Sifting through the high-end stacking options this week, there is one that may get lost based on matchup. Russell Wilson and the Seahawks face the intimidating Los Angeles Rams defense. In a game with the second highest projected total, ignore the difficult on-paper defensive matchup and get exposure to massive upside at what’s expected to be unusually low ownership from the Seahawks offense.

With projected negative Game Script and a healthy set of receivers, Drew Lock should see enough volume to make him a viable play at $5.5K on DraftKings. Jerry Jeudy has arrived. It took some time as a rookie, but he is now commanding an alpha-level Target Share and alpha-level Air Yards. He’s delivering on that opportunity as well. Yet DraftKings seems to think it’s still Week 7 by pricing him at $5.6K. Capitalize while you can.

The only reason Mike Williams doesn’t have more WR1 weeks is fluky touchdown production from Los Angeles role players. Keenan Allen, Hunter Henry, and Williams make up 61.9-percent of the LA targets, but only 47.1-percent of the touchdowns. Meanwhile, the Chargers have five players with touchdown rates over 15-percent, only one of whom even has double-digit targets. As long as Justin Herbert keeps throwing dimes, Williams will have more spike weeks in the near future. 

Jamison Crowder entered Week 9 with a 31.5-percent (No. 2 among qualified wide receivers) Target Share, but his competition for targets was nonexistent. With Breshad Perriman and Denzel Mims back in action, Crowder now has more than just practice squad players alongside him at receiver, and his Target Share will take a massive hit in future contests. Still playing on the Jets, a diminished Target Share may be the end of WR1 and WR2 Crowder as we know him.

PlayerProfiler was built for guys like Kirk Merritt. What jumps off the page when visiting Merritt’s player profile? His workout metrics. Aside from an 11.17 (56th-percentile among qualified wide receivers) Agility Score, the undrafted receiver from Arkansas State boasts elite scores in all of his workout metrics. His elevation from the Dolphins practice squad and subsequent activation for the game earned him the top PPI ranking for Week 9.

Jake Luton offers an upside waiver wire pickup in 2QB/superflex season-long leagues, or a streaming option in traditional formats. Coming off his strong first start, dynasty gamers should look to sell high. His weak prospect profile, underwhelming workout metrics and low draft capital diminish his chances for long-term success. And unless he exceeds expectations and turns this offense around, the Jaguars (1-7) would be remiss not to take a quarterback with one of their two 2021 first-round picks.

Two of the league’s most exciting prospects faced off on Sunday for a 34-31 thriller, where Tua Tagovailoa pulled out the win over Kyler Murray. Tagovailoa also chipped in 35 yards on the ground, a little taste of the Konami Code upside he brings to the table. Justin Herbert has been putting crazy point totals on the board, and while the Miami defense has been strong, Tua should be a sneaky GPP option in a favorable game environment against the Chargers.

The San Francisco receiving group is in flux, especially with George Kittle and his massive target volume out of the picture for the rest of the season. Kyle Shanahan has the common sense to play his better players, but will he pull the trigger? Richie James is the stone minimum on DraftKings against New Orleans in Week 10.