Lions HC Dan Campbell made it clear Tuesday that RB D'Andre Swift still isn't back to 100%. “We probably gave Swift one too many carries,” Campbell said of his Week 8 usage. “We love Swift. Glad he’s out there, but he’s not back." Swift played 54% of Detroit's offensive snaps in the loss to Miami but finished with just 5 carries and 5 targets. That followed a full week of practice. It doesn't sound like we should expect significantly more work in this Sunday's game vs. the Packers.
The Bears are trading a 2nd-round pick to the Steelers in exchange for WR Chase Claypool, ESPN's Field Yates reports. It's a steep price for a guy who's been mostly disappointing since a flashy rookie season. Claypool ranks 52nd among 62 qualifying WRs in Pro Football Focus' 2022 receiving grades. His 1.03 yards per route run ranks 57th -- a bit behind teammates Diontae Johnson (1.16) and George Pickens (1.14). Of course, Claypool is still just 24 and brings a 6'4, 238-pound frame with 99th percentile athleticism. There's still intriguing fantasy upside here. Chicago is obviously a rough landing spot, though. QB Justin Fields has been better lately but remains a question mark as a passer. And this is the league's run-heaviest offense. The Bears rank dead last with just 20.0 pass attempts per game. That's climbed to 22.8 over the last 5 weeks -- but that's still not a workable number for Claypool. Consider him a WR4 unless we get a significant increase in passing volume from Chicago. Claypool's departure from Pittsburgh should mean more targets for Johnson, Pickens and TE Pat Freiermuth.
The Lions are trading TE T.J. Hockenson to the Vikings, along with a 2023 4th-round pick and a 2024 conditional 4th-round pick, in exchange for a 2023 2nd-round pick and 2024 3rd-round pick, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reports. It's surprising for a few reasons, most notably because it's an intra-division trade and involves a former 1st-round pick still on his rookie deal. Hockenson counts just $6.5 million against this year's salary cap and has a $9.3 million 5th-year option for 2023. He's been slightly underwhelming through 3+ NFL seasons considering he was the 8th overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft. But Hockenson's 44.0 receiving yards per game since 2019 rank 10th among TEs. He's averaged a career-best 56.4 yards per game so far this year and ranks 7th among 31 qualifying TEs in Pro Football Focus' 2022 receiving grades. Minnesota is an OK spot for Hockenson's rest-of-season fantasy value. He'll obviously be behind WR Justin Jefferson in the pecking order but could challenge WR Adam Thielen for the #2 spot. And the Vikings have been a pass-leaning offense this year, ranking 7th at 38.0 pass attempts per game. (The Lions rank 15th at 35.7.). Hockenson will face negative fantasy-scoring matchups the next 2 weeks vs. Washington and Buffalo, but the schedule looks nice after that. Detroit, meanwhile, is left with TEs Brock Wright and James Mitchell. Wright is the preferred add but is probably only worth a look in TE-premium leagues like the FFPC. RB D'Andre Swift and WR Amon-Ra St. Brown should pick up more targets with Hockenson gone.
Vikings TE Irv Smith suffered a high-ankle sprain in Sunday's win over the Cardinals. ESPN's Adam Schefter reports that he's expected to miss "multiple weeks." Smith shouldn't expect to find starter opportunities when he returns, after his team traded multiple draft picks for T.J. Hockenson. Smith can be dropped in all non-dynasty fantasy football formats.
Update: Smith is expected to be out 8-10 weeks, per Schefter.
The Colts on Tuesday fired OC Marcus Brady. It's an understandable move for a team ranked 30th in scoring and 18th in yards, but we're not sure how much impact there will be. HC Frank Reich calls the offensive plays, and Brady worked under him since Reich took the Indy job in 2018. If Brady were a primary issue here, it's tough to imagine him climbing from QBs coach to OC in 2021 and then maintaining the OC job this season. We'll see where the Colts offense goes from here.
Falcons WR Drake London managed only 31 yards on 4 catches against the Panthers in Week 8. His target share was only 17.8% — putting him behind Kyle Pitts (32.1%) and Damiere Byrd (21.4%). He’s now been held to no more than 40 yards in 5 straight. Until we see some signs of life, Drake will be just a deep-league dart throw this week against the Chargers.
Falcons TE Kyle Pitts came to life with 5 catches for 80 yards and 1 score in Week 8. Stunningly, he drew a season-high 9 targets (32.1%). Pitts found the end zone in the 2nd quarter on a simple play-action crosser. Overall, his size and athleticism showed up nicely in this one. And it’s encouraging to see his routes (27 on 31 Marcus Mariota dropbacks) at a healthy level. He’s in the TE1 mix for a Week 9 tilt with the Chargers.
With Chuba Hubbard (ankle) sidelined, Panthers RB D’Onta Foreman saw 26 carries for 118 yards and 3 TDs vs. Atlanta. He capitalized on the plus matchup to post the RB5 line for Week 8. While Foreman showed well as a hard-charging tackle-breaker, we expect Hubbard to return for Week 9 at Cincinnati. That’ll turn this backfield into more of a committee — and make both guys iffy FLEX options as road underdogs. Check back for updates on Hubbard’s health throughout the week.
Panthers WR D.J. Moore trounced the Falcons for 6-152-1 in Week 8. He saw 11 targets — a 30.5% team share — continuing a post- Christian McCaffrey/Robbie Anderson trend. Moore’s highlight came on a 62-yard deep ball that sent the game to OT — and showed off some awful defensive back play. Still, credit Moore for delivering on the type of performance we expected over the summer, especially in a plus matchup. With Walker remaining the starter for the foreseeable future, Moore will stick around as a weekly WR2. Next up is a Bengals squad that was smoked by Amari Cooper (5-131-1) on Monday night.
Lions RB D’Andre Swift returned in Week 8 to post only 10 total touches. He was out-carried 10-5 by Jamaal Williams but salvaged his fantasy day with 5 catches and a TD while isolated on a LB. Detroit jumped out to a big lead in this one before trailing over the final 15 minutes. While perhaps the team simply eased Swift back into action, it’s worth nothing that he participated fully in practice last Wednesday-Friday. We’ll see if his workload grows this week against Green Bay.
Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill put up another monster line in Week 8 against Detroit, this time slashing 12/188/0. Hill saw 14 targets — a 38.8% target share. Tua Tagovailoa again delivered some underthrown deep balls, but Hill continued to make the necessary adjustments. The former Chief is now on pace for over 2,000 receiving yards over a full season. He'll face the Bears in Week 9.
Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa delivered 382 yards and 3 TDs against the Lions in Week 8. After getting down 21-7 in the 1st half, he played mistake-free football. As usual, he leaned on Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, with the pair accounting for 77% of his yardage. This one always shaped up as a high-upside spot against a bad Detroit defense, and Tua capitalized with the overall QB1 performance. He’ll remain a top-12 guy for the road ahead, including Sunday at Chicago.
Commanders DE Chase Young is expected to join team drills in Wednesday's practice, HC Ron Rivera told reporters Monday. Young is still working back from last season's ACL tear (plus other damage). The team has opened the 21-day window for deciding whether to return him to the active roster, and it sounds like he's expected to be ready for game action soon. It's tough to know how long it will take Young to get back to normal playing time, and how he'll perform. He's stashable in deeper IDP leagues, but don't overrate his fantasy football outlook.
Cardinals TE Zach Ertz scraped together 4 grabs for 34 yards and 1 score against the Vikings in Week 8. His TD showed off some remarkable sideline balance and power. But the key takeaway here is his 5 targets, which ranked 4th on the team. He’s now seen just a 12.5% target share in 2 outings alongside DeAndre Hopkins. Still, Ertz will remain in the TE1 mix for Sunday’s showdown with Seattle.
Panthers interim HC Steve Wilks said Monday that he's sticking with QB P.J. Walker for the Week 9 game against the Bengals. Walker followed an efficient passing day in the Week 7 win over the Bucs with 317 yards in Sunday's OT loss to the Falcons. Walker completed just 52.8% of his passes for the game, with a game-tying 62-yard TD at the end of regulation and an INT. Walker doesn't make for a great fantasy play himself. He has been good for WR D.J. Moore through 2 starts, though.
Bills HC Sean McDermott said Monday that the team plans to activate CB Tre'Davious White from the PUP list ahead of Wednesday's deadline. "He'll remain day-to-day, and not really going to get into speculating on whether he's going to play this week or not," McDermott said, per ESPN's Alaina Getzenberg. "We're just going to continue to take it day by day like we've done to this point." White has been getting some work in with the team since Week 6. We'll see this week how close he is to game action.
Cardinals WR DeAndre Hopkins sucked up 13 targets (29.5%) in Arizona’s Week 8 loss at Minnesota. He turned them into 12-159-1 and made a number of acrobatic catches in the process. On the week, Hopkins’ performance was enough to rank as the overall WR2 in PPR. A massive target magnet, Hopkins should continue rolling as a WR1. Note that Marquise Brown (foot) will miss at least a few more weeks.
Rams HC Sean McVay said Monday that he expects WR Cooper Kupp (ankle) to play vs. the Bucs this weekend. Kupp has some "tissue swelling" but no structural damage to that ankle, per McVay. We'll keep a close eye on Kupp's status throughout the week, but fantasy owners can tentatively expect to have him in Week 9 lineups.
Browns LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (knee) is inactive for tonight’s game against the Bengals. That likely leaves Sione Takitaki as the #2 LB to Deion Jones. CB Greg Newsome II (oblique) and CB Greedy Williams (illness) are active
Vikings QB Kirk Cousins posted 232 yards and 2 TDs in Sunday’s win over Arizona. Cousins added a rushing TD from 17 yards out — his longest such score since 2016. He connected with K.J. Osborn and Johnny Mundt for a pair of goal line TDs, with Osborn’s catch coming on a beautifully placed ball. Cousins recorded the useful line despite a (stud-adjusted) so-so day from Justin Jefferson (6-98). We also saw Adam Thielen get shaken up on a play, but he ultimately returned to the field. Cousins figures to remain a top-12 option this week against Washington. After that, though, he gets tough draws at Buffalo and vs. Dallas.
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