Tell your friends (just not your leaguemates until next week)

by Carly Manger

Published On: November 4th, 2025

I honestly cannot believe Week 9 is over. We are officially halfway through the regular season, folks. It feels like it has flown by. For most leagues, the fantasy playoffs start in just five short weeks. Some of you may be looking ahead to the playoffs, while others are just trying their best not to come in last.

Regardless of your standing, there is a lot of season left. This is basically the “Witching Hour” of the fantasy season. Win(ner)s become Los(er)s and Los(er)s become Win(ner)s.

a clock on a wall with the word hour behind it

That being said, if you are new here, welcome! Every week, I will be posting a stat/takeaway dump, unpacking different players and fantasy-related situations around the league.

Let’s dive in and unpack the stats you need now from Week 9 of the NFL.

Stats provided by Fantasy Points. All scoring is half point per reception (Half-PPR) format with four-point passing TD.

Unpacking the NFL Week 9: The Stats You Need Now

Check out our Premium Tools – Use Code “OptimusFall” for 25% OFF 4 Months!

Lamar & Order: Tight End Unit

*DUN DUN*

After missing three weeks with a hamstring injury, Lamar Jackson returned and did not miss a beat. The entire Ravens offense looked alive again. Derrick Henry topped 100+ rushing yards for the third time this season, and the passing game was, dare I say, functional.

The biggest story of the night was Mark Andrews‘ multi-TD performance. Andrews now leads all Ravens pass-catchers in both red zone targets (6) and end zone looks (4).

Catch Me If You Can

De’Von Achane saw a team-high 25% target share in Week 9. On the season, he ranks second among RBs in team target share at 20.8%, trailing only Christian McCaffrey at 23.5%.

In fact, since Tyreek Hill dislocated his knee, Jaylen Waddle and Achane are tied for a team-high 21% target share. This offense runs through Achane.

Tee Time

What a week for Tee Higgins. After seeing an abysmal 5.9% team target share in Week 8, his target share skyrocketed to 19.1% in Week 9. Higgins caught seven of his nine targets for 121 yards and two TDs. This has always been the upside of Higgins; every once in a while, he would be the WR1 to Ja’Marr Chase‘s WR2. With Flacco in town, Higgins is back on the menu, ladies and gents!

Since Joe Flacco was traded to the Bengals, Higgins is averaging 17.0 Half-PPR fantasy points per game. Before that? 6.9.

It is worth noting before we move on that Chase Brown actually had a team and season high target share of 29.8% in Week 9. PPR scam Chase Brown, anyone?

Missing In Action

Welp. That sucked. As a Rome Odunze manager myself, I feel your pain if you started him as well. I mean, Caleb Williams had more receptions than Odunze did.* Yikes.

Let’s look at the numbers. In Week 9, Odunze played 100% of the snaps, a metric he has only hit one other time this season (Week 2). He even led the team in routes run per dropback (90.9%). Yet, he saw a season low 8.1% target share. For context, before Week 9, the lowest target share Odunze had seen was 17.2%.

*Fun Fact: Caleb Williams became the first starting QB with two receptions in a game since 1953 (Baltimore Colts QB George Taliaferro).

Jersey Boy

D’Andre Swift was ruled out with a groin injury ahead of Week 9. Enter Kyle Monangai. Yes, Monangai had been involved before this week, but this was his moment to shine, and he capitalized on it.

The 23-year-old New Jersey native played a season high 73.7% of snaps, handled 83.9% of the running back rush attempts, ran a route on 50% of the team’s dropbacks, and saw a 10.8% team target share.

For context, Week 1 is the only week Swift didn’t share work with Monangai. During that week, Swift played 79.4% of snaps, handled 100% of the running back rush attempts, ran a route on 60.5% of the team’s dropbacks, and saw a 14.3% team target share.

That looks like a plug-and-play direct replacement as long as Swift is sidelined.

Feeling The Love

In Week 9, Cole Kmet left with a concussion. In his place, Colston Loveland stepped up in a big way (game-winning TD big). Loveland saw a season high 18.9% target share. He caught six of his seven targets for 118 yards and two TDs.

Maybe I haven’t been paying attention enough. I am willing to admit when I am wrong, but I was surprised to see that, on the season, Loveland has run more routes (139 to 127) and seen more targets (25 to 20) than Kmet. Week 9 proved that Loveland deserves to see increased volume.

Game Of Jones

It kind of feels like fantasy managers, myself included, forgot about Aaron Jones after he got hurt. Maybe it’s because the Vikings have been a pretty “meh” team, or because the Carson Wentz/J.J. McCarthy drama dominated the news. Either way, Jones hasn’t been on our radar.

Now, the numbers may be a tad skewed due to Jones leaving with an AC Joint sprain, but let’s look at them anyway. Before getting injured, Jones had nine carries for 78 yards. That amounts to a whopping 8.7 yards per carry. He also caught both of his targets for 20 yards. While Jordan Mason had one more carry, he only had 36 yards (3.6 yards per carry).

Early reports indicate that Jones’ injury is mild, and he said that he expects to play next week. He’ll face the Ravens, a team that has struggled against the run, making him a solid RB2 with upside for Week 10.

Unexplosive Duo

The Lions’ running game had a weird week. Jahmyr Gibbs scored under eight fantasy points for the second time in three games, and he has only two 20+ point games this season.

In Week 9, David Montgomery hit a season-high 10.8% team target share, but neither back performed like a fantasy superstar. Despite playing significantly fewer snaps (23 to 41), Montgomery had two more carries (11 to nine) and out-targeted Gibbs four to three.

Looking at the numbers, Gibbs’ target share has plummeted. In Weeks 1-3, he averaged a 19.2% team target share. Since then, that number has dropped to 8.2%.

Rico Mode

Rico Dowdle is a different RB in games where he gets 20+ touches. Dave Canales told reporters early last week that Dowdle would see the bulk of the carries, and he followed through on that. Rico played 74.1% of snaps, handled 83.3% of the running back rush attempts, and ran a route on 47.8% of the team’s dropbacks.

Dowdle averaged over 4.65 yards per carry for the fifth straight week, bringing his season average to an impressive 5.6 YPC.

When he is the starter, he is EXPLOSIVE.

Last Man Standing

Romeo Doubs stepped into the spotlight in Week 9, and the numbers speak for themselves. With Tucker Kraft (ACL) and Matthew Golden (shoulder) sidelined due to injuries, Doubs became the top target, hauling in seven of 10 targets for 91 yards in his best game of the season. On the season, Doubs has averaged a 20.8% target share. That is the highest on the team by a decent amount, with Kraft in second with 16.8%.

His average depth of target (aDOT) on the season is 13.8 yards, and he has accounted for 39.5% of the team’s air yards. He’s not just seeing volume, he’s getting meaningful downfield looks.

With Kraft out for the season and Golden potentially sidelined in Week 10, the floor and ceiling for Doubs are both high.

Sharing Is Not Caring

The Chargers are the new Packers this year. Too many mouths to feed, and you never know which one to start with. Are you going to get a goose from Quentin Johnston? A “meh” performance from everyone? A splash game from the exciting rookie TE? There is truly no telling week to week.

Week 9 saw an almost perfect target distribution among the top four receiving options, with Ladd McConkey slightly edging out the rest:

Ladd McConkey: 20.7%

Keenan Allen: 17.2%

Quentin Johnston: 17.2%

Oronde Gadsden: 17.2%

The big takeaway since Gadsden’s emergence is that he and Ladd are the spoon that stirs the passing game drink. There will be natural ebbs and flows, of course, but Gadsden hasn’t seen fewer than five targets/game since his Week 6 breakout. After his slow start, McConkey hasn’t seen fewer than seven targets in a game over the same span. What Gadsden’s emergence means is that Johnston and Allen will be in that WR3/Flex tier for rankings, but either could have a high-WR2 finish in any given week, or bust out completely. 

Forget The Titans

Before I even begin this section, I want to say, I hear you, no one cares about the Titans. Ok, maybe that’s too far, but we can all agree no one really wants to roster one (outside of maybe one of the RBs discussed below). That being said, I do think that there is one worth a stash at the end of your bench. There’s a chance it won’t work out, but with this kind of target volume, there are worse options available.

Oh? You’re wondering who I am talking about? None other than Elic Ayomanor. Elic had a few epic plays to start the season (see what I did there), but he’s been pretty disappointing down the stretch. Since Calvin Ridley has been sidelined with a hamstring injury, Ayomanor’s target share has gone up. He’s averaged a 21.5% team target share in that span. Before Ridley’s injury, it was only at 16.5%.

Ayomanor has run a route on 77% of the team’s dropbacks this season. Everyone has been clamoring about Chimere Dike, and the kid has juice, but he’s just not as involved. Dike has only run a route on 50% of the team’s dropbacks. Ayomanor also has the second (behind Ridley) highest first-read target rate on the team at 23.4%.

Toxic Backfield

Tyjae Spears‘ return from injury has made this backfield Toxic. Let’s look at the data:

Weeks 1-4 (pre-Spears): Tony Pollard played 88.7% of snaps, handled 77.3% of the team’s rush attempts, and ran a route on 60.7% of the team’s dropbacks.

Weeks 5-9 (post-Spears): Pollard has played 55.9% of snaps, handled 53.7% of the team’s rush attempts, and run a route on 36.1% of the team’s dropbacks.

Spears’ numbers in that same span do not look much better: 44.4% of snaps, 31.6% of the team’s rush attempts, and ran a route on 38.7% of the team’s dropbacks.

The day isn’t over, and this article will likely be published right around the trade deadline. If Pollard is moved, this would create a significant opportunity for Spears. If the two continue to split the work, I don’t want to start either one of them.

Never Trust Mike Vrabel

You may be familiar with the old axiom to “never trust Sean Payton,” but there’s a corollary that’s much less well known, talking about Mike Vrabel and his dastardly understudy, Josh McDaniels. Actually, it’s not so much of a corollary as it is the same thing just repeated with different names. “Don’t trust Mike Vrabel or Josh McDaniels.”

The good news: The Patriots gave TreVeyon Henderson 75% of the snaps on Sunday, leaving only 25% to preseason hero RB Terrell Jennings. Henderson even got nine red zone snaps along with three goal-to-go snaps to Jennings’ three and one, respectively. That’s kind of as good a split as you can hope for from the tandem of coaches who once played Dion Lewis over Derrick Henry for two years (Vrabel) and a coach who never saw an RB he couldn’t put in a gross timeshare (McDaniels).

The bad news: On Jennings’ lone goal-to-go carry, he scored a rushing TD, keeping Henderson from ascending to the RB heavens that the fantasy community hoped for.

“So what does it all mean, Basil?” Don’t expect Henderson to keep this kind of stranglehold on the job once Rhamondre Stevenson is healthy and ready to rock ‘n’ roll. If those fumbles couldn’t keep him benched, there’s no way a healthy Stevenson isn’t getting more work than we’re comfortable with.   

Drake And Bake

Drake London has had his fair share of insane target shares this season, and Week 9 was no different. After returning from his hip injury, London saw a 37.8% team target share. London is averaging a 30.5% target share on the season, ranking him fourth among all pass-catchers in the NFL. Only Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Ja’Marr Chase, and Garrett Wilson have higher average target shares. 

London is the only receiving option that really matters in Atlanta. He is seeing 38.3% of the team’s first-read targets. 

It is worth noting that Kyle Pitts has quietly amassed a 20% team target share on the season. Maybe he is better when no one is looking.

It Was A Trap

All week, I had to listen to people claim that Tyrone Tracy was going to “take over this backfield” and get “20+ touches a game.” Well…as the resident Giants fan here at Optimus, I was fairly certain that would not be the case. Don’t get me wrong, Tracy is a good back. But that’s just all, he’s good, not great. There is a reason that Cam Skattebo took over this backfield so quickly.

That being said, let’s look at how it actually played out.

Devin Singletary led the backfield, not Tracy.

Singletary: 55.4% of snaps, 38.1% of team rush attempts, ran a route on 35.9% of dropbacks.

Tracy: 44.6% of snaps, 23.8% of team rush attempts, ran a route on 46.2% of dropback.s

Now, what does this tell us? Notice how I said “team rush attempts.” Those numbers add up to ~60%. Where is the other 40% you may ask? Oh, that would just be the Giants’ actual leading rusher, Jaxson Dart. For the rest of the season, this offense is going to run through him, literally. I apologize if you spent a significant amount of free agent acquisition budget (FAAB) on Tracy or made a substantial trade for him. There may be spike weeks, but down the stretch, I would expect more of this.

Snap Back To Reality

Ope, there goes gravity!

Don’t worry, my rap stylings are now behind us. I’ve talked about how ‘gravity’ is a thing in football. If you’re unsure what I mean, just take a look at how defenders move and react to Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, Tyreek Hill, and the like. That’s football gravity.

It seems actual gravity finally caught up with Jonathan Taylor and the Colts this week as they crashed back down to earth. Taylor’s 16 carries were his second-fewest of the season, leading the way. However, for the first time all year, he was game-scripted out of the box score, as this wasn’t a back-and-forth game.

This was also only Taylor’s third game of the season without scoring a TD. Some people have put Taylor’s 2025 season on par with LaDainian Tomlinson’s 2006 season in terms of scoring prowess. Just for a reminder of how prolific Tomlinson was that year, there were:

It’s not like Daniel Jones had even a decent day either. I’m just going to let this one speak for itself:

Daniel Jones coming into today:
9 sacks 5 turnovers
Daniel Jones today:
5 sacks 4 turnovers

— Derek (Not Derrick) (@derekadamthomas.com) November 2, 2025 at 2:43 PM

Never Trust Sean Payton

I am not sure how many times we have to say it, but never, ever, ever trust Sean Payton. Now you may be thinking, “Carly, what did he do this time?” Well, he apparently has designs on making Troy Franklin the WR1 in Denver, for now at least.

For the third straight week, Franklin was the No. 1 target in this offense. Franklin has the most red zone targets on the team (12), he has the most air yards on the team (880), and actually now has the highest season-long target share on the team (19.3%). 

If Troy Franklin is still on your waiver wire, run, do not walk.

Peter Parker

Regardless of everything that I discuss below, let’s take a minute to talk about Parker Washington and his Week 9 performance. Washington saw a team- and season-high 26.5% target share, catching eight of his nine targets for 90 yards. He also saw 34.6% of the team’s first-read targets.

THAT BEING SAID…

Sometimes when life gets in the way, things work out. This article is usually published every Monday, but due to unforeseen circumstances, it is being released on Tuesday. As a result, I can now include a HUGE trade that just happened. Jakobi Meyers was traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a fourth and sixth-round pick. 

How will this impact the WRs? I am not sure. Travis Hunter‘s injury apparently isn’t “long-term,” and it was JUST reported that Brian Thomas is dealing with a low-grade ankle sprain and has a chance to play this week. It will likely take Meyers a moment to get up to speed with this offense, so I wouldn’t anticipate that we see the full impact for a couple of weeks. We will circle back on this. Remind me.

He’s Back

Brock Bowers has gravity. See also: Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry. When Bowers plays, he opens up wide open spaces for his running mates and his QB. Don’t believe me? Geno Smith increased his season total passing TD output by 57.14% in a single game. Yeah, he threw four of them and only threw seven through the first seven games of the season. Gravity.

Remember that trade I mentioned earlier? Well, it impacts the Raiders as well. Subtract one Jakobi Meyers, add…somebody. Sombodies? That’s a good question: What does the fallout look like?

Tre Tucker ascends to the Meyers role of WR1, a bit of a misnomer because Bowers is the top option in the offense without question. As it is, Tucker already is on the field for 90%+ of the snaps and sees a bit over five targets per game. Thanks to Bowers’s presence, this likely won’t change. Although Tucker should see some more efficiency in the targets and receptions he does get. My heart wants rookie Jack Bech to see an increased role, but we’re more likely to have Smith and HC Pete Carroll’s favorite real estate mogul, Tyler Lockett, to run a lot more routes and siphon a lot more targets from Bech than we’d like to see.

Seeing Red(Zone)

Davante Adams has been living in the end zone this season. So much so that he currently leads all WRs in both red zone targets (20) and end zone targets (16). To put that in context, Ja’Marr Chase is second among WRs with 14 red zone targets (he has also played one more game), and if we expand the sample to include TEs, Trey McBride is second with 15 red zone targets. Sure, Puka Nacua is the exciting WR to roster, but Davante Adams may have been a steal at his value.

King-Caid

There are exactly two pieces of the Buffalo passing offense that are worth anything – Khalil Shakir and the emerging Dalton Kincaid. Kincaid doesn’t get the playing time or the target share of the truly elite TEs, typically playing under 50% of offensive snaps, and has only earned a 16.8% target share on the season. However, all he does is catch the ball. With an 81.8% Catch Rate, Kincaid leads the Bills on the season. His growing role and Allen’s trust in the third-year TE were evidenced by his 6/101/1 line in their marquee matchup against Kansas City.

Beyond that, the breakout for Kincaid is real, but his overall volume is down, disguising it a bit. In 2024, Kincaid had a 58.7% Catch Rate, a -11.6% Catch Rate Over Expected (CROE, meaning he didn’t catch as many as he ‘should’ have’), and 10.2 Yards Per Reception (YPR). All of these are up in 2025. Kincaid is clocking in with the aforementioned 81.8% catch rate, 12.4% CROE, and 15.2 YPR.

Tory Heatin

Tory Horton was on a heater Sunday night. The entire Seahawks offense looked basically unstoppable in the first half. Sam Darnold went 16/16 for 282 and 4 TDs. Two of those TDs were caught by Horton. Horton finished the night with four receptions (on four targets) for 48 yards and two TDs. 50% of his catches were TDs. Heater.

Remember how I mentioned that it’s good this article got published today instead? Well, we just had another trade! Rashid Shaheed is now a Seahawk. What does this mean for Horton? I can only guess. It depends on rational coaching. If the Seahawks are smart, this will impact Cooper Kupp way more than it will impact Horton.

Goal Line Switch

The Seattle Seahawks’ backfield has been a frustrating one for fantasy football all season. To make matters worse, there seems to have been a shift this week. 

Through the first eight weeks, Zach Charbonnet handled 68.4% of the team’s goal-line carries (inside the 10-yard line), while Kenneth Walker only handled 23.8% of those carries.

What happened in Week 9, you might be asking? 

Charbonnet: 0%

Walker: 66.7%

Is this a trend that will continue? Realistically, I don’t think so, but it is always worth keeping up with the stats week to week.

Family Feud

“It’s very hard for me to watch the Cardinals’ offense, and you can quote me on that.” – Marvin Harrison Sr.

Well, I think his son took that personally. Marvin Harrison Jr. had his career high in receptions last night (7). It was not his best game from a yards or target standpoint, but the entire team is clearly enjoying having Brissett behind center. Harrison’s 32.3% target share was a season high for him. It was also the first and only week this season that he has out-targeted Trey McBride.

 

Before I send you off, I would like to give a special shout-out to Lou Brunson this week. If you don’t know who he is, you should. He helped me get this article out to all of you this week, even when I was at my lowest. He is an amazing friend and an even better fantasy analyst.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for this week. Tune in next week for another Unpacking the NFL!

Carly Manger isn’t just an analyst with Optimus Fantasy; she’s THE reason we’re able to bring you all of our great content, thanks to her role as Senior Editor. For breaking news and injury updates, follow Optimus Fantasy News on Bluesky!

I honestly cannot believe Week 9 is over. We are officially halfway through the regular season, folks. It feels like it has flown by. For most leagues, the fantasy playoffs start in just five short weeks. Some of you may be looking ahead to the playoffs, while others are just trying their best not to come in last.

Regardless of your standing, there is a lot of season left. This is basically the “Witching Hour” of the fantasy season. Win(ner)s become Los(er)s and Los(er)s become Win(ner)s.

a clock on a wall with the word hour behind it

That being said, if you are new here, welcome! Every week, I will be posting a stat/takeaway dump, unpacking different players and fantasy-related situations around the league.

Let’s dive in and unpack the stats you need now from Week 9 of the NFL.

Stats provided by Fantasy Points. All scoring is half point per reception (Half-PPR) format with four-point passing TD.

Unpacking the NFL Week 9: The Stats You Need Now

Check out our Premium Tools – Use Code “OptimusFall” for 25% OFF 4 Months!

Lamar & Order: Tight End Unit

*DUN DUN*

After missing three weeks with a hamstring injury, Lamar Jackson returned and did not miss a beat. The entire Ravens offense looked alive again. Derrick Henry topped 100+ rushing yards for the third time this season, and the passing game was, dare I say, functional.

The biggest story of the night was Mark Andrews‘ multi-TD performance. Andrews now leads all Ravens pass-catchers in both red zone targets (6) and end zone looks (4).

Catch Me If You Can

De’Von Achane saw a team-high 25% target share in Week 9. On the season, he ranks second among RBs in team target share at 20.8%, trailing only Christian McCaffrey at 23.5%.

In fact, since Tyreek Hill dislocated his knee, Jaylen Waddle and Achane are tied for a team-high 21% target share. This offense runs through Achane.

Tee Time

What a week for Tee Higgins. After seeing an abysmal 5.9% team target share in Week 8, his target share skyrocketed to 19.1% in Week 9. Higgins caught seven of his nine targets for 121 yards and two TDs. This has always been the upside of Higgins; every once in a while, he would be the WR1 to Ja’Marr Chase‘s WR2. With Flacco in town, Higgins is back on the menu, ladies and gents!

Since Joe Flacco was traded to the Bengals, Higgins is averaging 17.0 Half-PPR fantasy points per game. Before that? 6.9.

It is worth noting before we move on that Chase Brown actually had a team and season high target share of 29.8% in Week 9. PPR scam Chase Brown, anyone?

Missing In Action

Welp. That sucked. As a Rome Odunze manager myself, I feel your pain if you started him as well. I mean, Caleb Williams had more receptions than Odunze did.* Yikes.

Let’s look at the numbers. In Week 9, Odunze played 100% of the snaps, a metric he has only hit one other time this season (Week 2). He even led the team in routes run per dropback (90.9%). Yet, he saw a season low 8.1% target share. For context, before Week 9, the lowest target share Odunze had seen was 17.2%.

*Fun Fact: Caleb Williams became the first starting QB with two receptions in a game since 1953 (Baltimore Colts QB George Taliaferro).

Jersey Boy

D’Andre Swift was ruled out with a groin injury ahead of Week 9. Enter Kyle Monangai. Yes, Monangai had been involved before this week, but this was his moment to shine, and he capitalized on it.

The 23-year-old New Jersey native played a season high 73.7% of snaps, handled 83.9% of the running back rush attempts, ran a route on 50% of the team’s dropbacks, and saw a 10.8% team target share.

For context, Week 1 is the only week Swift didn’t share work with Monangai. During that week, Swift played 79.4% of snaps, handled 100% of the running back rush attempts, ran a route on 60.5% of the team’s dropbacks, and saw a 14.3% team target share.

That looks like a plug-and-play direct replacement as long as Swift is sidelined.

Feeling The Love

In Week 9, Cole Kmet left with a concussion. In his place, Colston Loveland stepped up in a big way (game-winning TD big). Loveland saw a season high 18.9% target share. He caught six of his seven targets for 118 yards and two TDs.

Maybe I haven’t been paying attention enough. I am willing to admit when I am wrong, but I was surprised to see that, on the season, Loveland has run more routes (139 to 127) and seen more targets (25 to 20) than Kmet. Week 9 proved that Loveland deserves to see increased volume.

Game Of Jones

It kind of feels like fantasy managers, myself included, forgot about Aaron Jones after he got hurt. Maybe it’s because the Vikings have been a pretty “meh” team, or because the Carson Wentz/J.J. McCarthy drama dominated the news. Either way, Jones hasn’t been on our radar.

Now, the numbers may be a tad skewed due to Jones leaving with an AC Joint sprain, but let’s look at them anyway. Before getting injured, Jones had nine carries for 78 yards. That amounts to a whopping 8.7 yards per carry. He also caught both of his targets for 20 yards. While Jordan Mason had one more carry, he only had 36 yards (3.6 yards per carry).

Early reports indicate that Jones’ injury is mild, and he said that he expects to play next week. He’ll face the Ravens, a team that has struggled against the run, making him a solid RB2 with upside for Week 10.

Unexplosive Duo

The Lions’ running game had a weird week. Jahmyr Gibbs scored under eight fantasy points for the second time in three games, and he has only two 20+ point games this season.

In Week 9, David Montgomery hit a season-high 10.8% team target share, but neither back performed like a fantasy superstar. Despite playing significantly fewer snaps (23 to 41), Montgomery had two more carries (11 to nine) and out-targeted Gibbs four to three.

Looking at the numbers, Gibbs’ target share has plummeted. In Weeks 1-3, he averaged a 19.2% team target share. Since then, that number has dropped to 8.2%.

Rico Mode

Rico Dowdle is a different RB in games where he gets 20+ touches. Dave Canales told reporters early last week that Dowdle would see the bulk of the carries, and he followed through on that. Rico played 74.1% of snaps, handled 83.3% of the running back rush attempts, and ran a route on 47.8% of the team’s dropbacks.

Dowdle averaged over 4.65 yards per carry for the fifth straight week, bringing his season average to an impressive 5.6 YPC.

When he is the starter, he is EXPLOSIVE.

Last Man Standing

Romeo Doubs stepped into the spotlight in Week 9, and the numbers speak for themselves. With Tucker Kraft (ACL) and Matthew Golden (shoulder) sidelined due to injuries, Doubs became the top target, hauling in seven of 10 targets for 91 yards in his best game of the season. On the season, Doubs has averaged a 20.8% target share. That is the highest on the team by a decent amount, with Kraft in second with 16.8%.

His average depth of target (aDOT) on the season is 13.8 yards, and he has accounted for 39.5% of the team’s air yards. He’s not just seeing volume, he’s getting meaningful downfield looks.

With Kraft out for the season and Golden potentially sidelined in Week 10, the floor and ceiling for Doubs are both high.

Sharing Is Not Caring

The Chargers are the new Packers this year. Too many mouths to feed, and you never know which one to start with. Are you going to get a goose from Quentin Johnston? A “meh” performance from everyone? A splash game from the exciting rookie TE? There is truly no telling week to week.

Week 9 saw an almost perfect target distribution among the top four receiving options, with Ladd McConkey slightly edging out the rest:

Ladd McConkey: 20.7%

Keenan Allen: 17.2%

Quentin Johnston: 17.2%

Oronde Gadsden: 17.2%

The big takeaway since Gadsden’s emergence is that he and Ladd are the spoon that stirs the passing game drink. There will be natural ebbs and flows, of course, but Gadsden hasn’t seen fewer than five targets/game since his Week 6 breakout. After his slow start, McConkey hasn’t seen fewer than seven targets in a game over the same span. What Gadsden’s emergence means is that Johnston and Allen will be in that WR3/Flex tier for rankings, but either could have a high-WR2 finish in any given week, or bust out completely. 

Forget The Titans

Before I even begin this section, I want to say, I hear you, no one cares about the Titans. Ok, maybe that’s too far, but we can all agree no one really wants to roster one (outside of maybe one of the RBs discussed below). That being said, I do think that there is one worth a stash at the end of your bench. There’s a chance it won’t work out, but with this kind of target volume, there are worse options available.

Oh? You’re wondering who I am talking about? None other than Elic Ayomanor. Elic had a few epic plays to start the season (see what I did there), but he’s been pretty disappointing down the stretch. Since Calvin Ridley has been sidelined with a hamstring injury, Ayomanor’s target share has gone up. He’s averaged a 21.5% team target share in that span. Before Ridley’s injury, it was only at 16.5%.

Ayomanor has run a route on 77% of the team’s dropbacks this season. Everyone has been clamoring about Chimere Dike, and the kid has juice, but he’s just not as involved. Dike has only run a route on 50% of the team’s dropbacks. Ayomanor also has the second (behind Ridley) highest first-read target rate on the team at 23.4%.

Toxic Backfield

Tyjae Spears‘ return from injury has made this backfield Toxic. Let’s look at the data:

Weeks 1-4 (pre-Spears): Tony Pollard played 88.7% of snaps, handled 77.3% of the team’s rush attempts, and ran a route on 60.7% of the team’s dropbacks.

Weeks 5-9 (post-Spears): Pollard has played 55.9% of snaps, handled 53.7% of the team’s rush attempts, and run a route on 36.1% of the team’s dropbacks.

Spears’ numbers in that same span do not look much better: 44.4% of snaps, 31.6% of the team’s rush attempts, and ran a route on 38.7% of the team’s dropbacks.

The day isn’t over, and this article will likely be published right around the trade deadline. If Pollard is moved, this would create a significant opportunity for Spears. If the two continue to split the work, I don’t want to start either one of them.

Never Trust Mike Vrabel

You may be familiar with the old axiom to “never trust Sean Payton,” but there’s a corollary that’s much less well known, talking about Mike Vrabel and his dastardly understudy, Josh McDaniels. Actually, it’s not so much of a corollary as it is the same thing just repeated with different names. “Don’t trust Mike Vrabel or Josh McDaniels.”

The good news: The Patriots gave TreVeyon Henderson 75% of the snaps on Sunday, leaving only 25% to preseason hero RB Terrell Jennings. Henderson even got nine red zone snaps along with three goal-to-go snaps to Jennings’ three and one, respectively. That’s kind of as good a split as you can hope for from the tandem of coaches who once played Dion Lewis over Derrick Henry for two years (Vrabel) and a coach who never saw an RB he couldn’t put in a gross timeshare (McDaniels).

The bad news: On Jennings’ lone goal-to-go carry, he scored a rushing TD, keeping Henderson from ascending to the RB heavens that the fantasy community hoped for.

“So what does it all mean, Basil?” Don’t expect Henderson to keep this kind of stranglehold on the job once Rhamondre Stevenson is healthy and ready to rock ‘n’ roll. If those fumbles couldn’t keep him benched, there’s no way a healthy Stevenson isn’t getting more work than we’re comfortable with.   

Drake And Bake

Drake London has had his fair share of insane target shares this season, and Week 9 was no different. After returning from his hip injury, London saw a 37.8% team target share. London is averaging a 30.5% target share on the season, ranking him fourth among all pass-catchers in the NFL. Only Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Ja’Marr Chase, and Garrett Wilson have higher average target shares. 

London is the only receiving option that really matters in Atlanta. He is seeing 38.3% of the team’s first-read targets. 

It is worth noting that Kyle Pitts has quietly amassed a 20% team target share on the season. Maybe he is better when no one is looking.

It Was A Trap

All week, I had to listen to people claim that Tyrone Tracy was going to “take over this backfield” and get “20+ touches a game.” Well…as the resident Giants fan here at Optimus, I was fairly certain that would not be the case. Don’t get me wrong, Tracy is a good back. But that’s just all, he’s good, not great. There is a reason that Cam Skattebo took over this backfield so quickly.

That being said, let’s look at how it actually played out.

Devin Singletary led the backfield, not Tracy.

Singletary: 55.4% of snaps, 38.1% of team rush attempts, ran a route on 35.9% of dropbacks.

Tracy: 44.6% of snaps, 23.8% of team rush attempts, ran a route on 46.2% of dropback.s

Now, what does this tell us? Notice how I said “team rush attempts.” Those numbers add up to ~60%. Where is the other 40% you may ask? Oh, that would just be the Giants’ actual leading rusher, Jaxson Dart. For the rest of the season, this offense is going to run through him, literally. I apologize if you spent a significant amount of free agent acquisition budget (FAAB) on Tracy or made a substantial trade for him. There may be spike weeks, but down the stretch, I would expect more of this.

Snap Back To Reality

Ope, there goes gravity!

Don’t worry, my rap stylings are now behind us. I’ve talked about how ‘gravity’ is a thing in football. If you’re unsure what I mean, just take a look at how defenders move and react to Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, Tyreek Hill, and the like. That’s football gravity.

It seems actual gravity finally caught up with Jonathan Taylor and the Colts this week as they crashed back down to earth. Taylor’s 16 carries were his second-fewest of the season, leading the way. However, for the first time all year, he was game-scripted out of the box score, as this wasn’t a back-and-forth game.

This was also only Taylor’s third game of the season without scoring a TD. Some people have put Taylor’s 2025 season on par with LaDainian Tomlinson’s 2006 season in terms of scoring prowess. Just for a reminder of how prolific Tomlinson was that year, there were:

It’s not like Daniel Jones had even a decent day either. I’m just going to let this one speak for itself:

Daniel Jones coming into today:
9 sacks 5 turnovers
Daniel Jones today:
5 sacks 4 turnovers

— Derek (Not Derrick) (@derekadamthomas.com) November 2, 2025 at 2:43 PM

Never Trust Sean Payton

I am not sure how many times we have to say it, but never, ever, ever trust Sean Payton. Now you may be thinking, “Carly, what did he do this time?” Well, he apparently has designs on making Troy Franklin the WR1 in Denver, for now at least.

For the third straight week, Franklin was the No. 1 target in this offense. Franklin has the most red zone targets on the team (12), he has the most air yards on the team (880), and actually now has the highest season-long target share on the team (19.3%). 

If Troy Franklin is still on your waiver wire, run, do not walk.

Peter Parker

Regardless of everything that I discuss below, let’s take a minute to talk about Parker Washington and his Week 9 performance. Washington saw a team- and season-high 26.5% target share, catching eight of his nine targets for 90 yards. He also saw 34.6% of the team’s first-read targets.

THAT BEING SAID…

Sometimes when life gets in the way, things work out. This article is usually published every Monday, but due to unforeseen circumstances, it is being released on Tuesday. As a result, I can now include a HUGE trade that just happened. Jakobi Meyers was traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a fourth and sixth-round pick. 

How will this impact the WRs? I am not sure. Travis Hunter‘s injury apparently isn’t “long-term,” and it was JUST reported that Brian Thomas is dealing with a low-grade ankle sprain and has a chance to play this week. It will likely take Meyers a moment to get up to speed with this offense, so I wouldn’t anticipate that we see the full impact for a couple of weeks. We will circle back on this. Remind me.

He’s Back

Brock Bowers has gravity. See also: Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry. When Bowers plays, he opens up wide open spaces for his running mates and his QB. Don’t believe me? Geno Smith increased his season total passing TD output by 57.14% in a single game. Yeah, he threw four of them and only threw seven through the first seven games of the season. Gravity.

Remember that trade I mentioned earlier? Well, it impacts the Raiders as well. Subtract one Jakobi Meyers, add…somebody. Sombodies? That’s a good question: What does the fallout look like?

Tre Tucker ascends to the Meyers role of WR1, a bit of a misnomer because Bowers is the top option in the offense without question. As it is, Tucker already is on the field for 90%+ of the snaps and sees a bit over five targets per game. Thanks to Bowers’s presence, this likely won’t change. Although Tucker should see some more efficiency in the targets and receptions he does get. My heart wants rookie Jack Bech to see an increased role, but we’re more likely to have Smith and HC Pete Carroll’s favorite real estate mogul, Tyler Lockett, to run a lot more routes and siphon a lot more targets from Bech than we’d like to see.

Seeing Red(Zone)

Davante Adams has been living in the end zone this season. So much so that he currently leads all WRs in both red zone targets (20) and end zone targets (16). To put that in context, Ja’Marr Chase is second among WRs with 14 red zone targets (he has also played one more game), and if we expand the sample to include TEs, Trey McBride is second with 15 red zone targets. Sure, Puka Nacua is the exciting WR to roster, but Davante Adams may have been a steal at his value.

King-Caid

There are exactly two pieces of the Buffalo passing offense that are worth anything – Khalil Shakir and the emerging Dalton Kincaid. Kincaid doesn’t get the playing time or the target share of the truly elite TEs, typically playing under 50% of offensive snaps, and has only earned a 16.8% target share on the season. However, all he does is catch the ball. With an 81.8% Catch Rate, Kincaid leads the Bills on the season. His growing role and Allen’s trust in the third-year TE were evidenced by his 6/101/1 line in their marquee matchup against Kansas City.

Beyond that, the breakout for Kincaid is real, but his overall volume is down, disguising it a bit. In 2024, Kincaid had a 58.7% Catch Rate, a -11.6% Catch Rate Over Expected (CROE, meaning he didn’t catch as many as he ‘should’ have’), and 10.2 Yards Per Reception (YPR). All of these are up in 2025. Kincaid is clocking in with the aforementioned 81.8% catch rate, 12.4% CROE, and 15.2 YPR.

Tory Heatin

Tory Horton was on a heater Sunday night. The entire Seahawks offense looked basically unstoppable in the first half. Sam Darnold went 16/16 for 282 and 4 TDs. Two of those TDs were caught by Horton. Horton finished the night with four receptions (on four targets) for 48 yards and two TDs. 50% of his catches were TDs. Heater.

Remember how I mentioned that it’s good this article got published today instead? Well, we just had another trade! Rashid Shaheed is now a Seahawk. What does this mean for Horton? I can only guess. It depends on rational coaching. If the Seahawks are smart, this will impact Cooper Kupp way more than it will impact Horton.

Goal Line Switch

The Seattle Seahawks’ backfield has been a frustrating one for fantasy football all season. To make matters worse, there seems to have been a shift this week. 

Through the first eight weeks, Zach Charbonnet handled 68.4% of the team’s goal-line carries (inside the 10-yard line), while Kenneth Walker only handled 23.8% of those carries.

What happened in Week 9, you might be asking? 

Charbonnet: 0%

Walker: 66.7%

Is this a trend that will continue? Realistically, I don’t think so, but it is always worth keeping up with the stats week to week.

Family Feud

“It’s very hard for me to watch the Cardinals’ offense, and you can quote me on that.” – Marvin Harrison Sr.

Well, I think his son took that personally. Marvin Harrison Jr. had his career high in receptions last night (7). It was not his best game from a yards or target standpoint, but the entire team is clearly enjoying having Brissett behind center. Harrison’s 32.3% target share was a season high for him. It was also the first and only week this season that he has out-targeted Trey McBride.

 

Before I send you off, I would like to give a special shout-out to Lou Brunson this week. If you don’t know who he is, you should. He helped me get this article out to all of you this week, even when I was at my lowest. He is an amazing friend and an even better fantasy analyst.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for this week. Tune in next week for another Unpacking the NFL!

Carly Manger isn’t just an analyst with Optimus Fantasy; she’s THE reason we’re able to bring you all of our great content, thanks to her role as Senior Editor. For breaking news and injury updates, follow Optimus Fantasy News on Bluesky!

I honestly cannot believe Week 9 is over. We are officially halfway through the regular season, folks. It feels like it has flown by. For most leagues, the fantasy playoffs start in just five short weeks. Some of you may be looking ahead to the playoffs, while others are just trying their best not to come in last.

Regardless of your standing, there is a lot of season left. This is basically the “Witching Hour” of the fantasy season. Win(ner)s become Los(er)s and Los(er)s become Win(ner)s.

a clock on a wall with the word hour behind it

That being said, if you are new here, welcome! Every week, I will be posting a stat/takeaway dump, unpacking different players and fantasy-related situations around the league.

Let’s dive in and unpack the stats you need now from Week 9 of the NFL.

Stats provided by Fantasy Points. All scoring is half point per reception (Half-PPR) format with four-point passing TD.

Unpacking the NFL Week 9: The Stats You Need Now

Check out our Premium Tools – Use Code “OptimusFall” for 25% OFF 4 Months!

Lamar & Order: Tight End Unit

*DUN DUN*

After missing three weeks with a hamstring injury, Lamar Jackson returned and did not miss a beat. The entire Ravens offense looked alive again. Derrick Henry topped 100+ rushing yards for the third time this season, and the passing game was, dare I say, functional.

The biggest story of the night was Mark Andrews‘ multi-TD performance. Andrews now leads all Ravens pass-catchers in both red zone targets (6) and end zone looks (4).

Catch Me If You Can

De’Von Achane saw a team-high 25% target share in Week 9. On the season, he ranks second among RBs in team target share at 20.8%, trailing only Christian McCaffrey at 23.5%.

In fact, since Tyreek Hill dislocated his knee, Jaylen Waddle and Achane are tied for a team-high 21% target share. This offense runs through Achane.

Tee Time

What a week for Tee Higgins. After seeing an abysmal 5.9% team target share in Week 8, his target share skyrocketed to 19.1% in Week 9. Higgins caught seven of his nine targets for 121 yards and two TDs. This has always been the upside of Higgins; every once in a while, he would be the WR1 to Ja’Marr Chase‘s WR2. With Flacco in town, Higgins is back on the menu, ladies and gents!

Since Joe Flacco was traded to the Bengals, Higgins is averaging 17.0 Half-PPR fantasy points per game. Before that? 6.9.

It is worth noting before we move on that Chase Brown actually had a team and season high target share of 29.8% in Week 9. PPR scam Chase Brown, anyone?

Missing In Action

Welp. That sucked. As a Rome Odunze manager myself, I feel your pain if you started him as well. I mean, Caleb Williams had more receptions than Odunze did.* Yikes.

Let’s look at the numbers. In Week 9, Odunze played 100% of the snaps, a metric he has only hit one other time this season (Week 2). He even led the team in routes run per dropback (90.9%). Yet, he saw a season low 8.1% target share. For context, before Week 9, the lowest target share Odunze had seen was 17.2%.

*Fun Fact: Caleb Williams became the first starting QB with two receptions in a game since 1953 (Baltimore Colts QB George Taliaferro).

Jersey Boy

D’Andre Swift was ruled out with a groin injury ahead of Week 9. Enter Kyle Monangai. Yes, Monangai had been involved before this week, but this was his moment to shine, and he capitalized on it.

The 23-year-old New Jersey native played a season high 73.7% of snaps, handled 83.9% of the running back rush attempts, ran a route on 50% of the team’s dropbacks, and saw a 10.8% team target share.

For context, Week 1 is the only week Swift didn’t share work with Monangai. During that week, Swift played 79.4% of snaps, handled 100% of the running back rush attempts, ran a route on 60.5% of the team’s dropbacks, and saw a 14.3% team target share.

That looks like a plug-and-play direct replacement as long as Swift is sidelined.

Feeling The Love

In Week 9, Cole Kmet left with a concussion. In his place, Colston Loveland stepped up in a big way (game-winning TD big). Loveland saw a season high 18.9% target share. He caught six of his seven targets for 118 yards and two TDs.

Maybe I haven’t been paying attention enough. I am willing to admit when I am wrong, but I was surprised to see that, on the season, Loveland has run more routes (139 to 127) and seen more targets (25 to 20) than Kmet. Week 9 proved that Loveland deserves to see increased volume.

Game Of Jones

It kind of feels like fantasy managers, myself included, forgot about Aaron Jones after he got hurt. Maybe it’s because the Vikings have been a pretty “meh” team, or because the Carson Wentz/J.J. McCarthy drama dominated the news. Either way, Jones hasn’t been on our radar.

Now, the numbers may be a tad skewed due to Jones leaving with an AC Joint sprain, but let’s look at them anyway. Before getting injured, Jones had nine carries for 78 yards. That amounts to a whopping 8.7 yards per carry. He also caught both of his targets for 20 yards. While Jordan Mason had one more carry, he only had 36 yards (3.6 yards per carry).

Early reports indicate that Jones’ injury is mild, and he said that he expects to play next week. He’ll face the Ravens, a team that has struggled against the run, making him a solid RB2 with upside for Week 10.

Unexplosive Duo

The Lions’ running game had a weird week. Jahmyr Gibbs scored under eight fantasy points for the second time in three games, and he has only two 20+ point games this season.

In Week 9, David Montgomery hit a season-high 10.8% team target share, but neither back performed like a fantasy superstar. Despite playing significantly fewer snaps (23 to 41), Montgomery had two more carries (11 to nine) and out-targeted Gibbs four to three.

Looking at the numbers, Gibbs’ target share has plummeted. In Weeks 1-3, he averaged a 19.2% team target share. Since then, that number has dropped to 8.2%.

Rico Mode

Rico Dowdle is a different RB in games where he gets 20+ touches. Dave Canales told reporters early last week that Dowdle would see the bulk of the carries, and he followed through on that. Rico played 74.1% of snaps, handled 83.3% of the running back rush attempts, and ran a route on 47.8% of the team’s dropbacks.

Dowdle averaged over 4.65 yards per carry for the fifth straight week, bringing his season average to an impressive 5.6 YPC.

When he is the starter, he is EXPLOSIVE.

Last Man Standing

Romeo Doubs stepped into the spotlight in Week 9, and the numbers speak for themselves. With Tucker Kraft (ACL) and Matthew Golden (shoulder) sidelined due to injuries, Doubs became the top target, hauling in seven of 10 targets for 91 yards in his best game of the season. On the season, Doubs has averaged a 20.8% target share. That is the highest on the team by a decent amount, with Kraft in second with 16.8%.

His average depth of target (aDOT) on the season is 13.8 yards, and he has accounted for 39.5% of the team’s air yards. He’s not just seeing volume, he’s getting meaningful downfield looks.

With Kraft out for the season and Golden potentially sidelined in Week 10, the floor and ceiling for Doubs are both high.

Sharing Is Not Caring

The Chargers are the new Packers this year. Too many mouths to feed, and you never know which one to start with. Are you going to get a goose from Quentin Johnston? A “meh” performance from everyone? A splash game from the exciting rookie TE? There is truly no telling week to week.

Week 9 saw an almost perfect target distribution among the top four receiving options, with Ladd McConkey slightly edging out the rest:

Ladd McConkey: 20.7%

Keenan Allen: 17.2%

Quentin Johnston: 17.2%

Oronde Gadsden: 17.2%

The big takeaway since Gadsden’s emergence is that he and Ladd are the spoon that stirs the passing game drink. There will be natural ebbs and flows, of course, but Gadsden hasn’t seen fewer than five targets/game since his Week 6 breakout. After his slow start, McConkey hasn’t seen fewer than seven targets in a game over the same span. What Gadsden’s emergence means is that Johnston and Allen will be in that WR3/Flex tier for rankings, but either could have a high-WR2 finish in any given week, or bust out completely. 

Forget The Titans

Before I even begin this section, I want to say, I hear you, no one cares about the Titans. Ok, maybe that’s too far, but we can all agree no one really wants to roster one (outside of maybe one of the RBs discussed below). That being said, I do think that there is one worth a stash at the end of your bench. There’s a chance it won’t work out, but with this kind of target volume, there are worse options available.

Oh? You’re wondering who I am talking about? None other than Elic Ayomanor. Elic had a few epic plays to start the season (see what I did there), but he’s been pretty disappointing down the stretch. Since Calvin Ridley has been sidelined with a hamstring injury, Ayomanor’s target share has gone up. He’s averaged a 21.5% team target share in that span. Before Ridley’s injury, it was only at 16.5%.

Ayomanor has run a route on 77% of the team’s dropbacks this season. Everyone has been clamoring about Chimere Dike, and the kid has juice, but he’s just not as involved. Dike has only run a route on 50% of the team’s dropbacks. Ayomanor also has the second (behind Ridley) highest first-read target rate on the team at 23.4%.

Toxic Backfield

Tyjae Spears‘ return from injury has made this backfield Toxic. Let’s look at the data:

Weeks 1-4 (pre-Spears): Tony Pollard played 88.7% of snaps, handled 77.3% of the team’s rush attempts, and ran a route on 60.7% of the team’s dropbacks.

Weeks 5-9 (post-Spears): Pollard has played 55.9% of snaps, handled 53.7% of the team’s rush attempts, and run a route on 36.1% of the team’s dropbacks.

Spears’ numbers in that same span do not look much better: 44.4% of snaps, 31.6% of the team’s rush attempts, and ran a route on 38.7% of the team’s dropbacks.

The day isn’t over, and this article will likely be published right around the trade deadline. If Pollard is moved, this would create a significant opportunity for Spears. If the two continue to split the work, I don’t want to start either one of them.

Never Trust Mike Vrabel

You may be familiar with the old axiom to “never trust Sean Payton,” but there’s a corollary that’s much less well known, talking about Mike Vrabel and his dastardly understudy, Josh McDaniels. Actually, it’s not so much of a corollary as it is the same thing just repeated with different names. “Don’t trust Mike Vrabel or Josh McDaniels.”

The good news: The Patriots gave TreVeyon Henderson 75% of the snaps on Sunday, leaving only 25% to preseason hero RB Terrell Jennings. Henderson even got nine red zone snaps along with three goal-to-go snaps to Jennings’ three and one, respectively. That’s kind of as good a split as you can hope for from the tandem of coaches who once played Dion Lewis over Derrick Henry for two years (Vrabel) and a coach who never saw an RB he couldn’t put in a gross timeshare (McDaniels).

The bad news: On Jennings’ lone goal-to-go carry, he scored a rushing TD, keeping Henderson from ascending to the RB heavens that the fantasy community hoped for.

“So what does it all mean, Basil?” Don’t expect Henderson to keep this kind of stranglehold on the job once Rhamondre Stevenson is healthy and ready to rock ‘n’ roll. If those fumbles couldn’t keep him benched, there’s no way a healthy Stevenson isn’t getting more work than we’re comfortable with.   

Drake And Bake

Drake London has had his fair share of insane target shares this season, and Week 9 was no different. After returning from his hip injury, London saw a 37.8% team target share. London is averaging a 30.5% target share on the season, ranking him fourth among all pass-catchers in the NFL. Only Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Ja’Marr Chase, and Garrett Wilson have higher average target shares. 

London is the only receiving option that really matters in Atlanta. He is seeing 38.3% of the team’s first-read targets. 

It is worth noting that Kyle Pitts has quietly amassed a 20% team target share on the season. Maybe he is better when no one is looking.

It Was A Trap

All week, I had to listen to people claim that Tyrone Tracy was going to “take over this backfield” and get “20+ touches a game.” Well…as the resident Giants fan here at Optimus, I was fairly certain that would not be the case. Don’t get me wrong, Tracy is a good back. But that’s just all, he’s good, not great. There is a reason that Cam Skattebo took over this backfield so quickly.

That being said, let’s look at how it actually played out.

Devin Singletary led the backfield, not Tracy.

Singletary: 55.4% of snaps, 38.1% of team rush attempts, ran a route on 35.9% of dropbacks.

Tracy: 44.6% of snaps, 23.8% of team rush attempts, ran a route on 46.2% of dropback.s

Now, what does this tell us? Notice how I said “team rush attempts.” Those numbers add up to ~60%. Where is the other 40% you may ask? Oh, that would just be the Giants’ actual leading rusher, Jaxson Dart. For the rest of the season, this offense is going to run through him, literally. I apologize if you spent a significant amount of free agent acquisition budget (FAAB) on Tracy or made a substantial trade for him. There may be spike weeks, but down the stretch, I would expect more of this.

Snap Back To Reality

Ope, there goes gravity!

Don’t worry, my rap stylings are now behind us. I’ve talked about how ‘gravity’ is a thing in football. If you’re unsure what I mean, just take a look at how defenders move and react to Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, Tyreek Hill, and the like. That’s football gravity.

It seems actual gravity finally caught up with Jonathan Taylor and the Colts this week as they crashed back down to earth. Taylor’s 16 carries were his second-fewest of the season, leading the way. However, for the first time all year, he was game-scripted out of the box score, as this wasn’t a back-and-forth game.

This was also only Taylor’s third game of the season without scoring a TD. Some people have put Taylor’s 2025 season on par with LaDainian Tomlinson’s 2006 season in terms of scoring prowess. Just for a reminder of how prolific Tomlinson was that year, there were:

It’s not like Daniel Jones had even a decent day either. I’m just going to let this one speak for itself:

Daniel Jones coming into today:
9 sacks 5 turnovers
Daniel Jones today:
5 sacks 4 turnovers

— Derek (Not Derrick) (@derekadamthomas.com) November 2, 2025 at 2:43 PM

Never Trust Sean Payton

I am not sure how many times we have to say it, but never, ever, ever trust Sean Payton. Now you may be thinking, “Carly, what did he do this time?” Well, he apparently has designs on making Troy Franklin the WR1 in Denver, for now at least.

For the third straight week, Franklin was the No. 1 target in this offense. Franklin has the most red zone targets on the team (12), he has the most air yards on the team (880), and actually now has the highest season-long target share on the team (19.3%). 

If Troy Franklin is still on your waiver wire, run, do not walk.

Peter Parker

Regardless of everything that I discuss below, let’s take a minute to talk about Parker Washington and his Week 9 performance. Washington saw a team- and season-high 26.5% target share, catching eight of his nine targets for 90 yards. He also saw 34.6% of the team’s first-read targets.

THAT BEING SAID…

Sometimes when life gets in the way, things work out. This article is usually published every Monday, but due to unforeseen circumstances, it is being released on Tuesday. As a result, I can now include a HUGE trade that just happened. Jakobi Meyers was traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a fourth and sixth-round pick. 

How will this impact the WRs? I am not sure. Travis Hunter‘s injury apparently isn’t “long-term,” and it was JUST reported that Brian Thomas is dealing with a low-grade ankle sprain and has a chance to play this week. It will likely take Meyers a moment to get up to speed with this offense, so I wouldn’t anticipate that we see the full impact for a couple of weeks. We will circle back on this. Remind me.

He’s Back

Brock Bowers has gravity. See also: Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry. When Bowers plays, he opens up wide open spaces for his running mates and his QB. Don’t believe me? Geno Smith increased his season total passing TD output by 57.14% in a single game. Yeah, he threw four of them and only threw seven through the first seven games of the season. Gravity.

Remember that trade I mentioned earlier? Well, it impacts the Raiders as well. Subtract one Jakobi Meyers, add…somebody. Sombodies? That’s a good question: What does the fallout look like?

Tre Tucker ascends to the Meyers role of WR1, a bit of a misnomer because Bowers is the top option in the offense without question. As it is, Tucker already is on the field for 90%+ of the snaps and sees a bit over five targets per game. Thanks to Bowers’s presence, this likely won’t change. Although Tucker should see some more efficiency in the targets and receptions he does get. My heart wants rookie Jack Bech to see an increased role, but we’re more likely to have Smith and HC Pete Carroll’s favorite real estate mogul, Tyler Lockett, to run a lot more routes and siphon a lot more targets from Bech than we’d like to see.

Seeing Red(Zone)

Davante Adams has been living in the end zone this season. So much so that he currently leads all WRs in both red zone targets (20) and end zone targets (16). To put that in context, Ja’Marr Chase is second among WRs with 14 red zone targets (he has also played one more game), and if we expand the sample to include TEs, Trey McBride is second with 15 red zone targets. Sure, Puka Nacua is the exciting WR to roster, but Davante Adams may have been a steal at his value.

King-Caid

There are exactly two pieces of the Buffalo passing offense that are worth anything – Khalil Shakir and the emerging Dalton Kincaid. Kincaid doesn’t get the playing time or the target share of the truly elite TEs, typically playing under 50% of offensive snaps, and has only earned a 16.8% target share on the season. However, all he does is catch the ball. With an 81.8% Catch Rate, Kincaid leads the Bills on the season. His growing role and Allen’s trust in the third-year TE were evidenced by his 6/101/1 line in their marquee matchup against Kansas City.

Beyond that, the breakout for Kincaid is real, but his overall volume is down, disguising it a bit. In 2024, Kincaid had a 58.7% Catch Rate, a -11.6% Catch Rate Over Expected (CROE, meaning he didn’t catch as many as he ‘should’ have’), and 10.2 Yards Per Reception (YPR). All of these are up in 2025. Kincaid is clocking in with the aforementioned 81.8% catch rate, 12.4% CROE, and 15.2 YPR.

Tory Heatin

Tory Horton was on a heater Sunday night. The entire Seahawks offense looked basically unstoppable in the first half. Sam Darnold went 16/16 for 282 and 4 TDs. Two of those TDs were caught by Horton. Horton finished the night with four receptions (on four targets) for 48 yards and two TDs. 50% of his catches were TDs. Heater.

Remember how I mentioned that it’s good this article got published today instead? Well, we just had another trade! Rashid Shaheed is now a Seahawk. What does this mean for Horton? I can only guess. It depends on rational coaching. If the Seahawks are smart, this will impact Cooper Kupp way more than it will impact Horton.

Goal Line Switch

The Seattle Seahawks’ backfield has been a frustrating one for fantasy football all season. To make matters worse, there seems to have been a shift this week. 

Through the first eight weeks, Zach Charbonnet handled 68.4% of the team’s goal-line carries (inside the 10-yard line), while Kenneth Walker only handled 23.8% of those carries.

What happened in Week 9, you might be asking? 

Charbonnet: 0%

Walker: 66.7%

Is this a trend that will continue? Realistically, I don’t think so, but it is always worth keeping up with the stats week to week.

Family Feud

“It’s very hard for me to watch the Cardinals’ offense, and you can quote me on that.” – Marvin Harrison Sr.

Well, I think his son took that personally. Marvin Harrison Jr. had his career high in receptions last night (7). It was not his best game from a yards or target standpoint, but the entire team is clearly enjoying having Brissett behind center. Harrison’s 32.3% target share was a season high for him. It was also the first and only week this season that he has out-targeted Trey McBride.

 

Before I send you off, I would like to give a special shout-out to Lou Brunson this week. If you don’t know who he is, you should. He helped me get this article out to all of you this week, even when I was at my lowest. He is an amazing friend and an even better fantasy analyst.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for this week. Tune in next week for another Unpacking the NFL!

Carly Manger isn’t just an analyst with Optimus Fantasy; she’s THE reason we’re able to bring you all of our great content, thanks to her role as Senior Editor. For breaking news and injury updates, follow Optimus Fantasy News on Bluesky!

By Published On: November 4th, 2025

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