The Week 9 NFL Dashboard
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Titans at Chargers
The Chargers are currently 4.5-point favorites for their Week 9 matchup against the Titans. The Chargers are currently implied to score 25.75 points — the fifth-highest mark of Week 9. The Titans are currently implied to score 21.25 points. It’ll be a sunny afternoon in California, let’s take a look at who will be taking the field.
Titans
Writer: Ian Hartitz
QB – Marcus Mariota
Mariota has now thrown for multiple touchdowns in four consecutive weeks. Keep in mind that those performances have come against Miami, Cleveland, Indianapolis and Jacksonville, but, regardless, Mariota has been playing very good football as of late. He has a chance to keep the streak going this week in a matchup in which he has historically thrived:
As our Trends tool shows, Mariota has posted a +4.44 DraftKings Plus/Minus with 77.8 percent Consistency and has averaged 19.83 points as an underdog on the road. He’s priced at $5,900 DK with an 83 percent Bargain Rating and has a +3.4 Projected Plus/Minus for his matchup against a Chargers defense that has allowed 30-plus points in half of its games this season.
RB – DeMarco Murray
Murray injured his toe last week, but the MRI results came back “good for the most part,” according to the Titans. He was a full participant in Thursday’s practice and is expected to be good to go for Sunday. Murray has surpassed 100 total yards in six of his eight games this season and he’s shown no signs of slowing down. His averages of 20 carries and 4.5 targets per game each rank in the top-eight among all running backs this season. Overall, Murray is on pace for 1,906 total yards and 16 touchdowns. He’ll look to keep the good times rolling against a Chargers defense that has allowed 11 rushing touchdowns this season — the third-most in the league. Murray has 10 FanDuel Pro Trends and is priced at $8,100 with a 99 percent Bargain Rating.
RB – Derrick Henry
Henry finally got a chance to show what he can do last week as the Titans’ massive half-time lead over the Jaguars allowed Murray to exit the game early. Henry didn’t disappoint, as he racked up 97 total yards and a touchdown on his 20 touches. Henry is arguably the league’s most valuable backup in the Titans’ run-first offense, but he’ll remain a very risky DFS play until Murray is forced to miss some time. Henry is overpriced this week with his current workload expectation, as his $5,000 salary on DK comes with a -5.51 Projected Plus/Minus — the worst mark among all running backs.
WR – Tajae Sharpe
The Titans had arguably their finest offensive performance of the season last week. Meanwhile, Shape was targeted one time the entire game. His averages of 1.07 fantasy points and 5.6 yards per target rank outside of the top-80 marks among all wide receivers this season. Sharpe shouldn’t be considered a fantasy option this week as he faces a Chargers defense that has held opposing WRs to 0.6 points below salary-based expectations over the past 12 months.
WR – Rishard Matthews
Andre Johnson retired this week, leaving Matthews, Sharpe and Kendall Wright as the Titans’ three main receivers. Matthews may have the best chance at becoming the offense’s featured receiver, as his snap count has increased from 40.3 percent to 66.2 percent to 88.1 percent across the past three weeks. While the extra snaps are a good sign for Matthews’ fantasy prospects the rest of the season, he’s still averaged fewer than five targets per game over the past three weeks. He’s priced at $3,800 DK and could see a lot of Case Hayward, PFF’s 11th-highest graded cornerback this season.
WR – Kendall Wright
Wright has been about the only receiver to show the ability to make plays consistently for the Titans this season, but that still may not be enough to earn him more snaps. After he converted his five targets into four receptions for 84 yards and a touchdown last week, coach Mike Mularkey said he’s a “very good slot receiver, third-down receiver.” Wright still hasn’t played more than 50 percent of the Titan’s snaps in a given week and may not surpass that threshold anytime soon on a Titans offense that has called the second-fewest pass plays in the league this season. He’s priced at $4,900 FD with a 92 percent Bargain Rating and has a +3.55 Projected Plus/Minus for his matchup against Brandon Flowers – PFF’s 43rd-highest graded cornerback this season.
TE – Delanie Walker
Walker hasn’t been very consistent this season, but some of his more predictive stats remain ranked among the top tight ends in the league. His average of 6.2 air yards per target is the fifth-highest mark among all TEs, while his 14.9 percent hog rate (targets per snap) is the sixth-highest mark among all TEs (per Player Profiler). Walker is priced at $6,400 FD with an 81 percent Bargain Rating and seven Pro Trends. He does have a tough matchup against Dwight Lowery — PFF’s 11th-best cover safety through eight weeks.
Walker (groin) is questionable for Week 9 after missing practice on Friday because of an injury he suffered on Thursday. He’s optimistic that he’ll play this weekend, but his situation should be monitored.
San Diego Chargers
Writer: Joe Holka
QB – Philip Rivers
Rivers has some great fantasy karma coming his way after facing the Broncos twice over the last three weeks. The Tennessee Titans have been shredded by QBs over the past three games:
Here’s a graph from Coy Kessler’s player card. I’ll let you figure out which one of those bars represents his game against the Titans:
Per our Trends Tool, even Blake Bortles did this to the Titans last week:
The Titans rank 24th in Football Outsiders’ pass Defense-Adjusted Value Over Average and have allowed the slate’s second-highest Opponent Plus/Minus (+4.5) over the last 16 games. Rivers is the highest-rated DK QB in the Levitan Model and has the fourth-highest ceiling (36.2 points). He is in play in cash and GPPs with a projected ownership of just five to eight percent. He has an 88 percent DK Bargain Rating.
RB – Melvin Gordon
Gordon is essentially matchup-proof with an average of 27 touches for 124.5 yards in his two games against the Broncos over the past three weeks. Gordon is a strong GPP play this week against a Titans defense that doesn’t have a single linebacker graded within Pro Football Focus’ top-40 at the position. He’s the seventh-highest rated DK RB in the Tournament Model. He owns the sixth-highest point ceiling (22.2) and floor (12.4) and is projected to be 13-16 percent owned in the Millionaire Maker.
WR – Travis Benjamin
Benjamin (knee) has been hampered by his injury for weeks, but he practiced fully on Friday and is expected to play through his questionable tag.
WR – Tyrell Williams
Williams (knee) practiced fully on Friday and is expected to play through his questionable tag.
He was shut down against the Broncos last week but has still been one of the more efficient receivers in the league through eight weeks. Williams is averaging 1.83 fantasy points and 10 yards per target — top-30 marks for the position. Williams is tied for fifth in the league in red-zone targets and owns 17.2 and 19 percent target shares inside the 20- and 10-yard lines.
Per our Matchups page Williams is expected to see a lot of Jason McCourty, PFF’s 28th-highest graded cornerback through eight weeks. He’s priced at $5,600 FD with a 90 percent Bargain Rating and sixth-highest Projected Plus/Minus (+4.00) and is the highest-rated FD WR in our Tournament Model.
WR – Dontrelle Inman
If Benjamin doesn’t dress, Inman will be an unreal value at $3100 on DK, where he holds a 99 percent Bargain Rating. He already plays more snaps on average than Williams and Benjamin and could benefit from extra targets. Not to mention he should see a lot of Brice McCain, PFF’s 53rd-ranked cornerback this season. Inman is currently rated second-highest in the DK Tournament Model at just five to eight percent projected ownership.
TE – Hunter Henry
Henry (knee) hasn’t practiced this week and has been ruled out for Week 9.
TE – Antonio Gates
If Henry is unable to play, Gates will be the team’s undisputed No. 1 TE. Gates has played more snaps as he’s gotten healthier and should continue to become a bigger part of the offense. Through eight weeks he’s been targeted on 17.3 percent of his snaps — the best mark among all tight ends. Gates is priced at $3000 DK with a 98 percent Bargain Rating. Gates has a 20.27 percent target share through the last four games — eighth in the NFL and 0.27 percentage points ahead of Rob Gronkowski. Gates is easily the top-rated DK TE in all of our Pro Models. His ownership is currently projected at five to eight percent.
News Updates
After this piece is published, FantasyLabs is likely to provide news updates on a number of players herein mentioned. Be sure to stay ahead of your competition with our industry-leading DFS-focused news blurbs:
