The Market Report is your one-stop Monday shop for all the movement from a big weekend of NFL football.
These are the players who stood out for fantasy-relevant reasons — the good reasons, the bad reasons, and the in-between.
This column will be posted every Monday afternoon.
UPGRADES
Players about whom we’re feeling more optimistic based on recent play or news.
Quarterbacks
Running Backs
Christian McCaffrey (Car) — McCaffrey nearly played against the Falcons in Week 8, which would’ve been his first game action since he suffered his high-ankle injury in Week 2. In the end, the Panthers decided to let their franchise running back have an extra 10 days of healing before they returned him to game action. Undoubtedly, Mike Davis’ performance during his absence likely affected the decision since there hadn’t been a dramatic dip in their backfield production going from CMC to Davis. That was until recently as Davis failed to reach 13+ FP in his last three games after he scored 22+ FP in three straight games after CMC’s injury. HC Matt Rhule has already said Davis will have some sort of role next McCaffrey in the second half of the season so expectations need to be lowered a little bit for CMC. At least initially, I would expect Davis to see 6-8 touches next to CMC, but McCaffrey still has a path to be the RB1 in the second half of the year with a near bell-cow role. (Tom Brolley)
Todd Gurley (Atl) — Gurley is moving slow with limited lateral movement but it hasn’t mattered up to this point because he continues to have a nose for the end zone, just like in his final season with the Rams. The veteran RB scored his eighth touchdown of the season and for the sixth game in eight contests against the Panthers as he finished with 18/46/1 rushing without a target in Week 8. Gurley has now finished under 3.0 YPC in three straight games and he’s finished with two or fewer catches in six of his eight games. He’s still a TD-or-bust RB2 every week since he’s had 16+ opportunities in every game and he’s now second in goal-line carries in the league (12) behind only Ezekiel Elliott. (TB)
J.K. Dobbins (Bal) — The Ravens handed the reins to this backfield to Dobbins and Gus Edwards in Week 8 with Mark Ingram (ankle) out of the lineup. Justice Hill played just two snaps, leaving Dobbins (66% snap share) and Edwards (32% share) to do the heavy lifting for the backfield. Dobbins took advantage of his bigger role, posting 15/113 rushing and 1/8 receiving on two targets against the Steelers while Edwards also came through with 16/87/1 rushing. Dobbins and Edwards will likely run the show in this backfield for another week after NFL Network’s reported before Sunday’s game that Ingram could miss Week 9, as well. Ingram is unlikely to completely disappear in this backfield moving forward, but Dobbins and Edwards showed they’re deserving of more volume and that they’re best options in this backfield at this stage of their careers. (TB)
Josh Jacobs (LV) — Jacobs looked just fine in Week 8 as the Raiders rode him to a victory on a season-high 31 carries in ugly, windy conditions in Cleveland. The second-year RB showed up on the injury report with a knee injury last week after mustering just 31 scrimmage yards on 14 opportunities against the Buccaneers in Week 7. Jacobs was ready to handle a heavy workload against the Browns with 31/128 rushing and without a catch on one target. Jacobs has now seen 19+ opportunities in six of his seven games this season with 3+ catches in five of his seven games. He’s found the end zone five times this season but those scores have come in just two games so he has a bunch of middling performances surrounded by two boom games. Jacobs is seeing more than enough work to be a top-12 back in the second half of the season if he just starts finding the end zone with a little more regularity. (TB)
Dalvin Cook (Min) — Oh boy. Do you think Cook is healthy or what? When he’s right, Cook is one of the three most talented running backs in the league and he showed it this week. Cook just did whatever he wanted against the Packers porous run defense, ripping them for 30/163/3 on the ground and 2/63/1 receiving. Cook’s 48.6 fantasy point explosion is the fourth-highest scoring game a running back has posted over the last five combined seasons. Next week, Cook is in another dream matchup against a Lions front-seven that is giving up the third-most scrimmage yards per game to opposing backfields. (Graham Barfield)
Wide Receivers
Travis Fulgham (Phi) — Carson Wentz is continuing to have a season that is utterly bizarre, as it appears he is actively looking to turn the football over, but that sure as hell isn’t the case when he throws it to Fulgham, who looks like a legitimate star in the making for Philly. Fulgham caught 6 of 7 targets for 78 yards and a TD against Dallas in Week 8’s victory for the Eagles. Fulgham has played five games for Philly — he’s finished as a top-24 WR in three of them, and a top-36 WR in all of them. That includes one top-five WR finish and two top-12 finishes. Since his debut, his 96.5 PPR FP are #1 among all wide receivers. It’s been a weird year for everyone in the world. Wentz’s year has been weirder than most. But Fulgham emerging from this situation to look like a legitimate star is one of the most bizarre developments of 2020, though of course a totally welcome one for the Eagles. (Joe Dolan)
Brandon Aiyuk (SF) — This rookie wide receiver class is just absolutely ridiculous. And you could argue that nobody is playing better than Aiyuk. Despite being labeled as “unpolished” coming out of college at Arizona State, Aiyuk has been a perfect fit for Kyle Shanahan’s attack. The 49ers are using him all over the field — lining him up in the slot, giving him shovel passes in motion, and targeting him on shallow, intermediate, and deep routes. Aiyuk crushed the Patriots for 6/115 last week and turned in yet another great game against the Seahawks (8/91/1). With Deebo Samuel (hamstring) sidelined and George Kittle (foot) out indefinitely, Aiyuk can be trusted as a high-ceiling WR2. (GB)
Tight Ends
T.J. Hockenson (Det) — With Kenny Golladay (hip) sidelined for at least one game, Hockenson deserves a slight upgrade. Golladay missed 70% of the Lions game against the Colts, and in turn, Hockenson set season-highs across the board in targets (10), receptions (7), and yards (65). Hockenson has a great matchup next week against a Vikings secondary that has recently allowed strong performances to Hayden Hurst (4/57/1) and Robert Tonyan/Jace Sternberger (8/125 combined) in their last two games. (GB)
DOWNGRADES
Players about whom we’re feeling less optimistic based on recent play or news.
Quarterbacks
Lamar Jackson (Bal) — Lamar dug the Ravens a hole with a pick-six on Baltimore’s opening drive of Week 8, and the Ravens passing attack never really got on track after that in their loss to the division-rival Steelers. He completed just 13/28 passes (46.4%) for 208 yards, two TDs, and two INTs and he added 16/65 rushing with two lost fumbles. Lamar has now failed to top 210 passing yards in six straight games, and he has 18 or fewer FP in four of his six games in that span. Jackson and OC Greg Roman haven’t done a good enough job of getting the rock into their best playmakers’ hands in Marquise Brown and Mark Andrews. Jackson’s job is also going to get a little tougher moving forward after LT Ronnie Stanley suffered a season-ending ankle injury after signing a massive $98.75 million extension before Sunday’s game. Lamar should no longer be considered among the elite options at the position heading into another tough matchup against the Colts this week. (TB)
Jared Goff (LAR) — Goff was awful against the Dolphins in Week 8, turning the ball over four times and putting the Rams in a hole that they couldn’t dig out of. Fortunately, if you started him for fantasy, he came through — that’s because he completed 35/61 passes for 355 yards and a TD (he also had 2 INT and 2 lost fumbles). Overall, Goff’s been a mediocre fantasy option. While the Rams’ offense hasn’t seemed to totally click this year, Goff has still accounted for multiple TDs in five of eight games, and in five of his last seven coming into Week 8. But it hasn’t been easy, and when Goff gets pressure, he can absolutely melt down. Against a team with a quality pass rush, he’s more likely to tank you than carry you. (JD)
Jimmy Garoppolo (SF) — Garoppolo was brutal against Seattle, but he clearly went out there at less than 100% health. After completing 11-of-16 passes for a lowly 84 yards, JimmyG was yanked from the game and replaced by Nick Mullens who came in and promptly shredded Seattle for 238 yards and 2 TDs on 25 attempts. While Mullens got the ball out quick and moved in the pocket well, JimmyG played frantically and couldn’t evade the rush. The 49ers are going to sit Garoppolo out for “at least six weeks” according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, which obviously puts his season in jeopardy. Yikes. Meanwhile, the 49ers have a decision looming on Garoppolo. According to Over The Cap, the team could save over $20M in cap space if they decide to move on from Garoppolo next spring. (GB)
Running Backs
Jonathan Taylor (Ind) — Even with Marlon Mack (Achilles) out of the lineup since Week 2, Taylor’s rookie season has been a huge disappointment so far. Coming out of their bye, Taylor played on a season-low 34% of Colts’ snaps against the Lions. He turned his 11 carries into 22 yards while Jordan Wilkins ended up with the far better day on the ground (20/89/1). HC Frank Reich mentioned after the game that Taylor is dealing with an ankle injury but he didn’t know about it until after the game and Wilkins’ involvement in the second-half was earned. The larger concern is that Taylor is just a mediocre RB2 as a part of a 3-man committee even when he’s healthy. Since Week 2, Taylor is only the RB25 in fantasy points per game. The good news? After they play the Ravens next week, the Colts schedule really opens up in Week 10-15 — they play the Titans and Texans twice with the Packers and Raiders terrible run defenses mixed in — but we need to see Taylor start playing up to his talent level and earn more snaps soon. (GB)
James White (NE) — The Patriots don’t have a passing game, and that’s hurting White, who has just 5 targets and 3 receptions over his last two games, including just 2 catches for 35 yards on 4 targets against Buffalo in Week 8. QB Cam Newton is awful, but Cam also isn’t being helped out by what looks to be the thinnest set of skill-position players in the entire league. The problem with White is that he can have the blowup games in which he gets a ton of targets — it happened in Week 9, when he caught 8 of 9 targets for 65 yards. So he’s someone you might want to keep around on a bench in a PPR league in case of a pinch. But those games are just way less frequent without Tom Brady at QB. (JD)
Joshua Kelley (LAC) — With Austin Ekeler (hamstring) sidelined, Kelley has failed to take advantage of his opportunity. This week, the Chargers made Justin Jackson their clear-cut lead runner and he rewarded them with 142 scrimmage yards on 20 touches. In fact, Kelley ended up third on the team in touches (he got 8) as he played behind Troymaine Pope (15 touches) for much of the second half. Honestly, this backfield is shaping up to be a crapshoot week-to-week but Jackson has earned the “1A” role because he’s clearly been their best back while Kelley has struggled a bit. (GB)
Wide Receivers
Kenny Golladay (Det) — After missing most of the game against the Colts with a hip injury, Golladay is expected to miss the Lions Week 9 tilt against the Vikings. This has been a frustrating season filled with injuries for Golladay after he missed Detroit’s first two games with a nagging hamstring injury. Golladay has looked like his usual self when healthy — he’s cleared 100 yards or scored in all four of his full games — but it sounds like he could miss more than just one week. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport gave Golladay the dreaded “week-to-week” tag moving forward. Marvin Jones and T.J. Hockenson are both in line to see more targets with Golladay sidelined. (GB)
Robby Anderson and D.J. Moore (Car) — Carolina’s top two receivers had a disappointing TNF performance in Week 8 with starting QB Teddy Bridgewater suffering an injury on a dirty hit while also playing a bit uneven for his standards. Robby finished with 5/48 receiving on eight targets, which was his worst fantasy performance of the season in a beautiful spot against the Falcons. Moore didn’t even have a catch until 57 minutes into the game, but he made a couple of big catches in the final minutes to post 2/55 receiving on six targets. Expectations for Anderson and Moore need to be lowered a bit with Christian McCaffrey returning to the lineup in Week 9. It also doesn’t help that OC Joe Brady is manufacturing targets and carries for Curtis Samuel every week so Anderson and Moore are looking like low-end WR2s going forward. (TB)
Diontae Johnson (Pit) — Johnson has quickly become one of the more frustrating fantasy WRs to own after yet another injury-filled dud against the Ravens. The second-year WR missed a chunk of time in the first half of Week 8 — he finished with a 77% snap share — because of a hamstring issue, and he was ineffective when he came back to the lineup. He posted just a six-yard catch on three targets (9.4% share) in a tough matchup. Johnson has one monster game (29 FP in Week 7) surrounded by 3.3 FP in three games from Weeks 3-8. Johnson has a great chance to get his season heading in the right direction again with a matchup with the Cowboys this week, but he needs to be considered as a boom-or-bust WR3 until he can string together multiple strong performances. (TB)
Marquise Brown (Bal) — Hollywood caused some waves after Sunday’s disappointing loss to the Steelers by tweeting and subsequently deleting, “what’s the point of having souljas when you never use them.” Brown’s lack of usage against the Steelers was the root of his frustration as he saw just two targets in Week 8, which he turned into a three-yard touchdown catch. Brown played on 94% of the snaps in Week 8 but he owned just a 7.1% target share with Lamar Jackson failing to target him outside of consecutive end-zone targets in the fourth quarter. Hollywood and Mark Andrews have been more inconsistent than expected this season because of Lamar’s struggles as a passer, and LT Ronnie Stanley’s season-ending ankle injury isn’t going to help matters for this passing attack. Brown could get the squeaky-wheel treatment this week from Lamar and OC Greg Roman against the Colts, but it shouldn’t take Hollywood calling out his quarterback and coaching staff for him to see at least a weekly deep shot or two. (TB)
Jamison Crowder (NYJ) — Midweek downgrades are about the worst thing you can see when it comes to injuries, and Crowder had one with his groin in Week 8. Expected to practice and return to play against the Chiefs, Crowder instead had a setback in a limited practice on Thursday and was unable to go. The Jets are drawing dead as is, and though Crowder is arguably their only appealing fantasy asset, the chance his groin injury lingers for weeks — and he potentially aggravates it during a game — is a nasty proposition. Also, if he carries a questionable status into Week 9, it will be hard to play him, given the Jets play the Patriots on Monday night (yikes, that game…). Moreover, Sam Darnold’s sore throwing shoulder is requiring more attention from doctors this week. It’s a bad situation all around. (JD)
DeVante Parker (Mia) — Look, Tua Tagovailoa got his first career win, and he should enjoy the moment. But the Rams really helped matters, with Jared Goff turning the ball over four times and the punt team allowing an 88-yard return TD to Jakeem Grant. Meanwhile, Tua quarterbacked the first win since 2006 by 10 or more points with an offense gaining 150 or fewer yards (when Rex Grossman’s Bears beat the Vikings 23-13). Parker caught just 1 of his 2 targets for 3 yards… and fortunately, it was a 3-yard TD. Tua never really looked comfortable, but he didn’t have to given the game flow. But while this was an extreme example, the fact remains that Tua is not nearly as good for Parker, Preston Williams, and Mike Gesicki as Ryan Fitzpatrick was. We’ll see if Tua can get into more of a rhythm in upcoming weeks, but Parker is a low-end WR3 in Week 9 against Arizona. (JD)
Julian Edelman (NE) — News came out midweek that Edelman — who has finished as a top-36 WR in PPR exactly once this year — needed a knee procedure that landed him on IR. The Patriots may be the worst offensive team in football right now, and Edelman is absolutely droppable. He’s not available to play until Week 11, and will you be comfortable using him then? (JD)
T.Y. Hilton (Ind) — If you were still holding out hope that Hilton could get going in a great matchup against the Lions defense, well, you were let down once again. Hilton saw just two targets and caught them both for a blazing 9 yards. Hilton just doesn’t have the same speed and explosiveness we saw consistently in his career and his involvement in the offense has completely fallen off. Philip Rivers just has other players he’d rather throw the ball to. Hilton has seen 5 or fewer targets in five of his last six games. You can safely drop him if you haven’t already. (GB)
Tight Ends
George Kittle (SF) — The 49ers offense was painful to watch in Seattle and Kittle was quiet until Nick Mullens hit him on a 25-yarder along the sideline after Jimmy Garoppolo (ankle) was yanked from the game in the third-quarter. Well, on that play, Kittle apparently fractured his foot and is apparently going to miss eight weeks according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Ugh. It’s very likely we won’t see Kittle for the rest of this season with that injury timeline. Meanwhile, HC Kyle Shanahan said that he’s optimistic Jordan Reed (knee) can return this week. Both Reed and Ross Dwelley are worth waiver claims this week to see how this situation turns out. (GB)
Jonnu Smith (Ten) — The tight end position is lacking in many consistent fantasy options and it sure looked like Smith was going to be a reliable mid-TE1 option after his hot start to the season. Jonnu ranked as the TE3 through his first four games this season with 17.5 FPG, but he’s averaged just 3.0 FPG in his last three games with just 4/51 receiving in that span. Smith managed just 2/29 receiving on two targets (6.7% share) against the Bengals in Week 8 as Anthony Firkser (2/36) outproduced him despite Smith owning an 81% to 42% edge in snap share. Smith averaged 6.8 targets per game in his first four games of the season with A.J. Brown and Corey Davis in-and-out of the lineup, but he’s averaging just 2.7 targets per game over his last three games with Brown and Davis back in the lineup. It also hasn’t helped that Firkser’s role in this passing attack has grown in recent weeks. Smith is still on the radar as a low-end TE1 option even with his recent dry spell, but he needs to pick up the pace soon or he’s going to lose the benefit of the doubt after his scorching start to the season. (TB)
WATCH LIST
Players whom we’re not ready to upgrade or downgrade, but their situations demand monitoring based on recent play, injuries, or news.
Quarterbacks
Running Backs
Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Le’Veon Bell (KC) — The Chiefs could have done anything they wanted in their massacre of the Jets in Week 8, but coach Andy Reid correctly identified the Jets as a pass-funnel defense, which led to Patrick Mahomes chucking 5 TD passes. Unfortunately, that meant Bell’s revenge game was a bust — he posted just 6 carries for 7 yards and 3/31 receiving while playing just 26% of the offensive snaps. CEH, meanwhile, managed 6/21 rushing and 3/10 receiving on a 50%snap share. There’s not much to glean about the Chiefs’ run game from that matchup — the Chiefs ran the ball merely performatively, as Mahomes and company carved up New York through the air. The simple explanation is that Reid knew his guys could throw it all day, and it’s been a while since the passing game had such a huge performance. The read here is CEH remains the far better runner for early downs when the Chiefs decide they actually need to run it, while Bell should continue to perform as a receiver on passing downs. (JD)
Joe Mixon and Giovani Bernard (Cin) — Gio once again came through with high-end fantasy production with Mixon out of the lineup in Week 8, just like he always has over the last couple of seasons. Bernard posted 20+ FP for the second straight game with Mixon out of the lineup, and Samaje Perine kept him from having a monster game by stealing a goal-line touchdown. Mixon, who has been nursing a mid-foot sprain, will more than likely be ready to play against the Steelers when the Bengals come out of their Week 9 bye so Gio doesn’t need to be held onto this week if you’re feeling a roster crunch with injuries and byes setting in. Mixon will also hopefully have most of his offensive line ready to play in Week 10 after Cincinnati beat the Titans with four of their starting offensive linemen out of the lineup. (TB)
Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt (Cle) — Chubb has been out of the lineup since he suffered his knee injury in Week 4, but HC Kevin Stefanski said that his third-year back could return against the Texans after their Week 9 bye. Hunt has been slightly disappointing as the bell-cow back during Chubb’s absence, averaging 13.6 FPG in his four-game run as the top back. Chubb will go back to being the primary runner in this offense while Hunt will work as the change-of-pace back and as the team’s passing-down option. Hunt actually averaged 17.4 FPG and Chubb averaged 15.3 FPG in their four games together to start the season, and they’ll both be in that high-end RB2 bucket going forward. (TB)
Phillip Lindsay and Melvin Gordon (Den) — There are two things we know for sure about this Broncos backfield. First, it’s definitely a near 50/50 committee when both backs are healthy. But more importantly, when Phillip Lindsay is healthy, he’s the better running back. And it may not be close. Gordon just looks sluggish compared to Lindsay’s electric, hair-on-fire speed. This past week, the duo split snaps 55% to 45% in favor of Gordon but Lindsay (6/83/1) ended up with the far better day on the ground that was highlighted by an explosive 55-yard touchdown. Gordon’s main contributions came as a receiver, but he turned his seven targets into only 21 yards. Lindsay only saw three targets as Gordon ran more routes (26 to 18). Gordon is still the slightly preferred option in this backfield because of his passing down work, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see Lindsay end up as the lead runner at some point soon. (GB)
Darrell Henderson (LAR) — Henderson looked like he was on his way to a massive day against the Dolphins in Week 8 (inasmuch as he could without Jared Goff messing it up), carrying 8 times for 47 yards and adding an 11-yard reception in the first half before injuring his thigh. He didn’t return to the game, and the rest of the way, Malcolm Brown (10/40 rushing, 2/17 receiving) and rookie Cam Akers (9/35 rushing, 1/19 receiving) split the workload. Of course, this happens on the heels of the entire fantasy world dropping Akers, but there’s a lot of time until the Rams play next — they have a Week 9 bye. Henderson has plenty of time to get right. (JD)
Miles Sanders (Phi) — The Eagles are on bye this week, so Sanders has another week to recover from his knee sprain before a matchup with the Giants in Week 10. However, he didn’t practice in Week 8 leading up to the game with Dallas, so there doesn’t appear to be certainty here. Just continue to monitor his status, because Boston Scott has done an admirable job filling in. (JD)
Jerick McKinnon and JaMycal Hasty (SF) — With injuries to Kittle and Garoppolo, the 49ers season is falling apart before our eyes. The team suffered another injury on Sunday, this one is just far more minor. Tevin Coleman made his return to the field after missing six weeks with a knee injury and apparently re-aggravated the injury after turning his three carries into 20 yards against Seattle. We don’t have an update on Coleman’s status at press time, but since the 49ers have a short week to get ready for the Packers on Thursday Night Football, we’ll likely see a heavy dose of Jerick McKinnon and JaMycal Hasty as the 49ers only healthy backs. McKinnon and Hasty split snaps nearly evenly (35 to 29) this past week. Remember, both Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson are on injured reserve because of high ankle sprains. (GB)
Chris Carson and Carlos Hyde (Sea) — Despite being labeled as true game-time decisions, both Carson (foot) and Hyde (hamstring) ended up missing this past week. DeeJay Dallas took over in their place and ended up handling a bell-cow role, turning his 23 touches into 58 yards and two short scores while playing on 79% of the snaps. We’ll know more later this week, but it seems likely that one of Carson or Hyde will be available when the Seahawks take on the Bills next. Carson seemed legitimately close to playing this week. (GB)
Aaron Jones (GB) — After missing practice all of last week, Jones missed another game with a nagging calf injury. The Packers medical staff is notoriously conservative when it comes to injuries, so for now, we have to consider Jones questionable at best for the Packers short week date with the 49ers on Thursday Night. With Jones out of the lineup over the last two weeks, Jamaal Williams has flourished. Williams has played on 86% of Packers’ snaps and finished as fantasy’s RB6 (in Week 7) and RB11 (in Week 8) while lumbering A.J. Dillon saw only five carries yet again this past week. The Packers added Dillon to their COVID-19 list on Monday which invariably means he’s going to miss TNF this week and could cause the league to reschedule the game for later in the week if any other players test positive. (GB)
Wide Receivers
Calvin Ridley (Atl) — Ridley left Week 8 early with an apparent foot injury, even though they ruled him out with an ankle injury (he’s dealt with ankle issues this season). Ridley avoided a major injury when X-rays came back negative on his foot, but he could still be looking at an absence with a foot sprain. Ridley will at least have a couple of extra days to heal since he suffered the injury on Thursday Night Football last week. The Falcons are on bye in Week 10 so there’s a great chance they play it safe with Ridley and rest him until they take the field again in Week 11 against the Saints. (TB)
Michael Thomas (NO) — Since Thomas (hamstring, ankle) returned to practice last week, it appears to be a decent chance he suits up for the first time since Week 1 against the Buccaneers in Week 9 —- coincidentally the same opponent against which he injured his ankle two months ago. The Saints obviously need him, as QB Drew Brees targeted a WR on just 15 of his 41 pass attempts in Week 8. Thomas has four games over the past two seasons in which he accounted for 15 or more targets by himself. Thomas might be in the midst of a lost season, but the Saints need him back, and need him back soon if they’re going to make a run to the Super Bowl. (JD)
D.J. Chark (Jax) — The Jaguars have been contemplating making a QB change and Gardner Minshew’s thumb injury will elevate sixth-round pick Jake Luton to the starting spot coming out of their Week 8 bye. Chark is coming off a one-catch performance in Week 7 despite seeing seven targets against the Chargers. He’s topped 12 FP just once in six games so a quarterback change will be a welcome sight at this stage of the season. We’ll see if we’re saying the same thing after we see Luton in his first NFL action, but our Greg Cosell at least liked him as a deeper QB prospect before last spring’s draft. (TB)
Tight Ends
Dallas Goedert (Phi) — Goedert was back, somewhat surprisingly, from an ankle injury in Week 8 prior to the Eagles’ bye. While he played 84% of Philly’s snaps against the Cowboys, he was targeted just once, catching a single pass for 15 yards. Goedert might not yet be 100%, but Carson Wentz was also really bad against the Cowboys, reverting from a good multi-week stretch to making poor decisions multiple times a drive. Goedert now has the Week 9 bye to rest up, and Wentz has the Week 9 bye to try to get his head out of his ass. It’s possible Goedert will be a huge producer down the stretch if Zach Ertz (ankle — on IR) can’t return for a number of weeks. (JD)
