DeVito to the Rescue!

C.J. Stroud is the dude. His game against Tampa Bay was something special. How special? He is one of two rookies in to pass for over 400 yards and five touchdowns, joining Matthew Stafford. He’s also one of three rookies to pass for over 430 yards in a game without an interception, joining Marc Bulger and Andrew Luck.

Cool, but Stroud had 470 yards, five touchdowns, and no picks. What about that? He’s the only rookie in NFL history to do that.

I have no qualms with Stroud as my QB1 for the rest of the season. It feels wrong to be so trustworthy of a rookie, but why not? What reason has he given us to doubt? A bad game against Carolina? He scored more against the Panthers than Tua Tagovailoa did against the Eagles and Chiefs.

From a dynasty perspective, he might not have the most talented receiving corps now, but imagine if he gets a true WR1 to go along with Nico Collins and Tank Dell next season. Or a solid second-round RB. The Texans might be interesting next season.

News and Notes

• 🏙️ Ok, so Stroud is the main story here but I figured “DeVito” in the headlines would be an attention grabber. And no it’s not Danny DeVito. And he probably can’t rescue the Giants’ season. But Tommy DeVito is fun to say. Daniel Jones is out for the season with a torn ACL, and Tyrod Taylor is on IR. DeVito didn’t do well in his first game experience (as in passed for -1 yards), but was much better this time around, completing 75% of his passes for 175 yards, a touchdown, and two picks. So maybe he’s streamab…never mind the Giants play Dallas next week. Start their defense.

• ⚔️ Joshua Dobbs on the other hand? The dude is just chugging along no matter who he plays for. He came in with a legendary feel-good performance against the Falcons. If you haven’t read about how the entire team rallied around him and taught him the offense in-game. 

• 🐬 🏹 The Miami-Chiefs game was not the kind of game we expected. I feel bad for the German fans over there, expecting fireworks and not getting it. Hill, Kelce, Pacheco, Tua, Waddle, Rice, all of them failed to really have a good game, or at least meet expectations.

• 🟠 The Browns took care of business, with Deshaun Watson looking predictably rusty. He should be better in the coming weeks. Jerome Ford might not have the same workload with Hunt in town, but his receiving work should keep him in RB3 consideration.

• I’m only starting a Cardinal when/if Kyler Murray returns OR their name is James Conner. Clayton Tune did not look good, granted Cleveland’s defense is good against quarterbacks but I’m not holding out hope he becomes a stud after this week.

• 🐅 Hey look Tee Higgins is back! What’s crazy is he’s hardly left, he’s only missed a single game so far this year. It’s just been quiet, but after a solid game last week, he put it all together to lead the Bengals in receiving against the Bills on Sunday night.

• You’ll see I have him as a waiver wire option below, partially because running back is so thin, but partly because I want to caution: don’t read too deep into Zach Charbonnet’s workload this week. Seattle was blown out by the Ravens. I would have preferred to see more targets to Charbonnet in that scenario, but he had five touches to Kenneth Walkers nine. Of the two of them, he was the only one who received a target.

• 🇺🇸 While we’re on Seattle, I think Jaxon Smith-Njigba has arrived. Sorta, more like still heating up. But he’s had at least four receptions in three of the last four games and he led the Seahawks in receiving on Sunday. If you have the bench space, pick him up if he’s available. He gets Washington next week, who just let Demario Douglas and JuJu Smith-Schuster have their best games of the season.

• Those two Patriots are good pickups too, in my opinion. JuJu might not have the shine he had early in his career or even last season with Kansas City, but if he’s clearing his knee injury, he could be the best receiver on the Patriots. Unless Douglas has a say about it! The former Flame has found a special place in my heart, as I have many connections with Liberty University (despite not attending the school!).

• 🎖️ I guess Jahan Dotson is back! Three straight weeks with eight or more targets and two of the past three with touchdowns! It’s like the Commanders forgot they had a talented receiver on their roster until three weeks ago or something.

• 🐴 Jonathan Taylor dominated the running back touches for the Colts, as he should. Zach Moss is much tougher to trust going forward.

• 🧀 I’m not sure what is going on in Green Bay, but I know they have to start getting Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson the ball if they want to win against tougher competition. Their lack of involvement could have been due to the game script, but Jordan Love has struggled to connect with them despite a decent target rate. Case in point: the two of them combined for 17 targets last week against Minnesota but only caught 7 passes for 51 yards.

• 🦬 Don’t look now, but Khalil Shakir has 14 targets, 14 receptions, and 184 receiving yards since week 7. He’s seeing over 65% of the snaps the past two weeks and looks like he’s the Bills WR3. Snatch him up.

Waiver Wire Targets

• QB: Joshua Dobbs vs. NO, Taylor Heinicke vs. ARI, Aidan O’Connell vs. NYG

• RB: Tyjae Spears vs. TB, Zach Charbonnet vs. WAS

• WR: Jaxon Smith-Njigba vs. WAS, Demario Douglas and JuJu Smith-Schuster vs. IND, Khalil Shakir vs. DEN

• TE: Jonnu Smith vs. ARI, Cade Otton vs. TEN,

• DST: Seattle vs. WAS, Indianapolis vs. NE

Thursday Night Preview

This one should be fun. How many unders can we take on this game?

Carolina Panthers

Carolina has not played well of late, particularly Bryce Young, who threw three picks against the Colts secondary. The good news is the Bears have allowed the most passing touchdowns in the NFL this season. Young is a QB2 at best. I’m ok with starting Adam Thielen, but Jonathan Mingo and Hayden Hurst are too tough to trust. Chuba Hubbard dominated the running back touches, beating out Miles Sanders 20 to 9. Sanders was more efficient, which hopefully was just a blip in the radar and doesn’t cause a constant back and forth of which RB is starting for Carolina.

Chicago Bears

Bears rookie Tyler Bageant also threw three picks against the Saints but had two touchdown passes. Both to Cole Kmet to the chagrin of DJ Moore owners. We’ve got a DJ Moore revenge game, so that could be fun! I plan on releasing the results of a revenge game study in the offseason, by the way 😉. Darnell Mooney has come alive in recent weeks but is still just barely in flex territory or a deeper league start. As for the Bears running backs, D’Onta Foreman is the lead back, but I’m staying away. I think my holding out hope for Roschon Johnson is a fool’s errand.

Final Thoughts

That will do it for this edition of the Ballfield Banter newsletter! I’ll see you again on Friday!