Every Saturday morning, I'll take a quick look at all the week's games, offering my own brief take on what I think will happen, as well as touching on significant injury news since our Weekly came out. I'll check in every so often over the course of the day to answer lineup questions, too.
What follows is a brief look at all the games with how I'd react in my own lineups to injury developments or other news. The official rankings are the ones in the Weekly. Those take precedence. But sometimes players are very close, and in those cases I'm glad to offer opinions on how I'd approach those situations. Sometimes I like certain players more or less than Ian, and sometimes I have different risk tolerance with injuries etc. If I don't get to your question, either I missed it (it happens) or the rankings are very clear. (If one guy is ranked a dozen spots above somebody else, I'm going to respect that more often than not; we put a lot of time into those things.) OK, on to the games!
49ers at Falcons: Kyle Pitts is questionable. Presumably he's playing, but Pitts hasn't yet proven to be a must start - if you start him you're risking poor numbers whether he plays limited snaps or full-time. San Francisco is missing a couple of defensive starters but I'm still relatively cool on the Atlanta offense, both passing game and committee backfield. San Francisco offense looks fine, passing game and Jeff Wilson. Not confident in Tevin Coleman having a productive role; seems to be the No. 2 but he's not gonna score every week.
Patriots at Browns: So the Patriots listed Damien Harris (hamstring) as questionable, but they did some of the same will he or won't he play with Mac Jones a couple of weeks ago. I'm comfortable proceeding as if Harris won't play and firing up Rhamondre as a top-10 option. Jakobi Meyers being questionable makes me a little less inclined to use him, and certainly nothing else in the passing game is of interest. Not a great matchup for the Browns; Chubb and perhaps Njoku the only definite starts.
Jets at Packers: I would expect Green Bay to win this game fairly comfortably, but I thought that against the Giants. Jets have been a little better than expected, Green Bay not as good. Breece Hall and the main Green Bay players (Jones-Dillon-Lazard-Doubs) look like the best bets.
Jaguars at Colts: In one league I have Jonathan Taylor and Nyheim Hines, and Josh Jacobs on a bye. I already killed a lineup spot starting J.D. McKissic, since at the time I didn't know whether I'd have either Colt available. Now it looks like they might both play, killing my Deon Jackson pickup. It's a situation that's going to have to be managed right up until gametime, I think, seeing who is actually active or not. If Taylor is inactive, I'd use Hines, if they're both inactive, Jackson, if they're both active, Taylor is the only one to use (but he's risky). If you ask me questions on these guys today, well, my answers are going to be kind of vague. I don't like using injured players who might be limited, so Taylor is not an automatic start for me. There aren't any Jaguars I love here either. Lower-scoring game I think.
Vikings at Dolphins: There's an unknown quantity with Skylar Thompson, who was very good in the preseason, relatively unproductive last week (though Mike McDaniel says he exceeded expectations). I'd go ahead and start Tyreek and Waddle, and probably Raheem Mostert too. Miami's defense has been pretty awful, so no problem using key Vikings.
Bengals at Saints: I'm benching Tee Higgins. Maybe he'll be active, but I'm not confident he'll play full-time. For the Saints, Olave should clear the protocol and be fine to use. Alvin Kamara is also fine, aside from all the snaps he's losing to Ingram and Taysom Hill. I've expressed my feelings on Hill and will do so again. Great best-ball player. If you start him, nobody can promise he'll get more than 5 points. But sometimes he'll get 20 or more. Too risky for my blood but undeniably great some weeks if they keep using him near the goal line, which they probably will.
Ravens at Giants: Several great options, far more lousy ones. Barkley, Lamar, Andrews, great. Duvernay as the only healthy wideout (for either team really) who's doing anything, good. Er, maybe Daniel Bellinger will be OK as a TE choice. Moving on.
Bucs at Steelers: Bucs starters looks great. Steelers, er, you've got Najee, supposedly feeling healthier (but a tough matchup and he's not doing much these days). Zach Gentry as your desperation fill-in for Pat Freiermuth, I might actually be using him in a league. Diontae Johnson and George Pickens viable for some garbage-time numbers.
Panthers at Rams: I don't know what the story is on Cam Akers. I could speculate but what's the point. He's not playing, so Darrell Henderson looks like a great choice in a game the Rams should win. For the Panthers, it's Christian McCaffrey and that's about it. Not concerned about Cooper Kupp questionable tag. Matthew Stafford and Tyler Higbee viable starters.
Cardinals at Seahawks: Should be more offense than defense in this one, as with all Seattle games this year. I'm comfortable with the ranking on Eno Benjamin. He's starting against a junk defense. I'm also fine using Ken Walker, actually ranked a little higher than Benjamin. Nice week for Zero RB proponents. Tyler Lockett fine after appearing on the injury report mid-week. Kyler Murray and yes Geno Smith good quarterback choices.
Bills at Kansas City: Unfortunate this is not the primetime game. Networks can protect certain games from going to the Sunday night matchup and hard to blame CBS for locking down this one. Lots of good starters here. Especially for Buffalo, though I'm fine using CEH in addition to superstars Mahomes/Kelce. Fun matchup.
Cowboys at Eagles: The quality of these defenses makes using the offensive starters tricky. Hurts and the key Eagles receivers, yes. Miles Sanders, probably. CeeDee (on the injury report but I'm trusting he's fine), yes, Elliott/Pollard, probably. These games have been higher scoring in the past, but both defenses better right now. Still, there's a chance there are a few more touchdowns in this one than expected. Dak Prescott questionable, but nobody believes Jerry Jones, unlikely to play.
Broncos at Chargers: Hey, Broncos primetime game! Denver healthy, apart from its injured regular running back and beat-up quarterback. Melvin Gordon could be solid against a struggling run defense, maybe Mike Boone as a desperate choice. I guess Keenan Allen is the key question here. I have him in a league, but I think I'm leaving him on the bench. Just too risky, unless he happens to be removed from the injury report today. Might play, might be limited or limp off early. Unless I had another option in the same game too much risk of him being inactive for me.
Enjoy the games.