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This is another one of those, “don’t rest on your laurels” check points. The payoff to the grind of it all is in sight. And in a week with a blank IR room and only the Rams and Broncos on BYE, there is still much to discuss. With both good news and bad, The Infirmary is here to provide the essentials for fantasy managers.

Rashod Bateman is primed for a big game with Marquise Brown sitting out. He’s seen a 27.7 percent Target Rate since entering the lineup, good for No. 17 at the position. Not to mention, he’s facing off against the No. 26-ranked pass defense. The Bucs will be without Antonio Brown again, and face Tom Brady’s nemesis- the New York Football Giants. This offense needs to step it up. Speaking of the G-Men, they’ll be without Sterling Shepard. Once again, it’s Kadarius Toney time.

Over the last several weeks, there has been a steady increase in Michael Carter’s routes run and Snap Share, which says that the Jets are beginning to use him as a bell cow, a role that will expand as the season progresses and as he gets more experience. The Jets are an abysmal team and will continue to find themselves in negative Game Scripts, which will lead to more targets for Carter in the passing game.

If you didn’t draft Michael Carter, it might be too late to trade for him. However, he had an okay game against the Colts and Bills, so you still have a chance to buy. When that time comes, ask for him as a sweetener in a deal for another buy low target. You want Carter on your roster. Go out and get him, and go win some leagues.

One of the longest-standing rivalries in Professional Football is affectionately referred to as THE BORDER BATTLE. The Green Bay Packers are heading into Minnesota to face the Vikings with both teams coming off wins in week 10. Opening at a decent total of 50 points with Green Bay being 2.5 road favorites we need to really dig in here to see if this is one of the games of the week we want to focus on from a fantasy standpoint.

Minnesota has had a duel personality this year and we don’t know which team we are going to get but I lean the Packers in this Sunday’s game. If bad Minnesota shows up the Packers will cruise to victory. If good Minnesota shows up the Packers still have outs as they’ve shown they can contend with the best in the league. The one-shot I would take here would be a Rodgers-Dillon-Adams Stack with a Justin Jefferson runback.

The modest 26.5 receiving yards line for Adam Trautman is bound to hit the OVER. Trautman’s usage has surged since Trevor Siemian took over in Week  8, resulting in at least 6 targets per game. Moreover, his 3 (No. 3 among qualified tight ends) drops show that he is catching the majority of these targets. Additionally, he has hit the OVER on 26.5 receiving yards in two out of three games since Week 8. Last but not least, Philadelphia ranks bottom-5 in yards allowed to tight ends.

While Michael Pittman has hit the over on this line 60-percent of the time, he hasn’t been successful when matched up against top-12 cornerbacks, per PlayerProfiler Cornerback Rankings. The only time Pittman hit the OVER against a top-12 CB was in Week 1 against Jalen Ramsey. This week, Pittman will be pitted against one the best cornerbacks in Tre’Davious White. White has yet to allow more than 52 yards to receivers through Week 10.

As a complement to Aaron Jones, A.J. Dillon has received a Snap Share of 32.7-percent. Despite this limited role, he has three double digit fantasy totals entering Week 10. With Jones exiting the game with knee sprain, Dillion posted 128 total yards and two TDs on 21 carries. The fantasy RB3 in Week 10, earns a position best 32.98 Lifetime Value points to rise nine spots to RB20 in dynasty.

Jarvis Landry has been an underwhelming option for fantasy gamers this year. Limited to six appearances due to a knee injury, Landry has delivered a career low 8.5 (No. 59 among qualified wide receivers) Fantasy Points Per Game. This low mark is inflated by a 19.4 point (WR17) performance in Week 1. Despite a 21.4-percent (No. 32) Target Share, he has reached 10 fantasy points just once since the Browns’ season opener. For now, he loses 8.91 Lifetime Value points and nine spots to fall to WR76.

Patrick Mahomes looked pretty back to himself while dismantling the Raiders in prime time. After a handful of subpar outings, Mahomes posted his highest scoring fantasy game of the season (39.2 DKPt). Vegas is back in on the Chiefs as denoted by their slate-high 29 point implied team total and I’m here for it. The game ranks No.1 in Pace of Play and both offenses can fill the stat sheet. Both teams rank top ten in both Sec/Play and Situation Neutral pace (h/t Football Outsiders).

Checking in as our WR2 (by projections), Tyreek Hill finds himself in an interesting spot facing the Cowboys. Though the Cowboys defense has been good against the pass (No. 9 DVOA), the high game total and fast paced game environment takes precedence.  Despite their similar Target Shares, Hill edges out Kelce as the stacking option to prefer here because of his deep ball proclivity (27.7-percent and 21.7-percent respectively).

The Ravens-Bears matchup is one where you’re swinging for the fences. It could smash with big plays as the Ravens allow a 12-percent (No. 30) explosive play rate in the air and 14-percent (No. 30) on the ground. The Bears aren’t far behind, with 10-percent (No. 22) in the air and also 14-percent (No. 29) on the ground. Explosions are everywhere behind the league’s most dynamic quarterback in Lamar Jackson and an emerging star in Fields. However, it could also finish as a game you didn’t want to touch. 

Initially, the Packers-Vikings game was going into my Week 11 DFS Matchups to Target. However, after breaking down the numbers and seeing the roster percentages, I’m fading a heavy stack and hoping for what we saw with the Packers-Chiefs in Week 10. The Vikings poor defensive rank against the quarterback is inflated by three rushing quarterbacks: Sam Darnold, Kyler Murray, and Lamar Jackson. They have only allowed two quarterbacks to hit the 300-yard bonus thus far. In addition, Aaron Rodgers has only hit it once in 2021 and only has one game with three passing touchdowns.

George Kittle is my favourite play on the entire slate. Since returning to the lineup, he leads the 49ers with a 26-percent target share. He presents leverage off Jeff Wilson, as well as Deebo Samuel. With Darren Waller and Travis Kelce playing in the slate’s highest total games, Kittle has an array of factors driving his ownership downward. It is fully within the range of outcomes for Kittle to be the slate’s highest-scoring tight end with a huge performance that leverages off multiple popular plays.

Priced up despite a post-bye efficiency dip, Ezekiel Elliott is my favourite play in the KC-DAL contest. At $7,700, Elliott is unlikely to be among the slate’s top-owned running backs. His price is prohibitive to pairings with Chiefs stacks, which are more comfortably paired with the $4,200 Michael Gallup. Elliott, despite a muted role in the pass-game this year, sees his highest snap rates in trailing script, where he is relied on as a blocker and outlet. For this reason, I think he pairs well as a differentiating factor in Chiefs stacks.

When building GPP tournament lineups, a barbell approach to roster share is key for achieving tournament winning upside through differentiation. We explore a few unique stack possibilities to get that leverage off the popular Cowboys and Chiefs stacks this week. With a few exciting games in the late window, late swap possibilities become a critical consideration for a few underlooked QB plays.

Joe Burrow is a good example of the reason we put so much stock into team and game totals. This year, efficiency is the name of the game. Now in a game with a large total, we’re expecting that volume to jump up a bit, while ideally maintaining that same efficiency resulting in a huge day for fantasy. Ja’Marr Chase’s 17 Deep Targets rank No. 5 while his 41.9-percent Air Yard Share ranks No. 4. He’s consistently making big plays down the field and can break a slate any week.

Unfortunately, D.J. Moore has failed to record a double digit finish in fantasy points since this time and his red hot start to the season where he averaged over 22 fantasy points per game is looking like a mirage. But wait, that mirage in the desert may actually be the waterhole that you have been searching for. Moore is still averaging over 70 Air Yards the past four weeks and has the chance to play with potentially his most productive quarterback this season in Cam Newton.

Emmanuel Sanders has underwhelmed since Buffalo’s Week 7 bye averaging only 5.7 Fantasy Points Per Game in the three games after the bye. However, he is averaging almost 100 Air Yards per game since the bye and is tops in the league with a 18.3 Average Target Distance. Look for Sanders to haul in a long touchdown at some point. When he does you will want him in your tournament lineup.