Start Tyler Higbee against Arizona. The Rams just lost the receiver who drew 46% of their Week 9 targets, and two more wideouts with him. Corey Kiner is a FLEX in Munich if Rhamondre Stevenson sits. Kaleb Johnson starts with Josh Jacobs out. Cam Skattebo is back as the Giants' lead back tonight.
Rams: the targets go to the tight ends
Puka Nacua (MCL and PCL sprains, turf toe) is not going on IR. The Rams are short of return spots. He will still miss an extended stretch, and Week 14 has been floated as a possible return. Jordan Whittington went on IR (back). Sean McVay hopes Davante Adams misses only two more games. No receiver arrived before the deadline. The WR room is a 7th-rounder, two re-signed vets and a rookie.
That leaves a lot of volume with no home. Nacua drew 19 targets in Week 9, a 46% share. He had 70 of the team's 120 WR catches this season.
- Tyler Higbee is the start. He played 83%, 83% and 80% of the snaps in Weeks 6, 8 and 9. His ceiling game came in Week 3: 11 targets, a 22.4% share, 20.2 points. With Nacua soaking up targets, Higbee scored 2.4 and 2.3 the last two weeks. That changes now.
- Colby Parkinson drew 18.8% and 20.7% of the targets in Weeks 6 and 7, for 14.1 and 9.8 points. He's a TE streamer in deep leagues.
- Davis Allen had his one big day in Week 7: 17.2% of the targets, 18.0 points. He has no Week 9 game stats.
- Max Klare has no game stats this season. Don't chase him.
The matchup helps. Arizona starts rookie Carson Beck, its third-string quarterback, and he's dealing with back spasms.
Higbee has carried this load before
| Target share | |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 16.0% |
| 2020 | 11.5% |
| 2021 | 15.6% |
| 2022 | 21.6% |
| 2023 | 13.9% |
| 2024 | 12.9% |
| 2025 | 11.0% |
Higgee's role is not new. In 2022 he drew 21.6% of the Rams' targets, 108 in all, and scored 9.5 points per game. In 2019 his share was 16.0% and he scored 11.5 per game. In the 2024 playoffs, with Nacua drawing 14 targets, Higbee still saw 10 and scored 18.4. Last season he was at 11.0% and 7.1 per game in 10 games. He is a veteran who has been a primary target in this offense. Plug him in.
Patriots: Kiner and Larison in Munich
New England ruled out TreVeyon Henderson (illness) before flying to Munich. He won't travel. Rhamondre Stevenson (plantaris tendon, back of the knee) did not practice and is expected to miss a few weeks, though he isn't officially out yet.
| Carry share | |
|---|---|
| Rhamondre Stevenson | 38.9% |
| TreVeyon Henderson | 29.6% |
| Corey Kiner | 24.1% |
| Lan Larison | 3.9% |
Stevenson and Henderson have taken 38.9% and 29.6% of the carries. Corey Kiner already holds 24.1%: 50 carries on just 14% of the snaps. He has only 2 targets and 4.0 points per game. Lan Larison has 3 carries and 3 targets in three games.
- Kiner is a FLEX at Detroit if Stevenson sits. Check the inactives.
- Larison is a deep-league dart. Stevenson's 31 targets have no clear heir, and the game stats don't show who gets them yet.
- New England is on bye in Week 11, so treat Kiner as a one-week play for now. A.J. Brown is traveling and has a chance to play.
Packers: Kaleb Johnson takes the carries
Josh Jacobs broke a finger in the first quarter of Week 9 and is having surgery. He's expected to miss at most three weeks. He's likely out against Minnesota, with Week 11 against the Rams possible.
| Carry share | |
|---|---|
| Kaleb Johnson | 43.8% |
| Pierre Strong | 25.0% |
| Josh Jacobs | 12.5% |
Kaleb Johnson took 14 carries in Week 9, a 43.8% share, and scored 12.8 points on 39% of the snaps. Pierre Strong played more snaps, 45%, with 8 carries and 2 targets for 5.3. Johnson is an RB2 start. Strong is a deep-league FLEX for the passing-down work.
Giants: Skattebo is back tonight
Cam Skattebo (hamstring, hurt in Week 7, inactive Week 9) practiced and carries no designation. John Harbaugh says he's full go for Thursday night against Washington. He should take the lead role back from Devin Singletary.
Skattebo's carry share ran from 46.4% to 64.3% in his six games. He scored 19.1 in Week 7. As a rookie in 2025 he took over the Giants' backfield and held the early-down and goal-line work, until an open ankle dislocation in Week 8 ended his season. He's back in the same role. Start him.
Singletary carried 21 times in Week 9, a 67.7% share on 93% of the snaps, and scored only 5.9. He has filled in as a lead back before. In 2023 he took the job in Houston and kept it. That was with no healthy starter coming back. Bench him.
Vikings: Cousins on a short week
Minnesota got Kirk Cousins from Las Vegas on Nov. 10. Kevin O'Connell hasn't committed to starting him at Green Bay on a five-day turnaround, so Carson Wentz or Max Brosmer is possible. Kyler Murray (hamstring) was a DNP and Wentz (ankle) limited on the estimated report. More in Kirk Cousins Returns to the Vikings.
Cousins has been good this season: 20 TD passes, 8 INTs and 19.1 points per game in nine starts for the Raiders. In his last two Minnesota seasons he scored 17.2 per game in 2022 and 18.7 in 2023. The 2023 season ended at Green Bay, where he tore his Achilles. If he's named the starter, he's a QB2 with streaming appeal. T.J. Hockenson and Jauan Jennings were also DNPs, so wait on the Wednesday-to-Friday reports.
Other starters to know
- Deshaun Watson cleared the concussion protocol and starts against Houston. Shedeur Sanders goes back to the bench.
- Drew Lock is expected to start for Seattle at Las Vegas with Sam Darnold ruled out. He was limited with elbow and oblique issues.
- Jacoby Brissett starts for Baltimore on Monday night against the Chargers. See Brissett's fantasy impact.
- Kyle McCord makes his first NFL start for Miami at Indianapolis. Malik Willis is on IR.
How this was computed
Game stats cover the 2026 season through Week 9. Target share is a player's targets divided by his team's targets in the games he played. Carry share counts carries the same way, and snap share is the share of offensive snaps. Fantasy points are full PPR, to one decimal. The Patriots chart covers Weeks 1 to 9; the Packers chart is Week 9 alone. In the Rams table a dash means no game stats for that player that week. Higbee's history chart uses his season totals from 2019 to 2025. Max Klare had no game stats and is left out of the tables. Injury and lineup news comes from team reports through Thursday morning.
