Tune in to the latest episode of the Upper Hand Fantasy Podcast! Faraz and Zach reveal their top picks for buys and sells ahead of fantasy football trade deadlines and recap a relatively quiet NFL trade deadline, as well. And stay tuned later today for the Week 10 QB & RB matchups episode – everything you need to know heading into this weekend!

• Panthers rookie RB Jonathon Brooks activated from IR, could debut Sunday; QB Bryce Young set to draw start over Andy Dalton

  • If it feels like Jonathon Brooks actually wasn’t drafted by the Panthers in the second round last April’s draft, you wouldn’t be alone in that sentiment. The Panthers have obviously slow-rolled his return to play after it initially appeared that a return as early as Week 5 was on the table, but he should be in line to see his first NFL action after officially being activated from IR this week. Unfortunately for Brooks, he enters a Panthers offense that is not only one of the worst in the NFL, but one that is also quarterbacked by none other than Bryce Young. Granted, Young has flashed an iota or two of potential over the past few weeks, but nothing that would suggest that Carolina is capable of making an offensive turnaround on the scale necessary to prop up Brooks as a relevant fantasy running back – especially in his first game off of an ACL tear. The expectation for Brooks should be that he takes a back seat to incumbent starter Chuba Hubbard, who continues to play well and likely won’t concede his role as primary back any time soon. It’s also a possibility we have to wait until 2025 to see Brooks assume a fantasy-relevant workload, especially with this year already down the tubes from a competitive standpoint for the Panthers. Brooks can be rostered prospectively for the time being, but he’s nothing more than a bench stash until we see just what exactly HC Dave Canales has in store for the former Texas star.

• Bills HC Sean McDermott says that rookie WR Keon Coleman could be facing a multi-week absence with his wrist injury

  • A rash of wrist injuries in the Bills WR room led to recently-acquired veteran WR Amari Cooper missing Week 9 against the Dolphins and is now threatening to force an extended absence for the Bills’ top selection in last year’s draft. Coleman had started to dig into a more established role in the Bills’ passing game over the past few weeks, posting his two best performances as a pro in Weeks 7 and 8 despite Cooper being on the team in both of those games. A quiet day against Miami wasn’t necessarily a surprise, but the wrist injury he emerged from the game with was (considering he played his usual complement of snaps). Should Coleman miss any time, Khalil Shakir, Amari Cooper, and Dalton Kincaid would also receive upgrades, with Cooper potentially being fast-tracked to a full time route participation after failing to reach those thresholds in his first two contests in a Bills uniform. A multi-week absence, while bad for Coleman, could help stratify what’s been a very distributed target share in Buffalo from Josh Allen. Of course, fantasy managers should stay tuned throughout the week for additional updates, but the current vibe seems to be that Coleman could be out for this week and potentially beyond.

• Texans WR Nico Collins, Panthers WR Adam Thielen both miss practice Wednesday with hamstring injuries

  • Collins is still working his way back from a stint on IR thanks to his hamstring injury, while Thielen has had his practice window opened for two weeks since suffering a hamstring injury of his own back in Week 3. The absence of Collins in Houston’s offense has left QB C.J. Stroud and the Texans passing game dead in the water, with RB Joe Mixon quite literally carrying the full weight of the offense on his shoulders over the past few games. The slump in the air was hallmarked by an abysmal sub-100 yard passing game by C.J. Stroud a few weeks ago against the Packers, and with Stefon Diggs out for the season, as well, the Texans have been unable to shake out of the funk with just Tank Dell as a notable pass catcher this season. There’s still a chance that Collins could suit up this week, but it wouldn’t be a surprise at all to see Houston ultimately play it safe with the start WR. He’ll be an immediate WR1 once he re-enters the lineup. As for Thielen, the runway for opportunity is much clearer with Diontae Johnson out of the picture. We saw Bryce Young and Thielen flash some rapport early last season, and he could be worth a look in flex spots in a decent matchup against the Giants this week. Long term, Thielen offers WR3 upside as long as he can stay healthy despite being part of an uninspiring Carolina offense.

Buy RB Breece Hall, NYJ

• Breece Hall is still averaging 15 points a game and touching the ball 20 times a game this season – and he has one of the most favorable schedules for running backs down the stretch. Starting with Arizona this week, he follows that with Indy, Seattle, Miami, and Jacksonville, the Rams, and then Buffalo in the fantasy championship in Week 17.

• Hall is averaging 5 yards per carry over his last four games, so don’t let anyone tell you he’s lost a step. His receiving work has come down a bit in recent weeks, but he’s still at 70% route participation, 17% target share, and 22% target rate over the last four games. That’s on top of also handling 74% of the rush attempts, too.

• It’s another case of underperformance here for Hall, who’s had two separate strings of back to back games this season finishing outside the top-30. His role remains that of a strong RB1… the production has just lagged a bit recently.

BUY WR Ladd McConkey, LAC

• McConkey has been earning the targets and taking care of business on his end (23% target share leads the Chargers since the bye), but it hasn’t turned into a whole lot of fantasy production besides his one blowup game against the Saints – he’s finished outside the top 30 in three of the past four weeks.

• The good news is that his underlying utilization looks good and his situation has improved. We’ve kicked this dead horse plenty of times, but the Chargers are one of the most pass-heavy teams in neutral situations since the bye after originally being one of the most run-heavy teams before the bye. They ranked second-lowest in neutral situation pass rate before Week 5, and have ranked as the second-highest in neutral situation pass rate since Week 6.

• McConkey had his bye all the way back in Week 5, so he’ll be available for the rest of the season barring injury. And his schedule over the next four weeks is really favorable for WRs – outside of Tennessee this week, he has the Bengals, Ravens, and Falcons from weeks 11-13, and then Tampa Bay to open the fantasy playoffs in Week 15. 

• His usage puts him in the WR2 realm, but his production has looked more like a WR3/flex play over the past four weeks. The Chargers offense is getting better and passing the ball at a much more fantasy-friendly rate – he might not be super cheap, but the price tag shouldn’t be too high either – think Tank Dell or Romeo Doubs in a potential 2 for 1.

See the Full Week 10 Buy/Sells Post!