Jerry Donabedian

A four-week stretch of excellence here at Streaming Defenses came to an end Week 9, with the five recommendations yielding mixed results. The top two picks, Philadelphia and Tennessee, both scored at least nine fantasy points, as did No. 4 selection Cincinnati. That's solid work, although not quite difference-making in light of 11 defenses reaching double digits over the weekend. The other two recommendations, New Orleans and Washington, scored three and four points, respectively. All in all, it wasn't a bad week for our streaming picks so much as it was a disappointment relative to the standouts results from Weeks 5-8.

Week 9 continued the trend of RBs accounting for a large portion of the big fantasy games, with wide receivers taking a back seat despite Jaxon Smith-Njigba 's career day. Four RBs topped 80% snap share — Kyren Williams, Tony Pollard, Chase Brown, J.K. Dobbins — and 10 others landed in the 70s ( Chuba Hubbard, Alvin Kamara, Breece Hall, Aaron Jones, Kenneth Walker, Bijan Robinson, Saquon Barkley, Rico Dowdle, Rhamondre Stevenson and Jonathan Taylor ).

WR DeAndre Hopkins didn't need long to get comfortable in his new home, taking on a larger role and scoring two touchdowns in his second game for the Chiefs.

Unless otherwise noted, references to 'fantasy points'are based on PPR scoring with 25/10 yards per point and 4/6 points for TDs. Start% comes from Yahoo, as of Wednesday night / Thursday morning.

49ers RB Christian McCaffrey is listed as questionable, but all signs point to him making his season debut this Sunday. RW's Jerry Donabedian has the full scoop from Friday injury reports.

Denver's Courtland Sutton and Tennessee's Calvin Ridley have overcome slow starts to the season, finally taking advantage of prolific volume the past three weeks.

Unless otherwise noted, references to 'fantasy points'are based on PPR scoring with 25/10 yards per point and 4/6 points for TDs. Start% comes from Yahoo, as of Wednesday night / Thursday morning.

The Commanders have played solid defense the past eight weeks and now figure to beat up on Cowboys QB Cooper Rush this Sunday.

This season has been remarkably light on injuries to fantasy-relevant running backs — a trend that seemingly continued Week 11 with no reports of injuries to lineup regulars. That also means it's been a difficult year to find help on waivers, which again looks to be the case for this upcoming week.

Bo Nix and Courtland Sutton may run circles around a banged-up Raiders secondary this weekend. Find out who else RW's Jerry Donabedian is starting/sitting for Week 12...