USFL DFS Playbook: Week 9

He did injure his hand on a helmet on a follow through, but Smith still played the majority of the game last week and had a pretty good week. I have just had it with the higher echelon quarterbacks as Jordan Ta’amu has been worth his salary maybe twice all season and Kyle Sloter turns the ball over like it is his job. Smith might share a little with Alex McGough, but he does the vast majority of the work. He also runs a decent amount most weeks. He threw for 222 yards and two touchdowns against Houston in Week 2, and I feel like he is much more comfortable in the offense now and the Gamblers defense has gotten worse. If you are going to pay up for quarterback, Smith is the way to go. 

The injury to Bryan Scott forced him into action in Week 3 and Cookus has continued to improve seemingly every week. He had one of the best games of any quarterback this season with 247 yards through the air and another 118 on the ground with five total touchdowns against the Panthers. He might even get an easier defensive matchup this week against the Maulers who allowed 220 passing yards to Luis Perez last week who never puts up a ton of passing yards. Cookus is hitting on all cylinders right now and his confidence has to be sky high. He is my favorite quarterback on the slate this week. 

At 6’3” and 230 pounds, the Maulers new quarterback is a ton of bricks to try to take down, and that allows him to make some plays with his legs. He didn’t quite complete 50 percent of his passes in Week 8, but the Generals are by far the best defense in the USFL, so it isn’t surprising that he struggled some. That being said, he still threw for 218 yards with a touchdown and ran for a second. Pittsburgh will face the Stars this week who allow the second most passing yards per game in the league and actually allowed just over 250 passing yards and two touchdowns to Paxton Lynch last week. Rivers will save you even more money and should have a great output this week. 

Here is our GPP wild card. Clayton Thorson is done for the season in Houston, and here comes Bahar. He filled in towards the end of Week 7 and did well, and while he was far from spectacular last week against the Bandits, he showed some flashes and also an ability to run. He gets Birmingham this week, which is a tough assignment, but the Gamblers will be playing from behind and should throw a good deal. He was not the quarterback the first time these teams played, so Bahar could still be a bit of a wild card against the Stallions who have a playoff spot already wrapped up. Your lineup will rest on if he succeeds or not but if you are looking for the ultimate cost savings at quarterback with the hope of a 15-20 fantasy point game, Bahar is your roll of the dice. 

He leads the USFL in rushing yards, he leads the USFL in rushing touchdowns, he has 14 or more carries in four straight games, and he has topped 57 rushing yards in five straight and has six touchdowns in the last five weeks. Victor also has nine catches in the last five games, and while that isn’t a lot that is a few more points that he adds to his total each game. The Panthers have been absolutely awful as a defense in the last month and gave up 189 yards on the ground last week to the Stars. Granted over 100 of that was to the quarterback, but still they are susceptible on the ground and Victor has been a machine lately. Find a way to get him in your lineups. 

He has been absolutely crushing it since taking over the backfield from Paul Terry and Darnell Holland. Colburn has six touchdowns in the last four weeks and two games over 80 yards on the ground. He isn’t overly involved in the passing game, but he does have ten receptions in the last four games, and seven in the last two weeks including a touchdown catch. The Maulers are the second worst run defense in the USFL, and the Stars should completely steamroll them. I love Colburn in this matchup and he should be a consideration in all formats. 

He missed last week with a shoulder injury but was marked as active so I will assume that he is going to play this weekend. That is a tough call in a league that gives us very little injury information but be sure to check in before the Gamblers game on Saturday. Thompson has been one of the few consistent performers for the Gamblers all season long and has double digit carries in every game he has played. His yardage totals haven’t been impressive of late, but he does have three touchdowns in the last two weeks he was on the field. He had 92 yards back in Week 2 against these same Stallions and as long as Thompson is active and playing, he will always be a great DFS option. 

His yards per carry haven’t always been stunning, but Scarbrough is getting great volume with 57 carries in the last three weeks. The Breakers did keep him in check for the first time this season with just 59 total yards, but this week should be completely different against a Gamblers defense that gives up 141 rushing yards per game which is second worst in the league. In fact, they gave up 145 on the ground last week to a Tampa Bay team that doesn’t run the ball very well. As long as the Stallions don’t take their foot off the gas in a game where they already have a playoff spot all sewn up, Scarbrough should roll. 

He did have one fewer carry than Jordan Ellis last week, and had 14 fewer yards, but Jones did have a touchdown for the third straight week. The Breakers are going with much more of a committee at running back the past two weeks and Jones isn’t overly involved in the passing game, but he really has had a knack for finding the end zone and his salary is $3,600 cheaper than Ellis. The Bandits allow 121 rushing yards per game on the ground and right now with that disparity in DFS salary give me Jones 100 times out of 100 for your Week 9 lineups. 

He has now scored in three straight weeks and four of the last five and my love for Turpin grows with each passing week. He had five catches for 83 yards and two carries for another 10 yards in Week 8 against the Maulers and he and Darius Victor are the focal points of the offense. The Panthers defense just gave up four passing touchdowns last week and seem to get worse with each game. I expect huge things from Turpin this week and he is an absolute staple of DFS lineups for the rest of the season. 

He has come up super small with just three catches for 25 yards combined in the last two weeks, but Mitchell is still probably the most polished receiver on the Stallions and has a great matchup against the Gamblers who allow the most passing yards in the league. Mitchell had three grabs for 48 yards and a touchdown against them back in Week 2 and has played well against bad defenses. There is a sense of risk with a guy whose salary is this high that has had several busts this season, but I believe in Mitchell as a whole and especially against the Houston defense. 

He is one of the tallest receivers in the USFL, and he has really been planting his flag in the ground of being one of the better receivers in the league. Since Case Cookus has really taken off in the last two games, Suell has 11 catches on 11 targets for 115 yards and two touchdowns. There is absolutely no reason that he can’t keep this momentum going, and he has already had a great game this season against the Maulers. Back in Week 2, Suell had six catches on ten targets for 72 yards against Pittsburgh. Case Cookus has really started to lean on Suell in recent weeks and there is no reason to think this won’t continue and you can use him in both DFS formats for Week 9. 

I was a Johnnie Dixon guy earlier in the season, but I switched to a Jonathan Adams guy a few weeks ago and I have been happy that I did. He is $1,500 cheaper than his Breakers teammate and Adams has scored double digit fantasy points in four of the last five weeks, while Dixon has matched that feat just once over that same span. Kyle Sloter makes some bone headed decisions but is still one of the more solid quarterbacks in the USFL. Adams had five catches for 92 yards back in Week 2 against the Bandits and he should be in for another great game in Week 9. 

This one is going to come down to the health of Victor Bolden. Last week the Stallions most targeted receiver missed the game with a hamstring injury and Williams ended up with seven catches for 109 yards. It was the second time in three games that he had more than 70 receiving yards. He also has 16 catches combined in the last three weeks as he has watched his role grow all season. With the Stallions having a playoff spot wrapped up, they could choose to sit Bolden out again or ease him into action, which means that Williams could play a bigger role again. He had three catches on three targets for 88 yards back in Week 2 against these Gamblers. 

The Maulers offense might not always be impressive, but Hennie has definitely moved up the receiving pecking order since Bailey Gaither has basically disappeared. He has 19 targets in the last three weeks and had six catches for 60 yards and his first touchdown last week against the tough Generals defense. Roland Rivers seems to like Hennie which is good for his fortunes this week. It also helps that they are playing the Stars who are the second worst pass defense in the USFL. His salary is so nice that if he can get double digit fantasy points you will get a nice return on his salary. 

I definitely wouldn’t play both Maulers but if for some reason you need to save more money than Hennie’s salary you can give Hardaway a look. In Roland Rivers first full game for Pittsburgh, Hardaway led the team with targets (ten) and receiving yards (64). He’s been quiet most of the season, but with a quarterback change sometimes comes a change in target share and Pittsburgh has a very soft matchup on paper to exploit. 

The quarterback keeps changing, but Pettway has produced here and there throughout the season and had his best game to date last week with seven catches for 97 yards and a touchdown against the Stars. I can’t pretend to know who will be under center for the Panthers, but they have definitely shifted their gameplan to be more passing oriented and Pettway has six targets or more in three of the last four weeks. He is a very athletic tight end and can not only make tough catches, but also runs well after the catch. There are some games where he isn’t a big part of the passing attack, but he is basically free and is capable of putting up 15+ fantasy points when he has a good game.