6) Amon-Ra St. Brown vs. Vikings
The Lions return home after their Week 8 bye to face their division rival Vikings, this weekend. The Vikings will have J.J. McCarthy under center, and that could be a bit bumpy in the early going. The Lions will most likely look to jump out to an early lead and then pound the leaky Minnesota run defense, so we will need Amon Ra to get his points early in this one. He’s an elite talent and has a scoring floor that’s as good as any receiver in the league, so he’s a must-start. At worst, he is going to get around 8 targets with 7 catches for 70 yards with a high probability for a touchdown. The Sun god has scored in 4 of his 7 starts so far this season with a total of 7 touchdowns on the year.
7) Rashee Rice vs. Bills
It should come as a surprise to nobody that since his return from a six-game suspension, Rice has been the Chiefs’ best receiver. He leads the team with 19 targets over the last two weeks with a target share of 28.1% (Anything over 25% is considered elite). We are willing to overlook that his yards per catch and air yards per target are a couple of yards lower than it was in his previous two seasons, since volume and the touchdown equity are what we are looking for, and both have been very strong. This game against the Bills should be a fun one to watch with plenty of scoring to go around. While we typically like to target the Bills run defense, the Chiefs have been using Rice as an extension of their run game with quick passes and will likely be forced to do so even more this week with Isaiah Pacheco due to miss time with a knee injury.
8) Nico Collins vs. Broncos
Collins, much like Puka Nacua, is an incredibly talented receiver who has been plagued by nagging injuries in every season of his young career. When he is on the field, he is one of the league’s best pass catchers. The injury bug got to him again this season as he missed last week’s game due to a concussion. The issues have been somewhat compounded this season as C.J. Stroud struggled early in the season, as it took some time for offensive coordinator Nick Caley to scheme plays that could mask their shaky offensive line play. Stroud was able to break out a bit last week with over 300 yards passing for the first time this season, but Nico wasn’t there to join in on the fun. He should clear the concussion protocol and take the field this weekend against a Broncos defense that is currently ranked #1 in the league against the pass. Ordinarily, this isn’t a matchup we would target, but Denver will be without their all-pro cornerback, Patrick Surtain, for the foreseeable future, so that should create enough space for Collins to have a solid day. The bigger concern for Houston will be Denver’s top-ranked pass rush, so look for a good amount of quick, short passes to Collins, who still remains Stroud’s favorite target.
