2020. Week 8. Monday dawn.
Bleary-eyed Mondays are the norm. But there's a little twinge of guilt when I'm not firing on all cylinders because I stayed up to catch up on a few back episodes of One Piece. It was a palette cleanser after a harsh fantasy day.
While making breakfast for the boy child, I hear the news. Odell Beckham, Jr. is out for the season. The worst fears realized. Rashard Higgins fresh off six catches and 110 yards, will try to fill the vacancy in the Browns offense. He'll likely do the same on many fantasy football rosters that featured Beckham. 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk finds himself in a similar, yet different, circumstance. The rookie won't have running mate Deebo Samuel when the Niners take on the Seahawks.
I put a plate of sliced fruit in front of the child, knowing I'll be picking half of it up off the floor In a few minutes. It's not the only mess I'll encounter this morning. There's another one involving the 49ers backfield. JaMycal Hasty is expected to step in for the injured Jeff Wilson, who was stepping in for the injured Tevin Coleman, who we thought would step in for the injured Raheem Mostert. But most things involving Coleman never seem to go as we'd think. Lost somewhere in all that Silicon Valley running back traffic is Jerick McKinnon. So many backs, so few opportunities.
Monday night.
During the day, I realized that we're resetting our clocks soon. Darkness is coming earlier. In a city that boasts endless summer, it's the closest thing we have to a marker for time. Time Is much more nebulous in Las Vegas. Clocks are as scarce as Henry Ruggs III targets. Such vague temporal awareness might partially explain Nelson Agholor's recent rise to prominence. Touchdowns in three straight games might explain it better. A matchup with the Browns doesn't hurt, either.
Stuck somewhere in time was the breakout season we'd longed to see from Titans wideout Corey Davis. Fortuitously, we've reached that moment in time-space when Davis achieves what many long believed possible.
We have seen what is possible for Joe Burrow. And it is good. It could be good again when the Bengals host the Titans. Or perhaps you can travel upstream to Teddy Bridgewater and his plus matchup against the Saints.
With my quarterback issues addressed, the next bit of streaming I concern myself with comes via Crunchyroll. I will pay for it in the morning. I don't care.
Tuesday afternoon.
An afternoon sip of yerba mate girds against the inevitable two o'clock loginess. That buzz is a familiar feeling. Like the feeling of watching Devin Singletary cede time to someone else in the Bills backfield – only not as pleasant. That someone is once again rookie Zack Moss, who walked back into a big workload last week. The duo will challenge a Patriots run defense that was trampled by the Niners last week. Can a stampede of Bills be as successful?
Autumn is not known as a time for new beginnings, but we will make an exception for Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. The rookie makes his debut against a Rams defense that suffocated the Bears on Monday night. It might be safer for fantasy managers to watch this start from afar. But those observations will feel more worthwhile if Tua is at least on your bench.
It's a shame that Cardinals running back Chase Edmonds isn't on more NFL.com benches. After Arizona's bye week, he should also be in more NFL.com starting lineups. The days are short. The time to move is now.
Marcas Grant is a fantasy analyst for NFL.com and a man who is reminding you to vote. That's it. That's the message. Send him your fantasy football questions on Twitter @MarcasG or Instagram at MarcasG.
