Daily Fantasy Football November 5: DFS Stock Up, Stock Down

With the massive number of injuries that hit teams hard on Sunday, as well as quite a few benchings, we've had plenty to talk about through the early part of the week leading up to Week 9.

The stock of multiple players is rising for many different reasons, while others are plummeting at a rapid rate. The question is, as we head into the Week 9 action, which players should we be targeting due to their stock trending upwards, and who should we be looking to avoid all together?

We'll start the action off with a player who looks locked and loaded as the new workhorse running back in Tennessee and continue on to a quarterback who has broken the hearts of fantasy players and fans alike this season.

Stock Up: Antonio Andrews, RB, Tennessee Titans ($3,600)

Patric Schneider/Associated Press

There's been a head coaching change in Tennessee, and it seems as though one player who will benefit massively is running back Antonio Andrews. After the team parted ways with head coach Ken Whisenhunt, interim coach Mike Mularkey sounded off on a few different things. One of those things? Andrews.

According to Jim Wyatt of TitansOnline.com, Mularkey plans on using Andrews as the Titans' workhorse moving forward in 2015.

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“I think Antonio (Andrews) is the workhorse as we speak right now,’’ Mularkey said on Wednesday. “As you’ve seen, Dexter (McCluster) has had his carries as a changeup for us. Bishop (Sankey), again, I know he hasn’t had carries in the last couple of weeks, but we’re trying. Based on the run scheme that we’ve had in these last couple of weeks, it hasn’t called upon his ability. But if we were going to force it, it would be to Antonio right now.”

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Well, if there's any player to absolutely watch moving forward in Tennessee, it's Andrews. We've seen him show glimpses of being a solid No. 1 running back at times this year, including in Week 8 against the Houston Texans (16 carries for 64 yards, three catches for 18 yards).

Out of the five games Andrews has played in this year, he's topped four yards per carry in three of them, and in each of those games he received at least 10 carries. Expect Andrews to get the ball plenty moving forward, and at a cost of just $3,600 on DraftKings, he may be a daily fantasy steal in Week 9.

Stock Down: Colin Kaepernick, QB, San Francisco 49ers ($5,000)

Jeff Chiu/Associated Press

While this is almost like stating the obvious, it seems that the San Francisco 49ers have very little interest in going back to Colin Kaepernick at any point this season. For Kaepernick and the 49ers, that's probably the right move, as he seems to just need some time to clear his head.

It's unfortunate, because Kaepernick possesses quite a bit of pure talent, but he's been the definition of inconsistent and all over the place this season. The quarterback who we saw in Week 2 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, who completed 71.7 percent of his passes for 335 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions is long gone.

Instead, we've seen Kaepernick complete 54.2 and 48.8 percent of his passes over the past two games, while failing to throw a touchdown and registering an average of 7.12 fantasy points between the two contests. Basically, Kaepernick was completely irrelevant when it came to daily fantasy football.

Now, the team turns to Blaine Gabbert, who is unlikely to be the answer. When you get benched for a player who has a career completion percentage of 53.2 and has thrown 23 touchdowns against 24 interceptions, it's obvious that things are going pretty terribly for your team.

Stock Up: Johnny Manziel, QB, Cleveland Browns ($5,000)

David Richard/Associated Press

Welcome back to the show, Johnny Football. As if Johnny Manziel getting the starting nod due to a banged up Josh McCown doesn't draw enough headlines, a recent report from Bleacher Report's Jason Cole will probably do the job.

As Cole reports, there's buzz surrounding Cleveland that the team is hoping Manziel can play well enough against the Bengals to win the starting job permanently moving forward in 2015. Well, that definitely makes Thursday night more than just slightly worth watching.

Manziel has always had loads of talent, but it took until this season for us to actually see him play with some poise and make smart decisions. No, he's not the most accurate quarterback in the NFL, but in two games against the New York Jets and Tennessee Titans to start the season, Manziel threw for a total of 354 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.

While the Browns didn't ask Manziel to take us back to his days at Texas A&M and run wild on the field, he played smart, managed the game and looked solid in the process. There's no question that Manziel's stock is trending up, and it will likely skyrocket if he can grab the starting job after Week 9.

Stock Down: Kendall Wright, WR, Tennessee Titans ($5,100)

Weston Kenney/Associated Press

Meet the man who has become one of the toughest players to figure for daily fantasy football players. While Kendall Wright started the year off topping 23 fantasy points on DraftKings in two of his first three games, it's been pretty much all downhill since that point.

After Week 3, Wright has failed to top four receptions in any game, and has only scored more than 7.4 fantasy points one time, which came in Week 7, and that was due to the fact that he caught a touchdown. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to matter whether it's Marcus Mariota or Zach Mettenberger under center, as Wright just can't get the ball rolling right now.

To make matters even worse, he's dealing with an MCL injury, and while he may end up playing on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints, he's about the furthest thing from a safe bet. Wright has red flags popping up all over right now, and daily fantasy players are likely better off looking somewhere else for an inexpensive wide receiver.

Stock Up: Darren McFadden, RB, Dallas Cowboys ($4,300)

Brandon Wade/Associated Press

While Darren McFadden more than deserved to be on this list two weeks ago when he rushed 29 times for 152 yards and a score against the New York Giants, his stock just went up once again. No, he wasn't incredible against the Seattle Seahawks, rushing 20 times for 64 yards, but he also caught six balls for 49 yards.

Now for the real fact that shoots his stock upwards. As Todd Archer of ESPN reports, the Dallas Cowboys have now officially released their old No. 1 running back, Joseph Randle. No one knows exactly what's going on with Randle currently, but it's definitely a concerning situation for the former Cowboys running back.

As for McFadden, well, he's now locked in as the No. 1 running back and there's very little question about who will receive the bulk of the workload moving forward. To top it off, the Cowboys are likely going to try to control the clock against Chip Kelly's offense when the Philadelphia Eagles come to town this Sunday, so expect a lot of work for McFadden.

At a cost of just $4,300 right now, McFadden may be a highly owned player in Week 9, but with his role as the workhorse back and his ability to catch passes, he should be in for another strong fantasy outing.

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Pricing information and scoring data obtained from DraftKings.com. All statistics courtesy of ESPN unless otherwise specified.

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