Yahoo NFL Picks: Week 9 Thursday Night Football Jets vs. Colts Tonight

Tonight the Indianapolis Colts are hosting the New York Jets in the featured Thursday Night Football matchup, and Yahoo Fantasy is offering NFL DFS single-game contests. The general concept of creating a team remains the same, but this is a one-game player pool. The twist is that any position player can be rostered, and one is designated to receive a 1.5x multiplier on their Yahoo fantasy points. Using Awesemo’s expert NFL projections and rankings, these are the top Yahoo NFL picks for the Week 9 Thursday Night Football game tonight.

Yahoo NFL Picks: Week 9 Thursday Night Football

Top SUPERSTAR Options

The SUPERSTAR position will get a 1.5x multiplier on their Yahoo points in the single-game format. Awesemo’s NFL DFS optimizer creates daily fantasy football cheat sheets. Check out who is popping in the Yahoo NFL DFS cheat sheet for the Week 9 Thursday Night Football game.

Jonathan Taylor, Indianapolis Colts – $34

On Yahoo, with the half-PPR scoring format, Jonathan Taylor has the second-highest probability of being the top scorer, behind only his quarterback. That should not be much of a surprise when considering the shaky Jets offense and the relatively low-volume offense of the Colts. Taylor should see 15 to 20 carries in this very winnable matchup, but he has not had more than 18 in any game this season. Taylor has been steady in the passing game, averaging 3.1 targets in his last four appearances.

Awesemo’s NFL data scientist Matt Savoca broke down Taylor in depth in his Jets vs. Colts NFL DFS Showdown Matchup article today, which can help when building lineups tonight.

Carson Wentz, Indianapolis Colts – $27

For as much flack as the DFS community gives Carson Wentz, he has been a solid performer this season. Although he has topped 251 yards passing only once on the year, he has five straight multi-touchdown games. Even when he tallied 402 yards passing and a pair of touchdowns against Baltimore in Week 5 on Monday Night Football, he still did not surpass 25 Yahoo points. Conversely, only once has he been below 17 Yahoo points, so at least he is having metronomic performance in the 18- to 22-fantasy-point range.

Yahoo NFL Core Picks

Michael Pittman Jr, Indianapolis Colts – $19

Yahoo has certainly made things interesting with the salary difference between Michael Pittman Jr. and Taylor. The half-PPR scoring dings Taylor, who has topped 100 yards only once with four touchdowns on the season. Touchdowns are fickle, and while those four have all come in the last four games, that is no indication of future production. Pittman has three games with 12-plus targets, and with T.Y. Hilton back on the sideline, he should see 6 to 8 as a reasonable baseline tonight and has a chance at double-digit opportunities.

Mike White, New York Jets – $25

Quarterbacks are always key on single-game slates, even if they will be making their third-ever appearance. Mike White led the Jets to an upset victory over Cincinnati with a whopping 405 yards passing and three touchdowns last week. This performance was a complete outlier and likely the apex performance of his career. Indianapolis is not the best pass defense in the league, though they are still going to be somewhat daunting for a player who has just 77 career passes in the NFL, all of them coming in the last week and a half.

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Yahoo NFL Value Picks

Michael Carter, New York Jets – $15

It looks like rookie Michael Carter now has a firm hold on the lead running back gig for the Jets. In his last two games he has 26 carries for 114 yards and a touchdown while seeing a whopping 25 targets for 17 catches and 162 yards. This is a bargain salary considering he should see 20 to 25 touches on Thursday Night Football.

Jamison Crowder, New York Jets – $15

Corey Davis is unlikely to play, which leaves veteran Jamison Crowder as the most experienced receiver on the roster. Fortunately for his fantasy backers, he excels in the short passing game, and he should see 6 to 8 targets tonight and has double-digit upside. Crowder is decent at getting yards after the catch, even with a low average depth of target, and he can help keep the chains moving forward. While a touchdown is unlikely, he easily could flirt with 80 yards and a dozen fantasy points without reaching pay dirt.

Final Thoughts

While it is possible to play both quarterbacks and Taylor in the same lineup, that will leave dart throws with two roster slots. Recent prime-time games have shown that being able to collect the touchdowns, particularly in the low-scoring games, can lead to fantasy success. Do not be afraid to go against the grain or even leave a handful of salary cap on the table when looking to find differentiation in the large-field tournaments.

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Author

Eric MacPherson

Eric "EMac" MacPherson won the 2007 Fantasy Baseball grand prize (trip for two to the MLB All-Star game) in the Roto format on ESPN. He won again in 2008, this time in the H2H format. As one of the early adopters of daily fantasy sports, EMac has been providing content for baseball and basketball as well as both professional and college football since 2012 for a variety of websites including DraftKings Playbook, FanVice, RotoWorld, Daily Fantasy Bootcamp, and RotoGrinders. He is well into his third decade of fantasy sports and has a wealth of knowledge and experience. Follow him on Twitter @EMacDFS or contact EMac by emailing [email protected].