BUY – DeAngelo Williams – RB – Pittsburgh Steelers

While the circumstances of Williams getting the nod are unfortunate, life must go on. Le’Veon Bell is out for the remainder of the season due to a severely torn MCL in his right knee. It’s tough news for Bell owners, but for those that had Williams rostered on their team, he is about to have a very big boost in value.

In the two games that Williams started in place for the suspended Bell, he had 204 yards on 41 carries and three touchdowns in the Steelers backfield. The game plan in Pittsburgh doesn’t change with Bell out for the year, and we should expect Williams to get 20 to 25 touches per game as their primary running back. The Steelers rely on their work horse running back, and Williams will be just that for the rest of the season. In weeks 3-7 with Bell in the lineup, Williams only received 13 combined carries, despite the early success he had in the first two games.

Williams is a veteran running back who is more than capable of handling a full work load, and if nothing else, having five games with virtually no work since his week two start, he should be fresh and ready to go for the rest of the year. He instantly becomes a top 15 running back for the rest of the season.

BUY – Carlos Hyde – RB – San Francisco 49ers

I’m not crazy, I promise. Just like I wrote last week with David Cobb in the Titans backfield, Hyde should be targeted by teams that need help at the running back position that might not want to pay a hefty price tag. There’s a good chance that the current Hyde owners have had enough of him. After rushing for 168 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries in week one against the Vikings, Hyde has not run for more than 100 yards in a game and only has more than 60 rushing yards once (week five against the Giants). However, with that being said, there’s been a quarterback change in San Francisco and Hyde probably does not have a very large price tag these days.

I look for San Francisco to lean heavily on Hyde once he comes back from his foot injury with Blaine Gabbert now at QB, and Hyde could be in for a nice bounce back second half. Hyde has had 20 or more carries in just three games this season, and has 168, 93 and 55 yards respectively in those games, with three touchdowns. With Gabbert at the helm in San Francisco, look for Hyde to be their primary player on offense going forward.

BUY – Stevie Johnson – WR – San Diego Chargers

There are many players this week that are benefitting from the unfortunate circumstances of injury, and Stevie Johnson is one of them that will see additional snaps, targets and opportunity for the injured Keenan Allen. Allen will miss the remainder of the season with a lacerated kidney, which will give more opportunities to the entire receiving core as a whole, but Johnson will likely benefit the most. Johnson was playing in just 60% of snaps prior to Allen going down, but Johnson will now be the second starting receiver alongside Malcolm Floyd for the rest of the year. With San Diego being such a pass-heavy offense, Johnson will see an additional boost all around. Rivers will have to find a new favorite target, but Johnson has just as good of a chance as anyone else. For Allen owners looking for some kind of replacement, Johnson is likely your cheapest, most realistic option out there.

SELL – Andrew Luck – QB – Indianapolis Colts

Now to get rid of Andrew Luck. Many gave he and the Colts the benefit of the doubt at the beginning of the season and were waiting on him to shake off the rust. The truth is, seven games into the season, we have yet to see Luck play at the level he is capable of for a full 60 minutes. In week three against the Titans, Luck and the Colts overcame a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter where Luck showed flashes of his old self, as he did in the Colts comeback to tie the game in week eight against the Panthers. Luck does have eight touchdowns in the last three weeks, which is a good sign for Luck owners, but he will likely take a step backwards in week nine against the Denver defense that ranks number one in the NFL. I wouldn’t sell lightly, but I would test the waters and see what the return might be for Luck in re-draft leagues.

SELL – Jacob Tamme – TE – Atlanta Falcons

Tamme is only owned in 12.7% of ESPN leagues, so it’s not very likely that he is owned. However, I’m selling his latest performance against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tamme is a fine replacement if your tight end is on a bye week in PPR leagues, but there are many options in the passing game that rank ahead of Tamme, which is the reason for his one touchdown catch of the year. If you’re desperate at tight end, he could be an option in deeper leagues, but I would not expect for this to start a Benjamin Watson or Gary Barnidge type spark in production. Tamme had 10 catches for 103 yards and a touchdown in week eight against the Bucs, but he had just one game prior to week eight catching more than four passes. You can avoid him unless you play in deeper leagues with two tight ends.