Welcome to the weekly Fantasy Notebook, the must-stop spot for keeping your finger on the pulse of Fantasy Nation. NFL news and developments drive fantasy values. The Notebook is here to keep you in the loop on all of it throughout the season.
The Madness Continues
Week 9 offered up another remarkable range of outcomes. Some expected. Others not. Adding to the intrigue, the on-field festivities were followed by some off-field fun, as the NFL's Tuesday trade deadline drove some deals. This week's Notebook will dig into all of that -- and more.
Halloween was last Friday, so it seems fitting that we got some . . .
Monster Performances
Wow. Talk about some impressive outcomes. Week 9 delivered -- and then some. We saw some of the highest individual scores of the season at each of the skill positions.
The depth of the scoring was also a pleasant surprise, especially at quarterback, where 11 players exceeded 20 points this week. Beyond that, we saw a historically massive effort at tight end, a wide receiver continue a dominant run, and a running back quietly continue his dominant season.
Again, some were expected, and some were pleasant surprises.
And, of course, it included . . .
A Handful of Horrors
The over-the-top goodness was tempered by the usual disappointments -- even if the culprits were anything but usual laggards.
That starts with the Colts. The league's most potent scoring offense was held in check by a Steelers defense that hadn't slowed anybody this year. Running back Jonathan Taylor, the top scorer in fantasy football entering the week, was stuffed at or behind the line of scrimmage on three of his 14 rushing attempts and finished as RB30 with a season-worst 7.7 points.
In Detroit, Jahmyr Gibbs had a season-low 5.8 points in Sunday's loss to the Vikings. Gibbs, who had a season-best 36.8 points in his previous game against Tampa Bay, averaged 2.8 yards per carry in this one.
How about Chargers running back Kimani Vidal, who was held to just 3.0 fantasy points as he was stuffed at or behind the line of scrimmage on two of his 12 rushing attempts? Or maybe Patrick Mahomes II, who went into Sunday's game in Buffalo averaging 24.5 points per game as fantasy's QB1, only to be held to a meager 8.5 fantasy points by the Bills, which left him as QB25 on the week.
And Pittsburgh's DK Metcalf? Held to 2.6 fantasy points by one of the most generous secondaries.
So, yes. There were plenty of disappointments.
But the big performances were glorious . . .
Bowers' Powers
As USA Today's Levi Damien suggested, we all knew Brock Bowers was a key part of the Raiders' offense.
We saw it throughout his record-setting rookie season. But we hadn't seen it since Week 1 this year. That's when a healthy Bowers opened the season with a 103-yard game while Geno Smith threw for 362 yards, completing 75 percent of his passes in a win in New England.
But Bowers was also hurt in that game.
With Bowers battling through that injury, playing at less than full speed or sitting out altogether, the Raiders lost four straight, including two games when they didn't hit double-digit scoring.
Two weeks ago in Kansas City, with Bowers sidelined, they were shut out . . .
He's Back
Bowers missed three games -- Weeks 5 through 7 -- before the Week 8 bye.
He returned against the Jaguars on Sunday.
Taking the field with their star tight end healthy for the first time in two months, the Raiders scored a season-high 29 points and Smith tossed four touchdown passes in an overtime loss.
Bowers showed he's back to his game-changing ways, catching 12 passes for 127 yards and three of those touchdowns.
He drew a 34 percent target share and only failed to haul in one of his 13 targets.
"Could it be more obvious what a great player that he is?" head coach Pete Carroll asked after the game.
He made a difference in nearly every area of the field. Everyone around him benefited.
Ashton Jeanty saw 18 touches for 89 yards and a receiving score, and Smith was able to move the ball through the air again as the Raiders put 23 points on the scoreboard in the second half and overtime.
Even in a loss, the Raiders have to feel fortunate to have Bowers back in the mix . . .
Fantasy Managers, Too
Bowers became the first tight end with at least 125 receiving yards and three touchdowns in a game since Rob Gronkowski in 2014, per ESPN Research. Bowers also brought his career receiving yards up to 1,546 in just 22 games. That's the fewest games needed by a tight end to pass 1,500 receiving yards since 1970, per ESPN Research.
But his 43.3 fantasy points stand out.
It's the highest single-scoring game by a tight end this season, surpassing the second-highest -- Tucker Kraft's 33.3 points in Week 8 -- by 10 points.
Late-Round Fantasy's JJ Zachariason noted it was the second-highest total at the position dating back to at least 2011. Darren Waller, who scored 45 PPR points for the Raiders back in Week 13 of the 2020 season, is the only tight end to have scored more.
Bowers has a tougher matchup in Week 10 versus the Broncos defense, but he's back to being the top-three player at his position any given week . . .
London Calling
While the Falcons dropped a 24-23 decision to the Patriots in New England, wide receiver Drake London had a standout game in Week 9 of the 2025 season.
The former first-round draft pick caught nine of 14 targets for 118 yards, and he was dynamic in the end zone, flashing his high-level ball skills on three touchdown grabs.
The nine receptions ranked third among his career single-game totals. It was the ninth time he's broken 100 yards.
But the trio of touchdowns? First time ever.
It was only the second time London had scored multiple touchdowns in 57 games since 2022.
And he did it Sunday while going head-to-head with New England Patriots All-Pro cornerback Christian Gonzales . . .
This Isn't New
Thanks to his big-play ability, London posted a position-high 38.8 fantasy points.
Only two wideouts, Amon-Ra St. Brown, who scored 39.2 points in Week 2, and the Raiders' Tre Tucker, who racked up 40.9 in Week 3, have had better games.
But this wasn't an outlier for London, who has scored 30 or more points in two of his past three games.
Much of his success comes from a heavy workload. Per Zachariason, London has drawn 38.5 percent, 51.6 percent, 27.8 percent, and 41.2 percent target shares over his last four games.
He's averaging 26 points per game over this stretch.
With a Week 10 matchup against the Colts, London is a locked-in, high-end WR1 this week.
And given his target shares, that's going to be the case more often than not over the second half of the season . . .
Williams Goes Boom
The Chicago Bears put on quite the offensive show in their 47-42 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, which highlighted the versatility of head coach Ben Johnson's playcalling.
Quarterback Caleb Williams made plays with his arm, his legs, and his hands as he made NFL history with his performance. Finishing the game with 280 passing yards and three touchdowns, as well as 53 yards on the ground, and his two receptions for 22 yards and a score, Williams made history twice.
Williams became the first player in NFL history with at least 275 passing yards, 50 rushing yards, and 20 receiving yards in a single game. He was also the first starting quarterback with two receptions in a game since 1953, when Baltimore Colts quarterback George Taliaferro accomplished the feat.
Not since 1985 had a Bears quarterback thrown multiple touchdown passes in a game and also caught one.
Williams also was decisive when it was time to scramble, averaging 10.6 yards per carry, the second-highest total of his career.
The Bears' offense finished with 576 yards, its most in a game since 1980 . . .
It's All Coming Together
This is the first time with Johnson as head coach that the Bears displayed as much creativity as they have on offense, and seeing the way Williams was used was certainly unique.
Williams still needs to find a stronger sense of timing/accuracy as a thrower, but he put up some ridiculous fantasy numbers in the wild, high-scoring win over the Bengals.
His 36.7 points were a career high.
Only one quarterback this season, Josh Allen, with 38.8 fantasy points in Week 1, has delivered more this season.
To be clear, I don't expect this to be the norm for Williams.
So far this season, he has four QB1 finishes, three QB2 finishes, and one QB27 finish.
The problem is obvious: Divining when those big weeks are coming is a challenge. Without more of them, it's tough to play Williams over more consistent producers.
Maybe Johnson will get him there. But Williams isn't there yet . . .
Mr. Reliable
49ers running back Christian McCaffrey continued to do most of the heavy lifting and etched his name further in NFL record books in a 34-24 win over the Giants.
The star halfback set an NFL record in the fourth quarter at MetLife Stadium.
With 164 scrimmage yards, McCaffrey surpassed 500 rushing and 500 receiving yards through nine games. He's the second player in the past decade to do that (Saquon Barkley, 2018), and the second Niner to achieve it (Roger Craig, 1985).
McCaffrey ran for a three-yard score to put the 49ers up on the Giants 34-17 with 4:13 left to play, giving him 16 career games with both a rushing and a receiving score.
That broke a tie with Marshall Faulk for the most in NFL history . . .
No. 1 . . . Again
That's right. We've got a new No. 1 overall scorer, as McCaffrey scored 34.3 fantasy points while Taylor came up short to take over the scoring lead with his 231.2 points through the first nine games.
According to ESPN.com's Tristan Cockroft, that's the most scored by a running back through that many games since Alvin Kamara's 246.4 in 2020.
McCaffrey has done it despite a Week 1 injury scare, with his starting quarterback, Brock Purdy, sitting out seven of those games because of a toe injury, and with their defense having been hit especially hard by injuries.
CMC will face a much tougher matchup in the Los Angeles Rams in Week 10, but as Cockroft wrote, McCaffrey's "receiving ability makes him one of the most stable forces in fantasy football" . . .
Let's Make a Deal
The Nov. 4 NFL trade deadline came and went Tuesday, with a handful of moves made. But some of the players we might have most wanted to see find new homes -- Jets running back Breece Hall and Miami wideout Jaylen Waddle -- remain in place.
Of the moves we did see, two will have fantasy impact: Raiders wide receiver Jacobi Meyers being shipped to Jacksonville and Saints wideout Rashid Shaheed to Seattle.
Another move -- Colts wide receiver Adonai Mitchell was included in a deal that had Indianapolis sending two first-round picks to the New York Jets for Sauce Gardner -- might . . .