Welcome back to the Rookie Report! We’re now more than halfway through the NFL season, and that means we’re heading into the home stretch of the fantasy regular season. These games are going to start to feel more important each week if you’re jockeying for playoff position. It’ll get more important to make the right calls in your lineup each week, and that starts with the Thursday night game. This week’s Thursday night game should actually be a good one, but we were saying the same thing about the Saints vs. Bucs game before it started Sunday night. We’ll see how this one plays out. I’ll be back with a full Rookie Report for week 10 before Sunday, but here is a look at what to expect from the notable rookies tonight

Borderline Rookies:

RB Jonathan Taylor, IND (Wk. 10: @Ten.): It has been a trying couple weeks for folks with Jonathan Taylor on their fantasy teams. He’s played fewer than 40% of the offensive snaps in 2 consecutive weeks and was out-touched and out-gained by Jordan Wilkins in each week. Both weeks Head Coach Frank Reich had a different excuse for why Taylor was phased out of the game in the 2^nd half. Two weeks ago against the Lions it was an undisclosed injury. Last week Reich claimed negative game-script was the reason, but it seems clear that Taylor’s grasp on the starting gig is tenuous at best right now. With that said, he does have the opportunity to post a nice game this week. The Titans allow the 8^th-most RB points per game, and despite his limited usage last week Taylor still got the ball at the goal line and scored a touchdown. I would expect there to continue to be a bit of a 3-way split in this backfield with Wilkins & Nyheim Hines, but if Taylor manages to get the hot hand early, a strong RB2 day isn’t out of the question. I’d rather make a bet on Taylor than most other committee backs this week (Browns’ RBs not included).

Rookies to Sit:

K Rodrigo Blankenship, IND (Wk. 10: @Ten.): Hot Rod has run cold of late, scoring just 8 total fantasy points in the last 2 weeks, and that’s if your league didn’t penalize you for the two missed extra points against the Lions. This week he faces off with the Titans, who are much more likely to give up touchdowns than field goals. Tennessee has only given up multiple field goals in a game once this season, and in that game they allowed just 2 of them. They’ve given up just 2 kicks all year from 40+ yards, and they allow the 4^th-fewest kicker fantasy points per game. If you have Blankenship as your kicker in a season-long league, it may be wise to look into streaming someone else this week, and he shouldn’t be a target in showdown DFS slates for Thursday night.

Deep League Sleepers, Stashes, and Cheap DFS Options:

WR Michael Pittman Jr., IND (Wk. 10: @Ten.): Pittman turned in a nice performance last Sunday with TY Hilton sidelined. He finished with 4 catches for 57 yards on 7 targets against a pretty good Ravens’ secondary. This week he gets to face off with a much more vulnerable Titans defense. Tennessee has been very vulnerable to opposing receivers, allowing the 4^th-most points per game to the position and 5+ catches to 13 different wide receivers in the past 5 weeks. Only Darnell Mooney last weekend had fewer than 50 yards to go with the 5 catches among that baker’s dozen. TY Hilton should return this week, so the depth chart gets a little more crowded, but aside from Hilton I think Pittman is the guy that has the best chance at topping those 5/50 marks. Keep a close eye on the updates here to make sure they don’t come out and say that Pittman won’t start in 3-WR sets, but I think there is a great chance for the rookie to set new season highs in both catches and yards on Thursday night. He’s an interesting option in deeper leagues, and will cost a reasonable $4,400 for the Thursday night showdown slate on DraftKings, less than 3 other Colt WRs (Hilton, Zach Pascal, and Marcus Johnson).

That’s all I’ve got for the Thursday night game. Hopefully it helps you figure out what to do with these guys. If you have any questions or want to yell at me about anything written above, feel free to hit me up on twitter and let me know (@Shawn_Foss). As always: Good luck, trust your gut, and have fun. It’s just a game.