It’s that time of the week again! Time to prepare our selves for another weekend roller-coaster of emotions and I’d personally like to wish you all the best of luck! Here is the Week 9 sit or start predictions we’d like to suggest to you before you set your lineup this week.
Quarterbacks
Start
Dak Prescott
With Dak Prescott matching up against Cleveland this week, he is an easy lock the quarterback position.The Browns give up an average of 20 fantasy points to rivaling quarterbacks per game and Dak’s coming off his best performance of the season in an overtime win against NFC East rival, Philadelphia Eagles. Prescott’s smart decision-making, accuracy, and his ability to run in scores from the goal line have skyrocketed his fantasy floor and have made him a legitimate fantasy option for the rest of the season — unless Jerry Jones screws it up.
Colin Kaepernick
Now I know what you’re thinking, Colin Kaepernick isn’t a good quarterback. Although that might be true, matching up this week against the Saints at home, he definitely someone to watch. New Orleans’ pass defense has been better than credited, only allowing 9 touchdowns in the first half of the season. Their run defense however, is terrible! They allow on average of 29 fantasy points per game to opposing running backs and with Kaepernick’s scrambling ability, this could be a week he puts up respectable fantasy numbers. I’m not saying go and start Kaepernick if you have better options, but there are definitely worse picks you could make this week — especially if your starter is on the bye.
Sit
Matthew Stafford
Matthew Stafford is coming into Week 9 as a top 5 ranked fantasy quarterback, but he’s also coming into the week off of his second worst performance of the season. Last week in Houston, Stafford went for a still respectable 240 yards and a touchdown, but that only translated to 13 fantasy points This week he has a much tougher matchup on the road in Minnesota. The Viking’s secondary is only coughing up 11 fantasy points on average to opposing quarterbacks per game, and Stafford hasn’t really been matchup proof so far this year. I’d think twice before I start Stafford on the road.
Russell Wilson
Injuries have been the main factor of Russell Wilson’s bad fantasy season this year. Russell hasn’t gone over 10 fantasy points the last three weeks and this isn’t a bounce back opportunity for him, going up against the Bills secondary. Yes, Buffalo’s secondary did get torched last week by Tom Brady, but that was only the second time this season that the Bills have given up 20 or more fantasy points. Wilson hasn’t thrown a touchdown in his last 3 contests as well, and has only totaled 5 touchdowns all season which is the same as Blaine Gabbert — never be in the same conversation as Blaine Gabbert, ever.
Sleeper
Nick Foles
With six teams on the BYE this week including big named fantasy quarterbacks such as Tom Brady, Andy Dalton, and Kirk Cousins, Nick Foles could be a solid fill in as he’s available in 96% of Yahoo leagues. Last week when Alex Smith went down with an injury, Foles totaled 223 yards and 2 touchdowns, leading the Chiefs to a victory. With Spencer Ware still in concussion protocol and Jamal Charles on injured reserve, Kansas City showed last week that they trust the reliable backup, who has a career 55:27 touchdown:interception ratio.
Running backs
Start
Devontae Booker
All signs are pointing to Devontae Booker (shoulder) starting Week 9 against the Raiders, and boy has he looked great since he took over for the injured C.J. Anderson. Rushing for 137 yards and 2 touchdowns in the past two weeks, Booker has shown he’s a reliable fantasy option over that span. Also, Denver likes to call his name as he was on the field for 54 out of 65 possible snaps against San Diego, so expect his number to be called multiple times against a Raiders defense that gives up 22-plus fantasy points per game to opposing running backs.
Charcandrick West
With the chance that Spencer Ware (concussion) can’t go this weekend, Charcandrick West would be in position to get a majority of the work against the Jaguars. With Charles officially out the rest of the regular season, West is the only healthy option in the Kansas City backfield at the moment and facing off with a Jacksonville team that just surrendered 183 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground last week versus the Titans, West is an easy play this week.
Sit
Christine Michael
Even with the 4.2 yards per carry this year and 6 total touchdowns in the last 5 weeks, it didn’t take long for Christine Michael to lose sole possession of the backfield in Seattle. For some reason they don’t want him to be their guy. Last week Michael saw 28 snaps compared to C.J. Prosise, who saw 23 snaps, and looked to be a much better fantasy PPR option moving forward. This week I expect the Seahawks to split the backfield once again making Michael’s fantasy ceiling very low.
Todd Gurley
Projected to be a top-three running back this season, Todd Gurley has yet to go over 100 rushing yards in a game, and is currently averaging a whopping 3 yards per carry. The Carolina Panthers’ run defense has looked solid this year, and hasn’t surrendered a touchdown in the last 3 weeks. Unfortunately for Gurley, he hasn’t found his stride this season, and even with his receptions continuing to go up, he hasn’t lived up to the expectations so far in his sophomore season. Let’s also throw in that Carolina’s front just held David Johnson to 24 yards on the ground after his three straight 100-yard games.
Sleeper
Derrick Henry
Unfortunately for Demarco Murray owners, his toe injury provided Derrick Henry with his first full workload of the season and he took advantage of the opportunity. Henry saw a career high of 20 touches and produced 97 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown, which made him a top 6 running back last week. With the uncertainty of Murray’s injury coming into this Sunday vs the Chargers, Henry could see another respectable workload and we know he’s capable of producing from what we saw in his time at Alabama. Murray and Henry are two backs to keep a close eye on heading into week 9.
Wide receivers
Start
Michael Thomas
Michael Thomas is one of those pleasant rookie surprises so far this year. He is on Drew Brees’ good side, catching 16 passes in the past two weeks, which is more than Brandin Cooks and Willie Snead over that span. Coming into this matchup, the Saints will travel to San Francisco, who has handed 5 touchdowns to wide receivers over the past two weeks. Thomas is an interesting play and although he’s the second wide receiver on the Saints depth chart, he could see a heavy target load once again this week.
Donte Moncrief
Donte Moncrief looked good in his return to the Colts lineup last week, catching four balls and a touchdown. This week the Colts are traveling to Lambeau Field to take on a Packers secondary that is missing two of their three starting cornerbacks. All-in-all the Packers haven’t stopped a capable quarterback all year and Andrew Luck knows how to put points up. Fun fact: Moncrief has 7 touchdowns in his last 10 games played with Luck.
Sit
Marvin Jones
Unfortunately for fantasy owners, Marvin Jones consistency has declined over the past three weeks with the resurface of Golden Tate. Harping on what we said about Matthew Stafford, the Lions players shouldn’t be on the top of your start list this week, even with an overloaded number of teams on the bye week. Jones caught 3 passes for 33 yards last week in Houston and I’m almost positive that’s a sign to sit him against an even better secondary in Minnesota.
Doug Baldwin
Thanks to no touchdown passes thrown by Russell Wilson in the past three weeks, Doug Baldwin hasn’t been worth a fantasy start in those outings as well. The Seahawks offense is running on empty, and without a healthy quarterback, the struggles will continue for Baldwin. Consider him a desperation FLEX play, even with a six-team bye week.
Sleeper
Quincy Enunwa
Quincy Enunwa was my sleeper pick last week and he delivered with his best fantasy performance of the year to date. 4 receptions for 93 yards and a touchdown was exactly what Enunwa owners were hoping for against a bad Browns defense, and he has another great matchup this week. He’s facing off against a Dolphins secondary that just surrendered 10 receptions, 172 yards, and a touchdown to a banged up Bills receiving core. Also, Enunwa is still available in 47% of Yahoo leagues.
Tight Ends
Start
Gary Barnidge
Gary Barnidge has stayed quiet this year with more eyes drawn towards Terrelle Pryor in the Cleveland offense, but he is ranked as a top 12 fantasy tight end this season and has been finding his groove in the last couple weeks. Barnidge has been a security blanket for all of the Cleveland quarterbacks so far this season, and with Cody Kessler (concussion) looking to get the start, I expect the chemistry to grow for these two even. Dallas has allowed 14 fantasy points per game to tight ends so far this year.
Kyle Rudolph
The Detroit Lions are the worst fantasy defense in the league against tight ends, surrendering 18 point per game to the opposition. With that statistic, I can only imagine that Kyle Rudolph blows the secondary wide open on Sunday in Minnesota. Rudolph hasn’t caught a touchdown since week 4 but with this matchup, if the Vikings o-line holds up, I’m pretty much guaranteeing one.
Sit
Julius Thomas
Julius Thomas has been consistent the past two weeks with an identical 3 receptions and a touchdown in each of his last two games, but Kansas City is about as good as it gets when locking down the opposing tight end. The Chiefs have allowed one touchdown to tight ends and with the inconsistency of Blake Bortles, I don’t want to rely on Thomas this week in Kansas City.
Zach Ertz
Zach Ertz continues to under-produce for the Eagles and isn’t even ranked in the top 32 as a fantasy tight end. The Giants, coming off of a bye week could shock a lot of people with a big win this week at home. Carson Wentz is starting to look like a rookie, not helping Ertz’s situation, and Ryan Mathews got eight snaps last week, yes eight, so the idea that any Eagle will have a good week against a relatively solid (and rested) Giants defense would be a long shot.
