top of page
Writer's pictureVincenzo Sciacqua

Week 9: Starts, Sits, and Sleepers


Week 9 is here and the season is flying by. This week has great matchups all the way across the board from divisional battles to future Hall of Famers going against each other. Hopefully your teams are set up for the playoff push but if you need some more help and advice you can always find us on Twitter @TheUpsidePlay. The Fantasy Trade Deadline is approaching so be on the lookout for some trade targets on our Twitter feed. 



QB Starts:


Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers (vs Las Vegas)


Herbert has been nothing short of Incredible for The Los Angeles Chargers after taking over for Tyrod Taylor in Week 2. With Season totals of 1,820 passing yards, 17 total touchdowns and only 5 interceptions that gives you the number 11 Fantasy QB on the season and that's with not starting in week 1 and already having his bye week. This divisional matchup against Las Vegas figures to be a shoot out and with no real running game since Austin Ekeler went down due to injury, the game will be on the shoulders of The Rookie QB, who should continue to put up big numbers against the Raiders bottom half defense. 



Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers, (at Dallas)


Big Ben arguably has the best group of weapons in the league with Juju Smith-Schuster, Diontae Johnson, James Conner, Eric Ebron and the emergence of Rookie wide receiver Chase Claypool. The Steelers QB is Fantasy’s number 22 QB but with the options around him he always has the upside to finish as a top option at the position. Dallas has been a dumpster fire as of late and this should be a game that Roethlisberger can do some serious damage. Ben only has one game this season with less than 2 TD’s and with the matchup he has on sunday he should easily get multiple scores once again. 



QB Sit:


Philip Rivers, Indianapolis Colts (vs Baltimore)


Rivers has had two very good games back to back against the Bengals and Lions but this week he plays against the Juggernaut that is the Baltimore Ravens Defense. Baltimore has forced a turnover in every game this season and Rivers is known to make some boneheaded plays from time to time. I hope you can find another option because Rivers is only a mid to late QB2 this week. 



RB Starts: 


James Robinson, Jacksonville Jaguars (vs Houston)


James Robinson has gone from undrafted to being a top 5 Fantasy running back in a matter of months. He is easily the Waiver Wide pick up of the year and a clear must start every week. He is not only carrying the ball over 12 times per game but he’s seeing a good amount of targets out of the backfield. The Jaguars rookie has 481 rushing yards and 4 rushing touchdowns to go with 27 catches for 235 yards and another 2 trips to the End zone. Houston gives up over 30 points to the RB position and over 150 rushing yards per game (dead last). With Jacksonville going with rookie QB Jake Luton he could be leaning on Robinson a lot to bail him out in the passing game. He’s an Auto start from here on out if he's healthy



Chase Edmonds, Arizona Cardinals (vs Miami)


Chase Edmonds is going to receive a bigger workload this week with Kenyan Drake out due to injury. In a high powered offense we could see Edmonds have Double digit carries and over 100 total yards with some work in the passing game as well. The Dolphins have allowed over 1,000 total yards to the RB position this season which isn’t a whole lot but they have given up 8 touchdowns to RBs this season. We’ve seen Edmonds do it before so there isn’t this cloud of unknown over starting Him. Edmonds should get all the work he can handle which puts him in the low RB1 to High RB2 range. 


RB Sits:


Devin Singletary, Buffalo Bills (vs Seattle)


It’s hard to justify starting Devin Singletary at all right. With an initial draft value of a first or second round pick, Singletary has been a huge disappointment as he only has one touchdown all year. He has yet to eclipse 100 yards rushing on the season and has only rushed for more than 60 yards twice this season. It definitely doesn’t help that he’s been underutilized and when he is they are in predictable run situations. Although he shows flashes of promise, it does not look good for Singletary against Seattle’s top 10 run defense.



WR Starts:


Allen Robinson, Chicago Bears (at Tennessee) 


Allen Robinson has been Mr. Reliable for the Bears this year. Nick Foles hasn’t been the savior the Bears thought but that hasn’t stopped Allen Robinson from being the WR9 in PPR leagues. With exception of his last two games, Robinson has been targeted at least 9 times and has three scores on the year. He has 50 catches on 77 targets (2nd in the League) for 631 yards and 3 touchdowns. Robinson plays the Titans who have given up 10 TDs to the WR position this season and 6 over the last 3 games. It’s difficult to watch but Foles should be targeting Robinson a ton and that will translate to a very good receiving game for the Bears Star Receiver



Keenan Allen, Los Angeles Chargers (vs Las Vegas)


Keenan Allen is a target monster, a consistent veteran who’s fantasy value grows more and more as Herbert gets more comfortable in the pocket. In the past two weeks he’s received 25 targets with 19 catches and scored 20+ PPR points in both of those contests. He’s facing a lower tier secondary out of Las Vegas this week and with the surge of production from teammate Mike Williams, Allen will see less double teams than in previous weeks. Starting Allen in PPR is a no-brainer when he’s getting targeted like this. 


WR Sits:


DeVante Parker, Miami Dolphins (at Arizona)


If it wasn’t for his three touchdowns on the year, it’d be safe to say DeVante Parker has been pretty quiet. He’s had a good game here and there, but has not been consistent. Don't expect this to change anytime soon with Tua still figuring things out. Quarterbacks early in their career usually target tight ends and check downs. Don’t expect Tua to start throwing to Parker deep with Patrick Peterson shadowing him. This game does have a potential to be a shootout but I wouldn’t take that risk if you don’t need to.



TE Starts:


Darren Waller, Las Vegas Raiders (at Los Angeles Chargers)


Darren Waller has seen at least 6 Targets in all but one game this season and has 45 catches on the year for 372 yards and 3 TD’s. In this Matchup against the Chargers that projects to be a shootout, Waller could very well be Derek Carr’s top option yet again. Waller has been nothing but consistent for the Raiders and that shouldn’t stop anytime soon. Fire up Waller in all formats. 


TE Sit: 


Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens (at Indianapolis)


Mark Andrews hasn’t hit 7 points in three weeks and now he gets to go up against the Colts who haven't given up a TD to a Tight End this season. Jackson hasn’t been the passer he was last season and that has really hurt Andrews who built his whole season off of 10 Touchdowns last season. With the TE landscape being scarce it will be hard to replace Andrews unless you carry two top options. Tamper Expectations for Andrews in week 9. 



Sleepers:


QB: Drew Lock, Denver Broncos (at Atlanta)


Lock goes up against Atlanta who has been giving up a ton of points to the QB position. Lock has solid weapons around him to warrant him a top streaming option this week and if you need to fill in for a QB on a bye He should be a very solid option. 


RB: Jordan Howard, Miami Dolphins (at Arizona)


Myles Gaskin was put on IR this week with a knee injury and it's hard to find replacement RBs this late in the season. Howard should be in line for at least 10+ carries and will be the goal line back. He should be viewed as a FLEX option this week. 


WR: Henry Ruggs III, Las Vegas Raiders (at Los Angeles Chargers)


I’ve talked about this matchup already but if it is a shootout and the Raiders are putting up points Ruggs is a solid bet for a deep TD. He is a high risk/ Huge reward type player who can change the outcome of your matchup with one big play. He could be the Hail Mary you need to win your matchup. 


TE: Trey Burton, Indianapolis Colts (vs Baltimore) 


Burton has been playing at least 50% of the TE snaps for the Colts and he has 3 TDs on the year. If you are desperate for a TE, Burton could be a solid TE dependent option with a 6 point floor. 




Streams of the Week:


QB

Derek Carr

Matt Stafford

Daniel Jones 


TE:

Trey Burton

Jason Witten

Jordan Akins


D/ST

Washington Football Team (vs Giants)

Arizona Cardinals (vs Dolphins)

New York Giants (at Football Team)


K

Zane Gonzalez 

Rodrigo Blankenship

Matt Prater


Cover Photo: Harry How/ Getty Images

123 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comentários


bottom of page