It’s been a volatile fantasy football season. In the Week 8 cheat sheet, I touted Justin Fields (yay). In Week 7, I propped up Mac Jones (ouch). If you’re shooting better than 50% in your calls, you’re having a great season. Predictability gets easier as the season wears on and we have more and more data to use as a reference point. This is the time of year when we separate ourselves as bye weeks and injuries accumulate.
For the rest of this Week 9 Cheat Sheet, I don’t want to spend much time focusing on the marquee fantasy players across the league, and instead I want to focus on borderline players who are either at the end of your starting lineup, the end of your bench or near the top of a 12-team league’s waiver wire.
Many receivers have thrived this season against the Falcons defense, and Joshua Palmer will be the next.
Gary A. Vasquez/USA TODAY Sports
1. Joshua Bomber Palmer
Sure, if Keenan Allen and Mike Williams are out, Joshua Palmer‘s expanded role is an obvious play. But I’m highlighting him because I believe he’s a top-12 option against a porous Falcons defense. D.J. Moore, Terrace Marshall, Ja’Marr Chase, Tyler Boyd, Tee Higgins, Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel, Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, Donovan Peoples-Jones, DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, Cooper Kupp, Allen Robinson, Michael Thomas and Jarvis Landry have all posted 12 or more points against Atlanta. And five of those performances went for 22 or more points. In their last three games, the Falcons have allowed receivers to catch 53 passes for 823 yards and six touchdowns. That’s about 58 PPR points per game! Atlanta will also likely be without its top corner, A.J. Terrell, who I talked about a time or two last season as the Falcons’ only great player, and… not much has improved around him. In deeper formats, you should also consider the Chargers’ No. 2 wideout, DeAndre Carter.
2. Robert Tonyan Time
The tight end position has never felt so top-heavy. O.J. Howard was the TE2 in Week 1. After Week 3, Tyler Conklin was the TE3. Taysom Hill is a top-five TE despite only having two games with 10 or more points. I’ve avoided recommending tight ends, as you either have a good one or you don’t. But it’s worth double-checking your team’s waiver wire to see if Robert Tonyan is available ahead of Week 9. His 1.55 yards per route run, while not particularly impressive, is ninth-best among tight ends with at least 100 routes run.
In Week 9, the Packers travel to Detroit and the Lions allow the fifth-most fantasy points to tight ends. The Lions are also very banged up on defense with a handful of injuries in their secondary and four or five rookies likely starting. And it shows, as no team has allowed more points (225). And check out these two abysmal stats: rush first down percentage allowed (29.9%, last) and pass first down percentage allowed (41.6%, last). They’ve generated the second-fewest sacks (11) and second-fewest INTs (2). Point being, the Packers should finally have breathing room to generate some points, and we’re hoping Tonyan can be one of those touchdown-dependent tight ends in Week 9.
3. My Week 9 Stick A Fork In ‘Em
I’m starting a new recurring section. It’s a “safe to drop Player X,” but that’s usually too easy. I’m going after players and teams here. I’m only going to target top 20 QBs, top 50 RBs, top 60 WRs and top 20 TEs.
RB Darrell Henderson Jr., Los Angeles Rams
With only two top-20 RB finishes among the Rams’ seven contests this year, Henderson has been forgettable and I don’t trust the Boy Wonder Sean McVay to play-call this team back into success. The Rams rank dead-last in carries (147), second-to-last in yards per carry (3.3) and last in first-down rushes (27). With limited opportunities over a large sample size, we need to accept what the numbers are telling us. Even with all this in mind, the fact that they sabotaged Cam Akers’s trade value by limiting his touches and still didn’t trade him tells me this team is operating on pure ego. I don’t know what Akers did to McVay, but he deserved to be allowed to move on before the trade deadline. I put it all on McVay.
4. My Week 9 Friggin’ Bums
Every week, I’ll highlight eight players (two at each position) that I like who are rostered in less than 50% of Yahoo leagues. You can think of them as desperation plays or salary punts in DFS contests.
- QB Tannehill/Willis, TEN (vs. KC)
- QB Andy Dalton, NO (vs. BAL)
- RB Caleb Huntley, ATL (vs. LAC)
- RB Deon Jackson, IND (at NE)
- WR Joshua Palmer, LAC (at ATL)
- WR Isaiah McKenzie, BUF (at NYJ)
- TE Will Dissly, SEA (at ARI)
- TE Cade Otton, TB (vs. LAR)
5. Week 9 SI Fantasy Must-Reads
Before setting your lineups, make sure you check out some of the world-class fantasy lowdown from our SI Fantasy analysts:
