Fantasy Football Must Starts Week 9

By James Collier

The NFL season keeps rolling on as we reach Week 9. Every matchup is precious now for those of us fighting to reach the fantasy playoffs, so we’re back again to help where we can with four Must Start players for Week 9.

A reminder of what we are looking for in a “Must Start”. We are trying to find you players that are undervalued in DFS or are being ranked too low by (Expert Consensus Rankings) ECR. So, while there will be some contrarian picks, there will also be some “good chalk”. 

Review of Last Week

Tucker Kraft was the best of our picks last week as he finished as the TE8 on the week. Javonte and Odunze both had pretty middling weeks but it could have been much better for Rashod Bateman were it not an egregious drop on what would have been a 50+ yard reception.

Brian Robinson @ New York Giants

This comes with a slight caveat because Robinson is carrying a Questionable tag into this game as he’s dealing with a hamstring injury. But as long as he plays and we don’t hear he’s going to be on a snap count, this is a smash matchup for him. And if he doesn’t play then you can confidently plug and play Austin Ekeler instead. 

The Giants simply cannot stop the run, allowing a league high 5.4 yards per carry. Last week it was Najee Harris feasting for 114 yards and the week before it was Saquon Barkley racking up 176. And in Week 2, Robinson himself had 133 yards on the ground against the Giants. 

Robinson has scored six times across his seven games this season with the Week 2 matchup against the Giants one of the rare occasions he didn’t find the end zone. I like his chances of righting that wrong this week and if he does, he should easily clear his RB21 ECR ranking. 

ECR Rank (PPR): RB21

Jayden Reed vs Detroit Lions (Kev White)

“Selecting the WR10 on the season as my must start is as spicy as a bowl of milk, nonetheless Jayden Reed is a player I’m excited for this week’s top of the table clash in the NFC North against the Detroit Lions.

Reed has been a boom-bust talent this year, with four games as a top 25 wide receiver and four games outside the top 50 at the position. With risk comes reward, the game is set for one of the highest expected points totals of the slate and the likelihood Jordan Love is healthy enough to start at quarterback for the Packers is a huge boost for Reed’s outlook.

The Lions present a stout run defense, with their main weakness defending against the slot, giving up a league-high 22.9 fantasy points per game to the position. This is excellent news for Reed, whose primary role is from the slot alignment, registering 79.2% of his snaps from the position. Reed can be played confidently in your lineup leagues and should also be a strong part of your player pool for this week’s DFS lineups.”

ECR Rank (PPR): WR19

Jakobi Meyers @ Cincinnati Bengals (Lewis Wood)

“The Bengals defense sucks. They allow above league average against all fantasy relevant positions. The Raiders also suck, but there’s points to be had here, and Gardner Minshew will throw the damn ball. Bowers and Meyers both had a 25% target share last week, and I would expect this to continue with no talent behind either of them. As the clear WR1 on the team without Davante Adams, I expect Meyers to be strong rest of season, but especially in week 9.”

ECR Rank (PPR): WR26

Kyle Pitts vs Dallas Cowboys (Tom Strachan)

“It felt like we were heading for another classic Kyle Pitts season over the first four weeks of the year when he finished as the TE4, 21, 13 and 51 but then just when all hope finally seemed lost for a once promising career, Pitts turned things around as Kirik Cousins settled into the Falcons offense and went on a run of four straight games finishing with at least 65 receiving yards. Since Week 5 Pitts is the PPR TE3 averaging 16.1 points per game and is seeing an average of 6.8 targets per game. The Falcons play Dallas this week with the Cowboys allowing the twelfth-most fantasy points and have allowed four tight end touchdowns in their last three games played. Pitts is back to being a trustworthy tight end until we see otherwise.”

ECR Rank (PPR): TE7

Feature image credit: atlantafalcons.com

JAMES COLLIER

Lead Fantasy Football Analyst

A Washington fan since the early 2010’s, James had no choice but to turn to fantasy football in search of happiness – and it wasn’t long until it became an obsession. You can follow him on Twitter @jamesc294.

5/5