Week 9 NFL Fantasy Football Rankings: Austin Ekeler Separates from the RB Pack

Week 9 in the NFL brings us chaos from the trade deadline and six bye weeks. Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, New York Giants, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco are all on bye this week. It isn’t as bad as the losses in Week 7 with the top-end talent on bye, but the sheer number of startable players in a six-team bye is certainly frustrating. Coming off Week 8 without a ton of injuries to make waivers obvious, it’s a great time to check out John Daigle’s Waiver Wire Watch. With the big bye week, let’s prepare for a few weird names to sneak into the top 10! All projections and rankings are provided by 4for4’s half-point PPR projections.

What Stands Out: The rushing quarterbacks separate from the pack.

Analysis: Josh Allen is at the top of the rankings again and has a decent enough matchup against the Jets. He’s coming off a disappointing game against the Packers, so a rebound is probably in order. Jalen Hurts gets a matchup against Houston where teams have been running at will against them. Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert are back off their byes and both are in fantastic matchups and projecting well.

Lamar Jackson had a solid game against Tampa on Thursday Night Football but will be without Rashod Bateman and Mark Andrews likely won’t be 100%. The Dolphins appear to be going all-in on 2022 at the trade deadline and now Tua has a matchup against Chicago with the offense looking incredible. He’s a guy in the bottom half of the top 10 that could easily shoot up the final rankings of Week 9. Tom Brady was on his SiriusXM show talking about how he’s trying to balance his off-field struggles and on-field struggles. A matchup against Aaron Donald and the Rams' defensive line might not help a ton. Outside of the top 10, Kirk Cousins gets to face Washington and has a new weapon at tight end in T.J. Hockenson at his disposal.

Full QB Rankings here

What Stands Out: Aaron Jones is the only thing working in the Green Bay offense and now he gets the Lions.

Analysis: Austin Ekeler is back off his bye and gets a great matchup against Atlanta. Aaron Jones is coming off a huge game against Buffalo and now gets Detroit? Sign me up! Derrick Henry and Alvin Kamara are coming off huge games and neither gets a tough matchup this week. Henry is going to have to dominate on the ground early before Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs' offense can pull away, but Kamara is going to have to do it all again for the Saints. Josh Jacobs is coming off an absolute dud and the Raiders' offense as a whole struggled against the Saints. He’ll step into an easier matchup against Jacksonville, but the concerns about the offense as a whole remain. Travis Etienne is thriving without James Robinson and he’s a guy that could outperform this projection and move up the rankings at the end of the week. Outside of the top 10, Miles Sanders has been incredibly efficient and now he gets the Houston Texans. Can he get enough touches to go nuclear? We’ll see.

Full RB Rankings here

What Stands Out: Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle are both more than capable of going off in the same game and the projections reflect that.

Analysis: Cooper Kupp is the only thing consistently working in the Rams' offense so hopefully he’s healthy this week. Stay tuned for more updates on Kupp’s health, but it does sound promising. Stefon Diggs gets a tough matchup on paper against the Jets, but he’s so good he will still have a great game and the projections show that. Justin Jefferson was just shy of 100 yards last weekend and with a matchup against Washington, and he has a really good chance of breaking that mark this weekend. Hill and Waddle should both continue to put up huge weeks together, even if the matchup isn’t ideal.

DeAndre Hopkins has returned to a massive workload and continues to be fed by Kyler Murray, but even in a tough matchup against Seattle, he’s the focal point of the offense. Tee Higgins had a disappointing Monday night until a late touchdown that saved my and many other people’s matchups and now he gets an easier matchup against Carolina. Hopefully, he can rebound so I don’t need to sweat until after 10:30 pm ET on Monday night for a win. Outside of the top 10, assuming Allen Lazard isn’t back it feels like Romeo Doubs is the only receiver capable of putting up any sort of numbers in the Packers' offense and that’s a bet I’d be willing to take against Detroit.

Full WR Rankings here

What Stands Out: Travis Kelce and a healthy Mark Andrews continue to stay so far ahead of the pack.

Analysis: There's not much to say about Kelce and Andrews. If you have either one you have such a massive advantage over the rest of your league on a weekly basis. Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert are the next step down and both have pretty great matchups this week. I think I’d feel a little better starting Goedert even with the blowout risk, but both are better than the bottom half of the top 10. Big Bob Tonyan checks into the top 5! The matchup against the Lions can do wonders for your projection. Gerald Everett has been really inconsistent when Donald Parham is back in the lineup, but I’d reluctantly start him if no better option was available. Taysom Hill keeps putting up usable weeks and I think you have to go back to him. Kyle Pitts finally had a breakout game that reminded you why you drafted him so high. Hopefully, that’s repeatable, but likely not. Outside of the top 10 is pretty ugly, but if you must, Evan Engram is probably the best option this week.

Full TE Rankings here