2015 Fantasy Football Week 9 Rankings

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a lot about not being able to play the right guy between Steve Smith and Jordan Matthews.  Well, I won't have that problem again.  As it turns out, Steve Smith was one of many players lost to a serious injury in Week 8.  He's done for the year with a torn Achilles, and he's likely done for good since he was planning to retire after this season anyway.  There are conflicting reports about that right now, but I say call it a career and ICE UP, SON!

Le'Veon fantasy owners are also hurting this week.

It was a brutal week on the gridiron, as guys like Le'Veon Bell, Keenan Allen, Khiry Robinson, and Reggie Bush also had season-ending injuries.  In addition to them, the following players also got hurt to various degrees of severity: Matt Forte, Brandon Marshall, Kendall Wright, and Ryan Fitzpatrick.  We'll have to wait and see how much time any of these players might miss, but it's definitely a busy time on the waiver wire right now.

My opponent this week in my money league had the top priority and was able to scoop up DeAngelo Williams.  Great timing for him.  Crap timing for me.  DeAngelo is just one of the many new names in my rankings this week, as not only are the injuries piling up but there are SIX teams on a bye in Week 9!  You'll have to pay even more attention if this week is making your fantasy team look like the 2008 Detroit Lions (or the 2015 Detroit Lions for that matter).

But enough picking on Detroit.  They're not even playing this week...thank goodness!!!

Last one, I promise.

To the rankings!

BYES: Cardinals, Chiefs, Lions, Ravens, Seahawks, Texans

QBs 1.Tom Brady  2.Philip Rivers 3.Drew Brees 4.Ben Roethlisberger 5.Aaron Rodgers 6.Andy Dalton   7.Eli Manning  8.Cam Newton  9.Jay Cutler 10.Matt Ryan  11.Tyrod Taylor 12.Derek Carr 13.Jameis Winston   14.Ryan Tannehill  15.Blake Bortles If you played against Drew Brees or Eli Manning in Week 8, I feel your pain.  I won in 2 of my 3 leagues last week, but the only one I lost in was the one in which I played against Brees.  Dude put up over 60 fantasy points alone, and for the second week in a row in that league I lost with the second most fantasy points.  I feel like Eli, who tossed 6 TDs against the Saints and still lost! Anyway, I wasn't really too high on anyone versus the ESPN experts in Week 8, but I did continue to mention Andy Dalton (ESPN #6, ME #4) & Ryan Fitzpatrick (ESPN #16, ME #12) because I feel like I've been high on them versus the experts all year.  Well, Fitzpatrick left the game in the first quarter with torn ligaments in his non-throwing hand, and Dalton had a very mediocre game in Pittsburgh.  But speaking of the Steelers, I did tell you to be careful with trusting Big Ben in his first game back from injury (ESPN #8, ME NOT RANKED).  The ESPN experts were a lot more confident in him than I was, but I was right in this case.  Roethlisberger finished with 1 TD and 3 INTs in the loss, and he was one of the worst fantasy QB options last week.  This week I like for Big Ben to bounce back, but I'm leaving Fitzpatrick out of my top-15.  As of this writing, it sounds like he'll start, but I don't know if Brandon Marshall will be healthy enough to play against the Jags. I'm high on: Jay Cutler (ESPN #16, ME #9) He hasn't been putting up crazy numbers this season, but he's been solid.  He has thrown a TD in every game, and he's actually not throwing a ton of picks.  Not that it should matter much against the Chargers.  They only have 4 INTs on the entire season.  With Matt Forte likely out for Monday Night Football, I like for Cutler to air it out 45-50 times and finish as a top-10 fantasy QB. I'm down on: Peyton Manning (ESPN #11, ME NOT RANKED)  If you had told me two months ago that I wouldn't be ranking Andrew Luck AND Peyton Manning in the same week, I would have called you bad names.  But here we are in Week 9 and I'm not ranking either.  Luck has been decent lately, though mostly in garbage time.  But when you look at what the Denver defense did to Aaron Rodgers last week, I'm not starting Luck this week if I own him.  As for Peyton, he has 2 TD passes in his last FOUR GAMES!  The Broncos look more committed to the run, and I expect them to keep it on the ground in Indy.  I'm not starting either guy if I can help it in Week 9. RBs 1.Todd Gurley 2.Devonta Freeman 3.Mark Ingram  4.Adrian Peterson  5.Chris Ivory    6.Doug Martin 7.DeAngelo Williams 8.LeSean McCoy          9.Dion Lewis 10.Jonathan Stewart  11.Jeremy Hill  12.Lamar Miller 13.DeMarco Murray  14.Darren McFadden  15.Latavius Murray 16.Ronnie Hillman   17.Jeremy Langford 18.Giovani Bernard 19.LeGarrette Blount 20.Eddie Lacy 21.Frank Gore   22.TJ Yeldon 23.Danny Woodhead  24.Antonio Andrews  25.Melvin Gordon 26.Duke Johnson 27.CJ Anderson    28.Matt Jones 29.Ryan Mathews  30.Charles Sims  31.Rashad Jennings 32.CJ Spiller 33.Shane Vereen   34.Isaiah Crowell  35.James Starks  Hillman could be a top-15 RB the rest of the season. In Week 7, I told you that Charcandrick West was primed for a breakout game, and he finished as a top-10 fantasy RB.  He kept it rolling against the Lions in London and finished as a top-5 fantasy RB in Week 8.  Speaking of top-5 fantasy RBs, the guy I was high on versus the ESPN experts also fit that description.  The Broncos ran the ball all over the Packers on Sunday night, and Ronnie Hillman (ESPN #24, ME #17) finished with 60 yards and a pair of touchdowns.  The guy I was down on, Carlos Hyde (ESPN #19, ME #26), didn't even play in Week 8.  I told you on Wednesday that this guy was not 100% healthy and would stay in the single-digits even if the 49ers did decide to continue to play him.  Well, San Fran continued to do nothing on offense, and now it looks like they'll at least rest Hyde through their bye week (if not longer).  They signed Shaun Draughn and Pierre Thomas this week, but I'm not ranking either of them against Atlanta.  In fact, I'm not ranking any 49ers this week at all! My running back rankings look nearly identical to ESPN's this week.  So rather than split hairs, I'm just going to move on to the receivers and save the RB comparisons for another week. WRs 1.Julio Jones    2.Odell Beckham, Jr.   3.Antonio Brown  4.Alshon Jeffery  5.AJ Green  6.Demaryius Thomas   7.Julian Edelman  8.Mike Evans 9.Martavis Bryant  10.Emmanuel Sanders   11.Allen Robinson 12.Dez Bryant 13.Brandon Marshall    14.Amari Cooper   15.Stefon Diggs   16.Jarvis Landry   17.Brandin Cooks 18.Randall Cobb 19.Eric Decker 20.Michael Crabtree  21.Stevie Johnson 22.Willie Snead  23.Tavon Austin  24.TY Hilton 25.Allen Hurns 26.Rishard Matthews  27.Sammy Watkins 28.Travis Benjamin 29.Jordan Matthews 30.Brandon LaFell   31.Rueben Randle 32.Malcom Floyd  33.Marvin Jones   34.James Jones  35.Donte Moncrief  Last week I was high on John Brown (ESPN #22, ME #14) and down on Michael Crabtree (ESPN #25, ME NOT RANKED).  Boy, was I way off there!  In my defense, John Brown probably should have been declared inactive before the game against the Browns.  All indications were that the Cardinals would do just that and let him rest through the bye week.  As it was, he was active but didn't play a single snap.  That was just fine with me because I had an opponent start him against me.  I'll take it.  As for Crabtree, he was a top-15 WR in a game where the Raiders dominated the Jets.  I don't think anyone saw that coming, but it looks like my preseason prediction of Derek Carr as a top-15 QB could end up actually happening. I'm high on: Tavon Austin (ESPN #37, ME #23) I was also really high on Martavis Bryant and Stefon Diggs, but I'm going deeper into my rankings for this one.  Tavon Austin is only halfway through his third year in the NFL, and he's already surpassed his career high for total TDs in a season.  In fact, he has multiple touchdowns in two of his last 4 games, as he's becoming a big part of this offense.  He faces a tough Viking defense this week, but I can't see ranking him as low as the ESPN experts did this week.    What are you eating...? I'm down on: DeSean Jackson (ESPN #26, ME NOT RANKED)  The ESPN experts seem to have a hard time ranking players highly who are hot but lack  name recognition.  But they have no problem ranking guys coming off a multi-week injury and facing a top-10 defense.  Once again, I hope I'm wrong about this one.  I hope Kirk Cousins throws for 4 touchdowns in this game and Matt Jones runs all over the Patriots.  But I don't think that's happening.  No WAY would I start Jackson this week. TEs 1.Rob Gronkowski  2.Greg Olsen 3.Gary Barnidge 4.Antonio Gates 5.Tyler Eifert 6.Benjamin Watson 7.Jordan Reed 8.Charles Clay  9.Delanie Walker  10.Heath Miller  Last week I faced Gronk in my money league, and luckily he didn't have one of his HUGE games (just a pretty good one).  The ESPN experts continued to rank Jordan Cameron in their top-10, and I continued not to.  While he gets about 6 targets per game, he just doesn't do much with them.  He only had two catches for 34 yards against the Patriots, and he is just a poor fantasy TE option.  I recommended starting Eric Ebron or Benjamin Watson over him, both of whom barely missed my top-10 last week.  While Ebron wasn't a good option, Watson finished as the #1 fantasy TE in Week 8.  Other than Cameron, I wasn't really high or down on any TEs versus the ESPN experts last week.  I continued to rank Gary Barnidge higher than the experts, and this week is no different (ESPN #6, ME #3).  I mean, the only TE with more fantasy points than him is Gronk.  After a slow start to the season, the Barnyard Dog now has double-digit fantasy points in each of his last six games!  What more does a guy have to do to get some respect from these fantasy experts?!?  Anyway, I'm playing against him in my money league, so I hope he finally has a bad game...but I won't be counting on it. I'm high on: Charles Clay (ESPN #14, ME #8) I've been wrong about Clay in this spot before, but I have good feeling about this week.  He's playing against him former team for the second time this season.  In the first meeting, he caught 7 passes for 82 yards and a touchdown.  He's been much better with Tyrod behind center, and I fully expect his favorite QB to be back this week.  I like for Clay to put up another good game against the Dolphins. I'm down on: Julius Thomas (ESPN #11, ME NOT RANKED)  I almost mentioned Martellus Bennett here, but he was right there at 11th or 12th for me this week.  But Julius Thomas?  I didn't even consider him.  The ESPN experts actually had him ranked 9th earlier today, but some have changed their minds and he's dropped a bit.  Good for them, but it's too little too late.  I'm already calling you out!  Julius Thomas has only played in three games this year, and of those three only has one good game.  Now he's dealing with another injury, and I can't imagine counting on him as my fantasy tight end this week (or at any point this year). DEF 1.Broncos 2.Patriots  3.Rams 4.Bengals 5.Falcons 6.Eagles  7.Jets 8.Vikings 9.Panthers 10.Packers For the second week in a row, my top-10 is basically the same as ESPN's (just in a little different order).  So this is where I'll leave you until next week, my friends. Good luck to everyone in Week 9!   (Except you, Bird...) Cheers, Bart