Week 9 Flex Rankings for Fantasy Football

By the time the main slate of NFL games kicks off this Sunday, the World Series will be over, and we will be into November. The fantasy football season is flying by, and there is plenty of action to keep an eye on. Injuries and bye weeks continue to pose pitfalls for us to navigate. But I have you covered with my initial Week 9 Flex rankings. These rankings are subject to change, of course, as circumstances change throughout the week. But I have ranked over 200 players. This should accommodate leagues of all sizes and provide a solid baseline for any start/sit decisions you have as the weekend approaches. As always, I base my Flex rankings on Half-PPR scoring, so adjust as you see fit based on your league settings.

Running Back Notes

The Arizona Cardinals released running back Michael Carter on Monday. They did re-sign him to the practice squad, but I did not rank him this week. The timing is interesting to me because Bam Knight and Emari Demercado are currently the only healthy running backs on the roster. Considering Demercado’s gaffe a couple of weeks back, I would expect Knight to get a rather sizable workload on Sunday. Arizona is coming off a bye and gets the Dallas Cowboys. Circumstances do not get much better for running backs. Dallas is among the worst run defenses in the NFL. With players such as Saquon Barkley, Breece Hall, and Quinshon Judkins out of the mix due to bye weeks, you could certainly do worse than starting Knight this week. I have him ranked as an RB2 in both 10 and 12-team leagues.

Aaron Jones returned to the Minnesota Vikings after missing a month of action. He immediately operated as the lead back, with Jordan Mason slotting in behind him. It may only be one week, and the blowout loss may have changed plans. But it does appear that Jones is back to being the 1A to Mason’s 1B in the Vikings backfield. This week, Minnesota faces the Detroit Lions. The Lions lead the NFL in defensive DVOA and are fourth against the run. Both Jones and Mason have produced in spurts, but they are going to cannibalize each other to some degree and are facing a tough matchup. I currently have both ranked in the 80-90 range in my Week 9 Flex rankings. That means I would seek other options if they are available to you.

Kansas City Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco is likely to miss multiple games due to a knee sprain. I am not going to pretend that Pacheco has been outstanding this year. He has only scored twice in eight games and is averaging just 46.5 scrimmage yards per game. But he had been getting enough work to make Kareem Hunt irrelevant for fantasy purposes. Now Hunt regains his standing as a boring but potentially productive Flex option. Hunt is basically a touchdown-or-bust fantasy player at this stage of his career. I am more intrigued by Brashard Smith, who has become the team’s pass-catching running back. For now, I have Hunt ranked ahead of Smith based on expected touches. However, I am not in a hurry to start either, as both are currently outside my top-24 running backs for Week 9.

Wide Receiver Notes

It is hard to ignore the fact that Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud had a season-high in yardage in a game that top wideout Nico Collins missed. That is not a knock on Collins by any means. I wonder if Stroud locks in too often on Collins, and defenses are quick to adjust. With Collins out last week, there was great balance among the team’s wide receivers. Jaylin Noel and Xavier Hutchinson each caught five of six targets for over 60 yards, while Jayden Higgins caught a touchdown on eight targets. Even Braxton Berrios caught all five of his targets.

Houston has an intriguing matchup with a difficult Denver Broncos pass defense this week. If Pat Surtain II had not gotten injured last week, I would have bumped up some of the younger Texans wideouts. But I expect Collins to resume his alpha role in this offense with Surtain out. Christian Kirk may also be back this week, which could throw a wrench into things. This is certainly a situation to monitor, but for now, Collins is the only Houston wide receiver I am starting this week. I have all of the other receivers on the Texans outside the top 100 overall in my Week 9 Flex rankings.

Speaking of Denver, it was Troy Frankin and not Courtland Sutton who led all Broncos receivers in targets, receptions, yards, and touchdowns in last week’s victory versus the Dallas Cowboys. The second-year wide receiver now has 18 targets in his last two games. That type of volume will keep Frankin on the Flex radar, especially with bye weeks and injuries factored in. On that front, Marvin Mims Jr. suffered a concussion last week. If he is out, that should only enhance Franklin’s involvement in Denver’s passing game. Denver has a tough matchup against the Houston Texans this week. However, Franklin is an intriguing Week 9 Flex option, particularly if the team rules Mims out. I currently have him ranked as my overall WR40 based on Half-PPR scoring.

With Calvin Ridley banged up, rookies Chimere Dike and Elic Ayomanor have picked up the slack for Tennessee. The Titans have an upcoming bye week in Week 10. That makes me wonder if they let Ridley sit out another week. I currently hedged my rankings on all Titans wideouts until we get further clarity on Ridley’s Week 9 status. If Ridley is in, he will be a borderline start against the Los Angeles Chargers. If Ridley misses another game, Dike is an interesting PPR dart throw, while Ayomanor is the bigger threat for a big play. I doubt I would go out of my way to start either; however, if I have more consistent options.

Tight End Notes

I mentioned last week that I wasn’t entirely buying into the prior week’s performance by Chargers tight end Oronde Gadsden II. So, of course, he had already scored double-digit fantasy points by the time most fans made it to their seats last week. It is hard to deny that Gadsden has earned the right to be considered a fantasy starter at tight end. The bigger question becomes whether he is worthy as a standalone Flex player. I believe that he is depending on how your roster is configured. Right now, I rank Gadsden at 69th overall in my Week 9 Flex rankings. I do have him below all three Chargers wide receivers. However, it is hard not to notice that Gadsden’s ascension into fantasy relevance has come primarily at the expense of Quentin Johnston. All Chargers have a favorable Week 9 matchup versus Tennessee.

Check out all of our Week 9 Rankings: Flex Rankings | QB Rankings | RB Rankings | WR Rankings | TE Rankings