Fantasy football rankings Week 9: Sleepers, starts, projections, best Halloween candy

It’s Halloween week, and you know what that means! Yes, we’re getting into the Week 9 fantasy football rankings, starts, sits, sleepers and more. As we do every year, though, the ranks aren’t complete without the “Best Halloween Candy” rankings. So, before you dive into the fantasy football notes and decide who’s starting this week, maybe grab a snack. Once you get to the Halloween candy, and a special Reese’s list requested by a reader, you might be too tempted to steal some of the trick-or-treaters’ stash.

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Week 9 Fantasy Football Rankings Notes, Starts, Sits

Running Backs

The leader in Yards Per Carry (YPC) over the past four weeks isn’t surprising — James Cook (6.9) — and neither is seeing Jonathan Taylor third (6.6). No. 2 might surprise some, though, as it’s Rico Dowdle at 6.7, and it’s not just his two huge games, as he’s averaging 5.3 YPC the past two games while sharing with Chuba Hubbard, who is dead last among qualified RBs at 2.5. Dave Canales acknowledged that Dowdle deserves more work.

Derrick Henry is averaging 5.9 YPC with Lamar Jackson versus 3.7 without. Only the Bills average more Yards After Contact (YAC) allowed at 3.82 than the Dolphins (3.70).

The 49ers are losing players faster than ice melting in the desert. Since Week 4, they’ve allowed at least 11.1 points to the lead back with 14.6+ in every game but the Texans, who had Woody Marks and Nick Chubb combine for 18.0. Tyrone Tracy is an immediate RB2.

Sure, RJ Harvey’s day included an absurd 3:8 touchdown-to-touch ratio, but J.K. Dobbins ran for 111 yards on 15 carries in the same game. The Cowboys are also the same team that allowed Rico Dowdle and Breece Hall to combine for 296 rushing yards on 44 carries in back-to-back games. Bam Knight is an appealing fill-in for needy teams.

The leader in Big Play Run% (rushes for 10+ yards)? D’Andre Swift at 22.4%. The Bengals have allowed the third-most rushes of 10+ yards (21) behind only the Giants (23) and Cowboys (26).

Since his explosion in Week 5, Jacory Croskey-Merritt has 5.3, 3.7 and 2.5 fantasy points, respectively, against the Bears, Cowboys and Chiefs. He has just three games of 9.6+ points, or the same number of games the Seahawks have allowed over 9.5 points to a running back.

The rankings assume Isiah Pacheco is out. If he plays, that would suggest he’s in store for a normal workload, given the Chiefs don’t need to force Pacheco at less than 100%. He’d be a high-end RB3 with Kareem Hunt close behind him, and Brashard Smith would fall way down.

Wide Receivers

You want one final sliver of hope for Jameson Williams? Jared Goff targets him 17.8 percentage points more when pressured than when not, and Williams actually has a higher TmTGT% than Amon-Ra St. Brown when Goff is pressured (30.8% to 26.9%). Well, the Vikings have the highest QB Pressure% with just four rushers (46.5%) and the fifth-highest with 5+ rushers (53.6%).

The league-leader in EPA/TGT when facing man coverage for the season? Ricky Pearsall. He’s also second to only DeAndre Hopkins in Yards Per Route Run (YPRR: 4.87 to 4.82). The Giants are the man-heaviest team at 39.0%, so if Pearsall is back, he’ll be a WR3. That would push Jauan Jennings to mid-low WR3 range and Kendrick Bourne to a WR4. This is with or without Brock Purdy.

On the other side of things, Terry McLaurin is the Commanders’ best wide receiver versus zone (2.22 YPRR). So if he plays, consider McLaurin a WR2 with some injury risk, but plenty of upside given the matchup. The Seahawks are behind only the Panthers in zone use at 83.3% (Panthers 83.8%). If McLaurin is out, Deebo Samuel gets a small boost, and Chris Moore is a Hail Mary play, but Luke McCaffrey might be the better chase, as he chews up zone (2.14).

If Drake London doesn’t play, we can expect better for Darnell Mooney with Michael Penix, but not much, given the matchup. The Patriots have allowed just four double-digit wideout tallies, none more than 12.9 (Chimere Dike, Week 7), and that’s the only one since Week 2.

All reports have Nico Collins likely to return, but if not, it’s hard to love any Texans, even without Patrick Surtain for the Broncos. Xavier Hutchinson steps up to the No. 1 role with Jayden Higgins as the No. 2. Jaylin Noel is one-for-one for Christian Kirk, which limits his potential with less than 50% of the routes. Higgins would likely be the highest ceiling play if no Collins.

Watch Brian Thomas’ practice reports. I covered the Travis Hunter situation in waivers, so if Thomas is out there, he’s a WR2. If not, Hunter would get the boost with Parker Washington and Dyami Brown stepping up as desperation plays.

On the other side of the ball, Jakobi Meyers remains uncertain. The matchup would be good enough to put Meyers at least into WR4 territory, but without him, Tre Tucker is an appealing option, possibly even as a WR3.

The Chargers have done a great job limiting big plays. If Calvin Ridley is out, Chimere Dike is the stronger play in this matchup. If Ridley returns, he’ll rank over Ayomanor, but both would carry risk.

Tight Ends

Going back to pressure target percentages, Dalton Kincaid is the only Bills player with a boost when Josh Allen is pressured. Allen targets him on 21.7% of his routes when under pressure — team high — and the Chiefs are second to the Vikings with a 45.0% pressure rate with four rushers and 42.2% overall (fourth-highest).

Similar to Dalton Kincaid, there is only one option who sees a boost when Caleb Williams is not pressured (going the opposite way now; you’ll see why). Colston Loveland sees targets on 24.4% of his routes when Williams is clean, versus 8.7% when pressured. Good news for tight end streamers this week, as the Bengals never get pressure. Well, almost never, with a league-low 25.4% overall.

Dawson Knox scoring 7.9 points on his touchdown catch nearly equals all other tight ends combined against the Falcons (8.6). Sorry, Hunter Henry, it’s not your week.

If you need a tight end fill-in, Zach Ertz is a solid choice, as the Seahawks are strong against wideouts (when healthy, which they are close), but vulnerable to tight ends.

Quarterbacks

The last time the Cowboys didn’t allow at least 18 points to the opposing QB? Week 17 of last year (Kenny Pickett). Six of their eight games have seen the quarterback score at least 21.9 this year.

On the other hand, Bo Nix has been on fire, but the Texans’ defense hasn’t let a quarterback throw for more than 245 yards (Matthew Stafford, Week 1) or two touchdowns (twice). In fact, they have allowed more than Stafford’s 13.6 score just twice, and they were 19.9 (Baker Mayfield) and 16.0 (Mac Jones). Many of the names are bleh, but the Texans’ defense is also a bleh matchup.

Jaxson Dart without Cam Skattebo isn’t a downgrade, as many are wondering. Yes, the offense was better with Cam Skattebo, but Dart runs nearly the same amount with almost identical YPC with/without Skattebo. Additionally, you can argue that Dart will have a few more rushing touchdown opportunities without Skattebo to take them.

NOTE: Stats are since Week 4, unless noted — more recent trend sampling for a better “snapshot”

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Week 9 Waiver Wire

Week 9 SOS Ranks (coming soon)

Fantasy 101 (weather, start/sit, trading, more)

🎙️All In Speed Run Podcast🎙️

Fun With Ranks

It’s Halloween week. Did you catch my podcasting and Halloween costume this year? You might want to tune into Scoop City, the Pat Mayo one or Fantasy Pros ranks to see it. It’s dangerously glorious. Besides finding amazing things to wear each year, I also reprise my Best Halloween Candy rankings. There are a few changes, as usual, but we also have a very special, reader-suggested, fun ranks included. Feel free to share your go-to candy — you know, the one you steal from kids’ bags while they’re distracted.

Best Halloween Candy Ranked

Nerds Gummy Clusters — Best.Candy.Ever! Especially the berry pack!

Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkins — Holiday shapes are the champ of chocolate candy

Peanut Butter M&Ms — Plain M&M’s are outside the Top 10

Twizzlers Rainbow — Regular Twizzlers would be outside the Top 15

Sour Patch Watermelon Slices

Peanut Butter Snickers — Better than the OG. I said it.

Snickers

Swedish Fish Minis

Hi-Chew — Particularly any of the berry flavors

Take 5 — Five great flavors smashed together

Starburst FaveREDs – If you’re lucky, a strawberry two-pack!

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

Hot Tamales — Updated them or something, because they are darker, softer, and better!

Haribo Gold Bears — Only gummy bears allowed … outside of the Disney ones — and yes, I’ve had Albanese gummy bears and stand by my statement

Nestle Crunch

Junior Mints — They’re very refreshing. York peppermint patties are good, Junior Mints just do it better

100 Grand — Great, but I feel like Take 5 … takes … it one step higher

Airheads (Strawberry, watermelon, mystery)

Twix — Something changed a few years back, and it’s not as good

Laffy Taffy (Strawberry, Watermelon) — I keep pushing these down since the wrappers never come off

Baby Ruth

Kit Kat — Always causes anger being this low, but you can eat 20 and not even feel the slightest bit of satiation

Butterfinger — They have to be fresh/soft — lost a few spots for new recipe

Skittles — Mainly this low because the Halloween version is seemingly always stale and rock hard

Mounds — One of the few times I prefer dark chocolate

Overrated:

Whoppers — Even fresh, your parents called and want their candy back.

Tootsie Rolls — EVERYONE hands these out, and kids end up with half a bag of them. Enough!

Milky Way — Just Snickers without peanuts, and therefore subpar

3 Musketeers — Chocolate with bland, fluffy chocolate that nearly disintegrates in your mouth instantly, and not filling at all. Super meh.

If you want the Worst Halloween Candy list, you can #CheckTheLink (there was too much going on here already).

Guest Requested: Ranking the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Variations

Oreo — Was highly skeptical, but these are good. Cookie crunch (more on that in another one) with a good ratio of chocolate to the Oreo cream. They aren’t my go-to, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Crunchy Cookie — They actually had two different ones with a chocolate cookie base layer and one with pieces throughout. The “pieces throughout” was the better version.

Original — You know.

Chocolate Lover — Alters the ratio a bit, and I enjoyed it for what it was. The original is best — well, the holiday pieces are THE best, in a landslide — but if you’re going to skew the ratio, I lean more chocolate.

Chocolate Lava Big Cup — I’m a fan of truffles, which is what the “lava” consistency essentially is. Better than I expected.

Big Cup — Bigger isn’t always better. Ratio a bit off, but it’s better than most of the rest. Honestly, there is a “Big” tier gap from No. 5 to all the others.

Pretzel Big Cup — I’m actually a big fan of Take 5, but the pretzels in there are better balanced with caramel and peanuts.

Caramel Big Cup — I’m picky when it comes to caramel, and this is just so-so.

Reese’s Pieces Big Cup — This was a losing battle because I am not a Reese’s Pieces fan. And it doesn’t make a ton of sense to me anyway. It’s like mini cups inside a cup, or that Oreo: Cookies and Cream nonsense they did. It’s the same thing! You’re just Inception-ing your candy.

Thins — Seems like a good idea, but the ratio is wrong. Feel more like a weird cookie. And don’t talk to me about dark chocolate. That’s evil stuff.

Sugar Cookie Big Cup — As seen, I can enjoy a good added crunch, but you don’t taste any sugar cookie, which makes it seem more like something is wrong with your cup than eating a variation of it.

Reese’s Puffs Big Cup — Similar to the Sugar Cookie one in Big Cup form. Meh.

Peanut Butter Lover — I love me some peanut butter, but this is overkill, especially the all-peanut butter version.

Potato Chip Big Cup — Only tried these when they had them out of morbid curiosity. Just stick to the pretzel version if you want more saltiness, as this adventure was like playing Russian roulette with the chip pieces waiting to stab you in the gums.

PBJ Strawberry and Grape — Nope. Just nope on both. I will smash PBJ sandwiches, but this isn’t jelly (shocking, I know). This is some weird elementary school lunchbox fruit snack crap smashed inside.

DFL: White Chocolate — White chocolate isn’t chocolate! And this ain’t it!

All In Speed Run Pod: Ranks, Buys, Sells and more with Michael Florio

Week 9 Fantasy Football Rankings

🚨 HEADS UP 🚨

There is no perfect widget out there, sadly, still. I know many view this on your phone, but 1) use the rankings widget on a PC/laptop/etc. if possible or 2) open in your phone’s browser, especially for Android users, to get the scrolling to work (or Android people can try a two-finger scroll).

ECR = “Expert” Consensus Ranking (which isn’t updated by everyone consistently, so take with a grain of salt).

Updated regularly, so check up to lineups locking.

Week 9 Fantasy Football Projections

🚨 HEADS UP 🚨 These can differ from my rankings, and MY RANKS are the order I’d start players outside of added context, such as, “Need highest upside, even if risky.” Also, based on 4-point TDs for QB, 6-point rest, and Half-PPR

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