Fantasy Football: Start ‘em, sit ‘em for Week 9

I sat Stefon Diggs over each of the past three weeks because Yahoo fantasy keeps giving him not-great point projections. Over those three weeks he has put up 73 points. Meanwhile the dude I’m playing against got 69.6 points alone from Cooper Kupp and Aaron Jones. Truly, your fantasy week hasn’t been as bad as mine.

Let’s check out who had big fantasy performances in Week 8:

1) RB Aaron Jones, Green Bay Packers, 38.10 points

2) WR Mike Evans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 37.30 points

3) RB Tevin Coleman, San Francisco 49ers, 36.80 points

4) RB Latavius Murray, New Orleans Saints, 32.20 points

This week I’m hoping your week will be especially better than my recent bad luck. Here’s who you should start and sit, along with their projected points.

Who to start

1) RB Le’Veon Bell, New York Jets (vs. Miami) | 20.02 points

Le’Veon Bell and his questionable Jets offense go up against the worst defense in the NFL, and the defense that gives up the most fantasy points to opposing RBs. After 109 carries, Bell is averaging just 3.2 yards per carry, easily a career low. However, I don’t see him struggling this Sunday afternoon against a porous Dolphins defense.

2) WR Allen Robinson II, Chicago Bears (vs. Philadelphia) | 11.64 points

Allen Robinson II has 57 receptions over his past 8 games, good for 2nd among all NFL receivers. Over his past two games he’s received 23 targets and caught 15 of those. This week he’ll go up against a Philadelphia Eagles defense giving up the most fantasy points to opposing wide receivers.

3) QB Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions (vs. Oakland) | 19.87 points

Matthew Stafford heads up against a very soft Oakland Raiders defense currently giving up the 3rd-most average fantasy points to opposing QBs. Stafford puts up good numbers every year and this Sunday will be no different. In fact, he has 32 completions of over 20 yards in his past eight games, 2nd-best among all NFL QBs. Start the man!

Who to sit

1) QB Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals (vs. San Francisco) | 15.15 points

Murray goes up against perhaps the best team in the entire NFL this Thursday night. I don’t think it will be pretty and this is a matchup to avoid. The 49ers currently give up the second-fewest fantasy points to opposing QBs.

2) RB Sony Michel, New England Patriots (vs. Baltimore) | 8.50 points

Michel and the Pat offense go up against a Ravens defense currently giving up the 8th-fewest points to opposing RBs. What’s more concerning is that Michel has proven to be a rather ordinary RB this year in fantasy value, earning less than 7.5 points in four of eight games.

3) Corey Davis, Tennessee Titans (vs. Carolina) | 6.90 points

It’s no surprise that Corey Davis’ year hasn’t gone according to plan, especially with another boring, average Titans offense. Even against a non-threatening Panthers pass defense, Davis isn’t an especially attractive start this Sunday. What’s most concerning is his inconsistency in fantasy value. In two of the past five games he’s put up 17 points, but the other three games saw Davis get 3.8, 5.1 and last week’s paltry 1.9 points. Stay away from Corey this week.

Let’s see how my picks did last week (actual fantasy points):

Start

1) RB James Connor, Pittsburgh Steelers (vs. Miami) | 22.50 points

2) WR John Brown, Buffalo Bills (vs. Philadelphia) | 7.90 points

3) WR DK Metcalf, Seattle Seahawks (vs. Atlanta) | 14.80 points

Sit

1) QB Baker Mayfield, Cleveland Browns (vs. New England) | 12.56 points

2) WR Alshon Jeffery, Philadelphia Eagles (vs. Buffalo) | 8.40 points

3) RB Frank Gore, Buffalo Bills (vs. Philadelphia) | 3.40 points