Welcome to Week 9 of the NFL season. Now that we’re at the halfway point of the season it’s always fun to extrapolate full season numbers. The best quarterback in fantasy and real life has been Lamar Jackson, who just lost to the Browns, but still played well as usual. So far he is on pace for 4,460 yards passing, 36 touchdown passes, four interceptions, 172 carries for 1,064 yards and four touchdowns. Yeah, that would be a third MVP win right there.
On the other hand, Patrick Mahomes is on pace for a lot less than that and is still favored to win the Super Bowl after a 7-0 start. That’s not good news for his fantasy prospects moving forward, but maybe DeAndre Hopkins helps bump him into the Top 12 at the end of the season.
He’s sometimes scary, but Baker Mayfield is putting up great numbers despite the Bucs losing four of their last six games. Week 8 was pretty bad, as he threw two interceptions in a loss to the Falcons, but he still threw for 330 yards and three touchdowns without Mike Evans or Chris Godwin to finish QB7 for the week. In fact, he’s thrown seven interceptions in the last three games, but he’s finished QB2, QB2, and QB7. He’s going to keep chucking the ball, especially as the Bucs defense continues to give up the fifth-most points per game.
Russell Wilson, Brock Purdy
Love was forced from their Week 8 game due to a groin injury, but it does look like he still has a shot to not miss any time, per Tom Pelissero. Malik Willis would get another start if Love can’t go.
Maye was forced from their Week 8 game due to a brain injury. He’ll need to be cleared ahead of their Sunday matchup against the Titans. If he can’t go, Jacoby Brissett would take back the lead role for a week.
Levis missed his second straight game due to a shoulder injury. Neither Levis or Mason Rudolph have been able to elevate the Titans offense, so I’d expect the team to go back to Levis when healthy, but there is a chance they stick with Rudolph.
Carr is dealing with an oblique injury, but looks like he’s got a good chance to return this week against the Panthers. The Panthers would be a good matchup coming off injury.
Richardson isn’t injured, but he is being replaced this week by Joe Flacco. It’s hard to blame a team for wanting to win, but this move seems shortsighted. But, we don’t care too much as fantasy players and in fantasy, this is a great move for the Colts receivers.
Dalton suffered a sprained thumb in a car accident last week, which gave Bryce Young the start against the Broncos. Young wasn’t horrible, but the team lost big. This may give Dave Canales the chance to get Young more work if that’s what the team wants, but Dalton’s injury doesn’t sound too serious either.
Mahomes is hard to call a sleeper, but he hasn’t finished higher than QB12 in any week this season. That could change this week though, as he takes on a Buccaneers defense that has been getting absolutely decimated by the pass while Baker Mayfield puts up enough passing stats to keep their opponents needing to score. Kirk Cousins has thrown eight touchdown passes against the Bucs over the last four weeks. That’s not good. Lamar Jackson only completed 17 passes against them, but five of those went for touchdowns!
Stafford has Puka Nacka and Cooper Kupp back into the fold and is coming off a four touchdown game against the Vikings. The Seahawks defense has been bad of late. They started off the season against Bo Nix, Jacoby Brissett, and Skylar Thompson. Since then they’ve allowed 10 touchdowns to three interceptions and have allowed the seventh-most fantasy points to quarterbacks.
