Fantasy football sleepers are players who are expected to outperform their preseason expectations and provide excellent value for fantasy team owners. Week 9 of the NFL season is always full of surprises, and it’s important to move with the tide of the season, but with only a few weeks in the books, it’s equally important not to overreact.
So, while starting 2-6 or 3-5 is always a disappointment, you don’t want to tear down the house just because one player underperformed.
*More from Fantasy Football Week 9: Sneaky Starts & Sleepers*
With that said, there are some sneaky players that you can pivot to if there are options on your team that don’t look like they’re in as good of an environment as you thought they were when you drafted them. Below, we are going to run through every fantasy roster position and find some Week 9 Fantasy Football Sleepers that your leaguemates are overlooking.
*More from Fantasy Football Week 9: Trade Value Chart, Targets, and ROS Rankings*
Week 9 Fantasy Football Sleepers: Quarterbacks
Matthew Stafford, Rams (@ SEA, 21)
Now that Stafford has his top two receivers back, we can deploy him confidently in mediocre to good matchups, and the Seahawks qualify. Seattle has yielded multiple passing touchdowns in four of its last five games.
Stafford threw for 279/4 last week against the Vikings and in his last 12 games with both Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua active, he has averaged 254/1.83 and 16.8 fantasy points per game.
Bo Nix, Broncos (@ BAL, 29)
With 284/3 passing and a rushing touchdown last week, Nix is now the fantasy QB9 on the season.
The Ravens are nearly impossible to run on (3.3 YPC allowed, 70 yards rushing), so they are the biggest pass funnel in the league. This season, the Ravens have given up an average of 312 yards and 2.13 passing touchdowns to enemy quarterbacks.
Get the full Week 9 Fantasy Football QB Rankings!
Week 9 Fantasy Football Sleepers: Running Backs
Chuba Hubbard, Panthers (vs. NO, 30)
The Saints are 30th in RB aFPA for a reason. They’ve yielded 5.2 yards per carry to running backs and have given up an average of 148 total yards and 1.13 touchdowns to enemy backfields. Hubbard is the fantasy RB14 on the season and has seen at least 17 touches in six straight games.
Tank Bigsby, Jaguars (@ PHI, 7)
The Eagles have allowed an average of 128 total yards and 0.29 touchdowns to opposing running backs, so they’ve been pretty good at limiting touchdowns. Travis Etienne is inching closer to a return, but Bigbsy is averaging 5.8 yards per carry and has seen 26 and 20 touches in the last two games.
Get the full Week 9 Fantasy Football RB Rankings!
Week 9 Fantasy Football Sleepers: Wide Receivers
Chris Olave, Saints (@ CAR, 25)
With Rashid Shaheed out for the year, Olave should have a high target floor and that was on display last week when he converted 8-of-14 targets for 107 yards against a pretty good Chargers pass defense.
This week’s matchup against the Panthers is unsurprisingly juicy-Carolina has yielded an average of 13.3 catches for 173 yards and 0.63 touchdowns to opposing receivers this year. The Saints should get Derek Carr back as well.
Josh Downs, Michael Pittman & Alec Pierce, Colts (@ MIN, 30)
The Indy passing game gets a big boost with Joe Flacco at quarterback, not because he’s some elite passer, but because the team’s pass attempts are likely to skyrocket. Downs should benefit the most since he has been targeted on 26.9% of Flacco’s pass attempts.
He has 23 catches for 206 yards and two scores in the 2.8 games that Flacco has played this season. Pittman (17.8% target share, two touchdowns) and Alec Pierce (15.9 yards per target from Flacco) should also benefit. Remember, the Vikings defense is a pass-funnel.
Get the full Week 9 Fantasy Football WR Rankings!
Week 9 Fantasy Football Sleepers: Tight Ends
Cade Otton, Buccaneers (@ KC, 23)
This will probably be the last time I feature Otton as a Sneaky Start unless he goes through a stretch of poor play.
With Chris Godwin out for the year and Mike Evans sidelined with a hamstring injury, Otton posted 9-81-2 on 10 targets last week and racked up 8-100 on 10 targets the week before.
Sam LaPorta, Lions (@ GB, 31)
With Jameson Williams out due to suspension, it seemed reasonable to believe that LaPorta would be a bigger part of the game plan in Week 8, and that’s exactly what happened. He saw a season-high six targets and caught all six for 48 yards and a touchdown.
He now has 52+ yards in three of the last four games. The Packers have yielded an average of 60 yards and 0.38 touchdowns to the position this season.
Get the full Week 9 Fantasy Football TE Rankings!
Get the full Week 9 Fantasy Football Defense Rankings!