The Fantasy Footballers’ Starts of the Week for Week 9

The fellas were back at it on Thursday, bringing you their Starts of the Week for Week 9. Below is a summary of who the Fantasy Footballers selected as well as their reasoning behind the choices. If you have yet to check out the podcast, you can find it here. Also, give JoinTheFoot.com a visit as it provides a ton of additional resources exclusively for #FootClan members.  

Andy’s Starts

QB: Tua Tagovailoa vs. HOU
Look, Miami is playing Houston, and that’s all you need to know. The Texans have allowed top-12 quarterback performances in five of eight weeks, with Trevor Lawrence being one of those QBs. Tagovailoa has found his groove, and in the last three games, he is on pace for 4,600 yards and 34 TDs. Just saying, give Tua credit where credit is due. He has the weapons, and DeVante Parker is back in the lineup. The Dolphins quarterback can get the ball in the endzone, so watch for that to happen in Week 9.

RB: D’Ernest Johnson @ CIN
Andy admits that this is terrifying to think about doing, but the Bengals are the team Johnson faces this week. That helps Johnson as the Bengals gave up 45 points to the Jets running backs, a combination of Michael Carter and Ty Johnson. Johnson should have ten opportunities this weekend and could find himself in an even better position if the Browns control the game. If Cleveland were to take over the contest, Johnson could see 15 opportunities. This selection is risky, but Johnson is your guy if you require a flex play or an emergency start. He will go all Kareem Hunt in this game.

WR: DeVante Parker vs. HOU
Andy admits that he did want to select Jason and Mike’s wide receivers this week, but since he was last to get his selections in, he went with Parker for the Tua/Parker stack. The Rams scored 55 (insert drop) points against the Texans last week. The Texans have been bleeding points to the wide receiver position. Parker’s return in the previous game saw him put up top-24 wideout numbers playing a tough Bills defense. Keep an eye on Parker to put up top-25 WR numbers in Week 9 while providing a lot of upside.

TE: Dallas Goedert vs. LAC
Goedert faces a Chargers team that is 29th against opposing tight ends this season. We had to wait a bit after Zach Ertz left for Goedert to get into the swing of things, but the Eagles’ tight end managed to be the team’s leading receiver last week with six catches for 72 yards. This week should be a top-5 week for Goedert, potentially the overall #1 TE this week.

Jason’s Picks

QB: Joe Burrow vs. CLE
It didn’t look good for Burrow at the beginning of the season, wherein the first month he was QB17. Fast forward to the last month of this season, and he is QB4. The Browns pass defense has allowed the second-most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks over the last month. Th @e Browns are good against the run, so Burrow should throw plenty in this game. The Bengals throw more inside the 10-yard line than any team in the league at 68-percent. Jason says Burrow is a great play this week and could have at least two touchdowns. 

RB: Josh Jacobs @ NYG
In five games played, Jacobs has five scores, so he is as good of a bet as anyone to find paydirt in the endzone. The Giants are conceding the fifth-most rushing yards and third-most yards per play in the league. For the past month, NYG has given up the sixth-most running back fantasy points per game. They are just getting worse. The Raiders are 2.5 point road favorites, and when the Raiders win, Jacobs does fantastic. Feel free to fire him up this week.

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WR: Robert Woods vs. TEN
Bobby Trees missed practice on Wednesday, but Jason thinks it was just a veteran player’s day of rest. This game has the highest over-under of the week, so you’ll want to start a piece of the Rams roster. Tennessee is allowing the highest wide receiver percentage share in the NFL. Although Woods got off to a terrible start (and everyone freaked out, including Jason), he has been the WR8 since Week 4. Cooper Kupp has eight high-value targets for the Rams, seeing eight inside the 10-yard line, but Woods is right there with him at seven. This start is a confidence play for Jason this week.

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TE: Tyler Conklin @ BAL
Conk! Conk! Over the last two weeks, Conklin has been the TE13 and TE15. Even though those finishes look like they’d kill your team, they do not. In those games, he went for 8.2 and 8.6 points in half-PPR leagues. Conklin ended up with three catches for 71 yards and five catches for 57 yards in those two games. Last week, Conkin additionally saw seven targets. Conklin was probably someone you could get off waivers, and that is fine. Now look at what happened last week alone; Kyle Pitts, Dalton Schultz, Tyler Higbee, Noah Fant, Hunter Henry, and Ricky Seals-Jones all scored between zero and three points. The Ravens are third-worst against the tight end position in the NFL. This season, there have only been two games where Baltimore didn’t give up a top-12 performance to the opposing TE. 

Mike’s Picks

QB: Taysom Hill vs. ATL
If Hill plays, Mike confidently says to play him due to the matchup. In Hill’s four starts last season, he averaged 53 yards rushing and never went under the 30-yard mark. In his limited time as a starter, Hill put up four rushing touchdowns on his own. Hill is not a pocket player, so he will do what he needs to do with his legs.  

RB: Zack Moss @ JAX
Here’s a player that Jason also looked at for Start of the Week at running back. Moss is a player that Mike sees being a solid RB2 this week. Moss was targeted by his QB four, four, and seven times in the last three games. Additionally, Moss has an average of 60-percent of the running back carries for the Bills. This week, Moss has a juicy matchup with Jacksonville.  

WR: Brandin Cooks @ MIA
In four straight games, the Dolphins have conceded top-12 points to fantasy wide receivers. This week, Tyrod Taylor will be back under center. When Taylor was healthy, he had a significant connection with Cooks. Cooks would be in play whether or not Taylor started, but Taylor being in the lineup means you can fire Cooks up against Miami this week. 

TE: Jared Cook @ PHI
Mike brings you his streaming tight end selection for Week 9. Cook has seen five targets a game, which is encouraging. Over the past three weeks, the Eagles have given up the most points to the tight end position. Trust the process, as Mike says Cook will be a fine streamer. Cook is not a guy you would start over a more solid TE, but if you are in a bind, Cook is the player for you.