Quick Grades Week 9 (Fantasy Football Start or Sit Advice)

Quick Grades Week 9 (Fantasy Football Start or Sit Advice)

Welcome back, and thanks for joining me as we go through this week’s grades! Because of bye weeks, injuries, and plenty of uncertainty across multiple positions, the grades were harder than ever to wrap my head around. We’ve got plenty of heavy hitters among our most highly-graded players, but there are some surprises at the top and some shakeups in the middle. After an anticlimactic Thursday night matchup between the Falcons and Panthers, it’s time to look ahead to Sunday and Monday. Without further delay, let’s get to it!

Once the season begins, the most difficult part of any fantasy manager’s week is start or sit decisions. These lineup choices can make or break a week, but unfortunately, not everyone has time to sit down and read lengthy fantasy advice articles. That’s where Quick Grades comes in. Each week of the football season, I’ll be providing a condensed and easily digestible chart of grades for over 250 fantasy-relevant players based on the following four criteria:

Fantasy Ability
Despite a tough matchup, Derrick Henry broke through on a long run last week

Expected Volume
Travis Kelce is always heavily targeted as one of Kansas City’s top pass-catching options

Matchup
Tyreek Hill got loose for 200 yards against Cincinnati’s porous secondary

Surrounding Talent
Sam Darnold has one of the weakest receiving corps in the league

Each of those criteria will be graded on a scale of 1-25, with the cumulative total resulting in a final grade (A+ to F) and a recommendation based on that grade. The criteria are weighted differently based on position, so it’s not a direct 1-for-1 conversion. Surrounding talent refers to offensive line for RB, quarterback play for WR and TE, and skill-position talent for QB.

The players are sorted by grade in descending order with the highest grades at the top and the lowest at the bottom. The highest-graded players receive A+ (Must start), and the lowest receive F. However, there are varying degrees of the F grade, and some players with this grade are flex plays, desperation plays, Hail Mary plays, or should remain on your bench, depending on the grade and position.

I’ll also include D/ST grades, and just like the skill-position players, there will be four criteria used for grading on a scale from 1-25, and final grades will be from 1-100. The four criteria for a D/ST grade are: Matchup, Turnovers, Sacks, and Points Allowed.

The charts are screenshots of a spreadsheet, but the link to the original can be found below. Because players are not searchable within the sheets in this article, they’ve been added to the bottom of the page so that they can be searched and referenced quickly. In addition to the player grades, I’ll provide:

  • Start of the Week: A player outside of the elite, weekly must-starts who could have a big week
  • Stream of the Week: The best player who will likely be available on your waiver wire
  • Deep-League Stream of the Week: The best player who is less than 5% rostered in Yahoo leagues
  • Fade of the Week: A notable player who could be in for a let-down performance
  • Tough Calls: Two similarly valued players who may give fantasy managers difficult decisions

Link to Full Quick Grades Document

It’s easy to see that an ‘A+’ or ‘A’ grade makes a player a must-start, but it might not make sense at first glance why some players are rated ‘C’ or worse and still have ‘Start,’ ‘Strong Start,’ or ‘Flex’ attached to their names. Because of all the different variables that go into a player’s performance in any given week, only those players with the absolute highest potential, best matchup, and strongest talent get ‘A+’ or ‘A’ grades. Therefore, even solid plays will earn grades that may appear sub-optimal on the surface, but it’s all relative from position-to-position. The hard cutoff is 50 for every position, as grades lower than this will earn a ‘Desperation’ or ‘Hail Mary’ tag in every situation.

Now that I’ve covered the basics, let’s get to the grades. Best of luck in all your matchups this week, and if you have any questions, please hit me up on Twitter @ZaktheMonster.

Note: As always, remember to check back on FantasyPros ahead of kickoff to get the latest injury news. I’ll provide “what-if” grades in the event that an injured player doesn’t suit up, but otherwise, these grades assume full health at the time the article is published on Friday morning. 

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Running Backs

After a supremely dominant Week 8 showing, Dalvin Cook earns our highest grade for the second week in a row. Coming in just behind him are Alvin Kamara, Derrick Henry, CEH, and James Robinson. James Conner also gets a great matchup with Dallas.

Start of the Week: Justin Jackson

Stream of the Week: Jordan Wilkins

Deep-League Stream of the Week: Troymaine Pope 1% rostered

Fade of the Week: Wayne Gallman

Tough Calls: As crazy as it sounds, Ezekiel Elliott is no longer a must-start every week. Chances are that if he’s on your team, you’re playing him, but you may not be thrilled. This is one of those weeks. Zeke still weighs in as our 10th-highest graded RB, but his matchup with Pittsburgh could leave him lacking. His upside and hefty workload still have him graded above Chase Edmonds, but it’s close in Week 9.

* With Chris Carson out, DeeJay Dallas becomes a ‘C+ Strong Start’

Wide Receivers

He didn’t have a huge game in Week 8, but its blow-up time for Stefon Diggs, who finds himself in the friendliest matchup possible for a wide receiver. The NFL’s most targeted receiver is our highest-graded of the week. Coming in just behind him are our usual suspects, with Julio Jones rising all the way to third due to the looming absence of Calvin Ridley.

Start of the Week: Cole Beasley

Stream of the Week: Darnell Mooney

Deep-League Stream of the Week: KJ Hamler 2% rostered

Fade of the Week: Curtis Samuel

Tough Calls: While both are among the top-10 highest-graded receivers this week, Will Fuller gets a slight edge over Keenan Allen because of a more favorable matchup with Jacksonville. Both are excellent plays for Week 9, but the Texans wideout gets the nod here.

* If John Brown is out, Gabriel Davis becomes a ‘D Flex’
* If Michael Thomas is out again, Tre’Quan Smith joins the list as an ‘F Desperation’
* This article assumes Calvin Ridley is out 

Quarterbacks 

It’s do-or-die time for Josh Allen in Week 9. Fresh off another letdown against New England last week, Allen will look to bounce back against the league’s most friendly defense to opposing QBs. Tom Brady gets another weapon in Antonio Brown in Week 9 and faces the division-rival Saints who smoked him in Week 1. Expect a big game. The rest of the most highly-graded options shouldn’t be a shocker, but Lamar Jackson comes in outside the top-12 due to an extremely difficult matchup and a recent cold streak.

There is no recommended deep-league stream of the week here, as the quarterbacks who are less than 5% rostered do not have grades higher than ‘F Desperation.’

Start & Stream of the Week: Drew Lock

Fade of the Week: Lamar Jackson

* Editor’s Note: Matthew Stafford was activated off the Reserve/COVID-19 on Saturday. He becomes e a ‘C+ Start’

Tight Ends

Not too many surprises here. Travis Kelce will remain the TE1 every week he’s on the field. The rest of the top-5 consist of studs with strong matchups, Jonnu Smith falls out of the top-5, and Mark Andrews is our ninth-highest graded TE as he faces the league’s stingiest defense to the position.

Start & Stream of the Week: Logan Thomas

Deep-League Stream of the Week: Cameron Brate 2% rostered

Fade of the Week: Dalton Schultz

Tough Calls: Our third and fourth-highest graded TEs are separated by less than two points, as Noah Fant edges out Rob Gronkowski. Fant is nearing full strength, and he gets the easiest matchup for TEs in Week 9, just a little bit better than Gronk’s matchup with New Orleans.

D/ST

Likely facing former practice-squadder Cooper Rush, Pittsburgh is head-and-shoulders above the competition as the week’s highest-graded D/ST. The Giants and Football Team defenses both grade out in the top-5 as they face off against one another, Houston moves up significantly because of a favorable matchup with Jake Luton, and the Bears D/ST is worth leaving on the bench against Tennessee’s efficient offense.

Start & Stream of the Week: New York Giants

Fade of the Week: Buffalo Bills

* Minnesota Vikings D/ST becomes an ‘F Desperation’ with Matthew Stafford set to play.

Player Search, Find

Running Back

Wide Receiver

Quarterback

Tight End

D/ST

  • Pittsburgh Steelers A+ Must Start
  • New England Patriots B+ Must Start
  • Washington Football Team B Must Start
  • New York Giants C Must Start
  • New York Jets C Must Start
  • Minnesota Vikings D+ Must Start
  • Indianapolis Colts D+ Start
  • Houston Texans D Start
  • Kansas City Chiefs D Start
  • Baltimore Ravens D Start
  • Atlanta Falcons D Start
  • Tennessee Titans D Start
  • Miami Dolphins F Desperation
  • Arizona Cardinals F Desperation
  • Detroit Lions F Desperation
  • Seattle Seahawks F Desperation
  • Los Angeles Chargers F Desperation
  • Tampa Bay Buccaneers F Desperation
  • Buffalo Bills F Desperation
  • Denver Broncos F Desperation
  • Jacksonville Jaguars F Desperation
  • Las Vegas Raiders F Bench
  • New Orleans Saints F Bench
  • Chicago Bears F Bench
  • Carolina Panthers F Bench
  • Dallas Cowboys F Bench

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Zachary Hanshew is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Zachary, check out his archive and follow him @zakthemonster.

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About Author

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Zachary Hanshew

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Blessed father of 4 and lucky husband. WVU Alum. Member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association.