Week 9 Player Notes & Start/Sit Advice

KC vs TEN: Ryan Tannehill sat out last week due to an ankle injury and an illness. We probably won’t know if Tannehill’s going to play in Week 9 until Wednesday. Despite the win, backup Mike Willis was not particularly impressive (and barely threw the ball), so I’m expecting Tannehill to play if it’s at all able. Tannehill’s not amazing either, so this is a good matchup for Kansas City either way.

MIA @ CHI: Justin Fields is the most-sacked quarterback in the NFL, both in terms of the season total and on a per-game basis. Chicago’s point projection of 19.5 isn’t rock-bottom, but it’s in the range where we typically start defenses against teams projected that low. This is a bit of a boom-bust pick, but one where the median outcome is quite good.

CIN vs CAR: PJ Walker has played reasonably well in his four weeks as the Panthers’ starter, but this is not a high-powered offense, especially without Christian McCaffrey. I don’t see tons of upside here from turnovers and sacks, but the pretty good Bengals defense is a solid play against a below-average offense.

MIN @ WAS: Taylor Heinicke has been OK in his two games as Washington’s QB, wherein he hasn’t taken many sacks, and had just one turnover in each game. That said, he doesn’t lead a particularly scary offense, and the Vikings defense has been good enough against some pretty strong teams.

LAC @ ATL: Generally speaking, teams that run the ball a lot take fewer sacks, because you can’t sack a running back. The Falcons are the second-most run-heavy team in the league (behind Chicago), but Marcus Mariota has still managed to post an above-average rate for sacks taken. That means there’s potential for a lot if they fall behind a strong Chargers offense and are forced to throw more, like they were in Week 5 against Tampa Bay, when Mariota was sacked five times.

ARI vs SEA: Geno Smith is having a breakout season for Seattle, but he’s posted an above-average sack rate at the same time. This is basically my last-ditch DST starter in a shallow week – a big sack day is what you’re hoping for if you have to start Arizona.

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