Week 9 has given us plenty to dissect from a huge list of studs and duds, with surprise names in both categories. Perhaps most shocking is seeing four different Houston Texans in the top-12 for total fantasy production, as C.J. Stroud (QB – Texans) lead Houston onto a 39-37 overtime win against Tampa Bay, producing monster outings for Tank Dell (WR – Texans) , Dalton Schultz (TE – Texans), and Noah Brown (WR – Texans).
Other stud performances will be revealed in this article, along with the duds, which were filled with high draft capital assets like Cooper Kupp (WR – Rams), Bijan Robinson (RB – Falcons), and Travis Kelce (TE – Chiefs). There was quite a bit of scoring in Week 9 across the board, leading to a huge disparity in fantasy performances depending on how fantasy managers opted to construct their lineups. The return of Byes, plus constant injuries, has forced most of us into making some lineup decisions that blew up in our face. However, those bold enough to put in unproven players in a plus-matchup, or simply out of necessity due to lack of depth, may have won their Week 9 matchups with production from unsung fantasy football heroes.
A few quick takeaways on the state of the league as we enter Week 10. Kansas City relied on its defense to contain Miami in Germany during a 21-14 win, as the Dolphins continue to falter against quality competition. The Pittsburgh Steelers find ways to win despite an inconsistent offense, sitting at 5-3 in a loaded AFC North division. Meanwhile, Minnesota had late-game heroics from Josh Dobbs (QB – Vikings), their newly signed quarterback at the trade deadline, who rallied to beat Atlanta on the road to bump the Vikings into a 5-4 record. Cleveland blanked Clayton Tune and the Cardinals 27-0, the Rams fell apart without Matthew Stafford (QB – Rams) against a bad Green Bay team, and the New Orleans Saints continue to use Taysom Hill (QB/TE – Saints) as a jack-of-all trades to win games. We were treated to an instant classic between Dallas and Philadelphia, with Jalen Hurts (QB – Eagles) doing just enough to outplay Dak Prescott (QB – Cowboys) in a 28-23 win. The Baltimore Ravens smothered Seattle 37-3 for their second statement win in three weeks, while the Las Vegas Raiders got a boost from firing its coaching staff in a 30-6 rout of the Giants. We saw Joe Burrow (QB – Bengals) outplay Josh Allen (QB – Bills) yet again on Sunday night, throwing for 348 yards and a pair of touchdowns on a night where Allen made more mistakes and played in a one-dimensional offense.
NFL fantasy analyst Matt MacKay is back to give us his latest Week 9 studs and duds using half-PPR scoring to determine whether the production seen on this slate is worrisome or just an outlier performance.
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Fantasy Football Takeaways
Tank Dell (WR – Texans)
There were multiple Texans that feasted in Week 9, but rookie wideout Tank Dell led all Houston skilled players, churning out six receptions for 114 yards and two touchdowns on 11 targets. Stroud vouched for Dell to Houston’s front office and it’s been largely a success to this point of the season. Dell has two games with over 20 fantasy points this season, but his floor is pretty low, with four games under seven fantasy points, so Dell is a boom-or-bust WR3 with WR1 upside moving into a road matchup against Cincinnati, who is the 13th toughest unit against fantasy wideouts.
CeeDee Lamb (WR – Cowboys)
After logging three games under 10 fantasy points in the first five weeks of the season, CeeDee Lamb has taken off, recording back-to-back games with at least 11 receptions and 158 receiving yards. Lamb wound up the overall WR3 in Week 10 even without a touchdown, hauling in 11 of 16 targets for 191 receiving yards. Lamb has silenced most of his critics about his ability to be a true WR1 and the lack of talent and depth within the Cowboys’ offense should keep him firmly in fantasy WR1 territory against the Giants in Week 10.
Dalton Schultz (TE – Texans)
This will likely be the only team we have three Houston players in the studs section, but we need to give credit to Dalton Schultz. After posting two receptions for five yards against Carolina in Week 8, Schultz exploded with 10-130-1 on 11 targets against Tampa Bay in Week 9. His production obviously hinges on Stroud’s performance under center, and we won’t get 470 yards and five touchdowns every game, but Schultz’ role in Houston’s offense is good enough to lock him into lineups as a low-end TE1 with top-five upside at the position.
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Matthew MacKay is a featured writer for FantasyPros. For more from Matthew, check out his archive and follow him @Matt_MacKay_.