Week 9 brings us minimal amounts of bye weeks and no international games for the second week in a row, which gives us a deep player pool to build from. These are the best-looking plays for DFS tournaments (GPPs) and how you might want to approach using these players with suggested stacks and correlations.
Week 9 GPP DFS Advice & Picks
The players below are the ones I’m looking at for GPP considerations for Week 9.
Quarterbacks
Lamar Jackson (QB – BAL) vs. Broncos | DraftKings: $8,000/FanDuel: $8,900
The Ravens have been cooking in their second year under offensive coordinator Todd Monken with Lamar Jackson potentially heading towards his third MVP award before turning 28. Jackson is Pro Football Focus’ (PFF) highest-graded quarterback when throwing the ball to or beyond the first down marker, and the Ravens boast the most plays of 20+ yards on offense. Explosive plays are excellent for fantasy football because they force the pace to be elevated and the Ravens’ woeful pass defense is forcing Jackson and the offense to keep their foot on the pedal.
Jackson has thrown for 270+ passing yards in five of his eight games and rushed for a minimum of 40 yards in every single game. The Ravens face a tough Denver defense but still have an implied team total north of 27 points this week, yet nobody wants to play the Ravens, making them an excellent GPP play. Stacking Jackson with Zay Flowers makes the most sense as Rashod Bateman will likely see more coverage from Patrick Surtain. While Mark Andrews‘s four touchdowns in three games are intriguing, the rug could be pulled at any time, so save that play for the bigger contests.
Matthew Stafford (QB – LAR) at Seahawks | DraftKings: $5,700/FanDuel: $7,600
Is it any coincidence that the moment Matthew Stafford got both Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua healthy he had his best game of the season? Probably not, but we shouldn’t hold it against him. Patrick Mahomes has been miserable for fantasy football all year and despite losing Rashee Rice he still has Travis Kelce. Even the best quarterbacks need their best players out there. Now that Stafford is throwing to his Pro-bowl-caliber receivers he can consistently be relevant again.
Stafford had three passing touchdowns before the Week 8 game against the Vikings when he passed for four touchdowns. He can follow that performance up with another nice matchup against a middling Seahawks defense in many defensive metrics that has allowed multiple touchdowns to four of the last five teams they’ve faced. Double-stacking Stafford is essential to unlocking his ceiling outcomes, but if you think Nacua is the only one to pay off his salary, don’t be afraid to make the second piece a Seattle bringback assuming they also have to pass to keep up with Stafford.
Joe Flacco (QB – IND) at Vikings | FanDuel: $7,000 (FanDuel Only Play)
FanDuel adds the Sunday night game to their slate, which opens up the elite Joe Flacco getting another chance to further his redemption arc with a start against the Vikings. Flacco will face a blitz-happy Vikings defense that ranks first in defense-adjusted value over average (DVOA) but allows the most wide receiver fantasy points of any team in the NFL.
Flacco has been poor against the blitz this year, ranking 44th in yards per attempt, per Sharp Football Analysis. When he gets the ball out quickly against blitzes, though, he ranks 10th in completion rate over the last two years and sixth in yards per attempt. If Shane Steichen can help Flacco to know what’s coming, we could be in for a fun end to the slate. Stacking Flacco with Josh Downs makes sense with Downs’ slot role likely benefiting from quick passes. On the other side, we can either bring this back with Justin Jefferson or Aaron Jones, who both have strong matchups.
Running Backs
Kyren Williams (RB – LAR) at Seahawks | DraftKings: $8,000/FanDuel: $8,900
If you’re uninterested in stacking Matthew Stafford, perhaps the ground game of the Rams is more intriguing. At the moment, there are few running backs as safe of a bet as Kyren Williams. Williams is one of only two players to have double-digit touchdowns this far into the season and he has scored at least one touchdown in every game while leading all running backs in red-zone rush attempts (37).
Earlier in the season, Williams was inefficient, but since Week 4, he averages a respectable 4.3 yards per carry (YPC) and 4.0 missed tackles forced per game. Williams plays a Seattle defense that allows the seventh-most running back fantasy points, ranks 21st in DVOA and surrenders 4.9 YPC. Any concerns the return of Kupp and Nacua could harm Williams’ outlook should have been eased with him seeing a season-high seven targets in Week 8.
Stacking running backs with quarterbacks is less commonplace than wide receiver/quarterback stacks, but we’ve seen it work out for some of the largest field contests. I wouldn’t exclude that thought when building your lineups.
Jahmyr Gibbs (RB – DET) at Packers | DraftKings: $7,600/FanDuel: $8,600
Since the start of Week 4, Jahmyr Gibbs has played 52% of the snaps compared to David Montgomery‘s 38% and he has seen 52 touches to Montgomery’s 38, along with having 10 targets to Montgomery’s seven. Montgomery indeed missed some time in Week 6 with an injury, but even over the last two weeks, the difference in production is sharp with Gibbs seeing 26 rush attempts for 243 yards and three touchdowns, compared to Montgomery’s 18 for 64 and one touchdown.
Since Week 4, Gibbs is the PPR RB6 in total points, while Montgomery is the RB24. Due to the split in this backfield, people hate to lean into it, but Gibbs has shown us he has a tournament-winning upside and is currently at suppressed rostership because of those concerns. The Packers had few answers to Joe Mixon in Week 7, as he racked up 124 total yards and two touchdowns, two weeks after allowing 105 total yards and a touchdown to Kyren Williams. This is not a defense we need to worry about.
For correlations, we can take shots at the Green Bay wide receivers, who face an excellent matchup against a Lions defense allowing the third-most wide receiver fantasy points.
De’Von Achane (RB – MIA) at Bills | DraftKings: $6,700/FanDuel: $7,800
The Dolphins endured a miserable few weeks without Tua Tagovailoa. While his return might be too little too late for their playoff hopes, it’s not too late for our fantasy hopes for several players. De’Von Achane’s efficiency has plummeted in his second season, seeing regression in yards per carry, yards after contact, yards before contact and more, but where Achane has progressed is in the receiving game.
In 2023, Achane averaged 7.3 yards per reception (YPR) and had 27 receptions on the year. This season, Achane is at 8.4 YPR and has 29 total receptions through seven games. Achane has 23+ points in every game Tagovailoa has started this year and should be a strong play against a Bills defense that has seen six different running backs see six or more targets.
The Dolphins have largely succeeded in taking the air out of games this year, but games with the Bills tend to get funky, so correlating Achane with a receiver who could see strong volume like Amari Cooper or Keon Coleman makes sense if we lean into the idea both teams are chasing the score.
Wide Receivers
Puka Nacua (WR – LAR) at Seahawks | DraftKings: $7,200/FanDuel: $8,100
The Rams haven’t looked like themselves all year, or at least they hadn’t until Puka Nacua returned in Week 8. Nacua was targetted on 41% of his routes, catching seven of his nine targets and adding two rush attempts for 111 total yards, despite only playing 56% of the snaps.
The Rams played on Thursday night last week, which has given Nacua a further couple of days of recovery time to be ready for this game. The Seahawks have allowed at least 18 PPR points to a receiver each week since Week 4. With Nacua further recovered from his knee injury there is no reason he can’t see plenty of volume again.
Editor’s Note: Nacua tweaked his knee in practice on Thursday, so monitor injury reports throughout the week. However, it was deemed non-serious and he should be fine.
Malik Nabers (WR – NYG) vs. Commanders | DraftKings: $7,500/FanDuel: $8,400
It was a prolific start to the season for Malik Nabers with three top-six weekly fantasy finishes in his first four games before picking up a concussion that led to him missing Weeks 5 and 6. Since then, the magic hasn’t quite been there with WR42 and WR29 finishes.
However, there are reasons for hope with Nabers facing a Commanders secondary he scored 28.7 PPR points against in Week 2 and that has allowed five top-eight finishes this year. Stacking Nabers with Daniel Jones never feels particularly nice, but correlating Nabers with Jayden Daniels or Brian Robinson Jr. is much more interesting.
Parker Washington (WR – JAX) at Eagles | DraftKings: $3,600/FanDuel: $5,400
With Christian Kirk now out for the year due to a season-ending shoulder injury, Parker Washington is likely the biggest benefactor. Washington had catches of 15 yards and 21 yards as he finished Week 8 with three catches for 46 yards against the Packers.
Helping Parker’s case is that Trevor Lawrence has looked much better in recent weeks, ranking fifth in expected points added (EPA) over the last four games and completing 71% of his passes in that period. The Eagles have allowed the 10th-most wide receiver fantasy points. This should be a fruitful enough game for Washington to pay off his low cost. He makes excellent sense as a bringback in Eagles stacks.
Tight Ends
Kyle Pitts (TE – ATL) vs. Cowboys | DraftKings: $4,900/FanDuel: $6,000
Kyle Pitts has turned around a slow start to the season as Kirk Cousins has settled into the Falcons’ offense and gone on a run of four straight games finishing with at least 65 receiving yards. Since Week 5, Pitts has been the PPR TE3, averaging 16.1 points and 6.8 targets per game. The Falcons play Dallas this week with the Cowboys allowing the 12th-most fantasy points. They have allowed four tight end touchdowns in their last three games played.
Pitts’ price is at a point where people typically want to pay up or further down, which leaves us a pretty nice GPP play to build around. There’s not a lot in this game I’d want to be heavy on, but Pitts and CeeDee Lamb correlations feel fun.
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