Week 9 Fantasy Football Sneaky Starts & Sleepers

Nov 02, 2022

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Ja’Marr Chase (hip) is likely to miss about four weeks. Rashod Bateman (foot), Mark Andrews (shoulder), Jonathan Taylor (ankle), Cooper Kupp (ankle), Tyler Higbee (neck), and Adam Thielen (knee contusion) may miss Week 9. Irv Smith (high-ankle) will be out for a while.

All but the luckiest fantasy owners at some point need to find the proverbial diamond in the rough—a waiver wire or bench player capable of putting up some points in a pinch. This weekly feature is dedicated to that part of fantasy football. It's not pretty, but it's part of the game.

Below is a list of players who are ranked higher than usual due to injuries, depth chart changes, or favorable matchups. As the bye weeks hit, it’s important to be able to find players who can produce.

I’ll put the matchup along with our signature strength-of-schedule metric, adjusted fantasy points allowed (aFPA), in parenthesis. The higher the number, the better the matchup.

Quarterbacks

Justin Fields, Bears (vs. MIA, 25)

Fields posted 26.0 fantasy points last week and is the fantasy QB2 over the past four weeks. The Dolphins have yielded an average of 273/1.5 to the position this season. They also let the two running quarterbacks that they’ve faced, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, run for 47 yards and 119 yards, respectively.

Aaron Rodgers, Packers (@ DET, 30)

It’s surprising to see the back-to-back MVP in a Sneaky Starts article, but here we are. Since the Packers’ debacle in Week 1, Rodgers is the fantasy QB13, but has the QB20 per game average. Fortunately, he has a tasty matchup this week against the Lions, who have allowed an average of 277/1.71 and 8.39 yards per attempt to opposing quarterbacks.