With Week 8 of the fantasy football season coming to a close after the New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers matchup last night, Pro Football Network sets their sights on Week 9. Start ’em, sit ’em decisions will be tough for more than a few fantasy football owners this week, with some key WRs in difficult matchups and others on their bye. Week 9 is a critical one in fantasy, with borderline playoff teams needing to make that last-ditch effort before the trade deadline. With that urgency in mind, we put together our Week 9 fantasy football WR rankings with some of the guys you should be targeting in your leagues. Keep in mind when looking for the right fantasy football wide receiver, matchups and volume are the two predominant factors when deciding who to start and sit!
What to keep in mind heading into Week 9 and searching for the best fantasy football wide receiver
Make sure to check out PFN’s fantasy bye week schedule to keep up to date on who you will need to replace in your lineups. For Week 9, the four teams that are on a bye are the Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Rams, Cleveland Browns, and the Cincinnati Bengals. At first glance, that doesn’t seem to be too bad. However, there are some key depth players that have been performing well in fantasy this season that will be out this week.
While they may have been considered sleepers before their breakout performances, we will still be without guys like Travis Fulgham, Jarvis Landry, Tyler Boyd, A.J. Green, and Robert Woods due to byes. Odell Beckham Jr. is already out for the rest of the year due to injury.
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There are also some other big names that we are monitoring to see if they will be out due to injury. Here are some of the guys that will likely be out: Calvin Ridley (foot), Breshad Perriman (concussion), Deebo Samuel (hamstring), N’Keal Harry (concussion), Sammy Watkins (hamstring), Bryan Edwards (ankle), and Adam Humphries (head).
However, there is some relief on the way if you have a good waiver wire position or enough FAAB left at this point in the year. For starters, we will see the return of one of the more polarizing players in Antonio Brown. We don’t know how effective he will be as a fantasy football wide receiver in his first game, but the reward might be worth the risk. There are also chances that we see the return of WRs Michael Thomas, Chris Godwin, Jamison Crowder, and Emmanuel Sanders from injury.
These rankings should help cover all the sleepers you should be targeting to help win your week, as well as the must-starts, and potential busts you should avoid.
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Note: Please keep in mind that these are full point PPR WR rankings. PPR means that WRs get an additional full point for each reception. This can play a big factor when deciding on which guys to get into your lineups and makes volume all that much more important.