Fantasy Football Rankings Week 9: Sleepers, starts, sits — Marcus Mariota, Deon

We’re passing the halfway point of the fantasy football season. Yes, Week 9 fantasy football rankings are already here! As always, we’re going to have some fun with rankings this week — again thanks to a reader suggestion. And, again, as always, please read Fantasy Football 101 for advice on trading, lineup decisions, weather and more.

*** Oh! And, we might have found a solution to the rankings widget issue by using Fantasy Nation (via Football Diehards). All three scoring systems work and can be edited by me (unlike before), and the widget will let you scroll on Android without using two fingers! YAY! ***

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Waivers | True SOS (APA — Matchup Ranks)
Fantasy Football 101 (starts, sits, trading, more)
All in Football (video pod)

2022 Week 9 Fantasy Football Sleepers

🚨 HEADS UP 🚨 These are sleepers. They will not mimic my rankings 100%. This is chasing upside and often carries more risk.

QUARTERBACK

POSSIBLY START: Marcus Mariota, ATL — Don’t look now, but Mariota is a Top 10 quarterback. The past four games have seen Mariota average 46 rushing yards, which we know is a free passing touchdown… and Mariota has thrown at least one in each of those games (7 total). The Chargers’ pass defense is strong, but their run defense is quite weak, which should help Mariota reach the QB1 tier yet again, as long as he doesn’t crap it up.

HAIL MARY START: Andy Dalton, NO — Dalton’s past two games show the upside he brings, and a matchup against the porous Ravens pass defense helps him continue his success, though, they have turned the corner a bit since earlier this year. That’s why Dalton is still a risk, as his first three games shows his low-floor potential. Joe Burrow had just 217/1/1 against the Ravens, but Jacoby Brissett threw for 258 yards (no touchdowns) and Tom Brady used some late throws to reach 325/1 last week.

RUNNING BACK

POSSIBLY START: Tyler Allgeier, ATL — Unless Cordarrelle Patterson returns, and then I would throw Patterson back in lineups. When the replacements are performing well — and they have been pretty good — the incumbent’s return when first available normally points to the team being ready to put them right back in (e.g., David Montgomery and Khalil Herbert earlier this year). If it were deeper into his return (not activated in his first game eligible to return) or the replacements were underwhelming, it would be a bit cloudier for usage… again, most of the time. Back to Allgeier and the point with Mariota, the Chargers haven’t done much to stop a run game since Week 1. Outside of the miserable Broncos offense, every other team had a lead running back score of at least 13.8 points, with the Texans and Browns having the second option score 12.4 and 13.2, respectively.

HAIL MARY START: Kenneth Gainwell and Boston Scott, PHI — Gainwell and Scott have seen limited action this year, but similar to James Cook, when the Eagles have a one-score lead or more, they get more work — almost double their normal work when the lead is at least six points. The Eagles are currently 13.5-point favorites, and that could rise given the Texans matchup. It’s a thin week with six teams on bye, making…