Which wide receivers will shine in Week 9 for your fantasy football teams? We’ll take a look at all of them in our PPR rankings.
Welcome to Week 9, or as I like to call it, another week we could lose multiple fantasy wide receivers to injury! The latest to suffer season ending injuries are Stefon Diggs and Christian Kirk and last week was light on receiver injuries! But we persist.
At the halfway point(ish) of the season, Ja’Marr Chase leads all wide receivers in PPR points, while Nico Collins leads in points per game. The best rookie receiver for fantasy so far has been the Jaguars Brian Thomas, but Malik Nabers is the rookie leader in points per game and the overall leader in receptions per game.
Maybe the most surprising player so far is Darnell Mooney, who has been thriving with Kirk Cousins in Atlanta. He’s currently WR13. But, despite so many injuries, the cream continues to rise to the top.
Week 9 wide receiver bye weeks
George Pickens, Calvin Austin, Deebo Samuel, Jauan Jennings
Week 9 wide receiver injuries
Diontae Johnson, Panthers
Johnson missed last week with a ribs injury, but that might have been to save him for a trade, which they made with the Ravens. Johnson heads to the Ravens and likely will be healthy enough to play as soon as he’s up to speed with the playbook.
Stefon Diggs, Texans
Diggs is out for the season with a knee injury. This is a blow to the Texans who were already without Nico Collins due to a hamstring injury. Tank Dell and Dalton Schultz should see an uptick in work, specially this week on TNF against the Jets.
Nico Collins, Texans
Collins can be activated from I.R. in Week 10, and that appears to be the plan. He was dominating when he was sent to I.R. and the hope is that he’ll start dominating once again. And without Diggs, I expect Collins to see a huge workload once he returns.
Christian Kirk, Jaguars
Kirk suffered a broken collar bone in Week 8 and is done for the season. Parker Washington should get the biggest bump in work.
Brian Thomas, Jaguars
It appears Thomas’ chest injury shouldn’t set him back too badly. There appears to be a chance that he can play this weekend against the Eagles and would be in line for wore usage with Kirk out.
Mike Evans, Buccaneers
Evans is eyeing a Week 11 return from his hamstring injury.
Sterling Shepard, Buccaneers
Shepard suffered a hamstring injury in Week 8, but the severity is unknown. He did fill-in for Chris Godwin in the slot, so there is hope that he could be useful in fantasy if healthy, but Jalen McMillan appears to have the most upside while Mike Evans is out with his own hamstring injury.
Tee Higgins, Bengals
Higgins suffered a quad injury in practice last week and was forced to miss Week 8. He is considered day-to-day, so there is a chance he can play this week against the Raiders.
DK Metcalf, Seahawks
Metcalf missed last week with his MCL sprain, but the team is optimistic that he can play this week. His presence was obviously missing last week and the team will want him back as soon as possible.
JuJu Smith-Schuster, Chiefs
Smith-Schuster’s timetable for a return is unknown at this point, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him miss at least another week.
Jameson Williams, Lions
Williams has one more week in his PED Suspension, so he won’t play in Green Bay this week. Sam LaPorta and Amon St. Brown should get bumps in usage.
Jauan Jennings, 49ers
Jennings missed the Dallas game with his hip injury, but with the bye week, it sounds like Jennings should be available in Week 10.
Week 9 wide receiver sleepers
Courtland Sutton, Broncos vs. Ravens
Bo Nix continues to improve each week and he’s finally playing well enough that we can expect the Broncos not to just lay down and put up no fantasy points. The Ravens continue to be a good opponent to target the passing game and there’s little chance they’re going to get behind big. Sutton just caught 8-of-11 targets for 100 yards in a good matchup with the Panthers and I expect a similar line this week.
Josh Downs, Colts vs. Vikings
The Vikings defense has been getting smoked by wide receivers this season despite playing well in other areas. They rank third in pass defense EPA, but 31st in fantasy points allowed to wide receivers. Josh Downs has played great since returning from his injury, and has especially been good with Joe Flacco as his quarterback. He caught 24-of-30 targets for 217 yards and two touchdowns in three games with Flacco under center.
