Welcome to my week nine fantasy football analysis!

This turned out to be the week of upsets and surprisingly terrible performances as a result, starting with the Buffalo Bills’ loss to a Jacksonville Jaguars defense that was supercharged this week against the Bills’ offense, one of the most robust in the NFL. The Bills offense put up an incredibly uninspiring performance, with Josh Allen being the only fantasy player on the Bills to (barely) break double digits and the receiving and running games both being mostly nonexistent. The Jaguars, who are considered by most to be the worst team in the NFL this year, relied heavily on the performance of their defense to come away with the win. They finished the game with four sacks and two interceptions (one of which was thrown by Bills quarterback Josh Allen to a Jaguar defensive end named Josh Allen, which is guaranteed to be one of the most bizarre headlines of the 2021-2022 season). Hopefully this performance is going to be an outlier for the Bills, as up until this point Bills players have been must-starts every week. 

Time for part two of the Mike White saga! The breakout backup quarterback for the Jets, who currently has the best first-time performance for a quarterback in NFL history, entered the Thursday night game against the Colts with a boom in the first quarter, quickly passing for a touchdown and then just as quickly being taken off the field with a forearm injury. This injury, which sidelined him for the rest of the game, ended another chance for White to put up a second incredible performance (something that I needed in order to win this week in fantasy, but that is just my luck I suppose). It is unclear who will start next week against the Bills, as Zach Wilson, the Jets’ starter until suffering an injury that sidelined him, is back at practice. Wilson’s presence at practice makes it unclear whether he will take White’s spot and continue to put up the subpar performances that made the Jets live up to their “stellar” reputation. The massive rise in the popularity of Mike White among fans and Jets players alike is incredible, with the Jets offense putting up 64 points over the span of two weeks. Even though White left the Colts game in the first quarter, I still think he is a phenomenally underrated quarterback. If Whitestarts, he should definitely be considered for a starting role in your lineup. 

The best performance this week by far has to go to Arizona Cardinals’ running back James Conner, who put up 96 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns, alongside five receptions, 77 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown, nearly breaking 40 points in most leagues. I am not exactly sure why anyone would have benched him this week, but his performance definitely merits a promotion to must-start status.

Continuing the unexpected boom of the New York Jets offense, wide receiver Elijah Moore put up seven receptions, 84 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns. My only concern with adding any player on the Jets is the fact that if Zach Wilson returns to the starting slot, their performances will return to being uninspiring and nowhere near worthy of your starting lineup. Hopefully, this does not end up being the case (because I really need a wide receiver like him in both of my leagues), and he has the first priority for my waiver wire pickups this week. 

Waiver Wire:

Devonta Freeman (RB, Baltimore Ravens)

I can’t believe that this guy has flown under my radar for so long, as this is the third week in a row that he has put up double digits. While not exactly the best and most reliable running back in the league this year, his consistently decent performances definitely merit some flex consideration if the need arises.

Donovan Peoples-Jones (WR, Cleveland Browns)

After the bizarre departure of the (overrated) Odell Beckham Jr. from the roster, Donovan Peoples-Jones quickly rose to fill in the void, putting up a 60-yard touchdown with only three targets. While I normally don’t like adding players with such low targets, he is still putting up more points than Jarvis Landry for some reason. Ultimately, he is on my list for waiver wire adds this week, and he definitely deserves some attention if you are desperate for a solid wide receiver (much like myself, because I wouldn’t be suggesting that you add a Jets wide receiver unless you were really scraping at the bottom of the barrel).

I hope you enjoyed my wordier-than-usual analysis of Week nine. Next week, I am most looking forward to Seahawks v. Packers, as this will finally be the week that Russell Wilson returns to the field. Hopefully he will be able to salvage Seattle and my fantasy performance simultaneously, but unfortunately, I am never usually that lucky. I will see you next week in my Fantasy Football Analysis for Week 10!