Our own Pat Fitzmaurice has been among the most accurate fantasy football experts in the industry over the last several years. Fitz was THE most accurate in-season ranker in 2020. What better way to prepare for your fantasy football start/sit lineup decisions than by reviewing his fantasy football rankings? You can do just that below.
You can also find our expert consensus fantasy football rankings for the week here. And you can sync your fantasy football league for free using our My Playbook tool for custom advice, rankings, and analysis.
Fantasy Football Rankings: Week 9
Fitz’s Fantasy Football Takes: Week 9
The FantasyPros Expert Consensus Ranking (ECR) for Jameis Winston is QB18. I’m way above consensus on him at QB9. Ever the hyper-aggressive passer, Winston had 41 pass attempts last week in his first start for the Browns, and he challenged the Ravens’ defense downfield. His average depth of target last week was 10 yards. My friend Jacob Gibbs of CBS noted that Winston had 275 catchable air yards against the Ravens last week. The previous high in catchable air yards for any quarterback this season was Brock Purdy with 213. Only two other QBs have produced 200 or more catchable air yards in a game this season: Jordan Love and Dak Prescott. The matchup with the Chargers isn’t great, and there’s always a chance Winston’s aggression will lead to interceptions. I don’t care. I want this dude in my lineup.
Over his last four games, Alexander Mattison has averaged 16.5 carries, 3.8 catches and 20.3 touches a game. Despite that heavy usage, Mattison is RB32 in fantasy points per game over that stretch — although with just one more point per game, he would have landed at RB24. A lead-back role means less on the Raiders than it does on other teams, but Mattison is still a playable high-end RB3 against a Bengals run defense that ranks 25th in DVOA.
Maybe I’m being gullible, but I’m endorsing Calvin Ridley as a fantasy starter this week. Titans QB Mason Rudolph peppered Ridley with 15 targets last week, and Ridley finished with 10 catches for 143 yards. With the Titans having traded away DeAndre Hopkins, I’m optimistic that Rudolph will continue to lean heavily on Ridley. Who else is he going to lean on? Tyler Boyd? Chig Okonkwo? Puh-lease. Ridley has been a frustrating player for fantasy managers to deal with, but perhaps he’ll finally be the high-quality receiver we’ve been impatiently waiting for him to be.
After scoring five touchdowns last season and leading all tight ends in red-zone targets, Jake Ferguson hasn’t scored a touchdown this season and currently ranks TE21 in fantasy scoring. But Ferguson is still second in targets and receptions for the Cowboys, averaging 7.0 targets and 5.2 catches a game. Ignore the results to date and follow the usage. I have Ferguson ranked TE8 against a Falcons defense that has yielded the 11th-most fantasy points to TEs.
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