FantasyPros Staff | Thu, Oct 30th 2025, 4:00am EDT

Fantasy Football Start/Sit Lineup Advice: Sleepers (Week 9)

It’s Week 9, and the fantasy football season has officially hit the point where your roster either feels like a masterpiece… or a modern art project no one understands. Bye weeks, injuries, and unpredictable usage have turned even the most confident managers into nervous wrecks scrolling through projections at 2 a.m. But don’t worry — our Featured Pros have you covered. They’ve studied the matchups, crunched the numbers, and maybe sacrificed a lucky pair of socks to the fantasy gods to help you separate the Starts from the Duds this week.

Fantasy Football Week 9 Start/Sit Advice

Sleepers

Which player outside of the top 100 in the FantasyPros Flex rankings is a good sleeper start, and why do you think he has upside this week?

Marquise Brown (WR – KC)

“A single uncaught target against the Commanders makes Hollywood Brown look outside of the Chiefs’ offense and a trade deadline candidate. However, Patrick Mahomes never forgets the unfed, and Brown is a sneaky play against the Bills.”
– Richard Savill (Fantasy Six Pack)

Kyle Monangai (RB – CHI)

“Kyle Monangai has carved out a steady role — his snap share has been at around 45% in each of the last two weeks — and he has a primo matchup against a papier-mache Bengals defense that could be without its best player, Trey Hendrickson (hip). Jets RBs Breece Hall and Isaiah Davis ravaged the Cincinnati defense for 198 rushing yards and two touchdowns last week, averaging 7.9 (!) yards per carry. Monangai and tag-team partner D’Andre Swift could both be in for good days.”
– Pat Fitzmaurice (FantasyPros)

Kendrick Bourne (WR – SF)

“Kendrick Bourne – Picking a meaningful contributor outside the top 100-ranked players by pure reality of circumstance means there is risk involved. There are no slam dunks when it comes to picking low-ranked sleepers. However, Bourne provides some upside. He’s physically gifted, he’s the 49er’s No. 2 WR target with Ricky Pearsall injured, and the New York Giants are the 6th worst defense in Fantasy points allowed to wide receivers. Now, to be fair to both sides, he was ignored and understandably struggled in his two most recent games against two of the stingiest defenses in Fantasy points allowed to wide receivers (Atlanta and Houston), but he returns to face friendlier competition in week nine with the lowly Giants pass defense lining up across from the explosive wideout. Any big-play WR facing a defense as porous as the Giants working in a scheme as creative and as dangerous as Kyle Shanahan’s is a sleeper worth a shot. He had back-to-back 142-yard receiving games with 20 total targets in weeks five and six, minimized only by his lack of a touchdown in either game. Don’t be surprised if Bourne makes this one a 142-yard game number three with two touchdowns to make up for being ignored in the red zone in those matchups. If the Bye week has you buckled in to chasing a flier, there are significantly worse options than Bourne this week.”
– Chris Mitchell (FantasyData)

Theo Johnson (TE – NYG)

“Theo Johnson wasn’t much help last week, but played the Eagles, a team that does very well at stopping the tight end. Johnson has been a productive player in recent weeks with Jaxson Dart as his starting quarterback. He has double-digit fantasy points in three of five games. Those two games failing to hit that mark were both against the Eagles. Look for him to rebound this week against the 49ers, a team that has allowed 300-plus passing yards in two of four games.”
– Jeff Paur (RTSports)

Emanuel Wilson (RB – GB)

“Emanuel Wilson is obviously a backup, but Josh Jacobs already has a ton of touches throughout his career and only has 13 carries each of the last two games. If the Packers pile the points on Carolina, there’s a reasonable chance that Wilson will again have 10-plus touches against the Panthers after receiving 11 carries and four targets in the win against Pittsburgh.”
– Adam Zdroik (RotoWire)

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