Friday afternoons are my opportunity to connect with FantasyPros readers and the FantasyPros Discord community. If you haven’t already done so, be sure to join our Discord to get answers to your questions. I host weekly AMAs on Fridays, and other analysts also routinely answer questions. Below were three standout topics from Friday’s busy Week 9 AMA.
- Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups
- Weekly Fantasy Football Expert Rankings
- Fantasy Football Start/Sit Advice
- Fantasy Football Trade Tools
Discord AMA: Week 9
Is Kyle Monangai a Must-Start Player?
D’Andre Swift and Roschon Johnson have been ruled out in a dreamy matchup against the Bengals. As a result, Kyle Monangai should inherit a bell-cow role. Travis Homer could mix in on passing downs or to spell Monangai, and DJ Moore could see an increased role in the backfield. Nevertheless, Monangai should have a robust role against a lousy defense.
The Bengals have permitted the most half-PPR points per game (30.7) to running backs this year, 3.5 more points allowed than the second-worst defense. According to SumerSports, Cincinnati is 30th in expected points added (EPA) allowed per rush this season.
The Bengals are also in lousy form. Per the Fantasy Points data suite, Cincinnati has allowed the most rushing yards per game (184.7), 6.16 yards per carry and four rushing touchdowns since Week 6.
Meanwhile, the Bears have leaned into the running game since their Week 5 bye. According to RotoViz’s pace app, Chicago has a 48% situation-neutral rush rate since Week 6. In that three-game stretch, Monangai recorded the following stats:
- 25 rush attempts
- 41.3 rushing yards per game
- 4.96 yards per carry
- 8.0% explosive run rate
- 1 rushing touchdown
- 25.7% route participation rate
- 0.12 targets per route run
- 3 targets
- 3 receptions (1 per game)
- 38 receiving yards (12.7 per game)
Monangai is in line for a hefty workload against Cincinnati’s porous run defense. Gamers should view him as a middle-tier to high-end RB2.
What are Zonovan Knight‘s Expectations?
Zonovan Knight is ranked as the RB17 in half-PPR expert consensus rankings (ECR) for Week 9. I’m not quite as bullish and view him as a more volatile option, ranking him approximately four or five spots lower.
The Cowboys have allowed the second-most rushing yards per game (177), 5.65 yards per carry and four rushing touchdowns since Week 6. They’ve also ceded the fifth-most half-PPR points per game (25) to running backs this season. Knight’s matchup is unquestionably excellent.
Knight is also Arizona’s top running back. However, there was some confusion in the Discord chat. While the Cardinals released Michael Carter earlier this week, they re-signed him to the practice squad. Also, as an astute user pointed out in the AMA, Cardinals beat reporter Theo Mackie shared that Carter worked with the starters in practice.
Kyler Murray threw exclusively to backup receivers during the open portion of practice. Jacoby Brissett threw to MHJ, Wilson, McBride, etc.
Also of note: Michael Carter has been the first RB working with starters both days this week, despite being on the practice squad.
— Theo Mackie (@theo_mackie) October 31, 2025
Carter’s presence is enough of an annoyance to downgrade Knight relative to his ECR.
Still, Knight’s underlying data in the previous three weeks was solid, despite tallying a ho-hum 9.9 half-PPR points per game since Week 6, tying for the RB23 in half-PPR points per game. In that two-game sample (the Cardinals were on a bye last week), Knight was tied for the RB13 in Fantasy Points’ expected half-PPR points per game (13.7).
Kareem Hunt (RB18), David Montgomery (RB19), Rico Dowdle (RB21) and Kyle Monangai (RB23) are running backs ranked lower in the ECR who I advise starting over Knight. Kenneth Walker is ranked as the RB22, and I’d slightly prefer him to Knight, but it’s a genuine coin flip. I agree with the ECR that Knight should be ahead of J.K. Dobbins.
Can We Immediately Trust Brock Bowers?
I often suggest caution when players return from a multi-week injury, but gamers should lock Brock Bowers into their starting lineups. The Raiders are coming off their bye and exercised caution with Bowers.
As a result, Bowers faced no limitations in practice this week, logging full practices every day. He doesn’t carry an injury designation into this contest. Even if Bowers has rust to shake off, he’s a no-brainer start in leagues of all sizes.
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Josh Shepardson is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Josh, check out his archive and follow him @BChad50.
