Stefon Diggs is out for the year with a torn ACL, which only continues a disastrous year for the wide receiver position. Diontae Johnson being traded to the Baltimore Ravens doesn't exactly make things better and may make things worse for Zay Flowers, who has been one of the few good and healthy wide receivers in the NFL. We are desperate for some good news at this position, and the Indianapolis Colts gave it to us when they announced that Joe Flacco would be starting in Week 9.
No matter how much sense you think it makes to bench Anthony Richardson, this is undoubtedly good news for Josh Downs and Michael Pittman. Before this trade, I had Downs ranked as a low-end WR3, and Pittman was outside my top 48 wide receivers for Week 9. After updating the projections, Downs is a low-end WR2, and Pittman is a WR3.
The biggest difference for the Colts when Flacco plays versus Richardson is the number of passes they throw. The Colts' run rate is over 50% with Richardson at QB and just over 40% with Flacco. Flacco's sack rate is a bit lower, and his scramble rate is a lot lower. The second biggest difference is that Flacco is completing 65% of his passes, while Richardson is at 44%. So you have the potential of 10 more passes per game and maybe even 10 more completions. That's a big deal in PPR leagues.
The funny thing is that Richardson has been about 10% better in yards per attempt despite the huge difference in completion percentage. That just illustrates that this is more of a volume conversation than an efficiency conversation, and the difference for Downs and Pittman is much different in full PPR leagues.
Downs is still available in a third of leagues, just slightly below our cutoff for the waiver wire section. But if you see him, get him before any of the guys below. We would expect Downs to be a starter for as long as Flacco is.
Here is the rest of the Week 9 WR Preview:
Week 9 WR Preview
Who's Out
Numbers to Know
Matchups That Matter
Waiver Wire Targets
DFS Plays
Projections
The following players are not being projected to play in Week 9 at this time. Here's what it means:
WR Preview
Numbers to Know
- 19.2 -- Josh Downs was WR8 with 19.2 PPR FPPG in three games with Joe Flacco.
- 2.09 -- Cedric Tillman is averaging 2.09 yards per route run over the past two weeks. Teammate Jerry Jeudy is at 0.99.
- 39.5% -- Calvin Ridley had a 39.5% target share in his first game after the DeAndre Hopkins trade.
- 31.6% -- Malik Nabers' 31.6% TPRR leads all receivers who have run at least 100 routes.
- 11 -- Courtland Sutton has 11 red zone targets this year. Garrett Wilson and Drake London are the only wide receivers with more.
- 8.6 -- Keon Coleman is averaging 8.6 YAC/R, second only to Jameson Williams at receiver.
WR Preview
Matchups that matter
Projections powered by
Sportsline
WR Preview
Waiver Wire Targets
Projections powered by
Sportsline
Projections powered by
Sportsline
WR Preview
Heath's Projections
My full set of Week 9 Fantasy football projections for every position are now available on SportsLine. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don't live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 9. Projected stats for all starting wide receivers are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.