Fanball Week 9 Main Slate Plays

Week 9 is here, and the main Sunday slate over at Fanball is loaded with value. If you’re looking for a big shot, jump into the FFWC Circa Draft Series Qualifier, where the winner takes home a $2,000 ticket to the FFWC Circa Draft Series. And don’t miss The Peacock, our signature superflex contest. It’s $20 to play with $1,000 to first. You can enter both multiple times, so reserve your spots now. We’ve also put together our favorite plays for the Fanball Sunday 5×5 at the bottom of the page. Here’s who we like this week.

Enter the Week 9 Circa FFWC Qualifier → Enter The Peacock →

Quarterbacks

Brock Purdy ($6,700) vs. LV

Purdy had his bye last week, which means all the Niners should come back healthy, right? Not really the case. But he’s averaging 250 yards and two TDs per game, which is a pretty great floor. And he faces a Raiders defense that is bottom 10 in pass yards, passing scores, and, just in case we need it, rushing scores by QBs too. Five of the last six QBs the Raiders have faced have hit 20 Fanball points, including Geno Smith last week, who got to 290 yards and two scores.

Dak Prescott ($6,400) @ IND

The matchup is incredibly exciting for Dak against a Colts team that is just simulating to the end of the season like you would when playing Madden. Indy’s D has permitted the second-worst TD-to-INT ratio in the league at 14 to 2. Indy just let Trevor Lawrence smoke them for 210 yards and three TDs on just 14 attempts! They’ve also been on the wrong end of both Mahomes’ and Lamar’s best fantasy games of the year so far. I am slightly worried that Josh Downs or JT gets traded prior to Sunday, as that would hurt the Colts’ ability to keep pace offensively with Dallas. Dallas–Indy is the second-highest-totaled game on the slate as well, setting up a potential shootout given the Cowboys’ near league-worst defense.

Malik Willis ($5,300) vs. DET

Willis has been solid for the last three weeks, hitting at least 18 Fanball points in each of those games, which gets you way past 3x. He didn’t really run last week against NE, but the prior two weeks he had eight rushing attempts in both games, scored in both games, and had rushing totals of 74 and 37. The Lions have allowed multiple TD passes in every game this season, including two to Kyler Murray last week, and he added 35 yards on four carries. The Lions are bottom 10 in basically every metric against the QB, and their defense is dealing with injuries again.

Drew Lock ($5,000) vs. ARI

Lock gets the nod with Sam Darnold hurt, and he draws a Cardinals defense getting shredded through the air. They’ve allowed all eight opposing QBs to clear 17 fantasy points and six of them to clear 21. This includes Lock himself in Week 2, when he went for 235 yards and three TDs. Zona has allowed the most passing TDs in the league and the most rushing TDs to QBs, which is important to note, as Drew Lock is a good athlete. Lock was limited in practice with an elbow injury, but Seattle has named him the starter and he has no game designation. Jalen Milroe has exciting rushing upside at the same price if Seattle needs him.

Running Backs

Jahmyr Gibbs ($9,800) @ MIA

Like we’ve said recently, this Miami defense is a giant run funnel. They are the second-toughest defense against WRs but the second-easiest D against enemy running backs. RBs against the Dolphins average 140 combo yards and more than a TD per game. Further helping things, Miami has already permitted five RB receiving TDs, and Gibbs is third among all backs in catches. I get that there’s some concern about a blowout here, but it’s only a seven-point spread, and Detroit hasn’t shown any indication of lightening his 27-touch-per-game workload. The best data point here is the Week 5 game against Arizona that the Lions won by 24. Gibbs had 30 touches. Plus, with the cheap QB options, it’s easier to fit him into lineups.

Jonathan Taylor ($7,800) vs. DAL

A couple of narrative stories. If it’s Taylor’s last ride, at home, in Indy, against the Cowboys defense, they could give him a showcase sendoff. Or, if they know they’re going to trade him, do they keep him in bubble wrap? The matchup itself is excellent. Dallas is allowing 4.6 yards per carry, seventh-worst in the league, and 144.5 combo yards to the position, sixth-worst in the league. And 11 combo touchdowns through eight games, so almost a TD and a half per game. Let’s be real, who’s getting most of that?

Tyler Allgeier ($5,800) @ SEA

We’re not usually in the habit of recommending fantasy players playing in Seattle, but Tyler Allgeier might be in line for a big share of the RB touches. Jeremiyah Love and James Conner are on IR and Bam Knight is out with a concussion, leaving Allgeier and Evan Hull, just signed to his fifth team in four years. Despite playing just 59% of the snaps last week, Allgeier exploded for 191 combo yards and two TDs against Dallas. The Seahawks’ D is a much different beast than the Cowboys. They’re middle of the pack in opposing RB touches and TDs, and they’re more leaky against pass-catching backs, having permitted the sixth-most receptions and ninth-most receiving TDs to enemy backs. Allgeier has at least two catches in all but one game in 2026 and has eight combined catches over his past two.

Jonah Coleman ($5,400) @ CAR

This is simply a case of a running back being priced way too low. In the last two weeks, since returning from injury, Coleman has had 26 touches, 173 combo yards, and a touchdown. J.K. Dobbins has had 13 carries for 36 yards and a score. Dobbins doesn’t catch passes, Coleman does, and RJ Harvey is on IR, so Coleman gets that receiving work, and he’s getting more rushing attempts. In the last five weeks, the Panthers are allowing 5.4 yards per carry, the most in the league by a fair margin. They allowed two touchdowns to Josh Jacobs last week and three to the Bucs backs the week before. This is probably my favorite play on the whole slate this week.

Wide Receivers

Jaxon Smith-Njigba ($9,100) vs. ARI

Drew Lock is starting this week for an injured Sam Darnold. In Lock’s two games played this year, JSN went 11 targets and 8-122-1 against the Patriots, and 11 targets for 9-155-3 against the Cardinals. Guess who they play this week? The Cardinals. JSN has never lost to the Cards in seven career games, and he’s scored in five of them.

Puka Nacua ($8,600) @ WAS

Since Davante Adams went on IR two weeks ago, Puka has a massive 41% target share, third behind only CeeDee Lamb and… any guesses? It’s one of the funniest stats I’ve come across this year. Chris Godwin leads the league at 43%. He has six targets in that span. Anyway, because the Rams are almost exclusively in 12 and 13 personnel, Puka is the only Rams wideout to play more than 50% of the snaps at WR since Adams went down. This Washington pass D is not good, coming in at eighth-worst against the position. Plus, each time Washington has faced an alpha WR this year, they’ve gotten destroyed. CeeDee Lamb had 8-153-2, JSN put up 10-128-2, and Malik Nabers dropped 11-121-1 on them. Mike Evans likely would have had a similar stat line, but he still went 3-94 despite playing just 40% of the snaps due to injury.

Malik Washington ($4,900) vs. DET

This one could be risky, because the Dolphins receivers are seemingly different each week. Washington and Caleb Douglas are the two that dominate the snap counts when both are healthy. In the last three games, all of which were pretty decent from Malik Willis, Washington has been the guy getting the most targets. He’s had 17 in those games, whereas Douglas has only had nine. The Lions defense is dealing with injuries again after being the healthiest they’d been all season prior to last week. And I like the fact that Washington lines up most often with CB Roger McCreary. He’s allowing a 118 passer rating in his coverage and has given up four TDs this year.

Antonio Williams ($4,100) vs. LAR

Going back to the well with the rookie WR here after an OK 5-54 last Sunday night. Williams has at least three catches in four straight games and led Washington pass-catchers in snaps, routes, and targets. Williams will face a Rams pass D that has been very good so far but has also benefitted from a fairly easy lineup of opposing WRs. No. 1 WRs, which Williams is for Washington in my opinion, have punctured LA’s sturdy pass D the last two weeks, with Tre Tucker posting 5-103-1 and Ladd McConkey managing 4-86. Further helping the situation, Rachaad White and Austin Ekeler are both pass-catching backs. Washington could go even more pass-heavy.

Tight Ends

George Kittle ($5,900) vs. LV

San Francisco will be without Mike Evans, Deebo Samuel, and Christian Kirk, and Christian McCaffrey practiced fully Friday and has no game designation. The receiver absences point to a big workload for Kittle, who already leads all TEs in team target share at 26.7%. He’s had at least four catches or 79 yards in every game since Week 2. The matchup is incredible, as Vegas has given up the second-most catches and TDs to the position. In just the last four games, five different TEs reached or came within a fraction of 10 PPR points against the Raiders. Colby Parkinson had 9.8. This is also the highest-totaled game on the slate at 52.5.

Sam LaPorta ($5,300) @ MIA

It’s worth noting that Amon-Ra St. Brown has been a little dinged up all week. They think he’ll play, but he might not be at 100%. So the middle of the field might just be LaPorta’s. He’s struggled a bit over the last two games, but this matchup is one that can get him back on the board. The Dolphins have allowed basically every team that had a healthy and competent tight end a great day. Kittle, Kelce, Hockenson and Mason Taylor all had great days, and the Bengals’ combo of tight ends put up a great day together. They’ve allowed the sixth-most yards, receptions and touchdowns to the tight end position this year.

Mason Taylor ($3,700) @ KC

I’m going to keep going to the well with Mason Taylor as my cheap TE. I’ve done it both of the last two weeks, and it’s been good and bad. He’s still way in the lead on snap counts over Kenyon Sadiq and has had 17 targets over the past three weeks, compared to six for Sadiq. He’s had a red zone target in three straight games, and the player leading the team in red zone targets, Garrett Wilson, is out this week. The matchup against the Chiefs is very good too. KC has allowed the fifth-most receptions and 10th-most yards to the tight end position, and basically every good TE they’ve faced this year has scored. So this is the test of whether or not Mason Taylor is good.

Greg Dulcich ($3,300) vs. DET

Just to be clear, Greg plays for the Dolphins. Dulcich has three straight games with at least five targets and four catches and now gets the greatest TE matchup in the league this season. I’ve been trying to come up with new ways to frame how bad this Lions tight end defense is. Miami’s TE D is terrible, allowing 69 yards and 0.9 TDs per game to the position, good for third-worst. By comparison, Detroit’s stone-worst TE D has permitted nearly 98 yards and 1.6 TDs per game! Literally 30 yards and 0.7 TDs worse. Brutal. The Lions are bottom three against every position except RB, where they are a top-10 unit. I imagine Miami will need to throw to keep up as seven-point dogs.

Sleepers

Joe Milton, QB ($5,000) vs. NYG

Milton is a third-year, sixth-round pick who is 6-foot-5, 235 pounds, and runs a sub-4.7 40. Philly turned to him after Tanner McKee struggled the last few weeks. In the two NFL games where Milton actually saw significant time, he ran the ball on non-kneeldowns 13 times for over 60 yards and a TD. Great news for him, as the Giants defense has been getting crushed on the ground by opposing QBs, ranking bottom three against QB rushing yards and TDs. New York is the sixth-worst D overall against enemy QBs. I want to play Puka and Gibbs and CMC and Kittle, so playing a pair of $5K QBs helps us get there. Shedeur Sanders is also min-price against a poor Saints D.

Demarcus Robinson, WR ($3,000) vs. LV

Mike Evans, Deebo Samuel and Christian Kirk are out. San Francisco activated Demarcus Robinson from injured reserve on Saturday and removed his questionable designation. He could see snaps ahead of Jordan Watkins and Jacob Cowing. Robinson scored in the opener and caught all three of his targets for 34 yards before getting injured in Game 2. The Raiders have allowed 10 touchdowns to WRs this season, tied for third-most in the league. At minimum price, he’s probably the WR with the best chance of scoring.

Fanball Sunday 5×5

Looking for a quick, low-cost way to get in on the action? The Fanball Sunday 5×5 is $10 to play with $500 to the winner. Build your favorite five-player lineup with no position requirements and a $15 salary cap. Here are our favorite plays at each price point.

• $5 plays. Purdy and JSN are both worthy spend-ups. CMC is a lock given the lack of skill-position weapons available in San Francisco right now. JSN smoked Zona with Drew Lock in Week 2.
• $4 plays. Brock Bowers and Jordan Love are the ones we look at here. Bowers has the potential for a 30-burger every time he takes the field.
• $3 plays. D’Andre Swift leads the league in rushing touchdowns. Pass on Ashton Jeanty for sure, as his workload is questionable now. Christian Watson is easily my favorite of the group.
• $2 plays. Mike Evans and Sam Darnold are out. Kittle and Nico Collins seem like no-brainers, and Kittle and Matthew Golden stuck out as maybe the two best values on the week.
• $1 plays. We basically like all of them but Herbert, which means he’ll probably do the best. Give me Rhamondre Stevenson at $1 with A.J. Brown, Romeo Doubs and TreVeyon Henderson out against a meh Packers run D.

Enter the Week 9 Sunday 5×5 →