Week 9 Wide Receiver Rankings - Standard Leagues

Well that wasn't quite the best week for receivers. Week 8 was underwhelming for the entire position, as only 6 guys went for over 100 yards, and only one guy scored multiple TD's. The matchups last week were brutal for a lot of the top guys, which caused them to not perform at the highest level. This week we should start to see a correction with some great matchups for top players like Julio Jones and Mike Evans. Once again we will have 6 teams on bye making decisions a lot tougher. That is another cause for the down week from the position, as some top guys were sitting. This week some of those top guys are Larry Fitzgerald, Alshon Jeffery, A.J. Green, and DeAndre Hopkins (if you still consider him a top guy).

In addition to the 6 teams on bye, we are seeing more game time decisions out of receivers. Last week Ty Montgomery and Randall Cobb are examples of this. Remember that if you are planing on playing a guy who has a late game and is listed as questionable, you have to have a backup plan ready to go. With the case of the Packers, we had received word early enough that Cobb was likely to sit, but Montgomery was one where he wasn't ruled out until the early games started.

Teams on bye: Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals, Houston Texans, New England Patriots, Washington Redskins

Davante Adams - First of all this ranking is based on the assumption that Randall Cobb is not playing. Hamstring injuries are tough to judge, and so I am leaning towards him maybe sitting out one more game. If Cobb is playing, Adams would fall to 15th behind Emmanuel Sanders, and Cobb would be ranked 18th just ahead of Stefon Diggs. Adams is seeing so many targets and getting the production that I am not too concerned if Cobb does play. If Ty Montgomery does play, he would be ranked 27th, and that would not effect the ranking of any other Packer receiver besides dropping Jeff Janis out of the top 50.

Michael Thomas and Brandin Cooks - Thomas finds himself ranked just 2 spots above Cooks this week, and that is a trend that will most likely continue. I am one who likes safety, and I view Thomas as having the higher floor than Cooks. Granted Cooks easily has more upside, but when we are this high up the rankings, I like the safety I get from Thomas. Even against a tough Seattle defense Thomas still was able to once again post over 5 fantasy points. Cooks while also performing well last week, has had two weeks where he has had 3 or less fantasy points.

Allen Robinson - I really don't know what to do with you anymore. Even in a game where Bortles was just flinging the ball in garbage time you couldn't even score a TD or go for over 75 yards. We simply can't trust Robinson to be the same guy as last year anymore. Until further notice this is not a top 15 receiver, even in a week with a great matchup.

Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree - The ranking of the Raider receivers is purely because of the matchup. The Broncos defense is just too good and has shut down opposing receivers this year. While you are probably still starting Cooper, I don't feel great about starting Crabtree outside of as a WR3.

Marvin Jones and Golden Tate - If you haven't realized, Marvin Jones only has 9 receptions in his last 3 games. Over that span Tate has 21 receptions. Jones has taken a backseat to Tate like many thought would happen before the season. While that would normally mean ranking Tate above Jones, the matchup against the Vikings works a little more in the favor of Tate. Moving forward Tate will start to rank above Jones due to the volume of targets he has been seeing as of late.