Fantasy Football: Week 9 predictions to count on

The Yahoo team presents their most steadfast Week 9 fantasy football predictions.

Don't give up on Aaron Jones just yet

Week 8 was underwhelming for Aaron Jones in his least efficient performance of the season. Jones had 19 attempts for just 58 yards and two receptions for 37 yards. Despite the lack of production, Jones' continued volume was highly encouraging. Over the past two games since the Vikings’ bye week, Jones has out-touched Ty Chandler 38-2. We want to lean on volume running backs and Jones is a lock for 20 touches.

Excluding the week where Jones was injured and played just 22% of snaps, Jones is averaging 19.7 touches per game — a number that would place him in the top-10 in touches per game this season. Lean into Jones this week against the Colts. Excluding his injury game, Jones has never finished lower than RB32. His consistency and reliability are up there with the best in the league. Expect Jones to dominate touches again in an excellent matchup and has top-five upside this week. — Tera Roberts

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Fire up Brian Robinson Jr.

Brian Robinson Jr. is coming off his worst game of the season, producing 76 scoreless yards on 17 touches in Week 8. This was a tough matchup against the Bears, however, who were well rested coming off their Week 7 bye. But despite the poor fantasy day, Robinson still saw a great role. He earned 67% of the RB carries for the Commanders and totaled 17 touches. This was quietly one of his better usage games of the year which suggest Robinson is fully back from a knee injury that kept him out in Week 6.

This week Robinson takes on the Giants who allow the most rushing yards per play. It’s the perfect bounce back spot. New York just allowed 131 total yards to Najee Harris last week; start Robinson with confidence in Week 9. — Sal Vetri

De'Von Achane keeps it rolling

In case you somehow missed it last week, the impact of Tua Tagovailoa’s return was not limited to his team’s wide receivers. Achane had a massive day against Arizona, totalling 147 scrimmage yards and one TD while catching six of his eight targets. Like Tyreek Hill, he is very much back in business in fantasy.

Achane has a path to finishing as the overall RB1 in the week ahead, facing a Buffalo defense that’s allowed huge performances by running backs throughout the year — including a big day by Achane himself back in Week 2. The Bills are giving up 4.8 yards per carry and over 120 rushing yards per game, plus they’ve already allowed a league-high 51 receptions to opposing backs. Achane’s receiving role makes him impervious to game-flow, so fire him up with confidence in Week 9. — Andy Behrens

Lock Josh Downs ... down ... in your lineups for Week 9

Josh Downs is a layup option for this segment now that Joe Flacco will start for the Indianapolis Colts against the Vikings in Week 9. In the three games Flacco took most of the quarterback snaps for Indy (Weeks 4 to 6), Downs was targeted on 33.7% of his routes run. He also tied Michael Pittman Jr. for a team-high five red zone targets, scoring twice. Downs has been the best Colts receiver this season and is a nightmare separator in the slot against man coverage. He looks like a Tyler Lockett-type interior weapon out there, not just some popgun slot receiver.

Minnesota has given up 93 yards per game to slot receivers this season as teams have shied away from pushing the ball outside against the amoeba coverages. You can lock Downs into lineups this week and frankly, every week to come as long as Flacco starts. — Matt Harmon

Chris Olave logs his first top-five finish of the year

Chris Olave had 14 targets returning from injury last week, leading the league in WOPR against a Chargers secondary that hadn’t previously allowed any WR to record eight targets or 100 yards in any game this season. Olave saw a 37% target share and a 40.6% first-read target rate during his first game without Rashid Shaheed this season. Shaheed vacates the eighth-most air yards in the league, and New Orleans is extremely thin at WR with Bub Means and Cedric Wilson also injured.

Derek Carr is expected back this week, and the Saints have a healthy projected point total (26.5) against a vulnerable Panthers defense yielding an NFL-high 17 touchdown passes. Carolina also has a league-low pressure rate, and Carr has been twice as likely to target Olave when not pressured. Olave has gotten 3.25 YPRR versus Cover 3, which the Panthers use at the league’s highest rate.

Olave finishes as a top-five WR this week. — Dalton Del Don

#LetKelceCook

Here's the game plan with Travis Kelce — watch him go bonkers Monday night against the Buccaneers, and then try to trade him the following week. He scored his first touchdown of the year last week and will probably roast Tampa Bay’s shaky seam coverage, a group that's allowed four tight-end spikes the last two games. There are blank spaces here. But Kelce’s schedule after this week has only one juicy matchup (Carolina, Week 12) and several troublesome ones (Denver, Buffalo, Cleveland, LAC). Here's a perfect opportunity to time the market just right. — Scott Pianowski