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Week 9 IDP Hits

Ignore Rookie’s Strong Numbers?

Rookie LB Edgerrin Cooper enjoyed a big game last Sunday against the Jaguars. He delivered 8 tackles (4 solo), a strip-sack, and a pass breakup.

But Cooper also played just 60% of the defensive snaps. That ranked third among Packers LBs even with Quay Walker (concussion) out.

Eric Wilson played every snap, and Isaiah McDuffie edged Cooper at 67%.

I’ll be watching for any role growth with the second-round rookie. But it’s not time to grab Cooper and start him in most redraft formats yet – especially with Walker ready to return this week.

Cooper's worth stashing in dynasty, though. He should at least be in for a much bigger role in 2025.

Injuries Alter Packers Secondary

The Packers will miss rookie S Evan Williams (hamstring) for Sunday’s game against the Lions, and it appears likely they’ll also miss CB Jaire Alexander.

Williams said this week he initially felt the hamstring issue in warmups ahead of the Week 8 win over Jacksonville. He started but made it through only 18 snaps.

Williams’ departure moved fellow rookie Javon Bullard from slot corner to running more as a safety.

Expect Javon Bullard to start

Bullard spent weeks 5 and 6 as Green Bay’s primary slot CB before an odd drop to just 45% playing time in the Week 7 win over Houston.

Bullard also didn’t start Week 8 but rebounded to 86% playing time with Williams leaving.

He should be a good bet for Week 9 snaps. But the past two weeks make him look risky once everyone’s healthy.

Williams gets a Week 10 bye to potentially recover before a Week 11 visit to Chicago.

Corner Shift

Bullard moving out of the slot last week shifted CB Keisean Nixon back inside. He opened the year as Green Bay’s primary slot man but transitioned to playing outside nearly full time over the previous four games.

Expect Nixon to stick in the slot for at least this week’s matchup with the Lions, which should present him plenty of tackle opportunities in the middle of the field. Nixon has moved up our Week 9 DB rankings.

On top of the Bullard and Nixon shifts, Alexander looks unlikely to play. He’s officially questionable but didn’t practice at all this week because of a knee injury he suffered on the final defensive play of Week 8.

If he doesn’t go, the Packers would likely have to start CBs Eric Stokes and Carrington Valentine on the outside.

Any IDP Interest Here?

Stokes already played his way to the bench after opening the season as a starter. Valentine is a second-year, former seventh-round pick who has played 94 total snaps through eight games this season (nearly all of that in fill-in duty for Week 2 and Week 5).

Don’t be surprised if the run-leaning Lions throw a bit more Sunday afternoon to take advantage of this iffy secondary.

That possibility adds IDP upside. But you’d also be working under multiple assumptions by starting any Green Bay fill-in CB:

• Assuming we know who will get full playing time
• Assuming that guy has productive potential without much proven production
• Assuming Detroit throws it more

CB Corey Ballentine also could factor into the mix. He’s questionable after three limited practices on a recovering ankle.

Stokes is the best bet among the three if you’re in a deep enough league to need/want one.

Atlanta Falcons

You might be excited about the expected return this week of LB Troy Andersen, given that he racked up 17 tackles and a pick-6 the last time we saw him on the field. But I probably wouldn’t start him this week.

Andersen and LB Nate Landman have played together just once this season. And that Week 1 contest found each guy playing just half the game – with Landman starting and Andersen not.

Especially now that he’s coming off a four-week knee injury, I’d rather see how much Atlanta plans to play Andersen before trusting him in fantasy lineups.

Landman’s playing time at least dipped to 75% last week from 100% the game before.

Carolina Panthers

CB Dane Jackson appears set for his first healthy game with the Panthers.

He lost the season’s first six games to an August hamstring injury. Jackson returned for Week 7 but played just 49% of snaps and then missed the ensuing game with more hamstring trouble.

He’s off the injury report ahead of Sunday’s rematch with the Saints. But how much playing time he’ll get will be a guess until we see it.

Expect Mike Jackson and Jaycee Horn to remain Carolina’s top two corners.

Jordan Fuller Still Not Ready

S Jordan Fuller practiced in full every day this week but still carries a “doubtful” designation into Sunday’s game.

Fuller has missed the past five games with a hamstring injury. His continued absence should mean a second straight start for Demani Richardson, who played every snap last week and tallied a team-high 11 tackles after playing 0 snaps through the first seven games.

Richardson has entered our Week 9 DB rankings.

He obviously showed a nice ceiling last week, but that’s also the only game of NFL data by which we have to judge him.

Chicago Bears

S Jaquan Brisker will miss his third straight game Sunday with a concussion, which means a third consecutive start for S Elijah Hicks.

Hicks has supplied a decent 12 tackles, 1 pass defensed, and 1 fumble recovery over his first two starts. Arizona arrives as a negative matchup for DB scoring, though.

We’ll see about questionable defenders Kyler Gordon (hamstring) and Montez Sweat (shin).

Cleveland Browns

The Browns won’t have either of their top two LBs this Sunday against the Chargers.

Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah got out of the hospital Monday after leaving last week’s game on a stretcher with a neck injury. But the Browns on Saturday placed him on IR.

That means he'll be out at least through Week 13.

Jordan Hicks will miss his fourth game among the past five with a nagging elbow injury. He didn't practice at all this week. We'll see where he's at after the Week 10 bye.

That’ll leave Mohamoud Diabate as the lead LB against the Chargers. He tied for the team lead with 9 tackles (5 solo) last week, including 1 of the Browns’ 7 tackles for loss.

Diabate’s interesting as a low LB3. The Chargers have been a negative scoring matchup for LBs but supported 9 total tackles for the Saints’ two full-time LBs last week.

Upside matchups await with the Saints and Steelers after the bye as well.

Dallas Cowboys

LB Eric Kendricks is questionable for Sunday’s game with a shoulder injury that limited him in practice all week.

That’s obviously less than ideal, but it also doesn’t seem like we should worry.

Kendricks followed the exact same path leading up to the Week 8 loss at San Francisco (coming out of the bye) and played every snap in that game. I’ve seen no indication he’s in worse shape this week.

Big Question at Corner

CB Trevon Diggs, on the other hand, looks highly “questionable” for the Atlanta game.

His game designation follows three days of no practice and the revelation that he’s dealing with a tear in one of his calf muscles.

His absence would leave Dallas without its top two corners, as DaRon Bland still isn’t ready to return from IR.

The Cowboys will also continue to miss Edges Micah Parsons and Demarcus Lawrence.

We could see a very productive passing week for the Falcons.

Denver Broncos

Why is second-year CB Riley Moss working on a top-24 fantasy season at the moment?

Sure, he’s playing pretty well. That helps. But Moss also benefits from sharing the field with one of the league’s best cover men.

According to PFF, Moss has seen the third-most targets in coverage among all CBs, trailing only New Orleans’ Paulson Adebo (now on season-ending IR) and Minnesota’s Byron Murphy Jr. Moss trails only Adebo – among all players – in solo tackles on pass plays.

Pat Surtain II – despite shadowing lead WRs – is averaging 2.67 targets faced per game so far to Moss’ 6.75.

Houston Texans

Edge Will Anderson Jr. left Thursday night's loss to the Jets with an ankle injury on just his eighth snap and did not return.

The team did, at least, deem him "questionable" to return. That's more encouraging than ruling him out during the game.

We'll watch for updates ahead of the Week 10 home date with Detroit.

Los Angeles Rams

Troy Reeder landed on IR with a hamstring injury ahead of last Thursday night’s win over the Vikings.

Here’s how playing time looked among non-edge LBs without him:

• Christian Rozeboom 94%
• Omar Speights 44%
• Jake Hummel 20%

Rozeboom’s mere 6 tackles (2 solos) didn’t reflect it, but that marked a significant boost for him. He had previously topped out at 79% in Week 2 – and dipped to 62%, 71%, and 51% the previous three games.

He should be a better tackle bet over the next three weeks, with Reeder out at least that long. Minnesota ran just 50 offensive plays in Week 8. The Vikings’ 19 RB rushes in that game were 4 fewer than the previous low the Rams had faced this season.

They’re averaging 25.6 per contest.

San Francisco 49ers

S Talanoa Hufanga is three games into an IR stint after tearing wrist ligaments against the Cardinals in Week 5.

The Athletic’s Michael Silver initially reported that the team expected Hufanga to miss the rest of the season. But Hufanga’s agent refuted that, saying the safety plans to return with a cast on the arm at some point.

It’s not yet clear when that will be. And the Niners’ Week 9 bye leaves little reason for them to update the situation this week.

Hufanga’s not worth much IDP attention right now. He was an overrated fantasy asset last year off a big-play-fueled starting debut in 2022. We haven’t seen him on the field enough this year to set base expectations, with his ACL recovery delaying the start.

But rookie Malik Mustapha has looked intriguing in Hufanga’s absence. He has 4 passes defensed over the past four games, with a 12-tackle game mixed in.

Mustapha’s at least worth a dynasty stash in deep-ish leagues. Hufanga’s in the final year of his rookie contract and not looking like a strong bet for a new deal in San Francisco.

Seattle Seahawks

I have to admit something to you: I failed to realize Coby Bryant’s role change two weeks ago. I saw the elevated numbers for Seattle’s part-time slot CB in Week 7 against Atlanta – a team that has regularly elevated opponent slot-CB numbers – and chalked it up to the matchup.

Bryant, however, has started at safety the past two games, filling in after starter Rayshawn Jenkins landed on IR.

That made Bryant a full-timer against the Falcons and then the Bills. He tallied 17 tackles and 2 passes defensed, including an INT.

Now comes a positive matchup with the Rams, who have supplied the seventh-most points per game to opponent DBs.

Bryant has jumped up the DB rankings this week and should get at least one more start after the Week 10 bye.

Will Ernest Jones Play Week 9?

LB Ernest Jones was a surprise addition to Friday’s injury report. He missed practice with a new neck issue and is questionable against the Rams.

“It just stiffened up on him,” HC Mike Macdonald said after Friday’s practice. “So we’ll take that day by day, but we just took care of him today.”

That seems encouraging for Jones’ chances of playing Sunday. Try to secure a fallback option if you plan to start the Seattle LB in the 4:25 p.m. ET game, though. These teams also play in that window or later:

• Bears
• Cardinals
• Jaguars
• Eagles
• Lions
• Packers
• Colts
• Vikings
• Buccaneers
• Chiefs

Who Belongs in Your IDP Lineup?

Have trouble figuring out which IDPs to get into your lineup each week? The Team Intel page combines our 3D Projections with the specifics of your situation to give you a clear picture every week.

Matt Schauf, Editor

Matt has earned two Fantasy Pros accuracy awards for IDP rankings and won thousands of dollars as a player across best ball, dynasty, and high-stakes fantasy formats. He has been creating fantasy football content for more than 20 years, with work featured by Sporting News, Rotoworld, Athlon, Sirius XM, and others. He's been with Draft Sharks since 2011.