Fantasy football advice, Week 9: Who to start/sit for New York Jets vs. Miami Dolphins

Bye week hell continues in Week 9 with six more teams on byes. And you thought it couldn’t have been worse than Week 8? Now, fantasy owners get to scramble as skill position players on the Patriots, Bengals, Washington, Cardinals, Bears, and Texans all get to sit out of lineups.

But with the Jets and Dolphins squaring off on Sunday, options, though few of them, still remain for fantasy owners.

This is the point of the season when fantasy owners begin to show concerns about workloads taking their toll on players, and veteran running back Matt Forte is no different. With Eric Decker sidelined, Forte has been looked at to carry the offense, and should be able to once again in Week 9 against the Dolphins, who have allowed the third-most rushing yards per game in 2016. Forte can be considered an RB1, and should capitalize on both volume and efficiency on Sunday.

With Brandon Marshall monopolizing targets, he remains a wideout with near-WR1 status despite modest outputs over the last three weeks.

Although Quincy Enunwa broke out of his slump with 93 yards and a touchdown, it was a woefully inefficient day for him and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. Enunwa caught just four of a season-high 11 targets, and with such a terrible downside that comes with Fitzpatrick, Enunwa can be considered only as a volatile flex option.

Fitzpatrick, Bilal Powell, and the rest of the Jets’ complementary receivers do not need fantasy consideration for Week 9.

Jay Ajayi will have his toughest test yet against a Jets defense that has been the NFL’s best at stopping the run, allowing a league-low 74 yards per game and 3.3 yards per carry. Despite the poor matchup, it would not be in the interest of fantasy owners to bench a player who has over 200 rushing yards in each of his last two starts. Ajayi remains a fringe RB1/RB2 as the new focal point of the Dolphins offense.

Though the Jets are No. 1 in stopping the run, they are the worst at defending the pass, allowing 289 yards through the air per game. Though the Dolphins have changed philosophies going air heavy to ground heavy, big games could be in order for Jarvis Landry and Ryan Tannehill. Landry is a WR2, while Tannehill deserves streaming consideration in the best matchup a quarterback could ask for in Week 9.

The cake matchup against the Jets secondary gives fantasy owners a little more reason to take a chance on the risky DeVante Parker, who has upside for days but a significant downside as well in an inconsistent passing offense. With six teams on bye, fantasy owners could do worse than put him or Kenny Stills into lineups as a flex option.

MarQueis Gray, who is starting at tight end in place of Jordan Cameron and Dion Sims, does not warrant a fantasy roster spot.