The Week 9 matchup between the St. Louis Rams and the Minnesota Vikings features a young star running back, who has exploded onto the scene this year against a future Hall of Famer on the other side of the football, who plays the same position. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.
Fantasy football projections, Week 9: Rams-Vikings featuring Todd Gurley, Stefon Diggs and Adrian Peterson
We break down the Week 9 matchup between the St. Louis Rams and the Minnesota Vikings.
St. Louis Rams
Fantasy owners who shrewdly drafted running back Todd Gurley despite the fact he was injured and had yet to play an NFL game at the time are obviously fortunetellers. It’s clear after the first few weeks of his career that Gurley is an absolute superstar. He has now rushed for at least 128 yards in four straight games. Considering he only carried the ball six times for 9 yards in his NFL debut, that’s a pretty good start. Gurley is running wild on everybody these days. It looks like the Minnesota Vikings are next on the list.
Outside of Gurley, the Rams offense leaves much to be desired for fantasy owners. Luckily wide receiver Tavon Austin provides the team with some semblance of fantasy value outside of its running back. Austin caught just four passes last week but managed to squeeze 98 yards out of those catches and score a touchdown. He doesn’t necessarily produce every single week but a boom-or-bust option is as good as the Rams’ passing game gets at the moment.
Minnesota Vikings
While Adrian Peterson hasn’t exactly been putting up Todd Gurley-type numbers this season, he’s got quite the resume and is still one of the league’s elite rushers. Last week he carried the ball 20 times for 103 yards adding two receptions. Peterson has had some uncharacteristically low yardage totals at times this season, but the team as a whole is on a roll. With the emergence of Stefon Diggs in the passing game, opposing defenses can no longer focus solely on the running game.
Speaking of Diggs. He’s this year’s wide receiving version of Todd Gurley. Like Gurley, Diggs’ emergence has only come to fruition in the last few weeks. He was stuck behind Charles Johnson on the depth chart until Week 4, but has at least six catches in every game since and has clearly become the team’s No. 1 pass catcher. Digs is facing a tough defense this week, but he is a sure bet to see double digits in targets and he’ll put up respectable numbers as a result ... and by respectable we’re talking 100 yards and touchdown potential here.
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SB Nation presents: Todd Gurley continues to destroy the NFL
