The Week 9 matchup between the Tennessee Titans and the New Orleans Saints features a quarterback of the future against a quarterback who is a future Hall of Famer. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.
Fantasy football projections, Week 9: Titans-Saints featuring Marcus Mariota, Drew Brees and Benjamin Watson
We break down the Week 9 matchup between Tennessee Titans and the New Orleans Saints.
Tennessee Titans
Zach Mettenberger did a decent job keeping the Atlanta Falcons close last week, but now it’s time to hand the reins back over to teammate Marcus Mariota. Ken Whisenhunt stated earlier in the week that Mariota was expected to be a full participant in practice. He should get the start even though Whisenhunt has just been let go by the team. Mariota is going to have a tough time keeping up with a Saints team that put up a whopping 52 points against the New York Giants last week. That said, Mariota may find himself scoring some easy fantasy points if the game gets out of hand.
Maybe running back Antonio Andrews will find himself in the same situation. The Saints give up 4.8 yards per carry to running backs at the moment. That’s a big number and the Titans don’t have much to offer offensively. Clearly Bishop Sankey and Dexter McCluster aren’t the answer in Tennessee’s backfield and Andrews has the most potential. He might be worth taking a gamble on and if he does well, Andrews could find himself as one of the top waiver wire pickups in deeper leagues once Week 9 is over.
New Orleans Saints
In one of the wildest NFL games in recent memory, quarterback Drew Brees tied the NFL record for touchdowns in a game by throwing seven against the Giants last week. With production like that, one would think he would have been leading his team to a blowout win, but it actually ended up being a 52-49 result. While most people expect the Saints to top the Titans easily, Brees’ numbers will obviously come down a little bit. That said, he shouldn’t face too much of a difficult time against a lackluster opponent like Tennessee this week.
Neither should tight end Benjamin Watson. Watson has been around the NFL for a while, and always been regarded as somebody who could contribute offensively, but this year he’s taken things to another level. He’s done particularly well over the past month. His stats read as follows: 26 catches for 369 yards and three touchdowns. He’s been in the lineup all year long but a huge chunk of his season totals have been amassed over this recent stretch of games. Watson is a popular waiver wire pickup this week and with good reason.
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SB Nation presents: NFL Week 9 start/sit fantasy advice
