Fantasy football rankings 2017: Quarterbacks for NFL Week 9

Editor’s update: We have updated our rankings.

Editor’s update: Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson suffered a torn ACL on Thursday. He is out for the year, and his status for the start of the 2018 season is unclear. For purposes of Week 8, we are working on updating our rankings, he will be removed, and Tom Savage will be added. Savage holds little value outside of two quarterback leagues.

Let’s get ready for another week of fantasy football! That Week 8 game between Seattle and Houston was amazing for fantasy purposes. Looking first at Russell Wilson and the Seattle passing game — Wilson is once again being asked to carry Seattle. The team can’t establish a running game, and the offensive line is horrible. It’s resulted in Wilson averaging 37 pass attempts per game. Seattle traded for Duane Brown, so maybe the line improves in the next few weeks. When Wilson is on his game or not under heavy pressure, the fantasy points are rolling in. He threw for 452 yards and four touchdowns against Houston. Jimmy Graham might be developing into the weapon that we thought he’d be in Seattle, and it looks like Wilson might have found a second favorite receiver in Paul Richardson.

Deshaun Watson went toe to toe with Wilson and the Seattle secondary. I was really looking forward to seeing how he would hold up against the Legion of Boom. The answer was very well. He passed for 402 yards and four touchdowns. If you’re penalized for interceptions, his three picks would have really hurt. Like his days at Clemson, Watson wasn’t fazed by the interceptions but kept firing with great results. He’s quickly become a top fantasy quarterback and might be setting himself up as the top fantasy quarterback in 2018 drafts.

Chicago, Cleveland, the Los Angeles Chargers, Minnesota, New England, and Pittsburgh have their bye weeks this week. Tom Brady will definitely be missed, as a top-10 fantasy quarterback. Philip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger haven’t been having the greatest fantasy seasons but will be missed as well. They’ve been elevated in many leagues with the multitude of injuries at the position. Jared Goff and Derek Carr should be looked at as bye week replacement starters.

There are no major injuries to fantasy quarterbacks, but there are quite a few situations that we continue to monitor. Jameis Winston continues to deal with a shoulder injury. He finished without a passing touchdown in Week 8. Joe Flacco suffered a concussion and is in the concussion protocol. He’ll probably be cleared by Sunday, especially with the extra days of recovery time since last Thursday’s game. Jay Cutler has already been named the starter for Week 9. Unless he suffers a dramatic setback, Cutler will be on the field for Miami.

On the trade front, the big news was San Francisco acquiring Jimmy Garoppolo. It’s pretty clear he won’t be starting this week, but watch for him in Week 10. The last half of the season will be able to show us a larger sample of his abilities. As of now, it looks like he’ll be the future starting quarterback for San Francisco and head coach Kyle Shanahan.

My sleeper pick for Week 9 is Brett Hundley. Hundley was a disaster in his first start in Week 7. Green Bay has had two weeks to get him prepared and up to speed. I think we’ll see improved play and a pretty good game out of Hundley against Detroit. I believe he’ll pass for 250 yards, two passing touchdowns, and run for a touchdown.

(SK: Scott Kaliska; JG: Jeff Goldberg; DG: Derek Gordon; KB: Kyle Bennett; ZS: Zach Senvisky; JM: Jason Marcum)