Fantasy Football Week 9 Sleepers & DFS: Trust Chiefs receivers, Deon Jackson, Joshua Palmer and more

The Chiefs’ receiving corps should look different this week with the addition of Kadarius Toney. While we don’t know exactly what role he will play or how much he’ll be involved in the offense, I’m still expecting a quality performance for Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Mecole Hardman. I like both as sleepers in Week 9 against the Titans.

JuJu Smith-Schuster should be the No. 1 receiver for the Chiefs. But Valdes-Scantling and Hardman are each playing well coming off Kansas City’s bye in Week 8. Prior to the bye, Valdes-Scantling had two games with at least 14 PPR points in his past three outings. In Week 7, he had three catches for 111 yards on four targets.

Hardman has scored at least 11 PPR points in three games in a row, and he had a dominant outing in Week 7 at San Francisco with four catches for 32 yards and a touchdown, along with two carries for 28 yards and two touchdowns. He hasn’t had more than four catches in any game this season, but the Chiefs are finding a way to manufacture touches for him, especially near the end zone.

The reason to like Valdes-Scantling and Hardman this week is the matchup with the Titans. Tennessee is No. 6 in Fantasy points allowed to opposing receivers, and nine receivers have scored at least 12 PPR points against the Titans this year, with nine touchdowns.

We’ll what Toney does to potentially impact Smith-Schuster, Valdes-Scantling and Hardman. But I’m not worried about that for this week. Smith-Schuster is a must-start Fantasy option in all leagues, and Valdes-Scantling and Hardman, in that order, are No. 3 receivers with upside.

Every Friday, you can find this column on sleepers and DFS plays on DraftKings and FanDuel. I’m also going to include our Friday show notes from Fantasy Football Today on CBS Sports HQ, which gives a game-by-game breakdown of starts, sits, favorite props and favorite DFS plays. It should help you with some lineup decisions each week.

Week 9 Sleepers

These are game previews from our Fantasy Football Today show on CBS Sports HQ on Friday from me, Adam Aizer and Dave Richard. The player props are from Caesars Sportsbook.

Las Vegas at Jacksonville (Adam Aizer)

Miami at Chicago (Jamie Eisenberg)

• Injury of note: None
• Start or Sit: Start Justin Fields
• DFS play: Darnell Mooney (DraftKings $4,700/FanDuel $6,100)
• Prop to play: Justin Fields over 49.5 rushing yards (-119)

Indianapolis at New England (Adam Aizer)

Buffalo at New York Jets (Dave Richard)

Los Angeles Chargers at Atlanta (Dave Richard)

Carolina at Cincinnati (Adam Aizer)

Minnesota at Washington (Dave Richard)

Green Bay at Detroit (Jamie Eisenberg)

Los Angeles Rams at Tampa Bay (Adam Aizer)

Seattle at Arizona (Dave Richard)

DFS Lineups

DraftKings

QB: Trevor Lawrence (vs. LV) $5,200
RB: Aaron Jones (at DET) $7,400
RB: Rhamondre Stevenson (vs. IND) $6,200
WR: DeAndre Hopkins (vs. SEA) $7,900
WR: Christian Kirk (vs. LV) $5,500
WR: Joshua Palmer (at ATL) $5,100
TE: Evan Engram (vs. LV) $3,300
FLEX: Kenneth Walker III (at ARI) $6,200
DST: Buccaneers (vs. LAR) $3,000

I’m excited about this Jaguars stack this week against the Raiders, and I expect Lawrence to connect well with Kirk and Engram. This is the perfect matchup for the Jaguars to get back on track with their passing game.

Jones should be excellent against the Lions, and Stevenson should have a huge game against the Colts, especially if Damien Harris (illness) is out. And I love Walker against the Cardinals after he had 110 total yards and a touchdown against Arizona in Week 6.

Hopkins should have the chance for another big game at home, and Palmer is one of my favorite plays this week with the injuries for the Chargers receiving corps. He should go off against the Falcons.

FanDuel

QB: Tua Tagovailoa (at CHI) $8,000
RB: Rhamondre Stevenson (vs. IND) $8,000
RB: D’Onta Foreman (at CIN) $7,300
WR: Tyreek Hill (at CHI) $8,700
WR: DJ Moore (at CIN) $7,000
WR: Joshua Palmer (at ATL) $6,200
TE: Robert Tonyan (at DET) $5,000
FLEX: Deon Jackson (at NE) $5,000
DEF: Jaguars (vs. LV) $3,800

I like the Dolphins stack for this lineup against the Bears, and it should be another big week for Tagovailoa and Hill. I’m expecting this to be a high-scoring affair, which is why I have Justin Fields as the Start of the Week.

I’ll play Stevenson in this lineup as well, along with Palmer, and I like the two running backs who will benefit with injury concerns in Foreman and Jackson. Foreman should go off against the Bengals with Chuba Hubbard (ankle) out, and Jackson is a quality play at his price with Jonathan Taylor (ankle) out against the Patriots.

Moore should have his third game in a row with a big stat line against the Bengals, who are beat up in their secondary. And I like the matchup for Tonyan against the Lions, and he has scored a touchdown in three games in a row against Detroit.