Hungry for More: The Fantasy Footballers’ Predictions for Week 9

The further we get into the fantasy season, the more important it is for fantasy managers to dig deeper than a deep-dish pizza and continue working to find players who can help their fantasy lineups! Luckily, the Footballers are here to roll out some dough and bake up a trio of gooey fantasy football treats in this week’s Hungry for More presented by Uber Eats!

Each week of the season Andy, Mike, and Jason are getting out their menus to find exactly what player that fantasy managers should look to see take a step forward for their lineups ahead of Week 9!

WR – Ladd McConkey (LAC) 

Week 8
Receptions	Receiving Yards	TDs
6	111	2

The biggest week of Ladd McConkey’s rookie season has Andy kicking things off this week. McConkey’s first multi-TD game of his career turned into 26.1 fantasy points and a WR2 overall finish for the week. While his start may seem a little slow on the outside, McConkey is on pace for 73 receptions, 913 yards, and 10 TDs on the year. The only other rookie in the last decade to hit all those marks was Ja’Marr Chase. What’s more exciting for McConkey’s increased workload in the Chargers’ offense is the higher pace at which L.A.’s offense seems to have decided to start throwing the ball. Over their last two games, the Chargers have thrown the ball on 60% of their plays, up 12% from their first seven games of the season. If L.A. commits to the higher passing volume going forward, McConkey stands the most to gain as the best receiving option for Justin Herbert on the team.

There could be plenty of opportunity for McConkey to be an easy name to pencil into fantasy lineups over the next several weeks with a favorable schedule ahead. In three of their next four games, the Chargers play teams that are allowing at least 1.7 points above expectation to opposing fantasy WRs. McConkey has cemented himself as the lead WR on this team and could be cooking up some delicious fantasy output down the stretch of the season.

Upcoming Schedule: at Cleveland, vs. Tennessee, vs. Cincinnati, vs. Baltimore

WR – Josh Downs (IND)

Week 8
Receptions	Receiving Yards	TDs
4	109	1

Despite having yet another change at QB, Josh Downs has continued to show he can put up huge weeks for fantasy managers and has Jason loosening his belt to go back for seconds. Downs has scored 11+ fantasy points in four of his last five games, including three top-20 WR finishes. What may be more impressive is that Downs has managed to stay productive with the Colts jostling between QBs Joe Flacco and Anthony Richardson. Luckily for Downs though, the Colts are moving back to Flacco for Week 9. During the three-week stint of Flacco playing a majority of snaps, Downs averaged eight receptions for 72 yards while scoring two TDs.

The chance is there for Downs to be a productive fantasy option down the stretch of the season with a favorable schedule coming up, starting in Week 9 against the Vikings. Minnesota’s defense has allowed the fifth-most passing yards and sixth-most passing TDs in the league. More importantly for Downs, the Vikings are allowing 34.9 fantasy points to opposing teams’ WRs per game. With Flacco back under center, Downs should be seen as WR2 with upside in fantasy rosters.

Upcoming Schedule: at Minnesota, vs. Buffalo, at NY Jets, vs. Detroit

WR – Jalen McMillan (TB)

Week 8
Receptions	Receiving Yards	TDs
4	35	0

After being one of the hot waiver wire players last week, Jalen McMillan may have underperformed a bit on the stat sheet, but that isn’t stopping Mike from getting a second helping on his plate. While he only ended with five total touches in Week 8, McMillian was involved plenty in the Buccaneers’ offense, seeing seven targets on the day which finished second on the team, all while seeing 30% of the team’s air yards on the day. There will be plenty of shuffling done in the Tampa Bay offense as they find a groove with both Chris Godwin and Mike Evans set to miss multiple weeks, and McMillian will be one of the top candidates to see his role grow as the season moves on.

Looking ahead, the schedule for McMillian doesn’t appear overly favorable, but at the rate that the Buccaneers throw the ball, it might not matter all that much. Tampa Bay has the sixth-most passing attempts in the league this season and Baker Mayfield is leading the league in TD passes. It’s worth noting though that the Buccaneers only face two teams the rest of the fantasy season that aren’t allowing negative points against expectation to opposing fantasy WRs. 

Upcoming Schedule: at Kansas City, vs. San Francisco, bye, at NY Giants

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