Sunday kickoff for Week Nine is officially just hours away. The playoffs are starting to creep up, making each game even more important. In order to help you prepare for your week nine matchups, we’re going to be going over some of the most polarizing start/sit decisions according to ESPN’s projections. The players that will be eligible for this list are all close to being ranked as a back-end QB1/TE1 or WR2/RB2 based on ESPN’s PPR projections.

Wide Receiver

Start 

Marvin Harrison Jr vs CHI 

ESPN Projection - WR22

Coming into the year with sky-high expectations, Marvin Harrison Jr has been fairly disappointing so far. That said, we’ve seen the game-changing upside at times, more recently in week eight, where Harrison exploded for 23.1 points, which was his 2nd 20-point game of the year. The thing that doesn’t make sense to me is that Harrison is starting to look more comfortable as expected for a rookie. Yet we’re ranking Harrison as if he’s a bust who just had a big game instead of a talented rookie who had his breakout game.

The Bears aren’t a great matchup by any means, with Harrison having to go up against Jaylon Johnson and that Bears defense. So far, the Bears have allowed the 5th fewest fantasy points (206.5) to wide receivers this year. Despite facing Johnson, with Harrison’s big play potential, he can take advantage of scenarios where Johnson isn’t guarding him. It’s also worth noting that PFF’s WR/CB tool has this matchup as a  “good” matchup with a score of 78.6.

Sit

Courtland Sutton @ BAL

ESPN Projection - WR19

One of the wilder things I’ve seen this week is Courtland Sutton being projected higher than Marvin Harrison Jr on ESPN. I’m looking to sit Sutton even though he actually has a good matchup going up against the Ravens secondary, I don’t trust Bo Nix just yet. Despite being very viable in fantasy due to his rushing upside, Nix has one game this year with over 250 passing yards.

The Ravens are extremely well coached and I trust John Harbaugh to scheme up his talent against this rookie quarterback. The Ravens only allowed 269 yards and two touchdowns to rookie Jayden Daniels, but everyone can agree that Nix isn’t even close to being on that level. Despite the success that Sutton has found recently, his floor is extremely low and he’s stilla averaging 9.7 PPG on the year.

Running Back

Start

David Montgomery @ GB  

ESPN Projection - RB23

Although I wasn’t a fan of David Montgomery coming into the year, I’ve quickly changed my outlook on him. With how talented Jahmyr Gibbs is, Montgomery is consistently underrated by the community and other experts every week. Despite coming off two “down games,” Montgomery still had eight and 14.92 points in very unfavorable game scripts. 

There’s a huge difference between unproven, less talented players being volatile because of touchdowns versus proven goal-line backs who are fantastic talents. I expect Montgomery to score a touchdown in week nine as the Lions have an implied team total of 25 points (9th in the NFL), according to FanDuel Sportsbook. The matchup bodes well for Montgomery as the Lions offense should be highly productive and the Packers have allowed the 14th most fantasy points (185.5) to running backs this year. 

Sit

Nick Chubb vs LAC  

ESPN Projection - RB24

I’m rooting extremely hard for Nick Chubb to have a great return, but it doesn’t make sense to start him yet. He’s coming off what many believed was a career ending injury and hasn’t scored above 11 fantasy points this season. The once great efficiency from Chubb has dropped down to 2.0 and 3.2 YPC in his first games back. To make matters worse the Chargers are a horrible matchup.

This season, the Chargers have allowed the third-fewest fantasy points (133.1) to running backs. The Browns offense doesn’t offer much upside for Chubb either, as they have an implied team total of 20.5 points this week, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. Good for 21st in the NFL. Either way, Chubb is coming off the kind of injury where you should see the production first before starting him.

Quarterback

Start

Jared Goff @ GB

ESPN Projection - QB21

For our second Lions player of the article we have Jared Goff, another player who has been getting disrespected this year. While I’m not saying Goff will be a top five quarterback this week, QB21 is ridiculous from ESPN. The only question I have for this week is the ankle injury Goff was dealing with but it’s been reported by Eric Woodyard that Goff returned to practice on Friday. 

Looking ahead to the week nine matchup, the Lions have an implied team total of 25 points (FanDuel Sportsbook) as we talked about with Montgomery above. According to BetMGM, the game also has a 48.5 point over/under and this could easily become a shootout. With Goff averaging 17.3 PPG on the year, this seems like the perfect spot for him to exceed expectations. 

Sit

Geno Smith vs LAR 

ESPN Projection - QB9

I’m failing to understand why Geno Smith would be in anyone’s top 12 quarterbacks this week. Smith is coming off a rough stretch where he’s scored 12.5, 17.8 and 8.1 points in his last three games. Now he gets to face the Rams in week nine, who have defended quarterbacks very well this season, allowing the 7th least fantasy points (117.2). 

To make matters worse, DK Metcalf is being reported as out for Sunday’s game against the Rams. On top of all that, their starting tight end, Noah Fant, won’t be playing either. The cards are stacked against Smith, and unfortunately, he’s not an elite talent that you want to bet on. 

Tight end

Start

Sam LaPorta @ GB

ESPN Projection - TE11

For the first time all year Sam LaPorta has some momentum, coming off a 16.8 point performance. As you can tell, I’m very high on the Lions this week based on how well their offense is projected to play. The main reason I’m super high on LaPorta this week is because Jameson Williams is suspended once again. Williams had a strong start to the year, but he can’t stay on the field. 

Not only is LaPorta a great red zone target for one of the top offenses in the NFL, but his targets are starting to tick up. LaPorta had a season-high in targets with six last week. It’s important to take the context of how talented LaPorta is into account and no one could have seen this big of a fall off coming. With a reduced number of mouths to feed in week nine, expect LaPorta to have another big game. 

Sit

Hunter Henry @ TEN

ESPN Projection - TE14

We’ve seen Hunter Henry have a few good games this year, going over 13 points three times. Other than those big games, though, Henry has scored less than 10 points five times this year. Even with Drake Maye back, this is a very poor matchup for Henry. Taking a look at PFF’s TE Matchup Tool, Henry has a 20% advantage, which is very poor.

It’s also very concerning that so far this year, the Titans have allowed the fourth-fewest fantasy points (60.3) to tight ends. Henry is extremely inconsistent on an offense with a ton of mediocre receiving options. We haven’t seen Henry as a consistent fantasy option in quite some time, and there’s no reason to believe that it will start in week nine.