Fantasy Football Week 9 Start Em & Sit Em: Chase Edmonds is ready for stardom – CBS Sports

We’ve dealt with a lot of injuries in this Fantasy football season, as well as players being impacted by COVID-19. It’s been frustrating for Fantasy managers, but let’s focus on the positive for Week 9. Let’s talk about two prominent players coming back to play this week — at least that’s the hope.

Christian McCaffrey and Michael Thomas are expected to return to action, and it will be great to plug them back into our starting lineups. McCaffrey, who has been out since Week 2 with an ankle injury, will hopefully pick up where he left off before getting hurt.

In his first two games this season, McCaffrey averaged 25.0 PPR points. He had four touchdowns in two games against the Raiders and Buccaneers, and he was well on his way toward another stellar campaign. Mike Davis did well as McCaffrey’s replacement, scoring at least 21 PPR points in three of six games, but there’s a reason he’s the understudy. In his past three games, Davis has just 27 combined PPR points against Chicago, New Orleans and Atlanta.

McCaffrey won’t have it easy against the Chiefs on the road in Week 9, but no defense is keeping McCaffrey out of your Fantasy lineup. He’s back, and hopefully he’s here to stay.

The same goes for Thomas, who has been out since hurting his ankle in Week 1. But he also had a one-game suspension from the Saints for punching a teammate, and then he missed several weeks with a hamstring injury. When healthy, Thomas could be the No. 1 Fantasy receiver in all leagues like he was in 2019, and it will be great for the Saints — and Fantasy managers — to have him back.

We’ll see how he does on the road at Tampa Bay in a likely matchup against cornerback Carlton Davis, but Thomas should remain a starter in all leagues. And it’s likely Drew Brees will lean on Thomas quite a bit in Week 9 and moving forward.

We’ve missed McCaffrey and Thomas as Fantasy players, and it’s great to have them back. Now, it’s time for them to help lead you to a Fantasy championship.

Start ‘Em & Sit ‘Em

We said prior to the season that Chase Edmonds could be one of the best lottery tickets if Kenyan Drake ever missed any time, and that’s where things stand heading into Week 9. Drake is out with an ankle injury, and Edmonds is expected to start against the Dolphins. It should be a great game for the third-year running back from Fordham.

Edmonds should be looking at a quality workload in Drake’s absence, as Drake had five games this season with at least 19 total touches. Edmonds hasn’t needed that much work to be successful in 2020, so the increased touches could be awesome. Edmonds has four games this season with at least eight total touches, and he’s scored at least 12 PPR points in all of them. And last year, Edmonds had four games with at least seven total touches, and he scored at least 14 PPR points in three of them.

He’s been great in the passing game with at least three catches in five outings, including three games with at least five receptions. The hope is the Cardinals continue to throw to Edmonds, which is something they didn’t do often with Drake, who only has seven catches on the season. If the Cardinals are smart, they will just use Edmonds in every aspect of the game, and he could be a top-three Fantasy running back this week.

Now, the matchup against the Dolphins won’t be easy. Miami has only allowed three running backs to score at least 14 PPR points this season with James Robinson in Week 3, Chris Carson in Week 4 and Raheem Mostert in Week 5, but the Dolphins other games were against New England, Buffalo, the Jets and Rams. None of those teams have a standout running back aside from maybe Darrell Henderson, who injured his thigh at Miami in Week 8.

I’m counting on Edmonds to thrive with his increased workload this week, and the Cardinals are coming off a bye, while the Dolphins have to make a long road trip. This is the moment we’ve been waiting for with Edmonds, and I’m confident he’s going to deliver.

More Week 9 help: Start ‘Em & Sit ‘Em: QB | Start ‘Em & Sit ‘Em: RB | Start ‘Em & Sit ‘Em: WR | Biggest Questions | Waiver Wire | RB Preview | WR Preview | QB Preview | TE Preview |Trade Values | Cut List | Winners and Losers | Believe It or Not   

Washington (vs. NYG): The Washington Football Team had one sack and an interception against Daniel Jones in Week 6 and held the Giants to 20 points. That’s the only game where Jones hasn’t been sacked multiple times, and has at least one turnover in every game this year. Washington, meanwhile, comes into this game with an interception in four games in a row.   

• Cardinals (vs. MIA): Tua Tagovailoa was sacked once, fumbled once and passed for just 93 yards in his first start at home last week. The Dolphins are down Myles Gaskin (knee), and the Cardinals are coming off a bye at home. It’s a good setup for the Cardinals DST in Week 9.
• Giants (at WAS): The Giants DST scored a touchdown, had three sacks and an interception against the Washington Football Team in Week 6 and allowed just 19 points. Let’s see if that can happen again.
• Texans (at JAC): Jake Luton is making his first NFL start, which could lead to some sacks and turnovers against a Texans team coming off their bye.

Bills (vs. SEA): The Bills DST was a letdown in Week 8 against New England and has performed poorly in every game other than the two meetings with the Jets this year. Seattle is averaging 34.3 points per game, and the Seahawks have just seven turnovers on the season.

So who should you start and sit this week? And which surprising quarterback could lead you to victory? Visit SportsLine now to get Week 9 rankings for every position, plus see which QB is going to come out of nowhere to crack the top 10, all from the model that out-performed experts big-time last season.