6 important fantasy football questions after Week 9: Is there any hope for Bijan Robinson? How about Davante Adams?
Ava White
Published Apr 07, 2026
Read The Athletic’s fantasy football start/sit advice for Week 10.
This series answers numerous fantasy-centric issues following Week 9’s games (usually looking ahead and ‘what does this mean?’). Like Is it time to consider benching Davante Adams? Can Bijan Robinson turn this around? And more. It uses advanced metrics, analytics, game tape reviews, statistical trends, and myriad other elements. It features a variety of systems, many of which are covered in this primer article and reviewed in greater detail at TheFootballScientist.com.
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The EPA metrics detailed below are per TruMedia. Other advanced metrics outside of my unique metrics are per TruMedia/PFF or Stathead, unless otherwise noted. Fantasy point totals are in full PPR environments. Roster percentages are per ESPN leagues. Unless otherwise noted, statistical rankings are through the end of the Sunday night games.
Note: The app’s dark display theme can interfere with how the tables in this article look. If you’re on the app, please switch to light mode by tapping on the Aa button at the top to properly view it.
Wide receivers/tight ends
1. Is it time to bench Davante Adams?
If the fantasy football community voted on the most disappointing player of the past month, Adams would likely win this by a wide margin.
It’s clear why, as from Weeks 1-4, Adams ranked fourth in wide receiver PPR PPG with a 22.68 pace. Since then, Adams ranks 63rd in wide receiver PPR PPG, with a meager 7.12 clip.
So, why has his production collapsed? Let’s start by looking at Adams’ per game production on short and vertical passes from Weeks 1-4 and Weeks 5-9.
Weeks 1-4
- Short: 41.5 total, 10.38 PPG
- Vertical: 49.2 total, 12.3 PPG
Weeks 5-9
- Short: 30.1 total, 6.02 PPG
- Vertical: 5.5 total, 1.1 PPG
The 4.36 PPG drop-off on short passes is a hindrance, but the real problem is that Adams saw his vertical production collapse from 12.3 PPG in the first month of the season to nearly zero.
Now that we know what the problem is, let’s get more details by looking at Adams’ vertical production by route type in this two spans. These charts show the route type, then show the volume of routes run by Adams in that time frame and then lists his target, reception, and yardage production in the parentheses.
Weeks 1-4
Vertical routes
- Cross: 1 (0 for 1)
- Slant: 4
- In: 4 (2 for 3 for 21 yards)
- Out: 7 (5 for 6 for 81 yards)
- Comeback: 1 (1 for 1 for 12 yards)
- Hitch: 8 (2 for 2 for 39 yards)
- Corner: 1
- Post: 9 (4 for 5 for 89 yards, one touchdown)
- Go: 9 (2 for 6 for 30 yards)
(plus one incompletion vertical route and target that was uncategorized via route type)
Weeks 5-9
Vertical routes
- Cross: 6 (0 for 1)
- Slant: 1
- In: 5 (1 for 2 for 21 yards)
- Out: 1 (0 for 1)
- Comeback: 2 (0 for 1)
- Hitch: 4
- Post: 2 (1 for 1 for 14 yards)
- Go: 9 (0 for 5)
Adams was impactful in nearly every route type in the first four weeks and was especially dangerous on post routes, but now he not only isn’t seeing targets on that type of route – Adams is hardly running them, as he went from nine post routes in Weeks 1-4 to only two in Weeks 5-9.
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Adams had four green-rated coverage cornerbacks as his primary coverage defender in Weeks 5-9, so this isn’t a matter of facing a slew of shutdown cornerbacks.
The reality is that for whatever reason, Adams’ role in this offense has changed in a negative way from a fantasy football scoring perspective. He’s not someone to drop, as Adams has the talent to turn things around, but with tough matchups against the Jets and Chiefs secondaries in Weeks 10 and 12 and a bye in Week 13, Adams may not be providing much value for the next month and can be justified as a sit candidate in many roster situations.
2. Should fantasy managers trade high on Tee Higgins?
Higgins stole the show in the Bengals’ win over Buffalo on Sunday night, as he tallied eight catches for 110 yards against the Bills secondary.
That may cause some managers to consider trading away Higgins while his value is high, but his upcoming schedule says that would not be a good idea, as Higgins has green-rated cornerbacks on his primary coverage schedule every week from Weeks 10-16.
With the Bengals showing that they will feature Higgins when the matchup is favorable, he is apt to have many strong fantasy point totals in that span, so don’t trade him away if he is on your roster and do trade for him if the Higgins fantasy manager in your league has him available for trade.
3. Should fantasy managers trade high on Jake Ferguson?
Ferguson stepped up in a major way in the Week 9 showdown against Philadelphia, as his seven catches for 91 yards led to 22.1 PPR points, a mark that was fourth best among tight ends through the Sunday Week 9 games. It also gives Ferguson 36.8 PPR points over the past two games, as it followed his 14.7 PPR points against the Rams in Week 8.
That consistency is a big plus, but even more impressive for Ferguson is that he posted these numbers against an Eagles secondary that had allowed the fourth-fewest PPR PPG to tight ends from Weeks 5-8 (7.58).
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That is an important element because the Cowboys’ Week 10 opponent, the New York Giants, allowed the second fewest PPR PPG to tight ends in Weeks 5-8 and then allowed only 5.1 PPR points to the Raiders’ tight ends in Week 9.
Add it up and it means that Ferguson should still be a quality start candidate next week and has strong rest of season value, as the Cowboys have three favorable tight end coverage matchups over the course of the remainder of the fantasy football season.
4. What is Tank Dell’s future value?
Dell was a big part of C.J. Stroud’s record setting day against the Buccaneers, as Dell racked up six catches for 114 yards and two touchdowns, a pace that gave him 29.6 PPR points. That scoring output makes Dell one of only 11 wide receivers this year with three or more games of 20+ PPR points.
The key to Dell’s production in those 20+ point contests? Vertical receptions, as catches at that depth level accounted for 60.6 of the 75.3 PPR points (80.4 percent) Dell racked up in those games.
A lot of the Week 9 scoring largesse was due to a Tampa Bay secondary that placed 28th in vertical PPG allowed in Weeks 5-8, so Dell’s future may trend in large part to how favorable Houston’s upcoming vertical pass coverage schedule is.
Here are the Texans’ next four opponents as well as their ranking in vertical points allowed and their vertical PPG allowed pace.
- Week 10: Cincinnati – ranked 12th (4.08)
- Week 11: Arizona – ranked 27th (7.97)
- Week 12: Jacksonville – ranked 2nd (0.95)
- Week 13: Denver – ranked 6th (1.72)
That’s one highly favorable matchup, one neutral matchup (with a lean towards slightly unfavorable) and two unfavorable ones.
That suggests that Dell is a player to trade away for a high value, but he can also be justified to keep around for that Week 11 matchup, as his track record indicates that is a potential 20+ PPR point contest.
Running backs
5. Can Bijan Robinson turn things around any time soon?
Fantasy managers were in a forgiving mood when Robinson scored only 0.3 PPR points against Tampa Bay in Week 7, as Robinson missed most of the game with headaches and thus could be chalked up as an injury dud.
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That isn’t the case for Robinson’s 5.9 PPR points generated against Minnesota in Week 9, as he led the Falcons running backs in offensive snaps. Part of the problem stems from how those snaps were distributed.
Falcons' snap distribution, Week 9
| Player | Off snaps | Pass snaps | Rush snaps | Routes | Pass block snaps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
41 | 30 | 11 | 24 | 6 | |
24 | 11 | 13 | 10 | 1 | |
7 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
Robinson and Allgeier had a platoon split in rush snaps and rush attempts, as Robinson had 11 to Allgeier’s 12. One reason that occurred — Robinson lost a fumble in third quarter, after which Allgeier was given the lion’s share of the carries for the remainder of the game.
It’s not as if splitting carries is an isolated incident, as Robinson has posted 10+ carries in every game sans the aforementioned Week 7 contest, while Allgeier has 10+ carries in six contests, including four of the last five (and he had eight in the outlier).
That has capped Robinson’s value, but assuming the lost fumble doesn’t result in a major workload change (and that’s unlikely to occur) there may be improved point totals coming up very soon, as the Falcons have four green-rated rush defense matchups over their next six games.
What this means is that Robinson should have flex value in most league environments and may have RB2 value in PPR leagues for most of the next month and a half. Don’t give up on him yet, in other words.
6. Is it time to consider trading Kenneth Walker III?
Walker was cruising along at a very solid scoring pace through Week 6, as his 18.3 PPR PPG clip ranked eighth among running backs.
That made Walker a very easy RB1 or RB2 selection. But, over the past three games, his production has taken a downward turn, as Walker has averaged only 7.93 PPR PPG in that span, a pace that ranks 37th among running backs.
Even with this decline, Walker will still retain RB1-caliber trade value in nearly every league, but is it time to deal him, or is patience the better virtue here?
The schedule at first glance would lean toward “trade,” as the Seahawks’ next six opponents are the Commanders, Rams, 49ers, Cowboys, 49ers, and Eagles.
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Those are some strong defenses, but from a running back rushing points allowed basis, those platoons aren’t holding up as well as their reputations would indicate. Philadelphia is tough, as the Eagles rank fifth in that category since Week 6, and the Commanders and Cowboys are solid with No. 15 and No. 14 rankings, respectively, but the Rams place 25th there and the 49ers rate 23rd.
With nearly all of these defenses faltering a bit in stopping the ground game, it’s probably not a good idea to trade Walker away, especially while his trade value might be relatively low, so only consider moving him if a terrific offer is made.
(Top photo: Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)
