Fantasy Football NFL Week 9 Target Report: Diontae Johnson Traded To Ravens

Another week, ANOTHER NFL wide receiver trade! First, we had Davante Adams traded to the Jets and then Amari Cooper was traded to the Bills. Shortly after, DeAndre Hopkins was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs. The shake-ups continue as the Carolina Panthers just traded Diontae Johnson to the Baltimore Ravens!

With all the trades and injuries, there’s naturally been a ton of movement in the target pecking orders for these teams. Our job is to use our Target Totem Pole grid to help make sense of it all in the Fantasy Football Week 9 Target Report!

2024 Fantasy Football NFL Week 9 Target Report Preview

Why do we do this? Well, historically incredibly rare for a team to have three players all get 100+ targets. It’s happened only once over the last three years and less than 3% of the time over the last five years. 

More teams will have ZERO players get 100+ targets than have three. And, last year, every top 24 WR except one got 100+ targets (and that was Deebo Samuel who scored 5 rushing touchdowns). That’s why the NFL Fantasy Football Week 9 Target Report is so important.

In the chart below you will see our PROJECTION for what we believe will happen. That projection is a mix of what we are seeing on the field, who is actually healthy, and what we predict for the rest of the season.

Naturally, that is going to change from week to week and it’s important to check the notes section at the bottom as to why. Our 2024 NFL Fantasy Football Week 9 Target Report has a note for every single team. So, let’s take a look!

Fantasy Football Target Chart 2024 NFL Week 9

Fantasy Football Week 9 Target Report Advice & Takeaways

NOTE: If a team moved from where they were in the Week 8 NFL target report, they will be denoted with ***

Clear Top Two

Arizona Cardinals

• Trey McBride
• Marvin Harrison Jr
  • Only a minor change here - Trey McBride moves ahead of Marvin Harrison McBride is actually averaging 7.4 targets per game which would be a 125 target pace if he did not miss a game. Marvin Harrison is averaging a solid 6.1 targets per game which is over 100. 

Atlanta Falcons

• Drake London
• Darnell Mooney
  • Despite the big day in terms of scoring, London (68) and Mooney (55) are still living pretty far ahead of Kyle Pitts (41) and Ray-Ray McCloud (39). As we’ve mentioned, if you are betting on a QB to support three fantasy relevant pass-catchers, Kirk Cousins is your best bet. So we are still starting Pitts with confidence. His upside would be a lot higher if one of London or Mooney were to go down. 

Cincinnati Bengals

• Ja'Marr Chase
• Tee Higgins

When everyone is healthy, these are the clear top two. When one of them is out, that opens the door for Ja'Marr Chase.

Jacksonville Jaguars***

• Brian Thomas Jr
• Evan Engram
  • Unfortunately, Christian Kirk suffered a season ending broken collarbone. Parker Washington will attempt to replicate his slot snaps. Brian Thomas Jr and Gabe Davis are both nicked up so we’re waiting on their status. But there are now two clear top targets for this team in Evan Engram and BTJ. Which makes fantasy football decisions a little easier. 

Los Angeles Rams***

• Puka Nacua
• Cooper Kupp
  • This feels much better, doesn’t it? Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp are back right where they belong. And, despite Nacua played only around 60% of the snaps, they made it clear how much he had been missed with 9 targets. Both these guys are back to being staples in your lineup. DeMarcus Robinson maintained his WR3 job which is bad news for Tutu Atwell, Jordan Whittington, and Tyler Johnson. 

New Orlean Saints***

• Chris Olave
• Alvin Kamara
  • With Rasheed Shaheed out, Olave and Kamara are the clear top targets. Bub Means was filling in for Olave but he not only went to a reduced role but suffered a high ankle sprain. So the question now is whether Mason Tipton can hold off Marquez Valdes-Scantling for that WR2 chair. If he can, there is upside there. Juwan Johnson is the best bet at TE but he’s not quite a full-time player. Taysom Hill, of course, is Tayson Hill. 

New York Jets

• Davante Adams
• Garrett Wilson
  • It has not been a great season for the Jets but it’s at least looking like these two can be the top two targets on the team. We were most worried about Garrett Wilson but he was featured pretty heavily in the first game with Adams. We’re hoping these two can co-exist while still providing Breece Hall with enough targets to get by.  

Philadelphia Eagles

• AJ Brown
• DeVonta Smith
  • Dallas Goedert is back but he has always taken a back seat to AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith. That doesn’t mean Goedert can’t be a decent start at time but it caps his upside and hurts his consistency. We saw what he was capable of earlier this year when the WRs were hurt though so the upside is there if something happens. 

San Francisco 49ers

• Deebo Samuel
• George Kittle
  • Here’s what we saw in the first game without Brandon Aiyuk. Chris Conley played Aiyuk’s role on the outside. Ricky Pearsall played the role of Jauan Jennings in the slot. After the bye week, we’ll either see Conley maintain that role with Jennings taking back his slot job. Or Jauan Jennings will move outside (like he did earlier this year) and Pearsall will maintain the slot role. Either way, it was not great for the upside of Pearsall. The scenario where Conley maintains the outside role for his blocking ability would be good for Deebo Samuel and George Kittle, that’s for sure. 

High Consolidation

Houston Texans

• Nico Collins (IR)
• Tank Dell
• Dalton Schultz
  • Big news here. Stefon Diggs suffered a torn ACL. Nico Collins should be back soon but, for the short term, Xavier Hutchinson will play split end and Robert Woods/John Metchie will battle for WR3 status. Last year Dalton Schultz was getting 4.2 targets per game when Nico and Dell were healthy, 7 targets per game when one was out. So, he’s not a bad start this week but I wouldn’t go crazy acquiring him for the stretch. 

Miami Dolphins

• Tyreek Hill
• Jaylen Waddle
• De’Vone Achane
• Jonnu Smith
  • Tua Tagovailoa is back, and all is right with the world. Tyreek Hill and Waddle are the top guys and the team features a fullback which limits the WR3. That limitation allows the targets to be highly consolidated among the 2 WRs, the TE, and the RBs, like we see in SF. Jonnu Smith is only playing about 60% of the snaps vs. 90% for George Kittle but still, he’s getting some looks when he is out there.

New York Giants

• Malik Nabers
• Wan’Dale Robinson
  • Darius Slayton has been more involved which has muddied the waters some. But, technically, all three WRs are on pace for 100+ targets with Nabers and Robinson on pace for over 140 and Slayton on pace for 100 on the dot. He did get a lot of those while Nabers was out though so can’t really trust that. 

One Stud, Then Uncertainty

Baltimore Ravens

• Zay Flowers
  • There could be a big change coming here. Or if the long Twitter post by Josina Anderson is to be believed, maybe Diontae Johnson was brought in for depth/to replace Nelson Agholor. We probably won’t learn in just one game so, for now, Zay Flowers remains a guy we trust and Mark Andrews is an option chasing touchdowns. After that, it gets dicey. But it’s hard to believe that a guy like Diontae Johnson won’t establish himself as a top option in this pass game.

Chicago Bears

• DJ Moore
  • Once you realize that Rome Odunze and Cole Kmet each got double digit targets in one game that Keenan Allen missed, it seems a lot less likely that anyone other than DJ Moore can crack 100 targets here. Keenan Allen’s 5.6 targets per game is ahead of the 5 for Odunze and 4.3 for Cole Kmet though none of them are on track for 100 now. DJ Moore is currently on pace for 119 so he’s close to blue. 

Dallas Cowboys

• CeeDee Lamb
  • The San Fransisco 49ers are one of the toughest tight end matchups so we can give Jake Ferguson as pass there. Lamb is far and away the top guy, but Ferguson and Tolbert aren’t terrible options - at least until Brandin Cooks returns. Ferguson isn’t super athletic, so he does need volume to have upside.

Denver Broncos

• Courtland Sutton
  • Not much change here in term of who is getting the targets, Courtland Sutton just actually caught this time. Sutton and Javonte Williams are the only two players consistently playing more than 60% of the snaps which is why they are the only two players with more than 25 targets. Lil’Jordan Humphrey is the playing the second most WR snaps and is far from relevant. 

Detroit Lions

• Amon Ra St. Brown
  • Jameson Williams continues to land in hot water. And the emergence of gun charge accusations could end up seeing him in even more trouble. At the very least, he will miss Week 9 after a PED suspension. That opens up the door for guys like Sam LaPorta, Jahmyr Gibbs, Kalif Raymond, and even Tim Patrick to contribute. 

Indianapolis Colts

• Michael Pittman
  • Here’s the hard truth - at this moment in time, Joe Flacco is a better passer than Anthony Richardson. And a guy like Josh Downs has been WR7 in fantasy points and WR8 in target share with Flacco vs. WR52 and WR32 in those stats respectively, per Fantasy Points Data. So, he’s the biggest beneficiary. Pittman has been the top target in general, but Downs is back on the menu. 

Kansas City Chiefs***

• Travis Kelce
  • We EXPECT to move DeAndre Hopkins up and have this be a “clear top two” situation. We just need to see it once. Hopkins was eased into action in his first game with only three targets. Reports are that he will play more this week. But we can’t just jump the gun and assume he will get more targets than Xavier Worthy and JuJu Smith-Schuster the rest of the way, even if that is what we predict. We need just a little bit of evidence to go with it. 

Las Vegas Raiders

• Brock Bowers
  • An argument could be made for Jakobi Meyers to get back onto a 100-target pace despite missing a couple games. But he hasn’t quite separated himself from Tre Tucker. Both are deep league considerations given their super high snap counts following the departure of Davante Adams. Tucker, for instance, has played 95%, 95%, and 91% of the snaps the last three games and also gotten a carry in the last two. But the Raiders are simply not a good football team. Brock Bowers is TE eligible and on pace for over 125 targets so he’s the one guy we can truly utilize. 

Los Angeles Chargers***

• Ladd McConkey
  • Last week we made the change to move McConkey up into the “one stud” group. And he immediately rewarded us with a two touchdown performance. He’s on pace for over 100 targets on a team that is finally throwing a bit more. So get him in those lineups if you haven’t been. 

Minnesota Vikings

• Justin Jefferson
  • Here we go. The much anticipated return of T.J. Hockenson. Justin Jefferson is the clear alpha here. But the battle will now commence between T.J. Hockenson and Jordan Addison to see who can earn more targets the rest of the way. This will be key in whether or not T.J. Hockenson can be consistent from week to week and pay off for those who stashed him for half a season. 

Pittsburgh Steelers

• George Pickens
  • Through two games now with Russell Wilson, it’s starting to look like he is back to his old ways of not throwing it over the middle where Pat Freiermuth lives. No one on this team other than George Pickens has more than 30 targets.  

Tampa Bay Buccaneers***

• Mike Evans
  • We were hoping Jalen McMillan would get the full-time Chris Godwin role. We didn’t QUITE get that. McMillan did play a full-time role but he remained on the outside opposite of Trey Palmer (in the Mike Evans role). Sterling Shepard came on for three WR sets in the slot. The Godwin role would have seen McMillan in the slot for 3 WR sets but moving out wide for 2 WR sets. It’s still worth rostering and possibly starting McMillan but his role is not as good as it could be. 

Tennessee Titans***

• Calvin Ridley
  • With DeAndre Hopkins gone, they leaned heavily into Calvin Ridley. Maybe they are shopping him too, maybe they are simply confirming him as the top WR. Whatever it is, we like it. Nick Westbrook-Ikhine-Ikhine picked up the fulltime role opposite him with Tyler Boyd maintaining his slot role. 

Washington Commanders

• Terry McLaurin
  • Terry McLaurin is the clear top dog. Everyone saw Noah Brown catch the Hail Mary this week but what they might not have seen was Brown playing an 81% snap share. That’s the first time a WAS WR not named McLaurin has played more than 70% of the snaps, let alone 80%. Zach Ertz has been on the radar but now Noah Brown is in deeper leagues. 

Too Many Mouths To Feed?

Buffalo Bills***

• Amari Cooper
• Dalton Kincaid
• Khalil Shakir
• Keon Coleman
• James Cook
  • We’re going to move this one here for the time being. We figured Amari Cooper would immediately become the top target but that hasn’t been the case. In fact, his arrival has inspired Keon Coleman and Dalton Kincaid to play their best football yet. The Bills are not a very pass-happy team so this might just spread things a little too thin across the board. 

Green Bay Packers

• Jayden Reed
• Romeo Doubs
• Christian Watson
• Tucker Kraft
• Josh Jacobs
• Emmanuel Wilson
• Dontayvion Wicks
• Luke Musgrave (OUT)
  • There is still no player on this team on pace for 100+ targets. Jayden Reed also gets carries though which makes him a decent start. And Romeo Doubs has 39 targets despite missing a game which would give him about a ~95 target pace on a 17 game schedule. The other interesting note here is that Christian Watson played 52 snaps to 21 for Dontayvion Wicks this week, a departure from the split we are used to seeing. 

Seattle Seahawks

• DK Metcalf
• Jaxon Smith-Njigba
• Tyler Lockett
• Noah Fant
• Kenneth Walker
  • DK Metcalf has been dealing with a knee issue which has forced JSN and Tyler Lockett into full time roles with Jake Bobo coming out to play in three WR sets. But the injury is not expected to be long term so we’ll go back to the offense we have been seeing. The volume has been high which has masked how spread out it has been. 

Wide Open

Carolina Panthers

• Diontae Johnson has been shipped off to the Baltimore Ravens for very little, so we are now wide open over here. The first round rookie Xavier Legette is our best bet. Adam Thielen will be back soon. UDFA Jalen Coker has emerged as an interesting name for deep leagues as well. We want to see more Ja’Tavion Sanders, but Tommy Tremble returned and outsnapped him last week so he’s more of a dynasty stash. 

Cleveland Browns

• This is one of the most interesting developing situations. Because, on the season, David Njoku and Jerry Jeudy has been the top targets. But, over the last two games with Jameis Winston, Cedric Tillman (20), David Njoku (19), and Elijah Moore (18) have gotten more targets than Jeudy (13). Njoku is the safest one based on that (plus he has TE eligibility making him more valuable). But Winston might prefer Tillman and Moore, who he has probably worked with more in practice. One more week should help us clarify. 

New England Patriots

• Technically Hunter Henry leads the team in targets, but Demario Douglas did have that London game where he got sick and left early. So, the jury is still out. No one has emerged as startable in fantasy though Hunter Henry’s eligibility at the TE spot is naturally appealing. We’d love to see Ja’Lynn Polk take a step forward but his drops (and possibly his attitude about them) have held him back. Since Drake Maye took over, Kayshon Boutte has also quietly led the WR group in snaps which can’t be ignored.