Week 9 is here and this officially marks the midway point of the 2024 NFL season as we turn the calendar to November. We have 12 games on the Sunday main slate on DraftKings while FanDuel once again offers 13 games where the Sunday Night Football matchup between the Indianapolis Colts and Minnesota Vikings falls on the main slate. 

 

 

 

There are some moderately high totals for this main slate with just one game possessing an implied total under 40 points. Do we hammer or fade that spot? Let’s take a look at the NFL DFS Week 9 D/ST Coach!

NFL DFS Week 9 D/ST Coach For FanDuel & DraftKings Fantasy

If you caught the update to last week’s NFL DFS D/ST Coach, you would’ve seen that I pivoted off the Chicago Bears as the Play of the Week. With news that Jayden Daniels would start for the Washington Commanders. 

The Bears only returned three fantasy points, but it’s worth noting that if the Bears had simply knocked down the touchdown that lost them the game, they would’ve returned six points. And if they had managed to pick it off, they would’ve delivered eight points. It’s crazy the swing that one play had on the DFS outlook for the Chicago Bears.

The rest of last week’s D/ST Coach had some highs and lows. The Denver Broncos were a spend up option but delivered just seven fantasy points despite only allowing the Carolina Panthers to score 14 points. That simply emphasizes the importance of sacks, turnovers, and even the unpredictable D/ST touchdown. 

We were correct to fade the New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals at their price tags and the Atlanta Falcons served as a decent pivot in the value range. The Los Angeles Chargers provided a dozen points in the mid-range and the Houston Texans provided 10 points as well. All in all, I’d say it was a decent week if you were able to play those two squads.

 

 

 

NFL Week 9 Defense/Special Teams

As we mentioned at the top of the NFL DFS Week 9 D/ST Coach article, there is just one game with an implied total under 40 points and you can probably guess that it’s the AFC matchup featuring the New England Patriots visiting the Tennessee Titans. 

ESPN Bet has that total at 37.5 points as of Wednesday morning. The next closest “low” total is 42.5 points between the Los Angeles Chargers and Cleveland Browns.

Tricky slate? Yes, absolutely. We like to have some obvious spots and the Titans will be very popular and they’ll be listed below. But when we have games like this with plenty of offense in the cards, it becomes all the more important to nail our plays. 

We can’t predict or project D/ST touchdowns. But we will examine the matchups and injury notes as we comb through the NFL DFS Week 9 D/ST Coach!

 

 

 

NFL DFS D/ST Top Tier Pick For Week 9

New Orleans Saints - DraftKings: $3,800 | FanDuel: $5,000

The Saints get a layup opportunity this week as they visit the Carolina Panthers. We’ll have to monitor the injury reports, but we targeted the Denver Broncos in this spot last week and they did okay by returning seven fantasy points. The Panthers don’t have a great offensive line. Their guards are very strong, but the exterior is weak and if Bryce Young gets the start again for the Panthers, then we’re licking our chops.

But the Saints are expensive. These two teams met in Week 1 when the Saints were $100 cheaper than they are now. They returned 14 fantasy points with the support of three takeaways and four sacks. The Saints defense has cooled off a little bit, and you can definitely run the ball on this squad which is great news for Chuba Hubbard.

Considering the Panthers dealt Diontae Johnson on Tuesday, they’ve relegated themselves to a lengthy rebuild as we still try to figure out if Young can play at this level. They’ll also be getting more looks at young players like Xavier Legette, Jalen Coker, Je’Tavion Sanders, and eventually Jonathan Brooks. I don’t love the top tier this week, but the Saints are the only D/ST I’m considering in this price range.

 

 

 

NFL DFS D/ST Mid-Tier Picks For Week 9

Washington Commanders – DraftKings: $3,400 | FanDuel: $3,900

I gave serious thought to plugging in the Commanders as the Play of the Week. I’m that high on them and the price tag on FanDuel is outstanding. The New York Giants have potential, and I don’t think the Commanders have anyone that can effectively cover Malik Nabers.

However, the Commanders had a season-high 41.9% blitz rate last week against the Chicago Bears. This defense gave Caleb Williams absolute fits and he completed just 10-of-24 pass attempts and lost a fumble getting sacked twice. What if they just run with that again this week? Here’s why that’s intriguing to me…

The New York Giants offensive line is terrible and it only got worse without Andrew Thomas. In Week 7, the Philadelphia Eagles had just a 3% blitz rate against the Giants. And yet, they generated pressure on 41% of Daniel Jones’ drop-backs. The Eagles had eight sacks that game.

Entering Week 8, the Pittsburgh Steelers had the fourth-lowest blitz rate in the league at just 15.6%. And yet they made an early effort to get the blitz going and they sacked Daniel Jones four times and forced two turnovers.

So, let’s recap… We have the Commanders who are coming off a game where they blitzed at the highest rate they’ve had all season against an offensive line that cannot protect the quarterback whether the defensive front is trying to blitz or not. With the Giants on a short week, I’m willing to go heavy on the Commanders because I believe they possess some outstanding upside. 

And keep in mind, when Daniel Jones isn’t facing pressure, he’s targeting Nabers over 40% of the times. When he is pressured that number drops to under 20% as he tries to force the ball to Wan’Dale Robinson in the slot. And the Commanders have done better their last handful of games defending slot receivers.

Tennessee Titans – DraftKings: $3,200 | FanDuel: $4,700

The Titans are an obvious play this week. If I’m being honest, I did give some consideration to listing them as a fade. The Titans are perfectly fine to play in cash games. But in tournaments, do we really want to play a D/ST that could have ownership ranging anywhere from 12-18% on the main slate? They’re easy to get to on DraftKings. But at the end of the day, this is a position of variance.

As of Wednesday, Drake Maye is questionable to start and he’ll have to clear concussion protocol in time to start against the Titans. In relief of Maye, Jacoby Brissett came in and did okay against the New York Jets, a better defense than Tennessee.

Should we be so confident that this is a smash spot for Tennessee? In seven games this year, their D/ST has returned more than six fantasy points just once and the Detroit Lions were able to run for 164 yards on them last week.

The positives for Tennessee are that the matchup is better if Brissett starts, and the New England offensive line is still terrible. The sportsbooks love Tennessee but for fantasy football, this doesn’t feel like much of a slam dunk. They’re fine for cash games, but we might be able to find a higher ceiling D/ST for tournaments. The Titans have just 14 sacks and three takeaways through seven games.

 

 

 

NFL Week 9 DFS D/ST Value Picks

Chicago Bears – DraftKings: $2,800 | FanDuel: $4,400

For an additional value option on FanDuel, I highly suggest playing the Washington Commanders who are $500 cheaper than Chicago for this slate. But for DraftKings, I’m willing to play the Bears this week.

We would be looking at the Bears differently in Week 9 if they didn’t give up a last second touchdown to Washington in Week 8. Instead of surrendering 12 points to Washington, they gave up 18. But either way, the Bears don’t give up a ton of offense anyway. The Bears have allowed just one team to score over 20 points so far this year.  Despite ranking 22nd in blitz rate (23.4%) they’re sixth in sixth in pressure rate (28.4%). 

The Cardinals are a bit of an inconsistent group. Some weeks they’re hot. Other weeks they’re frustrating. And there are certainly weapons on the other side of the ball. But I think there’s a chance Jaylon Johnson can neutralize Marvin Harrison in this matchup, and they could have Kyler Murray running for his life.

New York Giants – DraftKings: $2,300 | FanDuel: $3,200

Not a great spot for the Giants, I’ll admit. However, they are $400 cheaper on DraftKings than the last time these two teams met, and the Giants were still able to return five fantasy points. The other concern is that New York just played on Monday Night Football, so this is a short week for the G-Men. But let’s remember that this should be the last piece of the puzzle. 

And truthfully, this is a cheap D/ST that has shown they can get to the quarterback. In Week 2 the Giants surrendered 425 yards of offense and 21 points to Washington. But they still sacked Jayden Daniels five times and the Giants have recorded at least four sacks in four straight games. The Commanders may still be riding a bit high on their win last Sunday so maybe they’re a bit unfocused. We see it all the time. 

Deonte Banks isn’t a great defensive back when he’s tasked with shadow coverage. But he did hold Terry McLaurin to just 22 receiving yards in Week 2. But the Washington offense is clicking more than they were a month ago and Banks has been horrendous of late. This is a tough spot, but again we plug them in if we can’t afford any of the pricier options.

 

 

 

NFL DFS D/ST Fades For Week 9

Denver Broncos - DraftKings: $2,700 | FanDuel: $3,500

This isn’t a bold call by any means given the matchup. After listing two successful fades last week I’m going to go with a layup option. And if you’ve read previous versions of this article, you’ll know I’m actually very high on the Broncos. They blitz at an absurd rate and that’s usually a strong correlation for a D/ST to provide some value.

But this is just an ugly spot for Denver. Offensively, they’re a pretty good play and the offense has been better. Bo Nix has just one turnover in his last six games. But defensively, the Broncos have their hands full. Pat Surtain can cover any receiver on the Ravens. But can they account for all the weapons at Baltimore’s disposal?

Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry can pop off for a big run at any moment. Mark Andrews has four touchdowns in his last three games. It wouldn’t even surprise me if the Ravens were able to get Diontae Johnson some routes in this game.

Lastly, the Baltimore Ravens took a bad loss last week against the Cleveland Browns. I’m expecting the Ravens to bounce back in a big way and get back on track as they push to keep pace with the Steelers in the AFC North. The Ravens have a 27.25 implied team total so we can look elsewhere as we navigate this difficult slate.

Arizona Cardinals – DraftKings: $2,600 | FanDuel: $3,800

Some DFS players might be tempted to go here given how bad the Bears offense looked coming off their Bye week. And maybe the Commanders wrote the book on how to properly neutralize Caleb Williams with a pressure rate north of 40%.

I’m not of that mindset. This is a home game for Arizona and the sportsbooks are saying it’s arguably a pick ‘em. But an article earlier this week from Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic does support the thought that Chicago bounces back in this spot.

The Cardinals defense is 27th in the NFL with a 5.73% sack per pass attempt rate. Their dead last in third-down defense. Opponents average 7.63 yards per pass (29th in the NFL). Opposing quarterbacks are completing over 70% of their pass attempts and the Cardinals rank 30th in pressure rate at just 17.3%. 

This is a great spot for the Bears to right the ship and I’ll gladly avoid the Cardinals if others are under the impression they can duplicate what the Commanders did last week.

 

 

 

NFL DFS Week 9 D/ST Play Of The Week

Philadelphia Eagles - DraftKings: $3,100 | FanDuel: $4,500

I’m sure the Eagles will be popular this week, but I do love the upside in this matchup. We’re mostly leaning into a lot of the narratives surrounding the Jacksonville Jaguars heading into this game. While Trevor Lawrence had arguably his best game of the season last week, he’ll be without some of his best offensive weapons in Week 9.

Christian Kirk will miss the rest of the season with a broken collarbone. Brian Thomas is questionable as of Wednesday, so we’ll monitor his status heading into the weekend. Thomas may have avoided a serious injury that would have cost him 2-4 weeks. Instead, he’s being viewed as day-to-day and has a shot to play. 

The Eagles have also given up just the 10th fewest fantasy points to opposing receivers over the last four weeks. Their secondary has been stepping it up lately. The Jaguars also traded Cam Robinson to the Minnesota Vikings on Tuesday. While Robinson hasn’t been an elite option at tackle, it’s a sign the Jaguars are mailing it in and planning ahead for 2025.

Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars also just don’t do that well away from Duval County. Sure, they play two games every year in London so the numbers are a bit skewed. But Lawrence’s completion percentage drops 8.9 points on the road and the Jags score 6.7 fewer points per game on the road. The Eagles get a nice home matchup and they’re favored by more than a touchdown.

 

 

 

NFL DFS Week 9 Defense/Special Teams Projections