What's up RotoBallers. Week 8 is complete and we hope you managed to secure the win! To celebrate, today we are bringing you our Week 9 fantasy football rankings to help prepare you for your Week 9 matchups.

Below you will find both PPR rankings and standard league rankings for Week 8, brought to you by Zach Wilkens (@LopsidedTrades) and Edward Gorelik (@EdwardGorelik).

Lead fantasy football columnist Edward Gorelik also highlights some rankings analysis for Week 9, broken out by position, and draws some matchup conclusions. He tells you who he likes, who he doesn't, and most importantly who he thinks you should be starting in Week 9. You can also check out our 2015 fantasy football ranking dashboard, for more in depth rankings analysis on all positions including rookies and dynasty leagues.

Rankings are subject to change leading up to the games.

 

Week 9 Fantasy Football Rankings - All Positions

 
 

Week 9 Quarterback (QB) Rankings Analysis

By Edward Gorelik (@Edward Gorelik)

Ben Roethlisberger's return may have been underwhelming in Week 8, but it's been the norm for him to return from injuries with some rust. This week should see him play to his best, especially against an average Oakland defense.

Philip Rivers is in my high end QB1s for the second week in a row, this time because he's up against the far below average Chicago defense. With no pass rushers, no great players in coverage, and nothing to fear whatsoever, Rivers should be able to carve up this defense even without Keenan Allen. Although, as injury news comes out about other supporting players like Antonio Gates and Ladarius Green, this ranking might change.

Playing against Rivers this week is Jay Cutler, who I've got as the highest streaming option. Although there's a lot of hype about Jeremy Langford, I was never a huge fan of him during the draft process and could see the scenario where Cutler ends up throwing over 40 times this game.

Will that lead to significant production? I'd hope so with Martellus Bennett and Alshon Jeffery on the field.

 

Week 9 Running Back (RB) Rankings Analysis

By Edward Gorelik (@Edward Gorelik)

The Titan's rushing defense has been ranked 30th in DVOA while playing against the 4th easiest schedule. In basic stats, the Titans are at the bottom half of practically every relevant rushing statistic. Mark Ingram comes to town next looking like a full blown workhorse with Khiry Robinson out for the season and C.J. Spiller's role still in flux.

With DeAngelo Williams returning to the starter role on the Steelers offense, his ranking returns to the top 12. A top fantasy option during Bell's time out, Williams is expected to continue his return to relevance during his 2015 renaissance.

Chris Ivory's place on this ranking is subject to change as injury news gets revealed about Jets center Nick Mangold. Without him, the Jets weren't even able to average two YPC from their running backs on the ground - and although the Jaguars run defense has already been pretty good over the season (best in the league in YPC allowed, 4th best DVOA against the run), the return of DT Sen'Derrick Marks is a huge boost.

With great games the last two weeks against two very different run defenses, Latavius Murray is back in the RB1 front against a Steelers defense that has somehow managed to overcome their weak roster to actually compete against the NFL's offenses.

Regardless, the Oakland Raiders offense has been on fire and must be feeling pretty good after knocking what was the league's #2 defense way, way down. Expect that momentum to continue, and for Latavius Murray to benefit greatly from it.

 

Week 9 Wide Receiver (WR) Rankings Analysis

By Edward Gorelik (@Edward Gorelik)

A.J. Green has a bad track record against Joe Haden and the Cleveland Browns, but lucky for him Haden will not be suiting up for this week's Thursday night game. Green is firmly amongst the top five options for this week as a result.

Dez Bryant got shadowed by Richard Sherman while having Matt Cassel as his quarterback last week. I can't think of a less good fantasy situation. Bryant is expected to make a comeback into the WR2 area against the Eagles, and should remain in that area until Tony Romo's return.

Green Bay's receivers are going to have their rankings change over the week as we get news on who Josh Norman will be shadowing. In case you missed Monday night's game, it was Josh Norman who completely shut down T.Y. Hilton and has been shutting down receivers all season long, allowing the lowest QB rating in the league. I'd consider benching whoever he's on.

With Allen Robinson likely to see Darrelle Revis this week, Allen Hurns becomes a big play. Antonio Cromartie has been burned all season long by a variety of players from Travis Benjamin, to Michael Crabtree, to Brandon Lafell (who dropped most of his catches against Cromartie) - and now Hurns is likely to be added to that list.

Stevie Johnson has a strong shot of a WR2 week with Keenan Allen's injury. Johnson becomes the defacto #1 receiver on this offense (well, after Antonio Gates) and was regularly being hyped up over the offseason by the Chargers staff as being "interchangeable" with Allen.

It wasn't long ago that Johnson was a perennially underrated player in Buffalo who put up 1,000 yard seasons with the dreadful Ryan Fitzpatrick - so it isn't too unlikely for him to put up numbers with Phillip Rivers.

 

Week 9 Tight End (TE) Rankings Analysis

By Edward Gorelik (@Edward Gorelik)

Heath Miller becomes the next tight end to experience the "Oakland Raiders TE1 Week", where only Owen Daniels failed to make his mark. Even Kellen Davis managed to put up a near startable performance in Week 8 against the Raiders defense, and Miller is far better than him. Especially with the return of Roethlisberger. He's a top five play this week.

It's a struggle to rank Jordan Reed this week based on one factor: Bill Belichick. Belichick has been proactive about stopping teams best offensive weapons early and often, and with incredibly athletic linebacker Jamie Collins as the potential coverage man for Reed, there's a chance for a shutout.

One potential player to rise this week however is Coby Fleener. As Hilton and Moncrief and Johnson all face coverages that are allowing far below the average for their position, Fleener's seeing light coverage comparatively.

The Broncos have faced few tight ends that can actually be receiving threats this season, and the three they did (Eric Ebron, Gary Barnidge, Travis Kelce) all had playable floors against the Broncos with 6, 6, and 15 points in standard. None of those players had a quarterback as good as Luck throwing to them either (even if he is having a down year). Don't mistake his poor production for lacking talent.

 

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Check out all of RotoBaller's fantasy football rankings. Staff rankings are updated regularly for all positions and include standard formats, PPR scoring, tiered rankings and dynasty leagues.