Fantasy Football Week 9 Wide Receiver Preview: Waiver adds, starts, sits, numbers to know, and more

This is the week that wide receiver is supposed to start looking a lot better. Puka Nacua should be back from injury. Zay Flowers should get Lamar Jackson back. Marvin Harrison Jr. should get Kyler Murray back. And there is one rookie who could move into must-start territory if his most recent usage verifies.

You may have forgotten because he was on bye this week, but Travis Hunter looked very worthy of the number two overall pick in Week 7. He played a season-high 87% of the offensive snaps. He led Jacksonville in targets (14), receptions (eight), receiving yards (101), and scored the team’s only touchdown. It was the best Fantasy performance by a wide receiver against the Rams this year. Now Hunter faces the Raiders in Week 9.

Full disclosure, I may be more inclined to believe Hunter’s breakout than most. I had him ranked as my number one wide receiver in this class. I believe the defensive stuff has gotten in the way of a rookie breakout, but he hasn’t played more than 40% of the defensive snaps since Week 3. You don’t need much of an imagination to see a second-half breakout coming.

The other question is what that would mean for Brian Thomas. I believe there is room for Thomas to be must-start as well. He just has to stop dropping the ball. He had more drops in the first seven games of this season than he had all of last year. Drops are generally not predictive. I am hopeful he shows up refreshed after the bye and looks like his rookie self. I would still start him over Hunter this week, but it could be the last time I say that. But if Hunter breaks out and Thomas bounces back, Trevor Lawrence could have a great finish to the season.

Here is the rest of the Week 9 WR Preview:

Week 9 WR Preview

• 24.4 — Rashee Rice leads all wide receivers with 24. PPR FPPG. He was worth the wait.
• 16.7% — Xavier Worthy has just a 16.7% target share since Rice returned. He is in that Jameson Williams boom or bust flex range now.
• 30.7% — Zay Flowers’ 30.7% target share ranks fourth amongst wide receivers. He could explode with Lamar Jackson back.
• 3.54 — Christian Watson averaged 3.54 yards per route run in his 2025 debut. This Packers receiver room is once again too crowded, but Watson is a good desperation flex play.
• 14.3% — Jameson Williams’ 14.3% TPRR ranks 104th out of 152 qualified wide receivers. He’s tied with Luke McCaffrey and Jalen Coker.
• 45.8% — Ja’Marr Chase has a 45.8% target share in three games with Joe Flacco. He may be the WR1 once again.
• 11 — Davante Adams already has 11 targets inside the five-yard line. No other wide receiver has more than seven.
• 26.6% — Khalil Shakir has a 26.6% target share over the last month. Buffalo’s pass rate should be up in a Week 9 shootout with the Chiefs.

My full set of Week 9 Fantasy football projections for every position are now available on SportsLine. You’ll find them here. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don’t live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 9. Projected stats for all starting wide receivers are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.