NFL Fantasy 2026 Start 'Em, Sit 'Em: Quarterbacks for Week 9
As always, Start 'Em, Sit 'Em is geared toward helping fantasy managers make difficult roster decisions. You won’t see “start Jahmyr Gibbs” here. Instead, I'm exploring the players closer to the perceived fringe and aiming to optimize your lineup for a win each week. Importantly, the new “Start of the Week” and “Sit of the Week” are the calls I have deemed the most notable in each category, not necessarily the most essential players to start or sit.
Also, you’ll see quite a few references in this year’s column to NFL Pro, spotlighting insights provided through Next Gen Stats data dashboards, matchup evaluations, All-22 film and the uniquely trained Fantasy AI Assistant. You can get access to all of those tools yourself with an NFL+ Premium subscription!
P.S. Feel free to follow me on X (@MattOkada) or Instagram (@mattokadaNFL) and hit me with your questions, congratulations or complaints throughout the year.
Start 'Em
Start of the Week
Now that Goff is past the Vikings hurdle, we can get back to starting him every week in fantasy. (Or at least until Week 15, when he plays at Minnesota.) The Lions QB had scored at least 16.44 fantasy points in every other game this season and is the QB4 in points per game, even after the Vikings dud. Notably, he's logged the second-best TD-to-INT ratio among qualified passers (15:1) entering a matchup with the Dolphins, who've allowed the fifth-best TD-to-INT ratio (16:4). Miami is dead last in pass success rate (53.2%) and EPA per dropback (0.27), while Goff is top five in both categories. He will dice up this defense on Sunday and should be an elite QB play.
Notable starts
Lawrence only needed 10 completions to score 19.4 fantasy points last Sunday, and he has now posted 19-plus in five of seven starts. Baltimore has been shredded by Joe Burrow and Josh Allen in back-to-back games -- Lawrence should make it three straight.
Stafford's production has taken a hit with the loss of Davante Adams, but the Commanders' defense is allowing the fourth-most fantasy points per game to quarterbacks, even including duds from Daniel Jones and Tanner McKee. Stafford obviously is a far superior QB than those two and has 20-point upside in Week 9.
Mahomes has a 114.3 passer rating and 57.4% success rate on underneath throws this year, both second among qualified quarterbacks, while the Jets have been soft against such passes. Also, Mahomes is averaging 23 fantasy points per game when Rashee Rice plays the full contest.
I'm as slow to start Willis as anyone in this industry, but with a matchup against the Lions, he's at least a streaming consideration. Every quarterback to face Detroit this season has scored at least 16.96 points, and those seven signal-callers have averaged 24.81 PPG.
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Sit 'Em
Sit of the Week
Between the knee injury he's played through since Week 3 (wearing a brace) and the disastrous state of the Panthers' offensive line, Young has struggled with pressure recently. He's been pressured on 50% of dropbacks over the last two weeks, logging a 35.4 passer rating and an abysmal 20% success rate against that pressure. The Broncos sport the league's fourth-highest pressure rate (40.3%) and second-highest quick pressure rate (21.7%) on the year -- and they've improved both marks over the last month. This is a perfectly imperfect storm for Young, who should hit the bench in every one-QB league.
Notable sits
While I like Stroud down the stretch, he is not a great play against the Chargers this Sunday. Despite their uncompetitive offense, the Bolts' stingy defense has held four straight opposing QBs under 14 fantasy points -- and the unit held Josh Allen to a season-low 17.46 points back in Week 3.
In his three games against bottom-half fantasy matchups this year, Shough has averaged just 9.9 fantasy points per outing (while averaging 24.1 per game in his other four). Cleveland is allowing the seventh-fewest PPG to the QBs, so we're sitting the volatile quarterback in Week 9.
While Williams was solid in real life on Monday night against Seattle, he scored just 13.98 fantasy points, with RB D'Andre Swift (three TDs) and the defense playing big roles in Chicago's three-score win. I foresee a similar result against these Buccaneers, whose defense has been tough on QBs and whose offense cannot be trusted to compete.