Daily Fantasy Football Week 9: Top Picks, Lineup Advice for DraftKings, FanDuel

The Buffalo Bills, Denver Broncos and Pittsburgh Steelers sit in an ideal position with their Week 9 matchups.

Each one of those three franchises will go up against one of the five worst defenses in the NFL. One other team in that category, the New York Jets, plays Monday.

Buffalo's combination of Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs could put up large numbers against the Seattle Seahawks in the lone home matchup of the three.

Denver is set to visit the Atlanta Falcons, and it may be able to exploit a matchup across the middle through Noah Fant to come away with a road win.

Pittsburgh's undefeated record will likely stay intact versus the Dallas Cowboys. Since the NFC East side struggles in both aspects of the offense, the Steelers offense could be in for a big day.

Josh Allen, QB, Buffalo 

Allen has not experienced a terrific past three games, but he can rectify that against Seattle's defense on home soil.

The Buffalo quarterback failed to hit the 200-yard mark through the air in two of those three games, but he faces a Seahawks secondary that has allowed a league-high 2,511 passing yards this season.

Allen may be in a better position to succeed Sunday since the Seahawks have a decent rushing defense that conceded 3.9 yards per carry. If the Seahawks stifle Devin Singletary and Zack Moss in any capacity, Allen will be called on to throw more to Diggs, Cole Beasley and others.

If he takes advantage of Seattle's porous secondary and breaks a decent run or two, Allen could be one of the top quarterbacks in daily fantasy football contests.

                  

Dalvin Cook, RB, Minnesota

Dalvin Cook produced three 130-yard performances in his past four starts.

Riding the hot hand at running back could be the ideal strategy at the position, especially with Cook going up against a Detroit Lions defense with a propensity to concede ground scores. The Lions are one of eight teams to allow double-digit rushing touchdowns.

A year ago, Cook found the end zone on three occasions in two matchups with the Lions. In Week 7 of 2019, he produced 142 rushing yards and a pair of scores. In fact, the Minnesota running back owns 10 rushing touchdowns against NFC North opposition since the start of the 2019 season.

If he pads that total and continues the high-yardage trend, Cook may be the top running back for the second week in a row.

                  

Keenan Allen, WR, Los Angeles Chargers

While pairing Allen and Diggs is a smart strategy, Keenan Allen could be an even better play based off his matchup and the amount of recent targets he received from Justin Herbert.

Allen was targeted 10 or more times on five occasions, and he reached the century mark in both games in which he had double-digit receptions.

The Las Vegas Raiders come into Week 9 allowing 7.2 yards per attempt in the air, and they have let up 11 touchdowns through the air. If Allen receives a high volume of attention from Herbert once again, he could add to Las Vegas' secondary troubles.

Even if he does not score, Allen should be a popular-enough target to rival some of the top wide receivers for the No. 1 fantasy position.

                  

Noah Fant, TE, Denver

Fant and the Denver Broncos have to be salivating at their matchup with the Falcons.

The Broncos have a chance to bank off the momentum gained from Week 8's come-from-behind win over the Chargers by torching the Atlanta secondary. The Falcons are allowing the second-most passing yards and most aerial scores in the NFL and have conceded a league-high eight touchdowns to tight ends.

There have only been 11 incomplete passes thrown to tight ends against Atlanta, and it could overtake the Cincinnati Bengals for most yards allowed to players at that position if Fant thrives inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Fant was targeted on 16 occasions in the past two weeks, and he should be a constant member of the passing game as Drew Lock tries to take advantage of Atlanta's weakness across the middle.

One of the most popular DFS plays has been to stack lineups against the Dallas Cowboys.

Pittsburgh gets the opportunity to thrive versus the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

The first Pittsburgh plug into your lineup should be a defense that could eat alive the Dallas offensive line and whichever quarterback starts for the home side.

Mike Tomlin's team has held four of its opponents beneath 300 total yards, and only the Baltimore Ravens in Week 8 gained more than 110 rushing yards against it. If the Steelers defense continues to excel, it will set the stage for Ben Roethlisberger and Co. to tear apart the Dallas secondary.

The Cowboys have conceded 300 total yards in all but one of their games, and the Philadelphia Eagles likely would have totaled more if Carson Wentz did not commit multiple turnovers.

JuJu Smith-Schuster owns the most targets and receptions, but Chase Claypool possesses the most receiving yards and touchdown catches. Smith-Schuster, Claypool, Diontae Johnson and Eric Ebron all have more than 20 receptions, 30 targets and 200 receiving yards.

In Week 8, Smith-Schuster totaled the most targets and receptions, while Ebron and Claypool found the end zone. The ideal stack would be Roethlisberger, Smith-Schuster, Ebron and the Steelers defense—that way you can spread the points at every position.

Smith-Schuster is back up to the totals of a No. 1 wide receiver, and Roethlisberger's reliance on Ebron in the red zone could boost his totals.

Adding James Conner to some Steelers combination works as well, but he likely will not receive many passing game touches, so he would be earning points on his own.

                   

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90. Statistics obtained from Pro Football Reference.