Fantasy Football Week 9 Cheat Sheet: Deep Sleepers Who Could Emerge

Sunday's Week 9 clash between the Houston Texans and Miami Dolphins will not garner much attention during the early afternoon window.

However, if you pay close attention to the matchup, you could find a deep sleeper play for your fantasy football team.

Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa tops the list of sleepers from the clash of teams in the fight for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft. 

Tagovailoa produced a handful of solid performances after his return from injury in Week 6. He could end up as a nice fill-in for Tom Brady, who is the highest-profile quarterback on a bye in Week 9. 

Brady is not the only player from the Tampa Bay roster that needs to be replaced on Sunday. Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, Leonard Fournette and Rob Gronkowski will be on your bench if you have them on the roster. 

If you dig deep throughout the NFL slate, there are a few players in matchups that you can take advantage of to fill those empty roster spots. 

1. Josh Allen, QB, Buffalo 

2. Cooper Kupp, WR, Los Angeles Rams

3. Lamar Jackson, QB, Baltimore

4. Jonathan Taylor, RB, Indianapolis

5. Alvin Kamara, RB, New Orleans

6. Matthew Stafford, QB, Los Angeles Rams 

7. Dak Prescott, QB, Dallas

8. Patrick Mahomes, QB, Kansas City

9. Dalvin Cook, RB, Minnesota

10. Aaron Jones, RB, Green Bay

11. Deebo Samuel, WR, San Francisco

12. Justin Herbert, QB, Los Angeles Chargers

13. Jalen Hurts, QB, Philadelphia

14. Kyler Murray, QB, Arizona

15. Nick Chubb, RB, Cleveland

16. Joe Burrow, QB, Cincinnati

17. Najee Harris, RB, Pittsburgh

18. Austin Ekeler, RB, Los Angeles Chargers

19. Ja'Marr Chase, WR, Cincinnati

20. Travis Kelce, TE, Kansas City

21. Darren Waller, TE, Las Vegas

22. Darrell Henderson, RB, Los Angeles Rams

23. A.J. Brown, WR, Tennessee

24. Davante Adams, WR, Green Bay

25. Mark Andrews, TE, Baltimore

26. Damien Harris, RB, New England

27. Joe Mixon, RB, Cincinnati

28. Dallas Goedert, TE, Philadelpjia

29. Stefon Diggs, WR, Buffalo

30. Justin Jefferson, WR, Minnesota

31. Derek Carr, QB, Las Vegas

32. Cordarrelle Patterson, RB, Atlanta

33. Kirk Cousins, QB, Minnesota

34. Michael Carter, RB, New York Jets

35. Mike Gesicki, TE, Miami

36. CeeDee Lamb, WR, Dallas

37. Mike Williams, WR, Los Angeles Chargers

38. D.J. Moore, WR, Carolina

39. Adam Thielen, WR, Minnesota

40. Marquise Brown, WR, Baltimore

41. Elijah Mitchell, RB, San Francisco 

42. Zack Moss, RB, Buffalo

43. Chuba Hubbard, RB, Carolina

44. Hunter Henry, TE, New England

45. Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Miami

46, Daniel Jones, QB, New York Giants

47. Michael Pittman, WR, Indianapolis

48. DeAndre Hopkins, WR, Arizona

49. Devontae Booker, RB, New York Giants

50. Josh Jacobs, RB, Las Vegas

Miami has not won any of the three games since Tagovailoa's return, but he has turned in some promising performances. 

Tagovailoa produced 291 yards and four touchdowns in the Week 7 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. He followed that up with 205 passing yards in Week 8 versus the Buffalo Bills. 

On Sunday, the left-handed quarterback will go up against a Houston defense that conceded the 10th-most passing yards and is tied for the sixth-most passing touchdowns let up through eight weeks. 

Tagovailoa can't be trusted every week as a fantasy starter, but he is the perfect fill-in for Brady that has a low roster percentage in Yahoo fantasy leagues. 

Tagovailoa could be worth keeping around on the bench ahead of his Week 11 clash with the New York Jets, but the primary focus here is his ideal matchup against the Texans. 

He does not need to throw for four touchdowns, like he did in Week 8, but if he tosses a few touchdowns and gets over 200 yards again, he could be a serviceable replacement at quarterback. 

Tajae Sharpe should feature in a larger role in the Atlanta Falcons passing game over the next few weeks. 

Sharpe hauled in five of his six targets for 58 yards in the Week 8 loss to the Carolina Panthers. 

He has the potential to produce similar totals in the coming weeks since Calvin Ridley is away from the team. 

Russell Gage is currently the No. 1 wide receiver, but he was not targeted in the defeat against Carolina. He was matched up with Stephon Gilmore on a good amount of snaps. 

Matt Ryan evenly distributed his targets to his two running backs, tight end Kyle Pitts and Sharpe with Gage unable to make a contribution.

Davis, Pitts and Sharpe all received six targets and Patterson was right behind them with five targets. 

If Gage takes up more attention from the New Orleans Saints secondary in Week 9, expect Sharpe to be called on in some capacity to fill the void. 

Sharpe had a total of 11 targets in the last three weeks and he could earn anywhere from four to six receptions each week moving forward if Atlanta needs to break games open through the passing game. 

For now, Sharpe can be viewed as a bye week replacement for any of Tampa Bay's wide outs, DK Metcalf or Terry McLaurin. 

Kyle Rudolph emerged from fantasy football obscurity in the last few weeks. 

The New York Giants tight end has begun to receive red zone targets from Daniel Jones. He found the end zone in Monday night's loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. 

Rudolph does not have a high target volume, like other potential waiver-wire pickups, but he could be the perfect addition for Week 9. 

Gronkowski and T.J. Hockenson are both on byes and there are not a ton of tight ends out there on the waiver wire that you can trust as a fill-in for either player.

Rudolph is a high-risk addition, but he could pay off if Jones continues to choose him over Evan Engram in certain red-zone spots. 

        

Statistics obtained from Pro Football Reference.