Fantasy Football Today: Player outlooks for every ninth-round draft pick by consensus PPR rankings

The 2024 Fantasy Football season is on the way and the Fantasy Football Today team has drafted their initial player outlooks for the entire player pool heading into training camp. Things will change on the injury front, in free agency, and possibly on the trade market, but the Fantasy Football team led by Dave Richard, Jamey Eisenberg, Heath Cummings, and Dan Schneier have created player outlooks based on 2024 projection, June ADP (average draft position) and where these players have come off the board in our mock (and real) drafts through May and June. We’ll use the FFT consensus PPR rankings (Jamey, Dave, and Heath’s rankings) to go player-by-player for the ninth round (12-team leagues) of your drafts.

*These consensus rankings are updated through June 10.*

Round 9

9.1: Brian Robinson Jr., RB, Commanders

“With Gibson now in New England and Austin Ekeler arriving from Los Angeles, we’re expecting a fairly similar role for Robinson in 2024. That role, when Gibson was healthy, was about 11.5 carries and two targets per game. The upside for Robinson comes if the aging former superstar misses time. In the one game Gibson missed last year Robinson saw 17 carries and nine targets and scored 20.2 PPR Fantasy points. While we do expect Ekeler to handle most of the work in the passing game, we also expect Robinson to be the team’s primary short-yardage back. We’re comfortable drafting Robinson starting in Round 9 in full PPR leagues as a No. 3 running back or flex. In non-PPR, he’s worth at least a round earlier and could be a low-end RB2.” – Heath Cummings

9.2: Brian Thomas Jr., WR, Jaguars

“Thomas is a bit of a raw prospect after breaking out late in his LSU career in a Brian Kelly offense that asked him to mainly run two routes. He will have to develop his route tree, but his size-speed combination is undeniable and there’s an opportunity for him to immediately be a mismatch the Jaguars can’t help but utilize in the red zone and down the field. Thomas is one of the highest-upside picks you can make in the Rounds 9-10 range of your Fantasy drafts, and he should enter consideration in the back half of Round 1 in Dynasty rookie-only drafts.” – Dan Schneier

9.3: Keon Coleman, WR, Bills

“Coleman is worthy of a selection as early as Round 9 in full PPR redraft leagues. The rookie has a great opportunity in Buffalo with both Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis departing. Coleman will battle Dalton Kincaid, Khalil Shakir, and Curtis Samuel for targets, with the winner providing a massive value at whatever their ADP is. Coleman has the best combination of size and speed in the receiving corps and should see regular snaps starting early in the season. While he didn’t post huge numbers in college, he did outproduce Jayden Reed at Michigan State in 2022, when Coleman was just 20 years old. If he earns Josh Allen’s trust he has a chance to produce like a top-20 wide receiver this season. In Dynasty leagues, we prefer Coleman in Round 2, but in a one-quarterback league you can start considering him as early as No. 10 overall. ” – Heath Cummings

9.4: Rome Odunze, WR, Bears

“The Bears selected Odunze with the No. 9 overall pick in the NFL Draft, and he should be a key part of Chicago’s offense this season. We like Odunze with a mid-round pick in all redraft leagues, and he’s worth drafting as a top-five overall pick in rookie-only drafts for Dynasty leagues. The Bears have a crowded receiving corps with Odunze, D.J. Moore and Keenan Allen, and Odunze should open the season as the No. 3 option behind the veterans. But Odunze could emerge as the go-to option for fellow rookie Caleb Williams, and Odunze has plenty of upside in his rookie campaign. He was a star in college at Washington, and in 2023 he had 92 catches for 1,640 yards and 13 touchdowns. We’ll see how quickly he adapts to the NFL and establishes a rapport with Williams, but plan on Odunze being a No. 3 Fantasy receiver to open the season with the chance to be a top-20 option by the end of the year if things go right.” – Jamey Eisenberg

9.5: Chase Brown, RB, Bengals

“Brown is expected to open the season as the No. 2 running back in Cincinnati behind new starter Zack Moss, but Brown should have a prominent role in his sophomore campaign. He has sleeper appeal in 2024, and Brown should be drafted as early as Round 9 in the majority of leagues. While Moss should open the season as the replacement for Joe Mixon, Moss has never been a full-time starter for a full season in stints with Buffalo and Indianapolis. Brown didn’t have a ton of work as a rookie in 2023 (44 carries for 179 yards and 14 catches for 156 yards and a touchdown on 15 targets), but he showed off his explosiveness with three plays of at least 27 yards. And in the three games where he had at least 10 total touches, he averaged 11.3 PPR points. If Brown gets the chance for extended action he could prove to be the best running back for the Bengals, and he’s someone to target in all formats this year.” – Jamey Eisenberg

9.6: Ezekiel Elliott, RB, Cowboys

“Elliott rejoined the Cowboys in the offseason and it sure looks like he’ll get every chance to be their 1A running back once again. We’re not expecting a return to what Elliott once was, and we wouldn’t draft him before Round 9 in full PPR leagues. While Elliott’s age and efficiency are both concerns, it is worth noting how much he mattered after Rhamondre Stevenson went down last year. Elliott averaged 15.9 PPR Fantasy points per game in the final six games of the season, which was good enough to make him a top-12 running back. He also averaged more than six targets per game in that stretch, and we don’t expect him to have that type of workload in the passing game in Dallas. Still, we wouldn’t exactly be shocked if he scored double-digit touchdowns and finished as a top-24 back. He’s a nice target if you go zero-RB and need a starting running back Week 1.” – Heath Cummings

9.7: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR, Seahawks

“Here’s why Smith-Njigba is a deserving breakout candidate: New Seahawks playcaller Ryan Grubb has dialed up at least 170 targets to his slot receivers in each of his past three years. This includes any receiver who lines up in the slot (Rome Odunze lined up both in the slot and out wide for Washington as an example), but it’s a near-certainty that Smith-Njigba will handle that role the most for the Seahawks again in 2024. That kind of potential workload combined with Grubb’s creativity in scheming his receivers open should give Smith-Njigba the needed boost to be a solid Fantasy contributor. Best of all, you don’t have to draft Smith-Njigba until you get near the 100th overall pick in PPR drafts (maybe a tad later in non-PPR).” – Dave Richard

9.8: Jerome Ford, RB, Browns

“Ford was the best running back for the Browns in 2023, and he could once again be the best running back in Cleveland in 2024 as well. Ford is worth drafting with a mid-round pick in all leagues, especially if Nick Chubb (knee) is limited in his recovery in training camp. Last year, Ford took over for Chubb in Week 2 and averaged a career-best 12.4 PPR points per game. He did that while sharing touches with Kareem Hunt, and Ford showed he can be productive in tandem. This season, Ford could share touches with Chubb or D’Onta Foreman if Chubb is limited to open the year, but the worst-case scenario for everyone in Cleveland would be if all three running backs get touches. Most likely, Ford and Chubb will be the main two options in the Browns backfield, and Ford could help Fantasy managers get off to a good start this season if Chubb is still limited. Ford has plenty of sleeper appeal in 2024.” – Jamey Eisenberg

9.9: Zach Charbonnet, RB, Seahawks

“Charbonnet had 13 games last season with 10 or fewer touches, all of which came when Kenneth Walker was on the field. Not surprisingly, Charbonnet averaged 5.1 PPR points per game in those situations. That’s not ideal, and unfortunately, it’s not likely to change in 2024. Not only does new playcaller Ryan Grubb figure to prefer Walker to Charbonnet, but Grubb is more of a pass-friendly coordinator who has never cultivated big-time pass-catching running backs in his last three years of college football work. It pretty much wedges Charbonnet into a lottery-ticket backup RB who only should see lineups when Walker misses playing time. Walker has missed two games in each of his first two seasons. Be careful choosing Charbonnet over other backups who have more upside once you get into Round 9-plus.” – Dave Richard

9.10: Jake Ferguson, TE, Cowboys

“One of the most consistent aspects of the Dak Prescott era is that his tight end is going to be a low-end starter in Fantasy. Ferguson kept that tradition alive in 2023 and he’ll open the season in the same role. That means you should start looking for Ferguson in Round 10, as a borderline top-12 tight end. The case for upside beyond that is in how he finished the season. In his final 11 games he was on pace for 77 catches, 882 yards and six touchdowns. In his lone playoff game he caught 10 of 12 targets for 93 yards and three touchdowns. If no one steps up in the WR2 role, Ferguson could be the value of the tight end position. Tradition says it’s more likely he’ll finish between TE8 and TE12.” – Heath Cummings

9.11: Blake Corum, RB, Rams

“If you watched any Michigan football over the past two seasons, you saw why the Rams drafted Corum. A physical power back with consecutive years over 1,250 rush yards and at least 18 rushing touchdowns, Corum proved capable in running in any system while breaking tackles and picking up chunks of yardage at a time. He was a solid pass blocker and not a bad receiver even though his opportunities were limited, but his strength is in his vision and his cuts. In many ways he’s a lot like Kyren Williams, whom he’ll try to swipe touches from this season. We’ve seen Williams suffer multiple injuries throughout his short career, and if it happens again Corum could be at the helm of a very good offense with lots of touches (he worked as the starter in OTAs with Williams sidelined in May). He’s a priority pick in Round 9 of redraft leagues (a round sooner if you want to back up Williams), and he’s also worthy of an early second-round pick in rookie-only drafts.” – Dave Richard

9.12: Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Dolphins

“Tagovailoa is a borderline QB1 worthy of a pick as early as Round 9. The Dolphins QB has shown flashes of the upside we believe exists in him, but never for a full season. Last year he was QB4 through the first eight weeks of the season and QB10 through Week 13. From that point forward he had just one game with more than 240 yards passing and just one game with multiple touchdown passes. That type of letdown in the Fantasy playoffs will surely cause some Fantasy managers to shy away, but he did finish with a league-best 4,624 passing yards and a second year in a row of about eight yards per attempt. With Mike McDaniel, Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle all still in Miami, there is plenty of reason to hope that Tagovailoa maintains his breakout for a full season in 2024.” – Heath Cummings