Here's Your Fantasy Football Sleeper For Week Nine

by Christopher Gates on Nov 5, 2011 1:12 PM CDT in Fantasy Football

Meat Loaf used to say that two out of three ain't bad. Well, with last week's sleeper, I did manage to get two out of three. I gave you the right position, and I gave you the right team. . .I just gave you the wrong player. Tennessee Titans' wide receiver LaVelle Hawkins had just three catches for 18 yards on Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts. The better pick probably would have been his teammate Nate Washington, who had two touchdowns on the afternoon, despite having only 37 total yards.

Undaunted, we get back on the horse and try again this week, since the Vikings have the week off and we can look around the league at things.

This week's sleeper pick comes from the game between the New Orleans Saints and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers down in the Big Easy tomorrow afternoon. The Buccaneers are coming off of a bye, having lost to the Chicago Bears in jolly ol' England the previous week, while the Saints were the victims of what might be the upset of the year thus far, as they fell to the previously winless St. Louis Rams. The Bucs have been really up and down this season, and have been a markedly better team at home than they are on the road. They even beat these same Saints at home, 26-20, back in Week 6.

But this game is in New Orleans, and that could spell bad things for the Buccaneers. The Bucs' defense is 29th in the NFL in total yardage, which is a bad sign when you're going against Drew Brees and company. But rather than going with a member of the Saints' passing game, I'll be going with a running back that could take big advantage of the fact that New Orleans will again be without Mark Ingram.

Chris Ivory, who spent the first six weeks of the year on the Physically Unable to Perform list, rushed for 716 yards last season as a rookie, averaging 5.2 yards per carry. The Saints are going to try to work him into the offense with Ingram missing the game with a foot injury, and he could be someone that you could plug into a flex spot. He might be splitting carries with Pierre Thomas, but he could still be a decent play.

Ivory is only owned in 1% of all Yahoo! leagues, according to their numbers, so he could be a decent pick-up not only for this week, but going forward as the Saints work him more and more into the offense.

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Interesting Choice

I don’t see them giving Ivory much more than 6-10 carries, at best. When Ingram was out last week, it was Pierre Thomas and Darren Sproles who were more productive with 7 and 6 carries totaling 39 combined yards and 2 scores, while Ivory got 6 carries and 18 yards. It was a pathetic day by all 3 backs, but I can’t help but think Ivory is in for 1-4 points, tops on the day.

Here are some of my sleeper picks this week:
RB:
-Javon Ringer (obvious, but I can’t see the Titans sticking with Chris Johnson much longer)
-Chris Ogbonnaya (again, probably obvious, but with Hillis and Hardesty out, he’s the guy).
WR:
-Arrelious Benn (on the other side of the ball of the matchup you highlighted, TB will be throwing all day to keep up with Drew Brees, 2 weeks ago he put up 80 yards and a score, and after basically nothing last week, Coach Morris spoke about getting him more involved this week)
-Jason Avant (He’s the #3 guy in Philly, but it looks like they are back to their explosive ways as he has the following totals the last 4 weeks: 6 for 69, 9 for 139, 3 for 28 and 5 for 74; maybe he finds the endzone this week)

SKOL Vikings!

by CCNorsemen on Nov 5, 2011 3:11 PM CDT reply actions

Not a bad call after all

I stand corrected. The Saints were committed to pounding Ivory with the rock, giving him 16 carries on the day. I didn’t see the game, so I don’t know if they were garbage time/run-clock-out carries, or if they were consistent throughout the game. He put up 67 yards, which isn’t quite start-able in standard leagues, but at least it’s positive. The bigger story though is that Pierre Thomas and Darren Sproles each scored a TD and were heavily involved in the receiving game catching 9 passes between the two of them for a combined 82 yards. On the ground they both got a combined 12 carries for 108 yards. So, they both vastly out-performed Ivory on half the touches.

SKOL Vikings!

by CCNorsemen on Nov 6, 2011 3:50 PM CST up reply actions

No No No

If you need a RB for this week, Chris Ogbayanna, Michael Bush or possibly even DJ Ware over Chris Ivory.

by y2jayjk on Nov 5, 2011 3:53 PM CDT reply actions

I would say that Ogbayanna makes sense

But Bush is owned in 97% of ESPN standard leagues, which means he’s not a sleeper and DJ Ware is behind Brandon Jacobs.

I think the Ivory pick makes a little bit of sense, given how the Saints treat their RBs. It’s certainly a bold pick, that’s for sure. At least we know that Ivory has talent.

I say Ringer is a great sleeper pick. Avant makes sense, too.

by Arif Hasan on Nov 5, 2011 4:15 PM CDT up reply actions

Ringer and Avant are pretty high % owner rates though,

Ringer as a handcuff and Avant as a target for Vick…I wouldn’t qualify them as sleepers. I go with Curtis Brinkley.

"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain

SKOL VIKINGS!

by Landonio on Nov 5, 2011 4:34 PM CDT up reply actions

I can believe that

In ESPN leagues, ESPN is listing both of them as sleepers (at least to me), though – 9.9% for Ringer and a surprising 4.9% for Avant. It wouldn’t be hard to convince me that most CBS and Yahoo! leagues have them listed with higher ownership rates – that just makes sense.

I suppose Brinkley makes sense – I wasn’t thinking about him because of the concussion. I suppose the NFL cleared him.

by Arif Hasan on Nov 5, 2011 4:48 PM CDT up reply actions

He's been cleared by the NFL

Matthews is still not listed as “out”, but he didn’t practice all week. Going with Brinkley as my sleeper. Hopefully he blows up like he did against KC last week.

by PURPpplEATER on Nov 5, 2011 7:11 PM CDT up reply actions

Tolbert will play though...

SKOL Vikings!

by CCNorsemen on Nov 5, 2011 10:18 PM CDT up reply actions

True but if they use him similarly toMatthews

He should get some touches. Tolbert is always banged up as well. I could see them resting a little bit during the game. It’s def. A reach but I don’t have too many options. Everyone on my bench is on bye.

by PURPpplEATER on Nov 6, 2011 9:02 AM CST via mobile up reply actions

Ogbayanna got picked up..grr I have Hillis

Wouldn’t have minded that handcuff until Peyton’s healthy..put in a trade offer for him.

by PURPpplEATER on Nov 5, 2011 6:57 PM CDT up reply actions

Chris, you had better be right.

Why? Because my RB roster consists of AP (hell to the yizeah, had the number one overall pick!)… and Montario Hardesty and Peyton Hillis. (Yep.)

So… I’m using this idea this week. And if he busts, I’m therefore blaming you.

I'm at a loss for words.
Follow @KJSegall

Daily Norseman

by KJSegall on Nov 5, 2011 5:45 PM CDT reply actions

I also have AD and Hillis

I want to pretty much just trade Hillis at this point but nobody will accept anything for him. So annoying. I have Darren Sproles curently so expecting a big game out of him, but I don’t know if I agree with the Ivory pick. Pierre Thomas and Sproles will get a majority of the touches. Even when Ingram was healthy, he didn’t get a majority of the touches. Seems very risky..but if you’re right Chris then you’re a genius. With Ryan Matthews out though I might give Curtis Brinkley a shot. I’m very thin because of the Bye week.

by PURPpplEATER on Nov 5, 2011 7:01 PM CDT up reply actions

I've had Ingram as a back up all year and I can't see Ivory getting enough touches to reach even Ingram's limited production.

Going with Ogbonnaya myself. Another sleeper is Johnathan Baldwin. If you saw last weeks Monday nighter it’s pretty obvious this guy is going to catch some TDs as the dude is just huge.

by CanadianViking on Nov 6, 2011 8:07 AM CST up reply actions