Fantasy Football Week 9 Fades & Busts: Bad times to continue for Panthers

Welcome to the ninth of 17 weekly articles spotlighting the fantasy fades of the week! I am your host, Matt Okada, and I'll be bringing you half a dozen potential busts each and every Friday, from now until fantasy football championships.

As a note, just because a player earns a "fade" or "bust" designation doesn't automatically mean they should be benched — it depends on the rest of your roster or the options on your waiver wire. But you can expect them to fall short of expectations (when I get them right). I include a "What to Do" section for every player to help with that.

Without further ado, here is my list for Week 9 of the 2026 season.

Over the first two weeks of the season, Bryce Young was brilliant, throwing for three touchdowns and hitting 24+ fantasy points in both games. Then, he suffered a minor knee injury in Week 3, which he has played through with a brace, limiting his mobility in the pocket. He hasn't thrown three touchdowns in any of Carolina's six contests since, clocking in at just seven TDs and four interceptions over that span.

In the meantime, the Panthers' offensive line has been ravaged by injuries and, in combination, these factors have led to a severe drop-off in fantasy production for Young. He's been pressured on 50% of his dropbacks over the last two weeks and has logged a 35.4 passer rating and 20% success rate against that pressure. Largely as a result, he's averaged just 9.39 fantasy points per game in those two outings.

Now, he draws a matchup with a Broncos defense sporting the league's fourth-highest pressure rate (40.3%) and second-highest quick pressure rate (21.7%), per Next Gen Stats, both of which have increased in recent weeks. Young is likely to be in trouble early and often in this game and is staring down the barrel of another fantasy dud.

What to do ❓ Young is well outside QB1 range and is honestly closer to the back of QB2 range this week. I'd much prefer a streamer like Tyler Shough, Malik Willis, Kirk Cousins or even Michael Penix Jr.

Ollie Gordon II has been shockingly good for fantasy since taking over for De'Von Achane several weeks ago. Most of the fantasy community couldn't even decide whether he'd get the starting job, and he's proceeded to average 18.8 touches per game since the Week 3 takeover and score 13+ fantasy points in four of those five contests. However, I'm pumping the brakes for Week 9.

Coming off his first dud — 6.9 points against the tough Patriots run defense — Gordon has an even tougher matchup in the Lions. Detroit is a massive pass-funnel opponent, meaning that it encourages offenses to throw — allowing a league-high 298.7 yards per game on a league-high 41 attempts per game — rather than run (where it's bottom-10 in YPG and attempts per game allowed). As a result, it's allowing the fourth-fewest fantasy points per game to running backs. And unfortunately, Gordon has essentially zero role in the Miami passing attack. If he's lucky enough to see a goal-line carry or two, Gordon could score a touchdown and eke out a decent fantasy day, but it feels far more likely that he has another medium-volume, low-efficiency day and ends up in single-digit fantasy points once again.

What to do ❓ Gordon isn't an absolute must-sit, especially given the shallow nature of the position. But he's a low-end RB2 at best and I'd definitely lower expectations and avoid him in DFS.

Speaking of the Lions' run defense, they turned Jordan Mason into an absolute dud last week, with just 20 rushing yards on eight carries for 2.0 fantasy points. That brings his total since returning from injury in Week 7 to 88 yards on 23 carries (3.8 per carry) with zero catches and zero touchdowns. Fantasy managers who waited on his return are justifiably frustrated but might see a glimmer of hope in the "green" Bills matchup here in Week 9.

Buffalo has been a good matchup for running backs because its allowed the third-most receiving fantasy points per game, at 11.0, behind only the Dolphins and 49ers. In rushing fantasy points, its much closer to the middle of the pack, and Mason is only guaranteed to see a portion of that production with Aaron Jones Sr. still involved. The Vikings offense has been extremely lackluster all season and they're an underdog against the Bills in what figures to be a relatively low-scoring affair. None of this bodes well for the run-only half of Minnesota's RBBC, so Mason is better suited on the bench until a better opportunity arises ... if ever.

What to do ❓ Mason is well outside RB2 range and I wouldn't even consider him a promising FLEX. You're better off starting committee-backs like Zach Charbonnet or Blake Corum, as they should have better chances at scoring.

Remember everything I said about Bryce Young, the Panthers' O-line and the mess that pressure has created for this passing attack lately? All of that trickles down in a very discouraging way for early breakout candidate, Jalen Coker. He has just three catches on 10 targets all season when Young is pressured and just three catches for 45 yards during this particularly troubling downturn the past two weeks. He had a brilliant game against the Eagles three weeks ago, but Philly is currently the best matchup for wide receivers, so we have to take that 97-yard game with a grain of salt. And it makes sense that pressure and Coker don't get along: he's averaged 11.2 air yards per target and 20.5% of his targets have come on deep passes this season (nearly twice as high as the rate for Tetairoa McMillan).

Meanwhile, Denver has allowed the fifth-fewest fantasy points to wide receivers and the fourth-fewest yards per target on downfield throws (10+ air yards). Just as Young is a fade, Coker is a complementary fade for all the same reasons. I like his upside down the stretch if Young and the O-line can get healthy, but he's a very risky play in the meantime.

What to do ❓ Coker is outside WR2 range and while he's a playable FLEX in a pinch, I'd rather go with a lesser name in a better situation, like Keenan Allen or Stefon Diggs.

It seems like there's a bit of growing optimism about Jaylen Waddle in the fantasy community ... but I'm not entirely sure why. Sure, he caught a touchdown in Week 8 against the Chiefs ... just his second of the year, by the way. He also finished that game with three catches for 39 yards, marking his sixth-straight game with fewer than six catches and fewer than 50 receiving yards. His only truly impressive outing all season came back in Week 2 against the Jaguars — who have proven to be a major pass-funnel defense — when he saw eight catches for 138 yards on 10 targets. But Waddle had 138 receiving yards in his other six games combined entering Week 8 and is averaging just 39.4 per game on the season, even when including that aberration of an outing against Jacksonville.

He's averaging the fourth-fewest yards per target (6.2) among all wideouts with 50+ targets and doesn't have a game over 14 fantasy points in the last six weeks. All told, his floor and ceiling are concerningly low and I see little reason for optimism against the Panthers — even with injuries to their starting cornerbacks — given how spotty and inefficient Waddle's usage has been.

What to do ❓ Waddle falls a couple spots behind Coker in my rankings, so we can apply the same logic for him in Week 9 — WR3 at best, iffy FLEX play, would rather go with Allen or Diggs.

This pains me, as I am a huge Dalton Kincaid fan, and there are a lot of reasons to believe in him rest-of-season — like his position-leading 2.7 yards per route run and his robust-for-a-tight-end air yards share (19.7%). But the Minnesota Vikings are terrifying. They've allowed a league-low 5.5 fantasy points per game to tight ends and have held every single TE they've faced to single-digit fantasy points. Tucker Kraft set the current high-water mark at just 8.0 points, while Sam LaPorta (5.0), Juwan Johnson (3.6), Colston Loveland (0.8) and others have been complete duds in this matchup.

On average, they've surrendered just 3.1 catches for 39.0 yards per game to the position, and have yet to allow a touchdown to a tight end all season. Sitting Kincaid won't be easy, especially given the shallow nature of the position, but it might be necessary given the heavily reduced ceiling against Minnesota.

What to do ❓ Try to find a streamer in redraft if you can, a la T.J. Hockenson, Kyle Pitts Sr., or even Brenton Strange, rather than playing Kincaid against this defense. And stay away in DFS.