Fantasy Football Start 'Em, Sit 'Em: Joel Smyth offers FLEX lineup advice for Quinshon Judkins, Raiders RBs, more players in Week 9

We're on to Week 9 of the fantasy football season! As we look for every advantage this season, the X-Factor position is the FLEX. To break it all down, Yahoo analyst Joel Smyth goes through 8 players in the consensus rankings flex zone for your flexes, double flexes or even third WR slots.

It's time. Jonah Coleman completely took over the backfield in Week 8, handling 11-of-13 carries after J.K. Dobbins opened with the first five. He had five targets, six opportunities at the goal line and a big fantasy day versus a top RB defense. The Panthers, on the other end, just fired their defensive coordinator. Denver, despite a slow start, ranks 10th in RB fantasy points in the first half of the season. With no RJ Harvey, plenty of valuable touches are available to the rookie in a great situation as a whole. Coleman has been the far more successful back and should be treated like such this weekend.

Miami is top-five against wide receivers this season and its passing defense has been terrible. On a per-play basis, the Dolphins rank dead last; they just have not been thrown on much this season. Williams isn't volume dependent, and he may need to hit early on versus the Dolphins to hit at all, but Miami's improvement on offense, paired with the Lions defense, can help.

Over the last month, Miami ranks 14th in scoring offense, which hopefully can keep it close to the powerhouse that is Detroit's offense, entering as touchdown underdogs. Williams' targets aren't always consistent or high, but they have been valuable downfield shots and in the red zone in a top offense, making the overall volume much closer to that of a fantasy WR2 over the last month. He's become a weekly set-and-forget with his production as of late.

With Dylan Sampson back, Judkins becomes much more game-script dependent. That game script has a better shot of staying in his favor this week as 2.5-point underdogs to New Orleans, hopefully a closer game than the 21-point loss to Pittsburgh last weekend. In the Browns' five wins this season, Judkins has scored 14.4 half-PPR PPG, handling an extreme share of the backfield carries and all the goal-line work. The Saints have been an RB's dream so far in 2026, ranking 32nd versus backs on the season, only getting worse over the last five games.​

The Jeanty experience has not been for the faint of heart. What we don't know is how this backfield will be split on the ground this week, the Raiders potentially sticking with Mike Washington Jr. completely, going back to 50-50 or (unlikely) swinging all the way back to Jeanty as the workhorse. What we do know is that there is a 90% chance Jeanty is the receiving back, something that alone would make him the RB22 in PPR scoring, as he's scored the most receiving fantasy points at the position. We also know that, although the 49ers have been the best defense in the NFL versus rushing fantasy points, they also rank 32nd against RB receiving points. I'm not confident if he's my RB1 or RB2, but I still believe he's worthy of a flex spot.​

Maybe give one more week for Odunze. This week I had a personal favorite come out with the Heaven versus Hell Graph , comparing the first half of the season schedule to the second half. Odunze is where you'd want with a much better schedule going forward… after this week. From Weeks 10-17, there isn't a spot you're scared of, but Week 9's matchup versus Tampa Bay isn't ideal.

Odunze will matchup versus Zyon McCollum on nearly half of the plays this Sunday. He's allowing a very low amount of production when targeted against to begin with. The Bucs' defense had been dominant against the pass long before Week 8 versus Atlanta, ranking No. 1 (over Minnesota!) in EPA/pass on the season.

It's been a rollercoaster for Pitts managers; what's new? This week, hopefully it's a game where you don't regret putting him in your lineup the next morning. There's a couple of main reasons why I think Pitts can be used as the extra flex. No. 1, the Bengals. They were horrible against tight ends last year, and are only a little better this season, giving up on average 5.3 PPG more than the average defense does to the position. They struggle up the middle in general and often find themselves in shootouts.

No. 2 is that Cincinnati plays a high amount of man coverage. Pitts is the seventh-best in fantasy points per route this season if he were a WR. For the second straight season, QB Michael Penix Jr. and Pitts have been best buds against man coverage, being the primary reason for most big Pitts days. You won't even need coffee Sunday morning for this game abroad if your heart is already racing with Pitts in the starting lineup.

The stat breaking down the 49ers' running back defense is why Washington is in the booby traps. San Francisco is 32nd versus receiving backs, but first against rushing, where Washington has an extremely low percent (10.8%) of his fantasy points from. If Washington does get the volume again, well, there's a good chance it doesn't work out anyway. The Raiders have converted two of their 17 goal-line carries, which is likely what it would take to overcome the 49ers' rushing defense. The floor is very low for multiple reasons, making it a pass for me until we have more knowledge of the split or at least a better matchup.

Arizona has shockingly not been a positive matchup for running backs this season. The defense is getting scored on more than any team in the NFL, yet they are second-best against RB fantasy points adjusted to the schedule. Charbonnet is coming off of a major injury with multiple other RB options available.

In Week 8, he only played 20-of-57 snaps on offense. It's not enough for me to trust, with around 10 touches being the expected volume. In the past, spots such as these could be salvaged with the goal-line touchdown, which certainly can happen, but a lower shot with the red-zone work being split three ways last week. It's not a guarantee the goal-line carry goes to Charbonnet if there is one at all.