Steelers Fantasy Football Outlook for Week 9: Should You Start Kenny Pickett, Najee Harris, Jaylen Warren, Diontae Johnson and More?

Week 9 of the NFL season is already here. The week kicks off with a Thursday night matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans. 

Let’s take a look at both teams and determine which players are worthy of starts in week 9. We’ll begin with the Steelers.

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Kenny Pickett Fantasy Outlook

Pickett has been dealing with a rib injury, but practiced in full on Wednesday and does not have an injury designation for Thursday night. There’s actually no offensive players in jeopardy of missing the contest, which works in Pickett’s favor.

Pickett has started all seven of the team’s games this season. He’s completed 122-of-200 passes for a completion percentage of 61. He’s thrown for 1,330 yards and five touchdowns, but been intercepted four times. Pickett has been sacked 17 times.

The young QB has added 22 yards and a touchdown on the ground, but accomplished those numbers over 25 attempts.

This sets up as an average matchup for Pickett, as the Titans’ defense is just a bit better than the NFL average in slowing quarterbacks. Tennessee allows 15 fantasy points to quarterbacks.

At the time of publication, Pickett was the 20th-ranked quarterback in our week 9 projections.

Running Back Fantasy Outlook

Pittsburgh has really struggled to run the ball all season. Najee Harris leads the team in rushing yards, but is averaging just 3.7 yards. Jaylen Warren is just a touch better, at 3.9 yards a carry.

Harris has played 230 offensive snaps and gotten six red zone carries. He’s turned his 84 carries into 313 yards and a touchdown. Harris has caught 13 of the 17 passes thrown his way for 94 yards.

Warren has played 196 offensive snaps and gotten four red zone carries. He’s gained 175 yards on 45 carries, scoring one touchdown along the way. He’s caught 26 passes for 184 yards on 32 total targets.

This is a tough matchup for Harris and Warren, as the Titans allow only 17 fantasy points a game to opposing backs. RBs are averaging 84 rushing yards and just 20 receiving yards.

The two Pittsburgh backs have pretty much split the workload all season, but Harris continues to be the favorite in the projections. He slots in 24th this week, while Warren is 37th.

Wide Receiver Fantasy Outlook

The Steelers have a number of recognizable names in their wide receiver room, but really only George Pickens has been a good fantasy option this full season.

Pickens leads the team in most stats - snaps (388), yards (522), touchdowns (3), receptions (28) and targets (53). He’s caught just one of four red zone targets. Pickens has seen just 13 targets over the past two games, which happens to coincide with the return of Diontae Johnson.

Johnson was injured in week 2 and just recently made his return. He’s had 20 targets in his first two games back, including 14 last week. For the season, Johnson has 16 receptions on 26 targets, going for 212 yards and no scores. He’s got one red zone catch on three targets.

Allen Robinson is another guy many fantasy owners know, but he hasn’t done much to help fantasy teams this season. He’s caught 18 passes on 28 targets for 144 yards and no scores. He’s failed to catch both of his red zone targets. Robinson has one target the past two weeks.

Calvin Austin showed some promise at the start of the season, but has only three targets over the past three games. He’s made 14 grabs on 24 targets for 162 yards and a touchdown. He hasn’t been targeted in the red zone.

Surprisingly, the Titans’ defense struggles against wide receivers, allowing 40 fantasy points a contest. Wideouts average just under 16 grabs a contest, turning those into 188 yards and just under one score.

Pickens and Johnson are the only two Steelers’ receivers ranked in our top 67, with Pickens 15th and Johnson 30th.

Tight End Fantasy Outlook

Normal fantasy contributor Pat Freiermuth is on injured reserve, so Connor Heyward has taken over the majority of his snaps.

Heyward has been fairly involved of late, with 13 targets across the last three games. For the season, he’s caught 12 of the 19 passes thrown his way, going for just 89 yards and no scores though.

It’s a tough matchup for Heyward, as Tennessee allows only nine fantasy points to tight ends. Opposing TEs average under 50 yards on about four grabs a game, and they still haven’t scored.

With Heyward’s season totals and Tennessee’s stout defense against tight ends, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Heyward isn’t ranked inside our top 21 at the position. 

Kicker and Defense Outlook

Chris Boswell still does the kicking for Pittsburgh. He’s been great, missing just one kick. The problem is, he’s hardly getting any attempts.

Boswell is 12-of-13 on field goals, with his lone miss being over 50 yards. He’s made four other kicks over 50 yards. Boswell has made all nine of his extra point tries.

Pittsburgh’s defense is allowing the third-most total yards per game. The Steelers are below average against the pass and run, but are closer to average in points allowed per contest. The Steelers have 15 takeaways, which is tied for the second most this season. 

Pittsburgh will be going up against Will Levis, who will be making his second start at quarterback. Because of that, you can’t really look at Tennessee’s season averages on offense. Last week, Levis completed 19-of-29 passes for 238 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. The Titans also ran for 149 yards last week, so it’ll be a tough test for the Steelers’ defense.

Boswell is the 12th-ranked kicker, while the Steelers’ defense ranks seventh. 

Who to Start in Week 9

This is not the greatest matchup for a primetime game, but I think it could be a tight and entertaining contest. I like the Steelers to cover, but the teams to score a bit more than expected. Something like a 20-17, 23-20 or 24-21 victory for Pittsburgh.

Pickett hasn’t been that good this season, and with him facing a better defense, I’d try to stay away from him as a starter if I could.

Harris and Warren also have underwhelmed and got a tough matchup ahead. I’d lean toward starting Harris over Warren, but really think they put up a similar amount of fantasy points. The only way one probably greatly outperforms the other is with a score, and I like Harris’ chances to find the end zone a touch more.

Pickens was a must start with Johnson out, but now I view those two wideouts pretty similarly. With a favorable matchup, I think both guys are start worthy. I like both to score a touchdown. I’d actually prefer Johnson over Pickens.

I’d stay away from Robinson and Austin in standard leagues. In deeper ones, I’d also try to stay away, but would give the edge to Robinson as he plays a lot more snaps.

Heyward has been more involved since Freiermuth was put on IR, but it hasn’t resulted in big fantasy numbers. I’d stay away from him in standard leagues, and only start him in deeper leagues if you have no other decent options available.

This is the perfect kind of game for Boswell to rack up some fantasy points. He’s been nearly perfect for the season, and I think Pittsburgh has several promising drives fizzle out in enemy territory, giving Boswell some longer field goal attempts. 

Levis looked good in his NFL debut last week, but I think the Steelers’ defense gets after him and gets a couple sacks and takeaways. I don’t think they’ll finish as high as their weekly projection suggests they might, but I still view them as a top 10-12 defense this week.