Welcome to the DFS Playbook for NFL Week 9!

Not that anyone missed me last week because Jon Impemba crushed it with his Playbook in Week 8, but I'm back and ready to keep us all cashing. We've been on fire with our Playbooks this season and based on my research and choices for this week's piece, we're going to continue. I don't love all of the match-ups from a real football standpoint, but we've got a number of them that look great for DFS. 

As you go through, be sure to read all of the write-ups because there is a lot of talk about where to pay up and where to pay down this week. Lineup construction is where I failed you back in Week 7 and I vowed never to do that again – damn all that white noise and how it distracted me. So as you will see, there are a number of plays in there based on which direction I think we should go with regard to each position.

When you come to the Playbook, you're looking for a way to narrow down the choices and pick players who will, hopefully, smash for you. If the choices have already been whittled down thanks to the bye weeks, then we get another narrowing here with the Playbook. It's like using a comb. Run it through your hair once and then get one with finer teeth and run it through a second time. If we're doing the proper research, bye weeks like this should only help us.

Before we get to the Playbook players, allow me to remind you what you should be doing leading up this step in your research.

Step 1: Check out the DFS Position Coaches

QB Coach – Jon Impemba (@jimpemba777)

RB Coach -- Justin Vreeland (@JustinVreeland)

WR Coach -- Colby Conway (@colbyrconway)

TE Coach -- Andrew Cooper (@CoopAFiasco)

D/ST Coach -- Dan Malin (@RealDANlanta)

Step 2: Check out the rest of the relevant DFS content

In addition to the positional coaching pieces, you also have things like the DFS Watch List, where I provide you with a list of players I am looking at throughout the week. We have the NFL DFS Podcast with me and Jon Impemba, who also does the Contrarian Corner video and check out the DFS Bargains from our newest #FAmily member Tera Roberts (@ItsTeraTime). 

Also, our Master of Tools, Matt Selz (@theselzman), supplies you data junkies with the Weekly Match-Up Report and everyone should also be checking out the WR/CB Match-Up Report from Ryan Hallam (@fightingchance). 

Step 3: Make your own list of players

It's real easy to just sit and wait for the Playbook, but as you are doing your research throughout the week, it is important to make notes and list the players who interest you the most. Maybe they end up in the Playbook and maybe they don't. If they're there, then great, it should mean we are honing in on the same things that make him a strong play. If not, maybe you're onto something else that someone overlooked. We aren't perfect and if you uncover something different, maybe you're right. I would be careful of routine groupthink and hype from beat writers, but often times someone will tell me something they saw about their local team that I missed and I am always looking to investigate more if its there. If you do, then say something in our Fantasy Alarm Discord Chat,. Talk it out and see what the rest of the #FAmily thinks. That's why the chat is there, isn't it?

With those three steps complete and discussions are in progress, you are ready to look at the Playbook players, make comparisons and finalize your list for lineups, so let's get to it.

How about one final step before we actually begin? 

CHECK FOR LATE CHANGES TO THE PLAYBOOK

Every now and again, we throw in a late add to the Playbook. More often than not, a late add is done for cash game play as we are seeing higher-than-expected ownership on a bargain player. These can, often times, become a “free square." If the ownership is high, it won't matter if the players succeeds or not. It's about keeping pace with the masses and watching out for lineup trains. We won't recommend if we don't believe in the player, so if you see one, understand the major reasoning behind it.

In this week's case, you've got Tee Higgins and Jarvis Landry as bargain wideouts with expected high ownership. Higgins has been added as we dig this Bengals offense and can be confident that, in this match-up, Higgins can succeed. With Landry, I'm still a little gun-shy regarding Baker Mayfield and Kevin Stefanski's likely return to a much heavier-than-usual rushing attack.

Late Report from Adam Schefter says Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa is OUT for today. He is being removed from the Playbook.

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