Fantasy Football Week 9 Start 'Em And Sit' Em: Jaylen Waddle Vs. Ladd McConkey

Is Ladd McConkey or Jaylen Waddle a better Week 9 play? Fantasy football owners have a tough decision to make this week as McKonkey faces the Titans and Waddle faces the Ravens. Dig into the stats and matchups behind this wide receiver Start 'Em and Sit 'Em conundrum.

Oct 23, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Ladd McConkey (15) makes a touchdown catch against the Minnesota Vikings during the first half at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Welcome to a new wide receiver Start ‘Em and Sit’ Em decision for Week 9! 

In this article, we’ll be taking a look at whether fantasy owners should be starting Jaylen Waddle against the Baltimore Ravens or Ladd McConkey against the Tennessee Titans. Both players are coming off similarly productive games, which makes this a tough decision this week. 

Shawn Childs has a great Week 9 wide receiver projections article that dives into the numbers behind this decision (and others!), but let’s go through the decision and see if we can come up with our own thoughts on Jaylen Waddle vs. Ladd McConkey this week.

WR Jaylen Waddle, Miami Dolphins

Ranked as our WR14 this week, Jaylen Waddle is coming off a big game against the Falcons where he put up five catches for 99 yards and a touchdown. Waddle has now topped 95 receiving yards in three of his last four games and has finished as a top-5 fantasy receiver in two of those four weeks. While Tua Tagovailoa has been mercurial this season, Waddle has been a steady presence since Tyreek Hill went on injured reserve, and is WR13 on the year. 

Waddle has a great matchup this week against the Ravens as Baltimore has allowed the second-most fantasy points per game to opposing wide receivers. They’re allowing almost 160 receiving yards per game to the position and have allowed almost a touchdown-and-a-half to opposing wide receiving corps. While they won against the Bears last week, they still allowed Rome Odunze to put up 114 receiving yards, so Waddle should be able to do some damage on Thursday Night Football. 

WR Ladd McConkey

Ladd McConkey hasn’t been quite as good as he was last season, but he’s still WR15 on the year and WR13 in Matt Brandon’s Week 9 wide receiver rankings. The second-year player has also ramped things up as of late and is averaging over 11 targets per game over his last three games, while topping 88 yards in two of those three games. He’s also scored all three of his 2025 touchdowns over the span over his last four games, so things are trending upward for McConkey.

While McConkey’s matchup isn’t quite as good as Waddle’s statistically, the Tennessee Titans are still in the bottom-10 in the league in terms of fantasy points allowed to wide receivers. They’re actually allowing more receiving yards per game to the position than the Ravens (by about three yards), but have been a bit better at preventing opposing receivers from finding the end zone with an average of 0.9 touchdowns allowed per game. 

The Verdict

I can see why Matt ranked these two players back-to-back because this is more or less a toss-up decision. I think both players will have big games of 75-plus yards, so the good news is you can’t go wrong.

However, we’re here to make a decision, so we have to pick someone. And with that, I’m going to give the slight edge to McConkey as he’s been trending upward and has been seeing more usage than Waddle over the past few weeks (and has the quarterback edge). 

I’m locking in Ladd McConkey over Jaylen Waddle for Week 9.